New refrigerator flooded out my house

[nfotiu]

Anyone have any experience with a consumer product damaging their property?

We have a new refrigerator in a new house with a computer chip that decided to turn evil and turned out the in door water dispenser at full speed over night.

The amount of damage caused was unbelievable. We've had to tear out about 1500 sq feet of hardwood floors and some carpeting, walls, baseboards, etc. Probably 10-15,000 dollars, not to mention our house will be basically unliveable for 3 weeks

So I tried calling Kitchenaid, but it became clear that a) they didn't care that their product wrecked our house, and that getting them to pay for anything is going to take a lot of time and energy.

We needed to get things fixed, so I had to go through my insurance agency. This sucks, because a) we've had a couple instance of hurricane/tropical storm damage to our old house and thus have a $2000 deductible, and b) this is another claim against us.

Anyone know what the chances of Kitchenaid actually paying are? Is there a better way to handle it? Will the insurance company really put an effort into trying to get Kitchenaid to re-imburse? Anyone been through anything similar?

[jydk]

Put in the claim, that’s what insurance is for. If it is indeed Kitchenaids negligence the insurer will subrogate and collect back the money they paid to you.

[ricosuave]

Brutal! Maybe talk with a lawyer?

[peter12]

Originally Posted by jydk

Put in the claim, that’s what insurance is for. If it is indeed Kitchenaids negligence the insurer will subrogate and collect back the money they paid to you.

Yeah, shouldn't the insurance company sue on your behalf?

[Nancy]

Man, that's brutal. When we were shopping for new appliances, being a total paranoid and pessimist, I totally had visions of this happening, so I ditched the water and ice dispenser. Although, I figured it would be the internal plumbing that would fail. If this were to happen to a new builder, I'm sure they'd totally go after the company that supplied and installed the fridge.

[Locke]

You didnt purchase this from Skynet did you?

I thought we had more time...

[worth]

Open the pod bay doors please HAL.

[Prototype]

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

[Dion]

That's just brutal! One of the reasons i've never bought a fridge with a built in water dispenser.

[flip]

Insurance companies will go to the ends of the earth to not pay for stuff, so make it clear to them that a malfunctioning fridge did the trick.

Not sure if that'll work or not because I don't know if you have any legal grounds to blame it on the fridge company but it is worth a try.

[ken0042]

Be sure to document every communication you make with Kitchen-aid. Even keeping a log of the date, time, call duration, and who you spoke to on the phone. I would even recommend buying a telephone voice recorder; being sure to tell the other party that the call is being recorded. (Or even if you don't buy a recorder, tell them that anyways. I find it sometimes helps.)

Don't be afraid to escallate the issue with them. Ask to speak to somebody from their legal department. Be specific about what you are looking for- have numbers ready to back you up. Meaning be sure to be able to say the floors cost you $14,876.52 and not "around $15,000."

I would also recommend telling them you are looking at all of your options available to you including the media. In the past I have contacted both CTV and Global's cosumer watch departments, and although my issues were much smaller, the one time they got a call from CTV news I got action pretty dang quick. The other time they were able to at least point me in the right direction for resolution.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Anyone have any experience with a consumer product damaging their property?

We have a new refrigerator in a new house with a computer chip that decided to turn evil and turned out the in door water dispenser at full speed over night.

The amount of damage caused was unbelievable. We've had to tear out about 1500 sq feet of hardwood floors and some carpeting, walls, baseboards, etc. Probably 10-15,000 dollars, not to mention our house will be basically unliveable for 3 weeks

So I tried calling Kitchenaid, but it became clear that a) they didn't care that their product wrecked our house, and that getting them to pay for anything is going to take a lot of time and energy.

We needed to get things fixed, so I had to go through my insurance agency. This sucks, because a) we've had a couple instance of hurricane/tropical storm damage to our old house and thus have a $2000 deductible, and b) this is another claim against us.

Anyone know what the chances of Kitchenaid actually paying are? Is there a better way to handle it? Will the insurance company really put an effort into trying to get Kitchenaid to re-imburse? Anyone been through anything similar?

report is to you insurer. most likly you rpolicy will respond, as it sounds like a "sudden and accidental" release of water.

if you have someone come in and fix it, make sure you get the faulty part from them and keep it for you insurer.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by flip

Not sure if that'll work or not because I don't know if you have any legal grounds to blame it on the fridge company but it is worth a try.

keeping the broken part it key, that way an engineer can look at it and comment on the problem.

[jydk]

Originally Posted by peter12

Yeah, shouldn't the insurance company sue on your behalf?

Exactly, and it is a peril that is covered on most homeowners policies. They will pay to have all your damages repaired less your deductible and then from there they will sue Kitchenaid if they feel they are ultimately responsible. If Kitchenaid ends up reimbursing the claim you you should also get your deductible back.