Laurel
Cook
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2008
- Messages
- 53
Below is an email that I sent to Kitchenaid customer service after calling their customer service phone number and telling the woman that I spoke with about my problems. Instead of offering to fix or replace it (which is what I was hoping for, regardless of it being out of the 1 year warranty period), the woman said "Yeah, it shouldn't be making those noises. Do you want the number to a repair facility in your area?" Viking makes a stand mixer for $50 more than the base Artisan mixer which is almost certainly better built. That's what I'll be replacing this albatross with.
About four years ago I purchased an Artisan stand mixer, banking on Kitchenaid's exceptional reputation and my experience with my father's artisan mixer that I grew up using (which still works phenomenally well today, about 25 years after he bought it). About a year after purchase, my mixer began having transmission problems. It had a strange smell when it would run and made terrible noises when it would mix something viscous. I called customer service and they were very helpful and replaced my mixer, even though it had just come out of warranty.
I received my replacement mixer and shortly thereafter moved. The mixer spent about a year in a box. I use it occasionally, but have recently begun making breads and I'm experiencing a similar transmission problem with this product. I'm not hard on my kitchen appliances and I'm careful to buy things that will last me a lifetime (and care for them as such) - that's what I thought I was doing with this mixer. This morning while mixing some bread dough (a loose dough at that) the transmission began making strange noises again. With such little use, I'm dismayed that this mixer is having issues. I wonder if the Artisan model transmission has a known issue? I've found a few reports of this online already.
I have always held Kitchenaid in the highest regard and was looking forward to buying major Kitchenaid appliances for my upcoming kitchen remodel, but I'm rethinking this plan after this seemingly obvious degradation in quality control. I received a meat grinder attachment as a Christmas gift that I may return as I'm expecting the transmission to fail in this unit and likely won't be replacing it with another Kitchenaid stand mixer as my last two experiences have removed my faith in Kitchenaid's name.
Sincerely,
Laurel