Jun 01, 2010 02:52 PM
42597 Views
(Updated Jun 21, 2010 10:40 PM)
After 3 months of research (both on-line as well as several visits to electronic shops) we decided upon 2 brands: Hitachi and Whirlpool, both the brands offering 3 door refrigerators. The reason for choosing a 3-door option was the idea that a separate vegetable drawer/basket will give much ease in day to day operation. While Hitachi was an excellent product, we found the cost is on the higher side. Also were not sure about the after sales service of Hitachi Refrigerators in Kolkata as the model was available only with a very few dealers and even those having a stock of the item confirmed that very few Hitachi 3-door refrigerators are actually sold in Kolkata, given the high price and little advertising of the product...
The Whirlpool Protton was a relatively new launching in India. The model is available in 300L and 330L capacity with Elite and Deluxe variants. We went for the 330L Elite model which offered some additional features over Deluxe model like: 1) Electronic Control Panel mounted on the Freezer door with 6th sense cooling technology (not sure though how good it actually works), 2) Additional Fresh Fruit Tray in the main refrigerator compartment, 3) LED white lighting in both Refrigerator and Freezer compartment (looks really great). 4) Door Open Alarm etc.
The product was delivered to me with some paint defect on one of the sides, looked like some re-painting was done after some minor damage (suspicious, could ask the dealer to change it, but just did not bother much because the sides were not visible in our placement. Also the attitude of the sales person in the dealer's shop: Great Eastern Trading, Garia was not at all cordial, just avoided arguing with these clever sales people).
Since purchase working fine.
This refrigerator does not have any energy star rating. I don’t know why. May be BEE authority are yet to fix a standard for 3-door refrigerator (Hitachi also does not have it). Hopefully will be 4-5 star rated, given the fact that other 2-door Protton models have 5 star ratings, and 3-door will help saving more energy as separate doors mean you open up small portion of the refrigerator at a time. However, one thing I must mention that the design of the bottom most vegetable drawer is not perfect. I found some chill leaking out through bottom corners. I put strips of adhesive tapes to temporarily solve the issue!! will show it to Whirlpool engineers if I get a chance.
Now the sad part of the story:Whirlpool's much hyped 6th SenseCooling Technology stopped working last week, just a month after purchase. None of the buttons on the 6th sense control panel were responding, leaving the refrigerator working without any temperature / other control functions. Fortunately, the compressor is still running and cooling, but I apprehend, it may stop working any day.
After 3 days of lodging the complaint, one service engineer finally came and he looked like absolutely unfamiliar and ignorant about this new product.He switched the refrigerator on and off number of times, without any result (I myself tried this a number of times even before he visited, anybody, even a layman with some common sense would do that). Then he tried to pull open the control panel from outside (how ridiculous) !! and finally gave up saying he will come again later to change the panel. Now 5-6 days are gone and Whirlpool Customer Care is saying that a Senior Engineer will visit to rectify the problem, but they are clue less about when he will find time to come. Also, given the breadth of knowledge and level of competency of the Whirlpool authorized service engineers, I am afraid whether there is any hope at all ! (incidentally our LG Air conditioner developed a PCB fault yesterday and it was very efficiently replaced and repaired within 2 hours by knowledgeable and professional LG engineers. Really commendable. Now I realize why these Korean brands have such big market presence in India).
My humble advice to any one planning to buy this refrigerator: better stay away from high-end models from Whirlpool as the quality and durability of the electronic parts are apparently very poor. Either go for basic models, or choose a reliable brand (Hitachi for ex.) with better customer service.
