We purchased a kitchen aid stand mixer in the US and brought it to canada. Within the first two months we had problems with it. We contacted Kitchen aid and they advised us that there was no warranty as it was taken across the border. I then was given a name of a repair depot in Edmonton, AB and it was taken their where it stayed for 11 months as they said they could not get parts. I contacted Kitchen aid and they would not help us. I had to go and pick up our 6Q stand mixer from them and they could not fix it and kitchen aid would not help. We now have an expensive kitchen aid stand mixer that does not work and no one is willing to help us even though it was only used for two months. Kitchen aid has done nothing!
Linda of Toronto OTHER (10/03/08)
My 1 year old Artisan Stand Mixer blew up with a bang and fire sprayed out the bottom when I mixed 3 egg whites last week. Like the rest, I missed the 1 year warranty and had to pay $96.00 for the repair. I am furious. You think you are buying a quality product but find out it's junk. Never again! If I don't get a refund this will be my last Kitchen Aid appliance. Gone are my hopes to add the pasta maker etc.
I had a hard time finding a repair shop and had to carry the machine through a very large mall to the only shop there was. The company gave no consideration that getting to the shop should be convenient for the consumer-at least maybe a store front shop you could drive up to. What a ridiculous place, a huge mall.
My 3 year old mixer decided to make a clicking noise while I was trying to grind a 3 lb chuck roast in the food grinder. I decided to turn off the mixer and make sure that nothing was wrong with the food grinder or the mixer by turning on the mixer itself. When I turned on the mixer I noticed that the clicking continued.
I called the repair company in our area and took the mixer over the next day to have them look at it. They removed the top of the mixer and removed the plastic housing which hold all the gears in place. I aksed them why would they make something out of plastic when the inside of the housing is made of metal gears. I noticed that another mixer of the same model was next door to mine and they had a metal top on there mixer. I then started asking questions. Basically you take a vehicle and put gears in a transmission housing that is made of plastic and drive it. You will find out during the heat and pressure from using the vehicle that there will be no more transmission.
I decided to send in the the mixer and told them what happened. The customer service representative called me and told that the price would be $90 plus tax to repair the mixer. I told them that I feel it is a manufacturers defect because they deiced to cheapen the mixer by putting a plastic housing on top of metal gears which in turn will strip out because the plastic housing can not support the pressure using the mixer under household use.
I cook from scratch so everything is made from flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and etc. Bread is made every week plus baked goods, pasta if you get my drift this mixers does a lot of work. After three years the mixer can't stand up to a plastic housing the gears are housed in.
They wanted to charge me $25 so the technician could be paid. I told them that I'm not paying what they want because they can't make a product that can hold up. This mixer was $450 and if the mixer cost this much for something that breaks then I don't want another Kitchenaid product as long as I live.
They tried telling me that this mixer is only supposed to only mix half of the time which is true, but I have been using a Kitchenaid mixer for over 30 years because my mom had one when I grew up as a child in the 70's. Kitchenaid is not what it used to be since Whirlpool makes the models now. Whirlpool, Maytag, and Kitchenaid is made by Whirlpool and I will not buy anything from this company as all of their appliances can't hold up to the household uses like they used to do. You pay a big price for a cheap product.
QUALITY HAS GONE WAY DOWN !
12 years ago I got a base kitchen aid stand mixer and was happy until this year when it broke. The variable speed control stopped working and I could only get high speed. So...
This year I went and bought a new "kitchen aid classic" stand mixer. I was highly disappointed in the quality.
It was very loud, the bowl was very lightweight and had no handle, it bogged down under one batch of cookie dough. It is going right back to the store and I'm trying a new brand. Seems like their quality has gone way down!
The entire Whirlpool company is structured around one belief system, make junk, make it expensive and make yourselves scarce when problems arise. The minute they bought KitchenAid, I figured product quality was going to be a secondary concern, I was wrong, it's less. The brand has become synonymous with junk, expensive junk although the corporate name is ironically apt since buying Whirlpool is the same thing as throwing your money into one. However, the Hobart company (from whom KitchenAid was purchased) still makes stand mixers of the same quality they did when they still owned the brand. My suggestion to you all is to buy the smallest one they make. Yes, they are expensive and not that good looking either (after all, they're commercial machines), but they're not that much more expensive than a KA "Artisan". Moreover, if you're into passing down your kitchen tools to family, a Hobart mixer will be in the home of your great-great grandchildren someday. And remember this: with KitchenAid, you never get what you pay for and the company's tag line should be delivered by Alfred E. Neuman, "For the way it's made?"
If I had known that Whirlpool bought the KA line, I would not have purchase my new KA 2 yrs ago. First time I used it, the noise was so loud the company replaced. For the last 2 weeks I have been making our own bread and the noise is back. I feel like the mixer is going to explode if I go any higher than 2 when making bread. My old KS was 10+ yrs old - nothing wrong with it -just wanted a bigger bowl capacity. Gave it to my daughter, who a month ago, gave to her bff. I wish I had kept it. Sorry for your trouble but thanks for the insight. No I have to think what to do next.
Good looking poor quality. I have one KitchenAid 6Q stand mixer, too. It had rarely been used since we bought it two years ago. It had no power at low speed. The gear box falls apart totally now.
5 year old mixer. hardly ever used, One handle bulb broke off not long after purchase. now the second one shattered. KA says misuse, mixer has only been mover on counter for cleaning. KA says I have to send for and pay for repairs. entire mixer has to be taken apart to replace plastic knob. Poor Quality and no manufacture pride in their product. Will not repair, will replace with: 1950's model from garage or other manufacture.