My fridge died last Tuesday and I lost $120 worth of food

I came home from work and found my 10 year old fridge just stopped cooling, everything in the freezer was thawed out. Had to trash all my meal prep from Sunday and a whole pack of chicken thighs I got on sale. Anyone know a reliable repair guy in the SCV that won't charge an arm and a leg?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas27516d agoMost Upvoted

My neighbor had the same thing happen two years back with his Samsung fridge, right before Thanksgiving. He lost a full turkey and all the sides his wife had prepped. Called three different places in Newhall and they all wanted a couple hundred just to come look at it. Ended up buying a used one off Facebook Marketplace for fifty bucks that's still running today. I'd check the local buy nothing groups first, sometimes people give away working fridges just because they're remodeling or moving.

verar2115d ago

My friend Olivia in Canyon Country lost her whole fridge last summer. @thomas275 is right about checking buy nothing groups, but her issue was a busted compressor that needed replacing. She called a guy named Rick who works out of his truck, charges $75 just to look at it, and he fixed her 8 year old Whirlpool for $150 plus parts. That was way cheaper than any of the big companies she called first. If you want his number, I can ask her for it.

nancy52413d ago

Right, this is one of those things where it feels like a random bad day but it's actually a pattern in how appliances are made these days. My experience has been that a fridge hitting the 10 year mark is basically a ticking time bomb with modern manufacturing - they just aren't built to last like the old ones from the 90s. I've seen so many people in this exact spot where a mid-range fridge craps out right around year 8 to 12, taking a whole paycheck's worth of food with it. The cost of a repair plus the lost groceries often ends up being more than just buying a decent used one off Craigslist, which is kinda crazy when you think about it. That's why I always tell people to keep a little emergency fund for stuff like this, because life has this weird way of hitting you with a big expense and a loss at the same exact time.