I am really sorry this happened but going out to dinner is nice. : )

argh!

So sorry to hear that pizza night is a no go. That is so frustrating.

I got home late from work so our pizza night is turning into an order out night!

Dang - you're right it does. Glad you have your warranty but I hope you can take a few baking withdrawal symptoms in stride. I'm wishing you all the best.

Hey Holly,doonie and bmore...well it more than sucks. I only have service to our town on Tuesday's. So if I call tomorrow...a Saturday and ask for them to get the part and bring and replace it. It sure won't be this coming Tuesday...so there goes our Christmas plans. And if the stars are aligned and they fix it the next Tuesday that will be OK but we are leaving early early Wednesday for VA to see DS1 at his new home and have New Years Eve at his new restaurant ( The Red Hen ) and I was going to bring all these great breads for them to share up there. Not going to happen I bet unless I can get it all done after the repair .

Did I say this sucks....?

aargh... caroline, week before christmas. as my cousin used to say: 'just goes to show ya, there's always somethin'

Did you buy the warranty when you bought the oven or did Miele send you the extended warranty offer after the two-year warranty expired? $100 for 5 years sounds very reasonable.

Why does this kinda stuff always happen right in the middle of the holidays? When my two deceased cats got sick, they each did it on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. There's no warranty for a trip to the animal emergency room! ;) Sorry about your ovens!

thanks jane...it is indeed always something. Luckily DH will do Chinese again and we have the Miele deep fat fryer so we will still have a great feast for Christmas but no sweet rolls...:(

country we bought the extended thru our appliance person . We had the initial warranty thru them and at time of purchase they offered a 5 yr extended on each appliance I bought from them....$100 per appliance. The appliances sat in their warehouse for almost a year before install so I am really happy with the service that they truly " extended" to me. The Bosch has had no visits and the Twins[ Frigidaire] had a couple at the very beginning. The Miele had the strip replaced inside the top oven door for insulation last year. That is all I have needed. I have been lucky. But the 5 yr mark has arrived and we are now looking at 2 very expensive visits in 2 months.

We are going to be offered further extended warranty when this expires in August. I will definitely do that. When the appliances cost this much the few $$$ are well worth it. The appliance store is 45 min away and are really lucky that they are old old and really well established and " high end" . c

thanks for the info. We have 4 Miele appliances but didn't buy any warranties at the time of purchase. I'm leaning toward buying an extended warranty next May when our 2 years are over but wasn't sure if the appliance store or Miele will automatically offer an extended warranty (for induction and oven) or if that is something I need to contact them about.

sorry to hear about your untimely breakdown.

Oh no! The worst possible time.

Good message on the extended warranty on a high end appliance. The new ovens with all the electronics are very fragile compared to the older ones. We had problems with the Bosch oven when first installed right before Thanksgiving '09. It was the door sensor. I had to cook Thanksgiving dinner without opening the oven door for more than about 20 seconds or DH had to run outside to reset the circuit breaker. Fortunately the service was covered under the warranty.

Hope you can cook a few things when you get to VA! The Red Hen restaurant looks like a wonderful place.

Caroline, this truly does suck! I'm sorry your Christmas cooking plans have been sabotaged by oven gremlins.

Thanks for the info on Miele Extended Warranty!!! We are leaning towards the Miele oven and my DH always says NO to extended warranties. I will have to convince him to say yes this time.

Sending good karma your way. Keeping my fingers crossed they can get it fixed in time for you to do your baking.

Enjoy your visit with your son~

Julie

So sorry to hear about your oven! And what horrible timing! The washer & dryer I had before this pair seemed to time their breakdowns around holidays (Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving as I remember). What a PITA!

I'm glad to hear you'll still be able to have your Christmas dinner. And I hope you have a wonderful visit with your son! His restaurant looks wonderful! If I tag along with DH to VA next spring (he travels to the DC area regularly for business), I'll have to see if we can spend a weekend and travel down to Lexington to dine at The Red Hen--it sounds delightful!

Oh, Caroline! What a time to have this happen!! But why no sweet rolls? Surely you can make something amazing in a dutch oven! You a too good a baker to give up for just lack of an oven.

