Well, it depends. KA apparently now uses A&E as one of their service providers and A&E has a terrible reputation. There used to be a long thread about them on the appliance forum. On the other hand, KA has other service providers - their website used to let you search by zip code. I needed one minor warranty call a number of years ago and it wasn't A&E and it worked out fine. Since then, I've needed one service call and used a private appliance repair service.

I will never purchase another Kitchen Aid product, due to the bad customer service I received after buying an entire kitchen of appliances from them.
Our fridge has a water dispenser, it also lists the amount of H2O that is dispensed. Well, it was listed as having dispensed, say, 8oz when it had only dispensed 4oz. While it was still under warranty, I thought I should get this fixed. The repairman they sent out said it was because I had low water pressure. So the fridge doesn't really "measure" anything, it gauges it by "time". That's their first mistake. And my water pressure may be a tad low, but it's not that low.

Anyway, they charged me for this visit since it did not qualify under warranty. WAIT just a stinkin' minute - I do not know how your fridge is engineered, but I expected it to measure properly and called for service because it wasn't measuring properly.
I called the appliance repair place, I called KA. They would not budge - I have to pay nearly $100. I never paid and haven't heard from them but it I fear they are lurking and ready to ruin my credit with a black mark. We will see.

I won't even mention that we rarely use the water dispenser and rarely use the ice, and already a big red light that says "Filter needs to be replaced" comes on for everyone to see. That really ticks me because I know the filter isn't dirty yet.

I received the WORST customer service of my life from KA, so buyer beware. There are better products out there with better customer service, IMO.

I'm no fan of KA (Whirlpool) customer service, but as far as I can tell, they make nearly everything, so what are you going to do?

berardmr, I was not aware that they could charge you a service call if the appliance was under warranty. That's absurd! They were aware of what you were calling in for ... did they tell you ahead of time that you would be charged?

Isn't there a reset button somewhere for the water filter? My GE had that red light, but it could be reset. Have you tried just removing the filter and reinstalling it? I, too, never use the water from my fridge and those red warning lights are highly annoying.

I have had KitchenAid refrigerators and dishwashers for years, and overall have been pleased. With our new refrigerator, I thought the icemaker was a bit slow so I called KA and they arranged for service (under warranty). The repairman came out quickly, diagnosed the problem and fixed it in a short time. I was extremely pleased with customer service at KA and with the warranty repair. No charges, and the icemaker is working very well now.

I have had a great experience with their customer service.

I bought a floor model panel ready fridge from Sears Outlet. Two of the rails were slightly bent so I called customer service. They said that since it was a floor model they had to charge me. It was expensive so I asked them if they could help me with the price and the gal said they would send them at no charge.

I was pleasant on the call and so was she. My expectation was not "free" so I was surprised when she made the offer.

I've had a kitchen aid DW in my current home for years, and never had a problem with it. My SIL has had one too for 14 years and it's been great.

Now for the bad news. I'm remodeling a second home, and bought a KA DW because I've always been happy with them. The unit was purchased and sat in the garage for a month or so waiting for the cabinets and counters to be installed. When we hooked up the unit--I think it was late May, discovered that there was damage during delivery. DH knew which part (a pump thingy) was damaged. I called their repair service (KA/Whirpool has outsourced their service to A&E.

First call-- took the info, very nice people. Said that even though we are telling them the part that needs to be replaced, they need to come and make that assessment.

First service call--schedule a service call. The guy came out, and yep, it's the part DH said. So now the guy orders the part.

Part gets mailed to house (mind you this is a 2nd home, so we have to either schedule this stuff when we are in town or get a neighbor/friend to come and take UPS deliveries into the house (first world problem, I know)

Second service call--technician comes out. Turns out the first guy ordered the wrong part. So wasted trip. Technician orders part, again.

2nd delivery--we just arrived at the house Monday. Part was supposed to have been delivered (it was), and we have technician scheduled to come today. But wait--the part was packed in a padded envelope--not a box. And guess what--some of the plastic on the part is cracked off.

Called A&E back. Told them they needed to overnight a replacement part. They can't do that. DH gets on the phone with the company they get the parts from. After 45 minutes, tells me we should be getting the replacement part today and rescheduled the service call for this afternoon.

UPS just came. Other stuff delivered. No part. I call A&E. Well, turns out the part is backordered until late July. I called Kitchenaid and talked to their customer service. Confirmed the part is backordered.

Lesson - It would probably have been better to have bought appliances locally and paid more (although the sales tax in CA is painful). At least that way I could call the store and get them to exchange the unit or something (I ordered the DW from one of the big online retailers).

