LG service is a scam

Not sure if anyone else has had to deal with this, but I have had a hell of a time with LG over the past 3 months.

We had a french door refrigerator for about 8 years. Never had any issues with it and in mid-June, we start noticing the freezer is not as cold as normal. Things like ice cream aren't staying frozen, etc. It's still cold enough, but some things that should be frozen aren't.

I call for service assuming the compressor is bad and not too concerned since that is still under warranty. They tell me their service policy has changed and it's now a flat fee of $549, of which, they'll reimburse whatever the difference of the actual service cost is - if it's a compressor replacement, they'll replace that part for free and just charge for the hourly rate, which would very likely be less than the $549. And if no service is done, it's a $149 fee for the tech to show up. That's high, but if a licensed tech doesn't do the work, it voids any remaining warranty and a new compressor would start over with a 5 year warranty, so I say fine.

The guy shows up and determines that the issue is that freon is actually leaking out of the unit. He shows me with a blacklight where it's leaking out. LG has since fixed the issue, but up to a certain model year, they didn't seal the aluminum that runs through the foam insulation, and if it gets moisture on it, it will eventually rust out and the freon will leak out. Since it's embedded in the foam, there's no way to fix it. He tell me it could crap out at any time. Might be 6 months. Might be 6 days. There's no way to know. He recommended we buy a new refrigerator. We did, but not an LG. He even mentions that once he files the report that no service was done, I should see a refund on my Amex shortly after.

Fast forward a month later and no $400 refund. I've probably made 5 calls since then with zero luck. I'm typically a pretty patient person and know that customer service people usually don't have much control over things like this, but I lost it on the last two calls. I finally got them to confirm that the refund was approved on the second to last call(almost two months after the service date). That was Aug 9th and was told it would be refunded in 7-14 business days. Still nothing. Then yesterday they told me that their billing dept was having delays and I should see it within the next week after I let loose on them over the phone.

Long story short, they're new service model is set up to steal people's money. They know that most people will forget about the refund, or just give up after multiple attempts to get it back after getting lost in their web of bullshite.

If anyone has an LG appliance that needs service, beware. This new flat fee model is set up to take your money.