Trail Appliances reviews and complaints

Thanks. I'll stay away from trail appliances then. I'm looking for a four new appliances for my new home.

Is the benefit of the extended warranty a free repair once it is out of the manufacturuers warranty? This consumer is recieving that value. Typically, I know an average turn around time for an appliance repair can be a week or two so this looks like fairly typical/ prompt service. Looks like some errors along the way but I know it is possible with all companies and I always make buying decisions on an overrall reputation versus a single, relatively mild occurrance. I will remain objective.

I feel your pain. The arrogance is obviously something that is so integrated into their corporate culture that it permeates across provincial borders! I too have been forced to deal with Trail Appliances' "Customer Service" and I use the term loosely. While trying to book a service call on my 3 month old appliance I commented that they were not very flexible in their service times to which I was told "we have lives too you know". I said I realize they have lives, however reminded them that they are in the service industry and that unlike a portable commodity, most of their customers would not be able to bring in their appliances for servicing so you think they would schedule their service times accordingly. But no. Unfortunately my suggestion has fallen on deaf, uneducated ears and I was only subjected to the rudeness that is their service department. I think I will call them back and schedule 5 or 6 service calls. All of which I will not be here to receive. Then maybe they will see that we the customers have lives too.

Our terrible experience is in Red Deer, Alberta Trail Appliances. Amazing arrogance from the manage Chris, as follows:
YOU HAVE FUN WITH THAT!
That is what I was told by the Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, Trail Appliance Manager after explaining for the 8th month that the Whirlpool Freezer EV25ONXTQ03 thawed out all the food every few days, this morning Oct. 15, 2013, I got up to a flood of water from the Freezer, removed 5 more LARGE HEAVY bags of food, thawed and ruined. We have thrown out more food than the $939.00 this freezer cost. Sat. Oct 12, 2013, I was told by the Manager, when I insisted they take it back, I insisted I was returning it, I was told, "HAVE FUN WITH THAT!" Maam, then he walked away, as I did. Maam is degrading at the best of times but six times in a couple sentences is very rude. It has taken 8 months for them to replace a door that was dented, which has nothing to do with the rotten running Freezer or the Rotten Freezer that never Freezes. 2 months were spent holding the door closed with a heavy compressor to try and keep it cold, I have been sick from food that is thawed, re-froze, thawed and froze again. You never knew until looking at it that again, you were having nothing to cook, this item has been re-froze. Ice build up on all the food all the time, at least an inch on a meal or meat. Guess what. There is no service any more. It is very upsetting. Today they say the new door is in, there was a mistake, it's been there for awhile, well, although we will take the door and new seal, this has nothing to do with the poor operation of the freezer. We are removing it from our home as Trail Appliance Manager will do nothing and now we need to purchase a Freezer that operates well and it will not be from them, in fact, after purchasing so many appliances from them, we will make sure others hear about our experience. I will make sure every client I have, which is a lot, knows about our experience with Red Deer Trail Appliances.

My experience with Tony Murgatroyd is frustrating like your experiences. I bought a new Panasonic microwave from Trail in Surrey, which straight out of the box rattled and vibrated when we tested it by warming a cup of water. IT Electronics took it away and is waiting for a new motor, new fan and new blade, which are on back order from Panasonic as Panasonic does not have these parts in stock. I paid a full price and Tony wants me to take a rebult appliance. If I wanted to buy a rebuilt appliance, I would have gone to a clearance center and bought it cheaply. I do not want to accept a rebult appliance when I have paid for a new one. Tony told me that I have to take it back because that is what I bought from Trail. He said he did not care about what I had to say about Trail service and if I never buy from Trail again. He boasted that Trail is the fastest growing appliance store in western Canada. Tony said that he is the top man at Trail who makes all the policies and that there is absolutely no way I would get a new microwave or a refund. I told him that I would feel better if at least he could donate the money that he took from me to Surrey Urban Mission. He got very angry at me for dictating to him which charity to give his money too and continued boasting how he is the one who picks the charities Trail supports. His missed the fact that I was telling himto donate the money that Trail stole from me to a charity of my choice. Trail and Tony have my money, and IT Electronics is rebuilding factory defective microwave, which will never enter my home. Tony has my money, IT has defective microwave, and I have nothing.

I agree with your comments. Trail Appliances and their so called customer service dept appear to have a mandate to push a customer to litigate prior to properly responding to the warranty. In relaying my experience to friends, work associates and family members, I have come to realize that the lack of appropriate customer service and response to operational issues of the appliance purchased appears to be the norm. I would expect over time the customer base for Trail will decrease and the effects of their lack of customer service and appropriate handling of warranty issues will become evident in their decreased sales.