OH NO!!! What awful timing. I'm glad you still get the Xmas feast though even without the rolls. Maybe, just maybe, they can fix it for you this week. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

I really want to hear the follow up on this. I haven't been doing much high heat baking as we had some diet modifications for dh who no longer can eat tomatoes so not so much pizza here any more. We also got the extended warranties but I'm wondering if any of this is high heat related. Once we got over the initial hurdle, we haven't had any further issues with our ovens, touch wood. Hope yours are sorted out really fast

breezy: I guess I have been lucky in my prior 40 years ! I have never had an appliance breakdown at an inopportune moment....have never had a " great " appliance before either. And the kitties were good about putting off crises too !

DH was walkin' around saying , " well this never happened when we had any of our OLD ovens! ". He is right. All the old ones from the 50's - 80's that I have cooked on in our previous rentals and other house and this house before remodel worked just fine. sigh....what is this telling me ?

country: definitely contact the appliance store and ask them now. I was never ever contacted by Miele so I wouldn't wait on them. The appliances of today have a much shorter life than the ones of old. I just had to get rid of my over 30 yr old Maytag washer and dryer !! Dryer was still perfect !! These will never last that long.

steff: you are sweet . Probably won't be doing much cooking up there as DS and DIL are so good but they love my breakfasts so will probably be in charge of that :) Thanks for looking at the Red Hen....it is turning out to be a fabulous place for them.

Thank you Julie : I'll do it. And do not let your DH skip a cheap and necessary warranty on any new appliance you buy these days.

flwrs: I hope you can get down there. It is about 3 hrs South of DC. There are wonderful rental cabins in the area . Do a search,,,it is the heart of the Shenandoah Valley and there is a lot to see there. This will be our first visit and I am so excited.

plllog: oh yes...did you see the Dutch oven stove top baking that rhome made when her electricity was out ???? I can just imagine the smoke alarm going off with the burned sugar LOL. Why don't I just borrow YOUR oven ?????

246: It is definitely high heat related. The service guy said so when he replaced the sensors. He said the coating on them is slowly destroyed with the self-cleaning , which I don't have, and the high heat baking. It was only my lower oven that lost the sensor the first time. That is the one I do most of my artisan breads in as that is where my stone is stored . Miele insisted that both should be replaced when the work was done ( I need to look up the date) . So now the new ones lasted this short short time. I am not at all confident in the replacements for this problem. I am sorry to hear about your DH's health issues. I hope that they are resolving. You will probably not have this problem unless you have self clean and use it often. c

Sorry Caroline... I feel badly for you, your family, and friends who must have all been looking forward to your plethora of wonderful treats.

Oh No!! I'm sure your breads will be missed at Christmas dinner.

The one year I hosted the whole exteneded family for Thanksgiving Dinner was when my oven stopped working 3 days before Thanksgiving. I had just had DS2(hence us not travelling and everyone using Thanksgiving as an excuse to show up at the house,) was still hormonal, and looked at DH with crazy, devil eyes and said, "You will buy me a new oven."

He didn't even bother with a "Yes dear." He just turned around, put his coat & shoes on, and drove to the store.

Oh my goodness. This is serious. I'm so sorry this had to happen over the holidays. Sucks for sure.

In our very first house, with the broken dishwasher, that we could never afford to repair, we had 2 Thanksgivings in a row where the disposal and drain backed up. What fun trying to get the repair man on a holiday with a kitchen of dirty dishes. After that, we elected not to feed the disposal anything ever again.

I hope you can get your ovens repaired quickly. I think some of it has to do with all the electronics that these newer appliances have. It's really tough to be without an oven, especially for such a bread maker as yourself. Feeling your pain....

Caroline, in the kit we did in our previous house we were given an extended warranty - We called for service within the company warranty on our Thermador range (minor problem) and we were told call the extended warranty. I did and was told, "we don't go that far out"!!! When we did this kit I was in the same appliance store and did say I was concerned because they wouldn't come out so far and we were moving further, told by owner "that's what you get when you live in the boondocks"!!!! We said bye and bought elsewhere.

This is getting worse and worse...the warranty company has decided to give us the run around and doesn't want to send OUR appliance company back. We already talked to our appliance store this AM and they have us on the schedule. I am so tired of this. We just had them here and the record is there in warranty company's computer. DH has spent an hour on the phone arguing with them. So far they say they are going to use a locator service and it will take a couple weeks....last time they located an idiot that didn't know what a Miele oven was. DH just hung up and called our wonderful appliance store again. They said they ARE coming no matter what on Tuesday and they WILL fix the ovens. They said if they have to fudge the paperwork for the warranty company they will.

