We bought a Thermador range 5 years ago. Five burners, just under six thousand dollars. It's the kind of thing you buy once. For a while, it was great.
Then it started breaking. In December the right cooling fan failed, and a Thermador technician replaced it under warranty. In February the broiler ignitor went and had to be replaced too. I figured that was the worst of it.
It wasn't. In April the same cooling fan failed again, same error code. Three repairs in five months on a range that's supposed to last twenty years.
The timeline
December
Thermador's technician replaces the right cooling fan under warranty. The range works again.
February
The broiler ignitor fails and has to be replaced. The second repair in three months.
April 27
The same fan fails. An independent technician diagnoses an F6100 cooling fan error. Four months after the last repair.
The wait
The replacement part is backordered until August. That's more than three months with no working oven.
May 5
I email Thermador with the receipts, the photos, and the proof of purchase. I tell them I have a baby and a toddler at home and no way to cook, and ask what they can do.
May 11 to 13
A couple of calls. A request for a "proposal." Then a note that the case is "currently being reviewed" and someone will call.
The offer
Pay $2,800 for the same range. No installation. They don't haul the old one away either.
The repair itself is covered. Thermador agreed to fix it. The holdup is the part, and it's backordered until August.
So the $2,800 isn't really paying for a repair. It's paying to skip the wait. And the wait exists because of their backorder, not anything I did. I don't think I should have to pay them to solve that.
What happened next
I turned the $2,800 down in writing and asked them to reconsider. To their credit, they moved. Then it got strange.
May 26
I decline the offer by email and lay out why: three failures in five months, a backordered part, and a $2,800 bill to skip a wait their backorder created. I ask them to take another look.
July 9
Thermador sends a written offer letter: the same range for $2,279.60. The letter says, word for word, "Our offer will include shipping for delivery directly to you." It then lists exactly three things the offer does not include: installation of the new unit, removal of the old unit, and cabinet modifications.
July 10
I sign the letter and send it back unaltered, as required. Their letter says modified acceptance letters aren't accepted.
July 13
They send the payment link. I pay in full.
July 22, morning
The delivery company calls to schedule and tells me they will only bring the range to the curb. I live in a seventh-floor apartment. There's an elevator; the only obstacle is two short flights of stairs from the street to the lobby. They won't do it.
July 22, afternoon
I ask Thermador about it and get this reply, quoted in full: "Hello, unfortunately the unit is not delivered inside the home/apartment its curbside, please advise."
Read those two lines next to each other. "Delivery directly to you" is what I signed on July 10. "Not delivered inside the home/apartment" is what I was told on July 22, nine days after they took my money.
The letter lists what the deal doesn't include, and it's three things: installation, removal, cabinet work. Getting the range past the curb isn't one of them. If curbside was the deal, the letter was the place to say so. It doesn't say so anywhere, and neither does anything else they've sent me since December.
Where it stands
I've asked Thermador to do the delivery their own letter describes. Not installation, not haul-away, just the range brought into my apartment. Or, if they won't, refund the payment and we start over. As of this update, I'm waiting on their answer. A five-burner range weighs about five hundred pounds, and mine is apparently going to sit on LaGuardia Place.
What I asked for, back in May
For the record, the original ask was modest. One of two things:
- Find the part somewhere and do the repair they already agreed to cover.
- Or replace the range on fair terms, with installation, the old one hauled away, and a fresh warranty.
That's it. I want a stove that works, in a reasonable amount of time.
To be fair
I get their side. The range is 5 years old, and it's past the two-year warranty. Strictly speaking, they don't owe me a thing.
But you spend six thousand dollars on a range for a reason. You're paying for the name, and the idea that it'll last. When it doesn't, backing the product should count for something, somewhere. I'm not asking them to cover it forever. What's a brand even supposed to stand for?
Why I put this up
I'm not angry, and I'm not asking anyone reading this for anything. I have two small kids and a kitchen I can't cook in, and I wrote the whole thing down so the next person has the full picture before they spend six thousand dollars on a range.
I said I'd update this page if anything changed. It changed: they sold me the replacement, put "delivery directly to you" in the signed letter, took my payment, and then told me delivery stops at the curb. I'd still rather settle this directly. This is case ending 8070, file ending 7084. I still have faith you'll do the right thing.
Regards,
Steve
For Thermador
If you're with Thermador and want to sort this out, I'm easy to reach. This is case ending 8070, file ending 7084.