I suppose major appliances are bound to fail at one time or another. When they do, you would expect the manufacturer to repair them in a timely manner and stand behind their warranty and abide by applicable law. My horrible LG experience demonstrates that this is a company with a complete lack of concern for the customer, an extremely poor repair network and repair process, and willingness to avoid honoring their warranty obligations.

After the first use, the WM2501H steam washer was vibrating to the point where I could see the drum oscillating by 2-3 inches and I could hear components within the machine loudly banging against each other. After nine service calls of repair personnel sent by LG from three different locations, they still couldn't fix it and refused to replace it or refund my purchase price.

After the fourth unsuccessful service call an LG service supervisor offered to exchange the unit. Two weeks later, LG said there is no way they would exchange it. Rather they said even though the symptoms were observed by their repair people (and are on video) if the service technician cannot identify something to fix, then the problem is not with the machine, therefore the washer is not broken.

Conclusions reached by various LG repair personnel that looked at the washer and attempted to fix it indicated that (1) the stator needed to be replaced (the next repairman said it didn't), (2) the leveling screw was broken (the next repairman said it wasn't), (3) it was designed to oscillate that way so that the clothes wouldn't stick together and finally (4) that my house design was faulty. These excuses illustrate either a lack of capability of the LG repair personnel or a determination by the company to avoid replacing the unit or refunding the purchase price. In case you are wondering, the problem was not a function of leveling. The machine was "re-leveled" at almost every service call. When I reiterated the warranty obligations to LG supervisors at their headquarters, they arrogantly replied "Go ahead, elevate it."

I eventually got Home Depot (not LG) to refund the purchase price and I am grateful for that. I purchased a GE steam washer to replace the LG and it has not exhibited any of the vibration problems and appears to be a slightly better at cleaning clothes.

The bottom line is if you buy an LG appliance you better hope that it doesn't break. And they do break. The dryer failed within hours of returning the washer. LG sent a repair person who identified a malfunctioning component and supposedly ordered a replacement from LG. When I called after eight days the authorized repair facility said they still didn't have the component and didn't want to fix it.