Elyse I am so upset....I hope everyone loves stove top stuffing :(

Lax: too bad that is NOT an option.

Doonie: you are right it is the sophisticated electronics. This is why I love love love my Caldera gas cooktop. It has NO fancy anything. Turn on/turn off. Too bad ovens aren't like that.

Holly, that is absolutely awful. I don't blame you for switching. The problem is that the extended warranties were all sold to a new mngt company this past year. Now instead of having no one to go through but the appliance store you have to deal with this new mngt company. They are only interested in cheap and easy repairs done by the closest and cheapest service person. My appliance store is 45 min away and charges $120 to walk into the house . The warranty company wants to pay way less if they can . I understand saving money but NOT at the risk of having poor service . c

You poor thing. It sucks that it's so hard to get decent warranty service. Where does Miele fit in to all this?

Every single time, and there have been less than 6 or 7 in the 20 years we've owned Miele appliances, that I have had service come out on the DW or the ovens, it has been a Miele certified tech working for Miele in Chicago and the issue was (almost) always fixed the first time. (The stupid ovens spoiled that record because he tried to insist they were working correctly when obviously they weren't but we got that sorted out.)

We went with Miele again in this kitchen because of the wonderful service we'd always gotten and the great track record we had with the old DW which, BTW, we kept and put back as a second DW in this kitchen.

Any chance you can get a Miele tech out to your location to look at it and fix it?

And thanks for the heads up on the self clean. I do have it but try and clean the ovens every time I use them so only run the self clean maybe twice a year.

Holly, I would have done the exact same thing.

Lax, I love that story. Gave me a good chuckle.

Doonie, you would be amazed at the stuff I fish out the GD on occasion. Maybe we should just stop using it and compost instead.

trailrunner - what you've run into is the drawback of buying a 3rd party warranty - their goal is to make money - not provide good service. I almost never buy extended warranties and overall, I'm way ahead. One advantage is that once your appliance is out of warranty, you're free to hire anyone you want to fix your appliance and you can use a good local repair place. Yes, you'll pay for the service call but you won't run into the hassles you're running into and time is money. Also, if you total up what you spent on all your extended warranties, you'll likely be ahead even if you have to pay for a service call on just one of them.

I agree about skipping warranties and saving money overall, but think the issue is that we, as consumers, accept buying expensive items that we are gambling on breaking (by taking a warranty).
I had an issue with my LG washer or dryer (I forget which, lol), and it was beyond the purchase warranty period by less than a year. We insisted that it be fixed and not on our dime. I spoke to people at LG until I got someone on the phone and had a chance to explain that since we did not buy cheap and had chosen LG for their reliability, there is no way an appliance should be giving us any trouble in such a short time period. I am the only one using it most of the time (dh does very occasionally) so I know it was not mishandled and abused.
I think everyone moans about how appliances don't last how they used to, but we keep buying appliances and paying for repairs or warranties, so the companies do not have any incentive to make quality machines. In fact, they want them to break down so we will buy more.
I bought some decent ones for our remodel (Bosch & GE Monogram) and I will have someone's head if they go wrong on us anytime soon. If I am going to replace some junky old appliances (from the p.o.) that still work and put in some more expensive ones, they had better work well and for a long time!
I am reminded of the line from the movie "Network" and think we should repeat it if any "new" appliance malfunctions... "I am mad as hell and won't take it any more".
We can all use the power of our pocketbooks and ability to share knowledge and refuse to buy problematic brands. I see by this thread alone about Miele reliability issues and would stay away. It does not matter how great a machine is while working if you can't count on it working without regular service visits, no matter how understanding/wonderful the service at each breakdown.

