Whistleblower regularly gets calls and emails from people betrayed by their new washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators and dryers. One woman told me ice cubes were shooting out of her new fridge at such a velocity that she won't let her grandson in the kitchen. Techicians come out again and again, fixing the same problem without success.
One of these unhappy customers is Anne, who's a spry 87. When she paid $600 for a new dishwasher recently, she expected the thing to last. But in the first two months, she had to call the technician twice when it left the glasses smudged and dirty. The fixes didn't work, and she wanted a new dishwasher. The retailer said she'd have to pay the delivery charge to get a replacement, even though it's under warranty.
Minnesota's lemon law says a manufacturer must replace a car after four failed attempts to fix the same defect, one failed attempt to fix a breakdown of steering or brakes, or a car that's been out of service for 30 business days because of warranty-covered repairs.
Should there be a lemon law for major appliances?
