A refrigerator is a big purchase. You’ve spent hundreds of dollars on it, and you expect it to work. The manufacturer usually provides a warranty—but sometimes, even when the fridge breaks, they won’t fix it. Our attorneys have handled lawsuits involving broken refrigerators, and we may be able to use warranties to make sure you can get the repairs you need—or get compensated for your damages. If you’ve tried to get a refrigerator company to honor their warranty but they’ve refused, Click Here to Submit Your Claim. We may be able to help. We don’t charge for consultations or for case evaluations.
Customers usually come to us after they’ve gone in circles trying to get their fridge fixed. It’s not uncommon for people to spend months going back and forth with a company trying to get a simple repair, and in the meantime, they’re living without one of the most important appliances in their house. This isn’t fair, and it isn’t right – if someone gave you a warranty, they need to honor it.
If you’ve been trying to get a company to honor their warranty and can’t, we’re happy to talk to you about your options. Make sure to save any proof you have that you contacted them – any e-mails, proof of any phone calls in your phone records, letters, or anything else that shows that you gave them a chance to repair it. If you have any advertising materials you saw when you bought the refrigerator, it could help too. We can look over your contract and any other documents and see what rights you have and whether you can take legal action.
Breach of warranty lawsuits are common. In a case against Whirlpool brought by attorneys in Walnut Creek, California, a breach of warranty claim was allowed to go forward where Whirlpool allegedly sold refrigerators that claimed they met Energy Star requirements, but actually didn’t. Dei Rossi v. Whirlpool Corp., No. 2:12-cv-00125, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153682 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 24, 2013). Under this kind of warranty, a company promises a refrigerator has some feature that it actually doesn’t. You may not even realize that you had a warranty, but under the law, when a company promises to you that a product will work in a certain way, often they’ve created a warranty and they have to honor it.
Your warranty might also come from a home warranty company, not the manufacturer. Many people buy plans like these—for a fee, the home warranty companies promise to fix everything in your home. But often these companies try to find reasons to deny coverage. In a case in Houston, Texas, a plaintiff sued ServiceMaster and American Home Shield of Texas when they denied coverage for the refrigerator in his guest house. Richardson v. Am. Home Shield of Tex., Inc., No. H-05-4029, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31794 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 7, 2006). The plaintiff alleged that the “warranty plan covered systems and appliances in both his main residence and his guest house, including multiple refrigerators, and that his annual premium was about $ 810.00. On September 15, 2005, the refrigerator in Thompson’s guest house stopped working. When Thompson called AHS, the call center refused to process his request for service stating that the guest house refrigerator was not a covered claim because the appliance was not located in his main house.”
Lots of companies that sell home warranty plans, and some are better than others. Sometimes the plans are fraudulent entirely, and the company will just refuse to cover anything. Customers call in, they file a claim, and the company makes up technicalities to avoid paying. Even when the company’s policy is a complete sham, it can take years and years (if ever) for the government to do anything about it.
In the meantime, you can do something, because most states have laws that prohibit deceptive or unfair business practices. In California, for example, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act gives consumers rights to sue when a product was sold deceptively, and the Unfair Competition Law lets you sue over any unfair business practice. In Texas, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act is considered one of the strongest consumer laws in the country. And in Georgia, the Fair Business Practices Act gives consumers a tool to enforce their rights.
You may or may not have a breach of warranty claim, but we don’t charge for case evaluations. Click Here to Submit Your Claim. We handle lawsuits by consumers against both manufacturers of refrigerators and companies that sell warranty plans for your home but don’t honor them, and we can help you determine if you have a valid breach of warranty claim.