Sadly, dinalo, we are getting just what we asked for. We "told" manufacturers that we didn't want higher prices and they took us literally and off-shored manufacturing and now sell us disposable junk, cheap. Every brand, even the most reliable ones, do have lemons - the best we can do is research which brands have the best reliability records and service and hope for the best. Miele actually tends to have a very good reliability record. Trailrunners experience is unfortunate, but in this case it didn't break the day after the manufacturer's warranty ran out - it went for nearly 5 years if I read the post correctly.

weissman: nope you would be wrong on the cost scoring for sure. My warranties were $100 each so $400 on everything. As I said one service call from my WONDERFUL appliance company is $120...parts were $120 each. So the total was $360 for the one visit last month. Nope would never ever do w/o an extended warranty on something that costs $$$$.I don't want a local appliance place as I love these folks and would chooses them anyway. Until this year the 3rd person warranty was perfect. It is only since the new warranty company took over that it is a hassle. Ah well it will all be fixed soon.

246: I still love my ovens and wouldn't change a thing...now if this happens again I may have to revise that LOL. As far as where Miele stands they were very nice on the phone and my appliance person is the tech they want me to use. Again it is the extended warranty folks that are bogus. Not Miele and not my appliance dealer/service.

dianalo: I agree that manufactuers should make better appliances now than they used to but a lot of factors are playing into that and I don't want to go into that here. I have loved my Miele ovens for almost 5 yrs and wouldn't change to another brand, as I said above. They work great and the other brands out there wouldn't have given me what I wanted with these. I hope that you get great service out of your new ones for sure !!! No problems at all is what I am wishing for you. c

Oh, yikes....I'm so sorry, C. Maybe you're just supposed to sit back and relax this Christmas? I'm learning to be less intense about expecting myself to do above and beyond for everyone, and I think you could do some of that, too.

The thing is, even if running out to buy an oven was an option, there probably wouldn't be one in stock anywhere to buy. When we were having washer problems, I considered buying new instead of repairing, and anything I wanted was a 3 to 6 wk wait, it seemed. There are a lot of things that aren't like they used to be.

I don't think there are anyone's heads to be had if there are problems with some of the appliances. Cohetele and I know about dealing with Monogram. Without some extra help, they'd still be shrugging and not doing anything for me, as they did for her. I was extremely fortunate to get my money back, and everyone, from sales folks to the guy who came to get the oven and give me the check, were shocked they'd done that for me. They generally don't care if you're mad and if you've spent $4K for something that doesn't do the job you need. They already have your money and are still selling to everyone else. The new ones 'better work' is fine to say, and even quite reasonable to expect, but definitely doesn't make it true, says the woman on oven #4 in 2 1/2 years.

I hope your beloved Miele is mended and running full-bore soon, Trailrunner! And I really couldn't recommend the stovetop method...But you could likely figure out a better way, less smoky way (at least you still can use your hood vent), and we'd both have a new baking mode!

trailrunner - you actually proved my point - one service call on your ovens cost $360 - less than the total cost of all your warranties - I know your problem reoccured but typically repairs are warranted for at least 90 days which is why your appliance store is going to bat for you. You actually got a good deal pricewise on your extended warranties - most cost a lot more - but you're also dealing with a bad 3rd party company. Anyway, it's a personal choice - the warranties are clearly money makers for those who sell them - I prefer the flexibility to choose my repairmen and pay as I go.

Oh, hon, you're more than welcome to fly out and use my ovens! But we have nothing but rain and gloom to offer you. No Sunny Southern California. Good ovens, though!

It would cost less to overnight this from Amazon than get a midweek, round trip flight, and get your buns back, intact, through the TSA nightmares. :) See! It even comes in Santa red!!

Trailrunner,
So sorry about your ovens! But I just have to chime in about Lexington.... that's where we'll be building our new home in the spring! The Red Hen is lucky to have your son. If we eat there on our next visit, I'll mention to him that I'm a GWer!

You will love your visit!

weissman,
Well said. I never realized this until reading your post.
Thanks.

Trailrunner,
I suggesst you hire some teenagers or a local shop to bake
cookies for you, put your feet up, pour yourself a glass of
wine and allow yourself time to indulge in a good funny
movie. You deserve it after dealing with the Miele!
I too would be really mad. But don't let this ruin your
holidays.
~boxerpups

You're right to stick with the guys you know will do the job. It costs the warranty company a lot less to get the job done right the first time.

We had a great tech for the Bosch and he diagnosed the problem right away. Unfortunately the less experienced guy sent out to install the board forgot to reattach the ground wire and it took three more visits and two additional boards until the lead tech returned and figured out the problem.

