When Helen Maurer cooks meals, she makes enough to store for later. That got harder to do when her refrigerator acted up.
She said the freezer wouldn't defrost properly. Icicles sometimes clung to the inside of the freezer door. A few times, so much ice built up internally that the freezer fan would hit it, making quite a racket.
Maurer figured she was protected because the fridge, a General Electric model, was less than a year old and still under the manufacturer's warranty. She said service technicians checked it four times in June and July.
On one visit, a repairman "must have gotten a whole bucket of ice out," she said.
Parts were replaced but the problem persisted. Maurer's frustration grew, especially when a technician told her not to keep as much in the freezer and in the refrigerator so it would work better.
"I was told I cannot put anything in front of the circulation holes that are in the freezer," she said. "I have a freezer, but yet I don't have a freezer."
That meant storing some food elsewhere. Some went to a relative's house next door. Some went in the spare fridge in her basement, down steep and narrow steps. That isn't an easy trip for an 83-year-old. Just keeping track of the food became a chore.
"I don't even know where anything is," Maurer told me when I visited her home in Bethlehem in late August.
She was tired of dealing with repairmen and having to wait around for them to arrive. She wondered why, after four repair calls, GE hadn't offered her a new refrigerator. She wondered if it would have been cheaper to replace than to keep repairing.
In late July, her manufacturer's warranty ended. She had purchased an extended warranty from Lowe's when she bought the fridge, and she had a fifth repair visit under that warranty in mid-August. Maurer told me new parts were needed but they weren't immediately available.
That's when she couldn't take it anymore and she called the Watchdog.
"I'd take even a partial refund," Maurer told me. "Just get rid of this monstrosity."
I contacted Lowe's and GE. Lowe's didn't get back to me but a GE spokeswoman responded in five minutes and said the company would follow up with Maurer.
Four days later, she had a new refrigerator.
I asked GE why it hadn't replaced her fridge sooner if she qualified for one under the warranty, but I didn't get a direct answer.
"We look at each owner's situation independently and do our best to resolve every owner's situation to their satisfaction," spokeswoman Kim Freeman said.
Maurer told me the GE representative who called her after I asked the company about her problem was "very apologetic." She told the representative she would rather have a refund than a replacement refrigerator because she wasn't interested in having another GE.
"He said he understands my problem but that's all that he can do," Maurer said. "If I don't take the refrigerator, that's it."
It was delivered in early September.
If you're having problems with an appliance that still is under warranty, don't wait until the warranty is close to expiring to do something about it. Have it looked at right away. Document the problem with photos or video. Keep repair receipts.
There isn't a Lemon Law for appliances as there is for vehicles, where you may be entitled to a replacement if repeated repairs cannot fix a problem. But there is federal law, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, that offers some protection.
It doesn't require manufacturers or retailers to provide written warranties for products they make or sell, but sets terms for those that do. Warranties must be clearly marked as either full or limited; provide information in a clear, easy-to-read document; and be available for consumers to review prior to purchasing an item.
A breach of warranty is a violation of federal law, which theoretically makes it possible for a consumer to sue. The law encourages companies, though, to try to resolve warranty disputes outside of court through mediation or arbitration. Companies may require customers to go through that process before suing.
You shouldn't make a major purchase without getting a written warranty. Take the time to read it beforehand. After making a purchase, file the warranty with the purchase receipt in case you need them later.