Frigdaire Refrigerator Problems

I have just completed a nearly three week saga of Frigidaire refrigerator problems. Readers will expect Fae to be here to spill some tea on the issue.

Buying a new refrigerator is a big deal. Back in July of 2024, my old fridge gave up the ghost. It was at least 10 years old. The freezer stopped freezing. After inadvertently giving myself food poisoning a time or two, I found myself in the market for a new refrigerator. If you haven’t been shopping for a fridge recently, let me tell you: They’re expensive. The fancier ones, the ones with the nice French doors and bottom freezers are upwards of $3k. And mama didn’t have that kind of money in the summer of 2024, folks. So what I ended up with is this model: Frigidaire 18.3-cu ft Top-Freezer Refrigerator ( EasyCare Stainless Steel )

It wasn’t $3k, more like $800. But that is still a lot of money. I haven’t been too happy with this fridge, to be honest. It’s smaller than the one I had before, which was admittedly too big for my constructed-in-the-1960s house’s galley kitchen. But while the actual unit fits in the space provided better, the actual floorspace of the inside sucks. It’s not even that much smaller cubic feet wise than the previous fridge I had, but it just seems tiny. And with the fridge on the bottom it’s hard to see into and find things. I know, a privileged problem to have. But still a problem.

Gasp No… Refrigerator Problems

All my grumbling about the new refrigerator turned into much more than grumbling three weeks ago. That’s when my practically new, purchased in July of 2024 fridge stopped cooling. What the ever loving crap is that, right? I put some bottles of water in the freezer in the morning and by 5 pm I noticed they were still liquid. Um hello? Cue the mad scramble to get any frozen and perishable things into coolers, and friends’ freezers.

Everything Breaks on a Weekend

The refrigerator is still under the standard year manufacturer warranty since, ya know, July 2024 purchase. I hoped fixing it would be a quick turnaround. Get a service company out to repair it, bing bop bam.

Of course, the fridge stopped working on a Saturday. Everything breaks on a weekend, not on a work day at a time when customer service is open. As an aside, Frigidaire’s weekend phone message doesn’t even state their business hours. The recording just tells you to call back during them.

Anyway, I was already pissed and then I had to wait until Monday to call customer service, where it ended up being impossible to get someone on the phone ever. I called several times, it gave me an estimated wait time, and after holding it would click and ring once before the line went dead. Still connected, but no sound and no hold music, just a dead line. After that happened twice, I turned to their customer service chat.

I Hate Customer Service Chat

Frigidaire’s customer service chat is like many companies these days, where you first have to “chat” with an AI virtual assistant to ascertain your issue or rather, become frustrated enough to ask for a representative enough times so your case is elevated to the priority level needed to maybe, possibly, chat with a real person. My customer service chat was frustrating because it took absolutely forever to relay messages. A chat is supposed to go faster than talking on the phone, right? I digress. My service was scheduled for that Friday. So I thought…

Authorized Service Company

Turns out that Frigidaire can’t actually schedule service repairs. So Tuesday, the 25th of March I got a call from the actual service company and was told that basically Friday was a no-go. On the 26th, I got a text telling me they had to order parts for the repair. They would call me to actually schedule the repair after the part arrives in their warehouse. Wait 3-7 business days. With no fridge.

Grumbling, my kid carts the tiny little dorm room fridge up from the basement because it seems like this isn’t going to be a quick fix at all.

Radio Silence

On April 3rd, 13 days after the refrigerator stopped working, I texted the service company for an update. A representative called me back on Friday, April 4th, to schedule the appointment.

My Frigidaire Refrigerator Problems are OVER

The repair person came today and fixed my refrigerator’s issue in less than 20 minutes. The authorized service company did a great job. While it took a while to get the part, it was an okay experience working with them.

It’s the timer that had stopped working. The timers is the part of the fridge that clicks over to the defrost cycle before returning to cooling. Makes sense because I hadn’t heard the compressor come on at all since Saturday, the 22nd of March.

However, while they were here fixing the fridge, I learned an interesting factoid.

Spill the Tea, Sis

The TEA is that Frigidaire knows the timer is faulty. Frigidaire knows these units shipped with a bad part. And instead of issuing a recall, which would put the onus on Frigidaire to fix. Frigidaire is owned by Electrolux, a large multinational company.

Electrolux is proud of its market position in appliances under the Frigidaire brand. From an annual review from 2019:

Strong market position with around 14% share in core appliances in 2019, predominantly under the Frigidaire brand. The brand has a 100-year heritage and targets consumers who value affordable solutions.

Customers Eat the Costs

So, instead of a huge multinational company that could literally write off these costs, and also create jobs to employ repair technicians and take ownership of its problems, they want customers to eat the cost of repairs instead. They know what will happen because they ship these units with bad timers and just let them fail. The repair burden is placed on their customers and not them.

That is SHITTY BUSINESS, folks.

If it’s your business plan to not recall a part you know is bad so your customers have to pay to repair it you are in the wrong. Frigidaire and Electrolux are in the wrong here. You’re in the wrong.

Frigidaire Refrigerator Problems Have An Easy Solution

Recall the timer, contract with more authorized service companies to fix them, have them stock the parts so it doesn’t take 3-7 business days to have a knowingly faulty part delivered, and BUILD CUSTOMER LOYALTY. It’s such a no-brainer for me.

Companies can write off or deduct expenses related to recalling their products on their taxes. This includes costs for product retrieval, repair, replacement, and advertising. You know who can’t? Their customers.

Money is Tight

Since 2020, my finances have gotten tighter and tighter. Ends used to meet. Do you remember those days? Since starting teaching, I’ve been lucky to survive on a single income with a child to raise. Also as a public school teacher, it’s fortuitous that my salary increases as I gain experience.

All that to say that when I had to buy a new fridge, I went with a name that literally has COLD AIR in their name: Frigidaire. But now after everything I know they suck. Their customer service is slow and inefficient. It was 18 days from the time my fridge stopped working until it was fixed.

Woe is Me

I think people should know about this, is all. Trust my loud mouth is here to talk about it. Frigidaire refrigerator problems are not just my problem; it’s a problem they should take ownership of and fix.