The customer service people at A&E are very nice, and they seem to be able to schedule service calls quickly. Maybe I'm just having a bad string of luck.

I'd like to let KA know there reputation is suffering as a result of their service, but can't seem to find a way to tell them. (You'd think they'd make it easy for customers to provide feedback..)

I had an experience similar to Anne's, but we went through I think three wrong parts, a morning service call where someone who didn't speak English showed up about 7 pm, another call that was a no show. I finally asked to let me call the repairman I had used before to get a second opinion. They had him come out, but when he went to order the right part, they denied it and said they would not spend any more to repair the machine. I won't let an A&E tech in my home again.

Every experience I have had with their customer service in the last 10 years or so has been on a downhill slope. After that washer "repair" I wouldn't have Kitchenaid or Whirlpool in my kitchen and I will not have any service done by A&E. Period.

Just as a quick follow up to my earlier post. After I wrote this yesterday, I did contact customer service at KitchenAid via email yesterday afternoon. The site promised to respond to me quickly. Got a call this morning from customer service to see what was going on. They are going to see if they can get the part faster. I told them I appreciated the follow up, but the bigger problem they have is the reputation of the service companies they use (A&E in this case). I told her that these types of websites are used by many people to make appliance choices. Not sure it will make any difference. I just know in my world (B2B professional services) we do everything we can to get feedback form clients and do whatever it takes to make clients happy....

I was not impressed by KA and will not buy another KA product. My nightmare was a range, and it was expensive in its day. The glass in the door shattered spontaneously shortly after delivery. The painted trim around the cooktop dinged off if a pot so much as brushed it. The knobs were so dangerously placed KA had to retrofit safety slides to go behind them to keep them from being "bumped" on. The oven cooked unevenly and the thermostat was off badly. Customer service was lackadaisical at best. I haven't even learned to use my new E-lux oven -- haven't even had time to read the manual -- and already I can bake better with it. I will die never owning another KA appliance, trust me. Just my .02.

I will never EVER buy another KA appliance because of their horrible customer service. Never. Ever.

Last month I had a KA dishwasher nightmare. Machine is only 8 months old. Water leaking from underneath. Call A/E for repair on a Sat., they are very nice on the phone. Were the phone a long time trying to figure out the problem (which my husband already had figured out) so the correct part could be with the tech when he came on Monday. On Monday, tech says he has to order a new pump and motor-doesn't carry that in his van and says the person on the phone never should have tried to figure out what the problem was. The return date he gives me is two weeks away. Two weeks!! I call A/E trying to have the part express delivered....everything anyone (I kept getting transferred to other people) told me would happen didn't happen in trying to get this part quickly. Finally when I did receive the part on Friday-called to get appt scheduled for earlier-A/E said they didn't have any earlier available times!! So had to wait a week after receiving the part to get the dishwasher fixed. The customer service department at K/A wasn't any help. My $1200. dishwasher was still under the one year warranty. I was furious I had to be without a dishwasher for so long. Will not buy another Kitchen Aid or deal with A/E again. Or Sears.

When calling KA for service, specifically request that they send someone other than A&E. KA does use other service providers, but for some reason, A&E is always their first choice, even though most everyone hates them.

Jellytoast, thank you for letting us know to ask for a service provider other than A&E. I have a KitchenAid dishwasher.

Ive had a similar experience with my KA dishwasher as Anne2326, only I had 4 visits and wrong parts being shipped. A new dishwasher that was over $1,000 should not be having issues after a few months time. We messed around with this type of horrible service for over 2 months.

I used to be very happy with KitchenAid dishwashers. Not anymore. In fact, I became so fed up that I had my husband remove the thing and we installed matching cabinetry where the dishwasher had been.It created more work and aggravation than it was worth.

It's not my favorite job to wash dishes. In fact I rather hate it, but I have to say my dishes are much cleaner now. They are also washed, dried, and put away in a small amount of time, versus very long wash cycles and having to go back later on to empty the thing.

Our daughter has a fairly new Whirlpool that broke down, was fixed, and now has totally died after a year and a half since purchased.

If I can actually find a dishwasher that works well I will buy one, but so far I am not impressed with any of them.