In relation to my incident, I purchased a microwave hood combo from Trail in January 2010. Within 1 week after the purchase I noticed that the fan along the left side of the microwave did not work, as well the fan made signifiant amount of noise while on the low setting. While on the medium or high setting the fan noise was minimal. A so called tech from Trail attended and had no idea what was wrong with the unit. I received a call a few days after the tech attended to advise he apparently spoke with Whirlpool tech division and was apparently advised that it was normal for the fan to not work on the left side, which I find odd. However, I relied upon the tech's expertise and left it at that.

In July 2010 while using my microwave heating a glass of water ( in a microwave safe cup) on the set beverage setting, there was arching along the rear right corner near where the metal rack sits. This particular model is equipped with a metal cooking rack. The residual damage was a burnt microwave. I contacted Trail who sent out the same service tech who previously attended in regard to the Jan 2010 call. Similar to the Jan 2010 attendance this individual appeared to have no idea what caused the issue. The "tech" could not identify what caused the electrical arching in the unit with residual burning and called Whirlpool tech dept. I asked to speak to the Whirlpool tech directly and was refused. Once the Trail tech finished his call he indicated in his opinion the arching was caused by either food residue or the metal rack. My microwave was clean and had no food residue inside the unit, specifically anywhere near the area where the arching occurred.

The rack which the tech referred to was inside the microwave when the unit was delivered. There was no labeling on the rack or microwave to indciate it could be a possible fire hazard. When I purchased the microwave from Trail the salesperson at Trail did not advise the metal rack which the unit came equiped with had to be removed each time a person uses the microwave. I felt the user manual to be unclear to the average person in relation to the use of this rack.

I find it amazing that a microwave would be sold with a metal rack equipped without clear verbage utlized in the user manual or applicable reference made by the sale staff at Trail in relation to the removal of the metal rack each time a person used the microwave and were not using the rack with the turn table. I was subsequently advised by Whirlpool that the expectation for a user to understand the rack is to be removed upon each use unless both the rack and turntable are being used at the same time or electrical arching could occur.

I was subsequently sent a service invoice for $100 which I have notified Trail I refuse to cover.

In my opinion the microwave purchased is not operating in compliance with it's intended use which is a breach of contract. In relaying this comment to the customer service mgr at Tony at Trail, it appeared clear that Trail had no intent on acting according to the sales of goods act or handling this matter in the appropriate manner.

Presently I am left with a microwave purchased 6 month ago that is not operational. Neither the manufactuer or retailer have responded appropriately so I decided to refer the matter to the electrical safety commision in Ontario.

I found the response from Trail and Whirlpool as to alledged cause of the elecrical surge to be suspect. As the Trail tech did not in my opinion inspect the unit appropriately to assess why there was electrical arching in the unit and subsequenting damage, I felt the incident should be reported to the Electrical Safety division which from what I understand is part of the federal government.

I would recommend any person dealing with a similar electrical issue notify the electrical safety commission ESA. Since the ESA involvement the manufactuer has begun to take interest, however not surprisingly Trail has done nothing but, pursue payment of their $100.24 service call. By the way the service tech from Trail was here for about 5 min wow seems he charges at a rate of $20 per minute. I considered notifying the BBB of Trail's conduct however, from the research I have conducted it appears BBB involvement does not appear to effect or change Trail's lack of customer service as they had over 30 complaints in the past 18 months ( approx) which is astounding when you compare this to many other retailers on the BBB site.

I am intend on pursuing this issue if not resolved by both Trail and Whirlpool through litigation

Me and my family have spent tens of thousands of dollars and referred well over $100, 000 worth of business to Trail in the years we've been dealing with them. Recently we had an issue with a dishwasher that turned into a complete nightmare. We kept getting directed to a Tony Murgatroyd who, we've been told, is as far up as we can speak with. NOT ONCE did he appologize for the technician that came to our house and tried to extort $100 extra dollars to pull out the dishwasher even tho that's what his job is! Not ONCE did he appologize for the inconvience of having paid several technicians to come to our house to diagnose the issue and having the 4th technician actually find the issue in about 5 seconds. NOT ONCE did he return calls to my wife after leaving messages for at least 2 months. I asked the store managers to get him to call my wife and i've left him emails asking him to. NOT ONCE did he offer any reasonable appology for any of the terrible, TERRIBLE service from their service technicians or offer a refund for the service technicians that weren't able to find the issue despite the service manager telling me what they should have done (pull it out and run it) and only the most recent person doing that.
Their sales staff are the best i've dealt with and I feel bad for each and every one of them. The store manager was incredible and I feel bad for them that Tony and his arrogance and refusal to apologize or even offer to sympathize with our situation.
Because of Tony and his arrogance, I will never purchase anything from Trail and I will crusade against Trail and warn anyone that you are to NOT purchase from them. Get good prices from them and get it matched or beat elsewhere.
The failed dishwasher damaged our property due to their negligence on finding the issues each of the several times they came out. I am going to be opening a case with the BBB against Trail and I will NEVER purchase nor recommend any of our clients to purchase from TRAIL in the future. It really is too bad that one small group of people can rot out what was such a good company to deal with.