Rotten and wasted. A valley family is forced to throw away food when their refrigerator stops working. They tried getting it fixed. But when they got the runaround, they reached out to Contact 13's Call For Action.
"Very, very frustrating. Oh, they weren't listening at all. No, they were just passing me around," says Walter Johnson.
He was sick and tired of dealing with customer service. It all started during an inspection for his brand new house. Walter noticed a problem with the refrigerator.
"It was about a 2-inch dent in the door," says Walter.
The fridge was replaced by the time Walter and his family moved in. But then a new issue popped up.
"Within a week, half of the lights went out inside the refrigerator," says Walter.
He also noticed it wasn't getting cold enough to keep his food fresh. A technician came by the house and got the refrigerator lights working again. But the temperature inside the fridge never got any better.
"So after about a week, I called them and told them, it's still the same temperature," says Walter.
Another technician came by, but Walter says he only made things worse.
"He changed a part in it, and I lost the freezer also," says Walter.
Food went bad and had to be thrown out. Tired of repairs that weren't working, Walter asked for a new refrigerator. But the best thing customer service could offer was another repair job.
"And I said no. I don't want to do that anymore," says Walter.
He asked for a supervisor but couldn't get hold of anyone with any authority.
"So I just said hey, I got to call Channel 13, see if I can get some help. And immediately I got help," says Walter.
Our Call For Action volunteers put Walter in touch with a manager.
"It was the first time I had anybody of any power in the company to say okay, let's take a look at it," says Walter.
When one last attempt to fix the problem didn't work, they gave Walter a brand new refrigerator.
"So we did get the refrigerator in about 4 days. And they set it up. Everything's working good now," says Walter.
So here's the Contact 13 bottom line. When you have a complaint against a company, always contact them in writing. Send an email or certified letter. That way you have record of your dispute.