My Kitchen Aid Experience

In 2008 we completely remodeled the kitchen. We replaced every appliance, with the
exception of the dishwasher, with the top of the line Kitchen Aid appliances
(ceramic stove top, microwave, double convection oven and side-by side
refrigerator and freezer). The side-by
side refrigerator and freezer were built into a space created especially for
them as you can see on the picture below.
After 3 years the ice dispenser started freezing up and was impossible
to remove the storage bin without manually emptying the ice and defrosting the
bind and shoot with a hair dryer! I paid
$200+ to have that repaired. About 6
months later it started freezing up again.
For the next couple of years I was able to free it by using the handle of
a wooden spoon to rod out the ice shoot.
I again paid to have it fixed and they replaced the flapper door. It worked for about 6 months and then I went
back to using the wooden spoon to free it up.
I called Kitchen Aid and they said if I used an authorized repair
company that the repair would be guaranteed.
They gave me some names so I called one and they fixed it about 9 months
ago at a cost again of $200+. About 3
months later it started freezing up again.
I called the repair company and they said that the guarantee was for
only 60 days!!! This
is the worst experience I have had with any appliances in the 45 years that I
have owned a home!! I put the old last refrigerator in the garage and
everything still worked when I gave it away about 4 years ago. No it wasn’t a Kitchen Aid!

I've had a similar experience with Kitchenaid. I built a new home in 2009 and purchased a 42" built-in refrigerator (over $8000). After a few months, the ice maker stopped working. We called for service and a technician made a repair. A few months later, the ice maker stopped working and once again, the technician came out and made another repair. This pattern was repeated no less than eight (8) times! By about the fourth time, the technician was consulting with the Kitchenaid technical person, and between the two of them were recommending repairs. Over the course of the 8 repairs, they had replaced the water tube heater several times, valves, covers, and even the main control circuit board. And yet again, the ice maker failed.

In retrospect and after talking with the local technicians that were relaying information from the Kitchenaid technicians, the problem is very simple. First, the heater in the water tube that fills the ice tray has been failing. Instead of turning on and off, it runs all the time. After a few months, it fails after continuous operation and then the ice line freezes up. After countless hours of visits and thousands of dollars of lost work and repair bills, I've had about enough. I called Kitchenaid one last time because I am about to design a solution that will work. I just wanted to give Kitchenaid and their technicians one last opportunity to deliver a workable solution to the problem that their product is creating. This is not the Space Shuttle, it's a simple appliance with a simple need to keep a water line from freezing up. The associated parts are simple. Something as simple as wiring in a manual switch so that I can control the heater would solve the problem. I can wire that in about ten minutes and if I want to get really fancy, I can use the connectors they use and not even have to splice any wire. All I wanted is for a person with technical expertise to listen to ME, to let ME explain what's been going on from the beginning and to review my thoughts and hopefully propose a solution. It would have taken less than five minutes.

As disappointed as I was that their product was failing, I was even more disappointed that their customer service was unwilling and unable to think through the issue and help develop a reasonable outcome. The customer service rep had a single track response...."We need to have a local service technician come to your house to figure out what's going on". Both the rep and the supervisor stuck to this line of thinking and would not budge. I tried to illustrate the point that we don't need further diagnoses, we have plenty of evidence as to what's going on. But she insisted that I should take another day off of work for the initial visit and at least another additional day for the repair and that somehow the ninth attempt would be successful. If makes me wonder if I went along with it, how many times Kitchenaid would allow this process to continue without changing something (By the way, Einstein once said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result") My lost work alone would have more than paid for this refrigerator (or better yet, would have let me go purchase a Sub-Zero!)

Like the person above or so many others on the Kitchenaid blogs, I've had the unfortunate experience of dealing with Kitchenaid customer service. My experience should give everyone great pause who is considering buying a Kitchenaid, Maytag, Whirlpool, or Jennair. Be very careful before investing your money in a company that demonstrates this sort of corporate culture. I've been inside organizations like this and organizations that function well and I can assure you, you will be much better off having relationships with the latter rather than the former. Don't be fooled by marketing or sales pitches. The products you purchase are remarkably similar and are usually constructed from the same suppliers (steel, insulation, lines, circuit boards, hinges, etc). What makes the difference is the people, and what makes great people are great organizations. When you see this kind of behavior, it is a red flag that something bigger is going on behind the scenes.

My final call to Kitchenaid customer service today was to make sure I gave them every opportunity to show that they stand behind their product and you see the result. Again, I hope you can learn from my experience and choose a company that will serve you well.

starwd4, thank you for sharing. I have not been that happy in the stainless steel mirror image on my Kitchenaid dishwasher that is so difficult to keep clean. Thank you for the warning about their customer service.

Just chiming in to throw another rock at KA. I hate you Kitchenaid.

I also had an awful experience with Kitchenaid and customer service could care less that they have lost yet another loyal customer. Never again! They are not the company that my parents and grandparents raved about - totally went down hill fast.

