Jenn Air Whirlpool BEWARE:Jenn Air takes 6 weeks to replace defective cooktop Nationwide

We purchased a $1,450 Jenn-Air cooktop on May 14,2014. It was our misfortune to make the purchase before the publication of the July Consumer Reports, CR, where Jenn-Air was rated last in the electric range and electric cook-top categories. CR went so far as to issue a warning to avoid their ranges and cooktops. Our experience exceeded our worst expectations for a new product even if we had read the CR report.

The cooktop we purchased was not only defective out of the box brand new but nothing on it was functional. After three tech visits over a month period the cooktop was still out of commission. Apparently, Jenn-Air policy is to repair the cooktop instead of replacing it regardless of the inconvenience to the customer. It was only when they could not obtain a third replacement part, a wiring harness, that they decided to replace the entire cooktop. Unfortunately for us they shipped the wrong model which we would have accepted as we were desperate but it was also defective and had to be shipped back. Finally on July 1, after six weeks of surviving on a toaster oven and a microwave oven, Jenn-Air succeeded at fixing the problem by making a product exchange. The third one worked!

 Since the July 2014 issue of Consumer Reports rates Jenn-Air last and lowest for reliability of electric ranges and electric cooktops  (more than triple the number of repairs as the leader) one would think that their  management would want to be somewhat accommodating to purchasers of Jenn-Air cooktops who are having a serious problem with their product. Not really, as I spent countless hours on the telephone trying to get the problem expedited. My experience was very similar to dealing with the bureaucracy of the Department of Defense i.e. slow and grinding pace. During the six week period in which we were without a cooktop Jenn Air offered us two $100 debit cards for all our trouble and inconvenience. If I had any idea that Jenn –Air was going to drag out the repair process over six weeks I would have purchased a portable or camping type cooktop. Is it any wonder that LG, Samsung, and Bosch continue to enlarge their market share at the expense of divisions like Jenn-Air? Based on the above do you really want to risk having a similar Jenn-Air experience?