The oven doesn't break down because it's cheaply made, the electronics that ensure reliable results are more sensitive to heat and general oven use. Absolutely nothing cheap about my new oven or others at similar price points.

Extended warranties for most things are not worth it, but these new ovens can be quite expensive and service calls can add up quickly.

Having looked up The Red Hen in Lexington, I suggest that you hustle off to a picturesque B&B in that area and let your apparently quite talented son feed you throughout the holiday season.

I mean, look how many years you fed him.

haha....rhome: the vent hood works great LOL. But I see that plllog and boxer have other plans so I may take them up on it !!

weissman: I didn't really 'splain it well , as Ricky used to say. I have had the service guy out to change out the insulation thingy inside the upper oven door also. So that was covered in the extended....cost of call was $120 and then the cost of the thingy ( technical term :) ) . Now this call....even if I hadn't had the warranty I would be out the service call and the parts at all of the same prices since I would use them and the parts are the same no matter what. So on the ovens I am definitely ahead on my initial $400. If I have any thing else I will be more ahead. I really sleep better knowing that it can all break and cost me nothing. I just can't face someone saying , " the Twins need a new compressor " or something equally awful. I am glad you have been so lucky , for sure !!

plllog you are sweet...and that red oven is really pretty !

gb: that is so great ! Please do mention that you " know " me from the Kitchen forum. He is used to it by now LOL. He thinks I know people everywhere...I guess he is right.

boxer : you are so funny ! I don't need no cookies...haven't been biking/running enough and don't need no calories...wine yes !!

steff: great point. You are right you have to have a good and reliable tech. Look at the time and money they wasted on your Bosch. Dumb.

honor : good way of putting it . They have a guest room so no B & B LOL> WIll be right in the middle of the good food. And they are directly across from the restaurant...and even better a new private brew house opened in the downstairs of the house where they live. They have a whole set up and DS1 says it is great. So I need to get back running...gotta lose some ####

I feel your pain.
My 6 year old Kitchen Aid DW considered top of the line died.
No consideration by KA. I may get a 10% coupon for a new DW.
Warranty only good first year.
Would cost 300 to 400 to fix an $800 DW.
FYI: According to KA most appliances have only a 9-10 year lifespan.

That does suck.........

I don't have a high end range but I did pay $1,500 for the Kenmore smooth top slide-in that we just installed one week ago toward the end of the reno.........too bad the damn thing won't turn off!!!!! you have to get underneath and unplug it!!

I am not a happy camper right now! We are having 7 for Christmas dinner. Technician is coming tomorrow and if it needs parts i called the salesperson and told her if so she needs to get me a replacement delivered asap!!

Problem is that it is discontinued and we will have to pay more for the newer version if we choose to send this one back...............so not happy!!

sunny: that is really awful. So plan on replacing appliances every 10 years...if not sooner. Oh yeah that sounds great. Especially if the appliances that are offered each decade don't fit into the slots that you already have. Oh but you are supposed to redo the kitchen....or move...and let someone else redo....sigh....

crafterbeth: that is terrible and dangerous ! I think they should upgrade at NO charge to you. It is obviously no good and was defective from day one No wonder it is discontinued ! I wouldn't want the same model even if they COULD find it. c

I am aghast that you, Crafterbeth, would have to pay the difference to get a working range when it's not your fault the one you have is faulty or that it's discontinued! They should be willing to bend over backward a bit and give the better one after your problems. Sears doesn't have a return policy for something that functioned less than a week? The disconnect between retailer and responsibility for what they sell (especially when it's their own brand) has gotten outrageous, I think. Why should they get the markup if they aren't taking on any responsibility for making sure you get something right for your money? Without their own service people, and without going to bat for the consumer with the manufacturer (or taking things back and fighting it out from their end), how are retailers actually serving us any more?

It's disgusting isn't it!! It actually never worked properly from the first time we used it.

I'm definitely mentally working on my strategy on how
I'm going to deal with them, because I know it's not going to be easy............

They aren't serving us anymore at all, just making big bucks being a middle man!

It may depend on the store and the state you live in, but my impression is that you can return defective merchandise within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. Frankly, I would demand my money back and then go shopping elsewhere for another range.