Do not buy Kitchenaid appliances, they are very expensive and when they stop working, they charge you $159 just to visit your house to review the problem. My 2-drawer undercounter double drawer refrigerator is less than 5 years old, it cost almost $3000 and no longer works. Our Kitchenaid dishwasher bought at the same time recently started making strange noises. Kitchenaid products do not last and they have poor customer service. Stay away!

I'm sorry for the many bad experiences you all have had with KA. I've had great customer service from KitchenAid, time and time again. KA replaced every rack in my dishwasher when it was literally at the end of its 5 year warrantly. Within two days. Every rack and all the little connections that join the racks to the metal glides, and connect the racks to each other. While the rep could not diagnose the problem that caused the racks to fail where they connect to the medal glides that move them in and out of the dishwasher, they were kind.

But let me tell you, on major appliances, buy the extended warranty. For peace of mind, it cannot be beat.

I have been waiting since August 27th for a warranty service for my refrigerator. No one has ever made any effort to contact me with information. We have had no fridge for 11 weeks. Service order SWCN820584E9-1. There is no excuse for Whirlpool to never have at least contacted us with some follow up.

Kitchenaid has gone downhill since it was dissolved and whirlpool took it over. One major thing i learned is that consumer design appliances are getting poorly made. There may be bells and whistles, shiny looking gadgets but you pay for that design. I have a kitchenaid range and it’s been a nightmare. Warranty? Forget about a warranty company when the entire business model is “turn them away”. Ex: $4,000 double oven induction range has cost me $6,000 so far and i will need a new range costing in the end, $9,000. I can get a commercial cadco for 700$. So, you see? Everything is made like crap, parts are over priced and warranty company is a scam.

Additionally, kitchenaid has NO post sales support. NONE. You can only get through to their warranty company. I have called endlessly for technical questions and their only assustance is the warranty company AIG which determines if it can NOT be covered EVEN IF you only have a question. Once you call, your phone number gets logged and if they know you have a kitchenaid product you automatically get switched to the warranty company.

Six years ago I wrote a scathing review of KitchenAid customer service. Since then I purchased a Sub Zero refrigerator and have had the exact opposite experience. Amazing support, you get to talk with a live person, etc. I haven't had any major issues with this new refrigerator but they always send a technician out (free of charge under warranty) and he takes care of the appliance, explains everything to me, etc. This appliance is designed to last 20+ years, KitchenAid, Whirlpool, LG, Samsung and others are good for about 5 years if you're lucky. It's a big investment to purchase a Sub-Zero, but I think in the long run you may find it doesn't cost any more than replacing one of these cheaper brands every 5 years or so.

Well kitchen aid use be part of Hobart brand (commercial kitchen mixers and other food prep machines). I heard from many have older kitchen aids mixers lasted longer have than the newer ones since gone cheap parts. So if have any appliances from begore 1980s they probably hobart parts.

Kitchen Aid does not stand by their warranty. I bought a floor model microwave oven combo. When installed the microwave would not work. I called and scheduled a service repair. The repair man came out and said it was a switch, came back another time with switch, then said it was a fuse, came back with a fuse and then said it was a circuit board...this took about 3 months. Then after several calls to Kitchen aid and the service repair company, another technician was sent out and said the same thing, so there we go again, switch, fuse, board had to be ordered. 6 months have now passed and the microwave is not fixed. I feel they are playing a game with the warranty. I will never again buy a Kitchen Aid product!!!

KitchenAid warranty service is kick the ball down the road until the warranty expires. My new KitchenAid dishwasher has a water splatter problem when the door is opened AFTER the cycle is complete and usually the door is not opened until the next morning (hours later). The water appears to be related to the vent inside the door and the water comes out from the front control panel. Five visits so far where the techs hardly look at the dishwasher and are told what to do via a phone call to the KitchenAid service department. They reprogrammed the vent open/close software...incorrectly the first time. They later replaced the indoor vent. Neither helped so it is something else. Some others have posted similar problems.

I want a dishwasher that washes my dishes BUT does not wash my floor. The water on the floor is a safety hazard but they do not act as if they care.

I have a 6 burner kitchenaid cooktop and an ingniter that will not shut off. I have tried several times to get through to KA customer service and I swear their system is set up to prevent people getting through. My experience has been awful and a total waste of time.

sorry to say some of people who answer the phone are so stupid, if the item i bought is unhealthy and the warranty is expired so he ( customer service person ) said i should buy the same product same brand, whata stupid answer and idiot solution