Emily Sortor  |  August 10, 2018

Category: Consumer News

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A class action lawsuit says a defect in Whirlpool French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators prevents them from cooling properly.

Plaintiffs Justin DeFillippo and Derek Scachetti claim that they both purchased French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators made by Whirlpool that possess the same defect. 

The plaintiffs say Whirlpool knows that the refrigerators are defective but did not attempt to compensate consumers. They claim that they were financially injured by the company.

The Whirlpool refrigerator class action alleges that this defect is present in many French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators made by Whirlpool, and that the refrigerators are marketed under a number of brand names, including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Maytag.

In the Whirlpool fridge defect class action lawsuit the two consumers seek damages for themselves and all others who purchased defective French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators.

DeFillippo claims that he purchased a Kitchen Aid French Door Bottom Mount refrigerator made by Whirlpool in September 2015 for around $3,000 in Brooklyn New York. He says he began experiencing a problem with the refrigerator as soon as one week after purchasing it.

Allegedly, his Whirlpool refrigerator contains a defect that causes frost to develop on the evaporator and impedes the airflow in the freezer, causing the refrigerator to not cool and freeze food as advertised.

DeFillippo says he contacted Whirlpool after he initially experienced the defect, and was told to unplug the refrigerator and plug it back in. Allegedly, this appeared to resolve the issue temporarily but did not permanently repair the problem.

The Whirlpool refrigerator class action lawsuit alleges that DeFillippo then experienced the defect again a year later, and was again told to unplug the refrigerator and plug it back in, which only temporarily resolved the problem.

DeFillippo claims that over the last 26 months, he has experienced the defect on many occasions, and has contacted Whirlpool numbers times. Each time, he says he is offered no solution other than to unplug the refrigerator and plug it back in. Allegedly, Whirlpool has made no effort to repair the refrigerator or to offer a longer-term solution.

Scachetti says he purchased a home in 2017 that included a Whirlpool Goldstar refrigerator, manufactured in 2012. Allegedly, the refrigerator stopped working in June 2018, because the evaporation system was not working properly.

The plaintiff says he contacted Whirlpool and a Whirlpool technician came to Scachetti’s house, told him Whirlpool knew of the defect, and charged him $96 as a service fee to install a new evaporation system.

The Whirlpool class action lawsuit claims the plaintiffs were financially injured by the defect of the Whirlpool refrigerator. They say that had they known that the refrigerators were defective, they would not have purchased them or would not have paid as much for it. The plaintiffs argue that many consumers feel the same way about their Whirlpool refrigerator purchase.

Additionally, the Whirlpool defect class action lawsuit alleges that the plaintiffs were injured because they were required to expend costs and effort to attempt to remedy the problem, because the refrigerator spoiled the food kept inside, and because in some cases, the defect caused a significant amount of water to pool on the floor.

The Whirlpool refrigerator cooling defect class action lawsuit claims that Whirlpool knew of the defect but did not warn consumers, and advertised the refrigerator as if it was effective and worked well. Allegedly, Whirlpool intentionally concealed the defect from consumers, while profiting from a product that did not perform as advertised.

To support their claim that Whirlpool knew of the defect and did not attempt to remedy the problem or compensate consumers, the Whirlpool class action lawsuit notes that the Whirlpool technician that Scachetti spoke to admitted that Whirlpool knew of the problem.

Additionally, the Whirlpool class action lawsuit claims that the company itself publishes information to internal service providers that details the defect, and provides them a method with remedying the problem if a consumer complains of the defect.

Nonetheless, the company has allegedly made no effort to repair the refrigerators or change the design before they reach the market, causing consumers to purchase defective refrigerators and be financially injured by their purchase.

DeFillippo and Scachetti are represented by Joseph LoPiccolo and John Poulos of Poulos LoPiccolo PC and by Bruce H. Nagel and Randee Matloff of Nagel Rice LLP.

The Whirlpool French Door Bottom Mount Refrigerator Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Justin DeFillippo, et al. v. Whirlpool Corporation, Case No. 8:18-cv-12523, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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518 thoughts onWhirlpool Class Action Says French Door Refrigerators are Defective

  1. Gail Wright says:

    About 3 yrs ago I purchased a Whirlpool French Door Refrigerator from Sears. It took 3 refrigerators before I found one that worked. Should have forgot Whirlpool right then but store clerk talked me into trying just 1 more. I constantly have to unplug & replug refrigerator because the evaporator fan I was told is freezing up. This makes the fridge part not cool properly even though the freezer is cold. Called Whirlpool the first time which was within 6 months of purchased & told to unplug it & then replug it. No one ever mentioned that there was a problem with these as I had purchased a Extended Warranty which also ran out about 5 months ago – to renew it was going to cost almost $200 a year – I guess I should have done so. Rally frustrated at refrigerators as the ice maker is now not working properly – having to leave it on Fast Ice to have enough for 2 people. Having to keep a bag of ice in freezer.

  2. Paul Stein says:

    Same problem here. 5 door/drawer $3300 refrigerator. Fortunately, purchased extended warranty. Three repairs already. This week, warranty person called Whirlpool, was told part was redesigned. On order. WRV986FDEM01.

    Too bad. Love the features.

  3. Jane Taylor says:

    I purchased my whirlpool french door refrigerator in November of 2017 from Lowe’s because our old refrigerator/freezer stopped working. I have lost a considerable amount of chickem type products due to this.

  4. Gary Mulvaney says:

    I bought a KitchenAid French door bottom freezer and I’m waiting for it to be delivered are you saying the did not fix the problem

    1. Jared M says:

      We have had similar issue. We bought the Perfect Places 32sf unit by Whirlpool in May 2017 from Homedepot. Within 2 months the fridge stopped working. Over the past year it has been hell between constantly loosing food dealing with Whirlpool who have been rude and blow off scheduled appointments . We have already had several service calls. Last night, the fridge drawers filled with water and water dumped all over the bamboo floors. When my wife called to schedule another service call she was treated very poorly and was told if they tried to help her it would cause a breach of contract. It sounds like more shell games. These are all known issues, when our fridge originally failed we went into Homedepot, the demo units were on the show floor, however the put big orange pieces of paper over the price tag. When we asked about it the rep said they are not to sell anymore units. We would like to file suit, we have records and pictures.

  5. Albert Ashton says:

    I hope this comes as a single door to with the refrigerator on top and the freezer on the bottom bottom they don’t heal properly and that’s the bottom gets Frozen like a brick and you have to take a rubber mallet to break up the ice in there and I know this is the same kind of model that’s on the French doors 2 and Whirlpool doesn’t fix anything so add me to the list.

  6. Jay Mathews says:

    My Frigidaire is doing the same thing. Already wasted $137 for new control board. I would also like to be part of the class action suit.

  7. Debra Gouveia says:

    They knew it was defective still sold to people.

  8. Trevor King says:

    It would be helpful if the model number and year of manufacture was indicated in the article

  9. Glenn says:

    It would be helpful to include the date range of manufacturing so consumers will know if their appliance is potentially defective.

  10. Andy M. says:

    This exact same problem is happening with Maytag bottom mount fridges (Whirlpool purchased Maytag), they even have a replacement part, but guess what, instead of contacting consumers, they wait for them to call in AFTER the damage can happen to flooring.

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