We bought a Whirlpool top freezer refrigerator in late 2001. It worked fine for 5 years but then 1 month after the warranty expired, so did the fridge.

We had a Whirlpool-trained repair person come out to replace the relay (which was in fact no good); with the new part, the fridge worked for about 10 minutes until the compressor stopped again (and was extremely hot to the touch). This happened 2 days before Christmas dinner (which we had to cancel). We lost over $300 in food.

While the fridge did last through the warranty (compressor system is guaranteed for 5 years), there's nothing like having it fail immediately after the warranty expired. I called Whirlpool twice and tried to have them refer me to a manager or someone who was empowered to help and rant some small grace period or at least give us some credit toward the purchase of a new Whirlpool, but they refused. My parents' had 2 fridges, each of which lasted well over 30 years with ZERO problems, and I hear that most new fridges are expected to last maybe 8 to 10 years and in many cases, much less. The fact that a 1 year warranty seems to be the norm for the industry bears out the fact that most large appliance companies know their products are lousy.

Where the hell is their pride in what they manufacture? They ought to be ashamed of what they produce and of their unwillingness to do the right thing. It sure seems like there is a strong market out there for someone to charge more for a reliable fridge from a company that's willing to stand behind their product. Wouldn't a 10 year warranty be great? I'd much rather pay more for something no-frills that I can count on than a glitzed-up digital piece of crap that keeps breaking.