ps99472
New member
So my vent grille on my Kitchen Aid microwave fell down. As in, it detached from the main unit and fell to the floor via gravity. Luckily nothing was in its way as it made its way to the center of the Earth before my kitchen tiles stopped it on its way. My wife had just reheated some not so delicious food via nuking, closed the nuke door like numerous other times, except when she walked away, there was a loud clatter as a seemingly immovable object falls to the floor. Luckily she was not in its way. I inspect the heavy long piece of plastic on my kitchen floor. Looks like two 1/4" metal screws hold the vent grille in place via some flimsy plastic washer tabs. Huh? So the fab engineers at KA designed PLASTIC tabs as the weakest link on a big piece of vent grille over a heat source? This is the over the range micro with hood combo. Not so smart. But it gets better.
I call KA via their 800 number. Get someone in Atlanta, didn't sound too bright with a thick hillbilly accent. She had me on hold for a long time as she researches the problem. Luckily my unreliable AT&T signal decide to crap out and dropped my call. I redial and get another hillbilly from Tennessee. But at least he sounds smart in his accent. I describe the problem. He offers to send out a tech at MY cost. I say this is a safety issue, the big piece of plastic fell from 7 ft in the air to the floor. Luckily it didn't hit anything on the way down. What if my wife was cooking at the stove when it fell? He seemed unmoved and said you are out of warranty and will have to pay for full cost. He even had the nerve to say the plastic is not that heavy. I'm stunned at this point, we're talking about a thick, piece of plastic falling in your lap as you stand over the stove, nothing bad can happen right? I said why don't I speak with somebody in charge and maybe they'll have a better tone? He defiantly states we all have the same policy and that I will be wasting my time. I say try me (of course "professionally"). I get someone from the "safety" department who seem to care more. He asked me like 4 times that there were no bodily injury nor property damage due to the incident. I answer honestly. He offers to send a new one at NO cost. I ask if they had any reports of this (there seems to be quite a few via internet) and if there were any recalls. Of course not. I asked if the replacement has any modifications (i.e. reinforced tabs) so this won't happen again. He says no. So in about 5-7 years, be prepared for a big headache if you close your micro door.
So why does this take so long and so much effort for me to not even get what I want? Free replacement is nice, but still the same defective replacement. Paid so much for these fancy Kitchen Aid upgrades when i got my new home few years ago and they don't even last. Of couse YMMV, but c'mon for the price Kitchen Aid is commanding, make a better product.
For people buying new, make sure you look over your appliance installs. They're only as good as the skill of the installer and more then likely you won't be standing behind them as they do their work. My vent grille falling is a combination of factors that made it possible. Plastic tabs, over a fire, fatigue, and possibly poor install. I noticed the micro external shell seems jammed into the opening, as the external border is not straight. This could've exacerbated the fatigue on the connection points, but when I googled my problem and found other similar incidents, I think this is more of a design problem.
*END RANT*
I call KA via their 800 number. Get someone in Atlanta, didn't sound too bright with a thick hillbilly accent. She had me on hold for a long time as she researches the problem. Luckily my unreliable AT&T signal decide to crap out and dropped my call. I redial and get another hillbilly from Tennessee. But at least he sounds smart in his accent. I describe the problem. He offers to send out a tech at MY cost. I say this is a safety issue, the big piece of plastic fell from 7 ft in the air to the floor. Luckily it didn't hit anything on the way down. What if my wife was cooking at the stove when it fell? He seemed unmoved and said you are out of warranty and will have to pay for full cost. He even had the nerve to say the plastic is not that heavy. I'm stunned at this point, we're talking about a thick, piece of plastic falling in your lap as you stand over the stove, nothing bad can happen right? I said why don't I speak with somebody in charge and maybe they'll have a better tone? He defiantly states we all have the same policy and that I will be wasting my time. I say try me (of course "professionally"). I get someone from the "safety" department who seem to care more. He asked me like 4 times that there were no bodily injury nor property damage due to the incident. I answer honestly. He offers to send a new one at NO cost. I ask if they had any reports of this (there seems to be quite a few via internet) and if there were any recalls. Of course not. I asked if the replacement has any modifications (i.e. reinforced tabs) so this won't happen again. He says no. So in about 5-7 years, be prepared for a big headache if you close your micro door.
So why does this take so long and so much effort for me to not even get what I want? Free replacement is nice, but still the same defective replacement. Paid so much for these fancy Kitchen Aid upgrades when i got my new home few years ago and they don't even last. Of couse YMMV, but c'mon for the price Kitchen Aid is commanding, make a better product.
For people buying new, make sure you look over your appliance installs. They're only as good as the skill of the installer and more then likely you won't be standing behind them as they do their work. My vent grille falling is a combination of factors that made it possible. Plastic tabs, over a fire, fatigue, and possibly poor install. I noticed the micro external shell seems jammed into the opening, as the external border is not straight. This could've exacerbated the fatigue on the connection points, but when I googled my problem and found other similar incidents, I think this is more of a design problem.
*END RANT*