Ritzman Appliance Co — Attraction in Hales Corners

We have had excellent experiences in purchasing all of our appliances from Ritzman Appliance, as did my parents beginning in the 1950s. Unfortunately, our experience with the GE appliances recently purchased have been terrible. And GE no longer enables Ritzman Appliance to provide any direct support to their customers.

We purchased a GE dishwasher that performs really well.

We also purchased a wall oven, gas cooktop, induction cooktop, and combination microwave/convection oven/vent hood.

Numerous service calls and parts, including some we paid for, have not resolved issues with the wall oven. The service technician determined that both circuit boards in the oven need to be replaced and as it requires two servicemen to do so, it would be well over $1000. The issues were present as of date of installation.

We had several service calls regarding a gas leak and a plumber's opinion that the leak was coming from within the unit. Because of this, and because of failure of GE to point out in the installation manual that when using GE's "bump out" kit the minimum height of the distance above the unit to a cabinet or range hood should be increased, we replaced it at our expense (scraping the gas unit) with a GE induction cooktop. Problems with induction burner units turning off while cooking were initially attributed to the pans (all high quality and rated for induction cooktops) by the GE Technician. In the process of trying to resolve issues with the wall oven by connecting it to WiFi and downloading software updates, the induction cooktop was also connected to the WiFi. After doing so, a cooling fan came on for the first time when using the largest burner. Apparently as the fan wasn't working previously, excess heat build up damaged the induction tray. The service tech advised parts and labor would be over $1000. The service tech informed us the cooling fan should work regardless of being connected to WiFi. It appears this unit was also defective from the date of installation.

These appliances are in a vacation home and are lightly used, unfortunately warranties are based on time periods, not usage. The service tech suggested we may want to cut our losses and replace the wall oven and induction cooktop. GE refuses to accept my offer to pay for replacements at a discounted price. We will be replacing them, but not with any GE or Haier manufactured appliances.

The microwave/convection oven/vent hood works well and we really like it...after removing the miserably noisy vent fan and replacing it with a fan in the vent pipe. In the process of taking this appliance apart to wire in the alternate (not GE) vent fan, it appears to me GE engineers, after having great reviews of the product, engineered costs out and in my opinion quality with it. There are three speeds for the squirrel cage fan. The speed is controlled by varying the frequency of the power whereas there is evidence of provision for three hot wires, one for each speed, in previous versions. That may explain the noisy motor. Who listens to the vent fan when buying such an appliance? You may want to!

GE Appliances was purchased by Qingdao Haier Co., LTD (now Haier Smart Home) in 2016. Based on my experience, Ritzman may want to dump GE and all Haier related brands. I absolutely advise against buying GE brand appliances based on my experiences. Quality control over Chinese...

If you purchase just one appliance from Ritzman's you will never shop anywhere else for your appliances. They are HONEST, VERY KNOWLEGEABLE, DO NOT CHARGE FOR DELIVERY, DELIVER ON TIME, and THEIR EXTENDED WARRANTY IS THE CHEAPEST AND FINEST IN THE AREA.

My first experience with Ritzman's was 25 years ago. I purchased a refrigerator -- nothing fancy. I was prepared to purchase the extended warranty but Mr. Ritzman told me "This is a basic model and does not have a lot of computer chips. Save your money. You don't need the warranty." He was right. I never had a day of trouble with the refrigerator and when I sold my house with the refrigerator, it was still purring. After that I called them when I needed a cheap used refrigerator for the basement in my new home. That was 12 years ago and it is still running just fine.

One of the other things I like about Ritzman’s is that they do not sell “junk”. I had purchased two, yes two dehumidifiers from two other stores. Neither dehumidifier worked for more than 3 months and one of them was repaired by the company and broke again within two weeks of the repair. Desperate, I went to Ritzman’s. I was not sure they were selling dehumidifiers but thought I would give it a chance. Sure enough, they sold a great model that was recommended by Consumer Reports. It is easy to operate, does not leak, and it is easy to empty. That was about six years ago and I have not had a day of trouble with it. The most recent refrigerator I purchased was a high end model. I had been to every store Milwaukee County doing my research and looking for a good model that was energy efficient. The sales people at the other stores did not know their merchandise or kept me on hold forever as they tried to find the answers to my questions. One store kept me on hold for 40 minutes! Also, the warranties were excessively expensive at the other stores. At one department store known for its appliances, their warranty was equal to 25% of the sales price of the model, bringing the price to over $2,000.

My last stop was a Ritzman’s. Mr. Ritzman told me I indeed needed a warranty because all the refrigerators are run by computers. The basic price of the refrigerator was just a tad more than the other stores but when everything was added up, I SAVED ABOUT $400. Their warranty is very reasonable and covers everything. They DO NOT CHARGE FOR DELIVERY and DO NOT CHARGE TO REMOVE YOUR OLD APPLICANCE. When they delivered the refrigerator, they were parked out in front of my home 5 minutes ahead of schedule. I WILL NEVER SHOP FOR APPLIANCES...

I recently stopped in the place to find a washer and dryer after seeing an ad posted. Once in the store, I was immediately greeted by a young man by the name of Jack. They have a lot of appliances from used to brand new. I was looking for used appliances and found just what I needed. REALLY great prices too. I needed a gas dryer and washer. I found a washer I liked and Jack informed me there was a dryer in the back that he can get cleaned up for me and have it ready by the next day. I stopped back in the next day and sure enough the dryer and washer were ready to go. We set up a delivery date for that weekend. Delivery was fast and easy and the guys were soooo respectful and nice. I went to use my washer about a week later and it was not working. I don’t know anything about washing machines so I gave the store a call and talked with Jack. He told me to make sure the water and knobs were turned on and then give it a try. I did that and turned the washer on then water started to flow through. I told him I would run a cycle and give him a call the next day just to let him know everything worked correctly. I started a load but the washer didn’t start. I gave Jack a call back and let him know. He stated he would give me a call back and schedule for him to come out to check it. This morning they were able to come out and check it. Comes to find out, I turned the valve off instead of on and it worked just fine! I really appreciate the guys from Ritzman for coming all the way out. I did apologize for the inconvenience but they were totally nice about it. The communication down to the service was amazing. I will 100% percent recommend this place to friends and family and will visit the store if I ever need another appliance. Thank you...