Van Vreede's Appliance, Furniture & Mattresses, Inc. — Local services in Green Bay

TL;DR: After purchase support is atrocious, even with their warranty. Van Vreede's warranty does not cover "cosmetic" damage, which includes any damage to drawers in the fridge, even if the face of the drawer is falling off.

I worked with Alex from Van Vreede's in Green Bay while purchasing my appliances and it was a pleasure to work with him. We purchased our Frigidaire Gallery in early 2021 with an expected delivery in 2022, we also purchased the five year warranty. This was quite a splurge purchase for us and we wanted to make sure if any issues came up we'd be covered.

The Frigidaire gallery we purchased has the standard crisper drawers but also a temperature adjustable temp drawer. Unfortunately the face of this ended up busting on the right side clip that holds the faceplate on which caused a crack on the bottom of the drawer and the top portion of the drawer to not clip in properly so when you open the drawer the face plate pulls away and is continuing to spread the crack. This happened at the end of 2023 but since we're incredibly busy and I had the five year warranty I didn't get a chance to call it in and I wasn't concerned about it at the time.

Fast forward to earlier this year where my ice maker inside the fridge stopped dispensing ice. I called in a warranty claim to get them both taken care of and was told drawers were a cosmetic issue and were likely not covered under the warranty but the technician would take a look and let me know. This was never mentioned when we bought the fridge and the expensive warranty.

The warranty service is Monday-Friday, 8-4pm, and either between 8am-12pm, or 12pm-4pm. You cannot get a better time. I figured I could take a half day in the afternoon from work only to hear, "We only service your zipcode in the mornings.". Great, another thing with the warranty that was never told to us.

After the technician came out he let us know he'd have to make another trip because the parts he had were not the correct ones, so they need to order the part and then set up another appointment to get the fridge repaired. He mentioned that the drawer wouldn't be covered by the warranty due to it being cosmetic. He agreed that it affected the functionality of the drawer but didn't have any say in the matter but I could reach out to the store and see if they could help out.

I reached out to the store and was sent to the appliance warranty person, Joline, who was on vacation but would be returning the following Monday. I left her a voicemail. As stated previously we're incredibly busy and I didn't get a chance to follow up but by the time I got around to following back up it had been an entire month and she had not bothered to return my call. I called back and finally the following day Joline had the time to respond and let me know as the technician had said it was cosmetic and not covered under warranty.

My wife went in and spoke with a manager, Adam, and he asked to see pictures since we're basically unable to use the drawer at this point. He said it might take him some time but he'd get back to us. Much like Joline, he did not return her messages or the two phone calls and left us without an answer.

It took six trips for my ice maker to finally be fixed. I had to schedule six different times to have an adult home for the fridge to be repaired. There is the option to give them a garage code or to leave the door unlocked for them to access the appliance as well. Not something I'm comfortable with.

We still have not heard back from Adam and our drawer is still broken. Yes, I take responsibility for not calling in the issue sooner when it was still under the factory warranty. That said, I had the extended warranty, a cosmetic issue would be a dent or a ding. Apparently according to the technicians, if the handle falls off that's considered a cosmetic issue and they won't cover it.

I've lost faith in Van Vreede's after sale support and their warranty due to...

Great customer service in person, until the sale is made. Then it goes downhill really quick with communication and friendliness.

My husband and I ordered nearly $7000 in appliances (LG kitchen set - refrigerator, dishwasher, range & over the range microwave; plus whirlpool washer and dryer set) on February 3rd. We worked with Riley in the store, and he was super helpful and helped us pick out our appliances for our new home. He was extremely upfront about shipping delays due to COVID and we are completely understanding of that. We put a deposit down on our purchase to get everything ordered, he mischarged my husband's credit card, but quickly fixed it after the mistake was pointed out.

Since then I've had to call multiple times to find out the status of our appliances. Was only able to get ahold of Riley once, about 2 weeks after our order was placed. Called again a week later to get the status of our appliances, and he never returned my voice message. I have been dealing with Justin since then, who is extremely rude over the phone.

On 2/25 we found out all but one of our appliances were in, to our pleasant surprise, although we would have never known if I had not called. Scheduled delivery of the appliances for 3/1, and at delivery I found out that they don't do install of the dishwasher (that's a completely different person, which Justin never made the mention of needing to schedule). They left that in the garage. They did hook up the washer & dryer, the fridge, and moved the range to the kitchen since I needed to have a plumber come out yet to convert our electric hooks up to gas.

The plumber comes out 3/5 and does the conversion, goes to hook up our range and asked where the hose was. Apparently the range doesn't come with one, and Riley never mentioned that we'd need one. So we had to wait an additional 2 days to use our range because we had to run out and get a hose and reschedule the rest of the install.

We also call again that same day to find out when our dishwasher is getting installed, because again, no communication. Delivery guys told me their installation center would give us a call, to no one's surprise they didn't call. Talked to Justin again, he said he'd reach out to them to have it scheduled. They call me at 5:30pm Friday evening (when they close), and I missed the call. So then I had to wait until Monday to schedule installation. Wasn't able to get an installation until that following Friday. Guy that installed our 3/12 was extremely nice. Did a great job, I really wish I would have caught his name.

Now it's 3/19, just called again. Got Justin's voicemail, was told Riley was too busy to take my call, and still no update on where the hell our microwave is. Lucky for them we are happy with our appliances, because their customer service is...

10/27/21...We have been loyal customers of Van Vreede's for many years. Over the years, we have bought all of our appliances at Van Vreede's. This past January, we had our kitchen remodeled and so we were in need of new appliances. It was a "no-brainer," we were off to Van Vreede's. Alex was our sales consultant and he was AWESOME, very knowledgeable and we were very pleased. We bought the Frigidaire Gallery refrigerator, range, dishwasher, and microwave. A month ago, we noticed a half-dollar sized gray shadow on our glass top range. This is not a stain or a mark that we caused. This mark is UNDER the glass (see photo.) This afternoon, we went to Van Vreede's to see what cold be done as this range is only 8 months old. Michael, the store manager, said there was nothing they could do. He stated that the one-year warranty does not cover "cosmetic" parts of the range. Michael stated it's still a functioning range so they aren't going to cover this in their warranty--only the first 7 days are covered for cosmetics. We had asked what about Van Vreede's? Does Van Vreede's stand behind what they sell? Michaeal said there was nothing they could do. He said this happens many, many times--We asked why isn't the customer informed that this happens frequently to the glass top ranges (our previous range was a glass top which we had for 25 years and this never happened) had we known up-front we could have made an informed decision and not bought this kind of range. We asked Michael how much does it cost to replace the top. He first told us to call--but then he called for us and it would cost us $320 for the part and unknown installation cost. We expressed to Michael how disappointed we are with Van Vreede's that nothing can be done and that we just remodeled our kitchen and now we have to live with a large mark/shadow on our brand new range top--something we didn't cause. We asked if he would talk with the owner of Van Vreede's to see if they would stand behind what they sell and make this right. We need a HERO--the owner of Van Vreede's will you be our hero and cover the cost for a new range top and installation? Update--while I was typing this, Michael called me and said he talked with the owner of Van Vreede's and they will NOT cover the cost--they will reach out to the manufacturer tomorrow. We really need a HERO.....please!! Thank you, Brian & Kathy... Update 10/28/21 Van Vreede's sent us a hero, his name is Tyler, their Customer Service Manager. Tyler called us right away this morning to tell us that they will replace our stove top and they will pay for it :) Thank you Van Vreede's for standing behind your products and making this "right!" We will continue to tell our family & friends to go to Van Vreede's because they care about...