On May 29, 2006 we bought a new dishwasher to replace the dishwasher that was in this house when we moved in. The original dishwasher was a Whirlpool and was about four or five years old when we moved in. That was in 2003 making that dishwasher made in 1998 or 1999. Something in the control panel broke and when the repairman came out he said it would be over $200 with no guarantee the problem would be corrected. The hubby and I decided to just get a new dishwasher and we settled for a Whirlpool dishwasher that had to be special ordered due to being out of stock. It finally came in a few days later and installed properly.
A few weeks after having it, it had it's first problem. Something to do with the top rack washing arm not connecting thus not washing the dishes in the top rack. The local repair company was called, it was fixed (for free due to being under warranty). Problem solved HOWEVER, the dishwasher then began to leak. We didn't think anything of it as we thought maybe we weren't closing the door properly or that the kids were opening it while it was in a cycle. Time passed and sometime in December it began having more serious problem - it stopped working all together. The repairman came out and said the control panel had to be replaced, again for free due to being under warranty. A week later it was repaired and all was good for a few weeks when the problem started up again in late Feb.
Sometime in late Feb, iit went through a wash cycle the dishwasher failed to stop after the rinse cycle. It would continue for hours, if it was let be, until manually shut off. Well after it was shut off, manually, it stopped working altogether again. Repair man was called, the relay unit or something to that effect was burned out. Again, it was ordered, replaced and the machine worked again... for one wash cycle because when it hit the rinse cycle it did it again for the THIRD time. So of course the repair man came out, looked at the machine said it was the same thing again, ordered the part, came back a few days later to repair the unit for a third time. He left and again the dishwasher washed fine but as soon as it hit the rinse cycle, the relay unit blew and wouldn't shut down until manually shut down but then it wouldn't start again. By this time it was early May, around three months had passed since the "first" incident (I consider the problem in December to be different but it might have been the same thing) and we called Lowes (where we bought the dishwasher from) to see how much time was left on the warranty, we were told about two weeks. The repair man came out a few days ago and called Whirlpool because it was the SAME problem that had been repaired time and time again.
So here's where the bad service comes in.
Whirlpool REFUSED to exchange the unit despite the insistence from the repairman that it should be replaced. This would be the FOURTH time the same part would be replaced. Whirlpool's rep told him to replace ALL of the wiring in the dishwasher as there might be a problem with the wires. The repairman said (to the rep) it would cost Whirlpool MORE money to do THAT then to replace the unit. The rep was firm, replace the part that died along with the wiring then hung up on him.
I looked at the repair man and we both looked at each other like, "WTF was THAT about?" The repairman said that even if he did all that there as still no guarantee it would fix the problem. I agreed. He then recommended I contact Lowe's too what they could do, if anything. I thanked him for his time and told him that he could put an order in for the parts and if Lowe's can do anything then I would call him to let him know. He left and I called Lowe's.
I spoke to the department manager for appliances. I'll called the managed by his initials - J.D. I spoke to J.D. that afternoon and explained the situation. J.D said two things that stuck with me. The first was, "My wife would have called us sooner as it's apparent you bought a lemon." The second was, "We'll replace it for free unless the new unit you get is a higher end." I thanked him and he said he'll called back once he spoke with his main manager about the situation.
The next day, yesterday, I had some shopping to do at Lowes when I remembered about the dishwasher. I asked for J.D. and he was in the store and so I got to speak to him. He said yes, I could exchange the unit for the exact one but he wouldn't recommend Whirlpool to me again. He also said that I could return it, get my refund (of over $400) and apply it a different dishwasher but if it was a higher end then we'd simply pay the difference. He left me with his second in charge who spoke with me further to help me choose a dishwasher. I like the Bosche but it was nearly $700. The new person helping me, I'll call him by his initials - M.W. - also told me that if I ended up getting that model I could get an additional 10% off. I thanked him and told him that I would have to bring my husband in an hour to make our final choice.
At 7 PM we returned and the hubby also liked the Bosche so that is what we choose. We went home to bring the dishwasher back and by 8:30 we had the new one paid for. It was an additional $311 with an extended warranty (an additional $70). We were given 10% off the total so we saved around $90.
Thank you goes to Lowes and the managers for giving us a refund on that lemon dishwasher despite the fact it had been (by that time) over a year since we bought it. And boo to Whirlpool who wouldn't exchange a defective unit. I'll never buy Whirlpool again after this incident with the dishwasher since every single Whirlpool appliance we've bought (including two washer machines and two dryers over the course of 10 years) have all died less then three years of owning them except in the case of the dishwasher since technically it died within nine months of owning it.