Whirlpool Class Action: AquaLift Ovens Fail to Work as Advertised

A Florida woman who bought a Whirlpool oven with an AquaLift self-cleaning mechanism says the feature fails to perform as advertised.

Plaintiff Toby Schechner claims that Whirlpool, and its subsidiary companies, falsely advertise their AquaLift-equipped ovens as being able to clean themselves, when in fact the mechanism has little or no effect on baked-on oven debris.

According to the Whirlpool class action lawsuit, the company says its AquaLift technology uses an exclusive coating on the interior of the oven that uses water and heat to dislodge soils from underneath, making the debris easy to wipe off.

AquaLift was purportedly designed to be an alternative to older self-cleaning mechanisms that use high levels of heat to bake off debris, the lawsuit states.

Whirlpool allegedly offers the AquaLift mechanism on ovens sold under the company’s own brand name and those of its subsidiaries Maytag, KitchenAid and Jenn-Air.

Schechner says that in November 2014 she bought a Whirlpool electric oven equipped with AquaLift. When she tried cleaning it using the AquaLift feature according to the instructions in the user’s manual, she says it “left debris, stains, and cooking grease on the bottom, sidewalls, and door” of her oven.

The debris remained even after she ran it through three additional cycles, she claims.

Whirlpool allegedly attempted three separate service calls in trying to fix Schechner’s oven and all three attempts were failures. The plaintiff says that during these three attempts, the service providers told her that everyone complains about the AquaLift, that the service providers receive calls about AquaLift all the time, and that AquaLift simply does not work.

Repeated calls to Whirlpool Customer Service got Schechner no resolution, she says. Ultimately, the lawsuit states that a Whirlpool representative told Schechner that if the AquaLift feature does not work, she should buy some cleaning supplies and clean it herself.

Apparently, Schechner is not alone in her trouble with the AquaLift feature. Her Whirlpool class action lawsuit quotes several negative customer reviews of the feature from various Internet forums.

In review after review, purchasers of AquaLift-equipped ovens say the feature had little or no effect, and that they ended up having to scrub their ovens clean by hand, according to the lawsuit.

If certified by the Court, Schechner’s proposed Class will encompass all persons who purchased an AquaLift-equipped oven under the brands Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid or Jenn-Air. She also proposes to represent a subclass of such consumers who purchased their ovens in Florida.

Schechner seeks an award of damages and disgorgement of profits, plus court costs and attorneys’ fees. She also seeks a court order requiring Whirlpool to cease the allegedly false advertising campaign for AquaLift and begin a corrective advertising campaign.

The plaintiff is represented by E. Powell Miller and Sharon S. Almonrode of The Miller Law Firm PC; Samuel H. Rudman, Mark S. Reich, Jordan D. Mamorsky, Paul J. Geller, Stuart A. Davidson and Christopher C. Martins of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP; and Scott A. Harford of Harford PC.

The Whirlpool AquaLift False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Toby Schechner v. Whirlpool Corp., Case No. 2:16-cv-12409, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.