Customer Reviews

Whirlpool GMH5205XVS 2.0 cu. ft. Over-the-Range Microwave Oven 300 CFM - Stainless Steel

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1 star:		(14)

 

 

I got this microwave as a part of my upgraded, brand-new appliances in my new home one year ago. I really liked all the features, the way it cooked, and the sleek look. I used it for basic microwave tasks--reheating, popcorn, defrosting, etc...nothing crazy.

However, after using it for four months, the magnetron fried, rendering the microwave unusable. I went through the proper Whirlpool service channels, and four house calls and one month later, I had a new microwave (the same model). Three more months go by, same thing happens again--the inside of the microwave was completely burned and fried! This time, three house calls and a month later, they had replaced the magnetron and inverter inside the microwave. Just two months after that now, THE MICROWAVE IS DEAD AGAIN!!! MAGNETRON completely DESTROYED AGAIN! It has been such a pain, dealing with all the service visits to my home and the phone calls into Whirlpool.

I have had my electricity/outlets checked by 2 professionals--that is all functioning correctly.

DON'T BUY THIS MICROWAVE!! I'm sure there is one out there that will last longer than 3 months.

I ordered this from Amazon. It arrived promptly as advertised. After we had it installed it worked one time. On the 2nd use some part blew up inside and it stopped working. We emailed for service and AJ Madison emailed us back 2 days later to call Whirlpool warranty service. They came out, ordered parts and it is 2 weeks later and they say parts are on backorder.....

I wish I could rate this a (0) star

What I like about the Whirlpool/Kitchen Aid microwaves is they offer models with Accuwave cooking. When you cook at 50% power, it cooks at 50% power rather than cycling on and off at 100% power, for 50% of the time. This makes a massive difference on how things cook. We previously had a GH5184XPS with Accuwave that lasted 4 years before it stopped cooking. It was starting to not look so nice from normal use, so I decided to go with a new one instead of repairing the old one.

After the new microwave was installed, I tried a cup of water in it. When I started it, it sounded like an arc welder, and when I looked at the plastic panel on the right side where the magnetron is, it looked like an arc torch flame. I quickly turned it off so it wouldn't burn the place down. They took it back and gave me another. The very night we got it, we were making popcorn in the special Microwave Popcorn bowl, which we had used for years with our other microwaves. Within a minute, we got an "F7 - Call For Service" code. They offered to exchange it for a new one, but didn't have another, but told me they could sell me the new 5184, and "updated" model of our old one. I noticed that the new one had a broiler, slightly different menus, $50 cheaper, and we had good luck with our previous 5184. However, after it was installed, the cook said, this doesn't cook right. I checked it out. The "updated" 5184 no longer has Accuwave. That isn't how it was represented, so I gave them their $50 back and had them order another one of these from the factory. That went along for 3 days before we noticed that part way through the cooking time, the magnetron noise would stop, the fan speed up, the light got brighter, and the food stopped cooking. Since the chicken was still pink, I added 2 minutes at full power, and immediately received an F7 code. The problem actually started when it stopped cooking during the previous operation. You don't get the F7 until you try to start it again, and the magnetron doesn't start. We couldn't trust it with chicken. We avoided certain foods and alternated between manual and automatic cycles to get around the F7 codes. As time progressed, we could do less and less. Now, you can't even trust it to finish a bowl of oatmeal.

That was enough for me. There is no possibility of buying a good one from the factory, so there is no point in getting another new one. Thus, I decided I would use warranty service to see if they can put in good parts that WILL work. The dealer-recommended warranty repair source wouldn't take the job when he learned which model it was. Whirlpool got another company to come the following morning. They put a large bowl of water in the microwave to test it, and could find nothing wrong. They said their manual doesn't even list an F7 code. There is nothing easier on a microwave than a large bowl of water. I went on the internet and printed off one of a myriad of postings about F7 for this microwave model, with detail instructions on how to troubleshoot. Then I put real food in the microwave and showed them how easy it is to get an F7. Included in the troubleshooting instructions were comments from the techs that service these every day who state that they always go through the procedure to eliminate any other causes, but it always ends up being the expensive microprocessor board. The on-site techs did not follow the checklist, and called the factory. The factory told them they will send them a switch to try. (I was hoping it would be the thermal switch, but the techs indicated it was not.) The on-site techs reminded the factory that the problem starts mid-cycle. The factory came back with, as it gets hotter, the switch contacts may be increasing resistance, causing the problem. I could repeat the F7 at will. They did not check the switch for high resistance nor follow the factory procedure to troubleshoot the F7 error. Next Wednesday, the switch is scheduled to be delivered, and the techs will be returning to put it in. The service company also had little confidence in the factory's recommendation, but they have to do what the factory says. Perhaps the fist service company has gone through this before and may be why they wouldn't take the job for this model.

I've been through 3 of this model, and 4 installs, since April 5 2011, and I don't have a good microwave yet. They've eaten up more of my time than the microwave is worth. Now it's my turn. I will make it my personal mission to require them to keep sending technicians to my house to fix this model until it works as advertised, on real food, or supply me with a model of equal to or greater value, that works as advertised, for free, and with a new warranty.

This microwave came with my condo as an upgrade when I moved in. 5 months later it was completely fried. Same as the previous reviews. The repairman said "its an issue that usually happens when you use the microwave with nothing in it" which is not what happened in my case. I read the other reviews on here (thanks everyone!) and I am insisting Whirlpool replace it with a different model so I dont have to relive this nightmare over and over!

I've had two service calls with this microwave within the one year warranty. If it goes again, they tell me I am on my own. Shame on Whirlpool. I suspect that it may be more efficient to purchase a new microwave instead of having a service call for a circuit board that continues to be an issue. I'd steer away from this one....

(It's a shame you can't rate something with negative stars. This item does not deserve one single star.) Microwave came new with our new home in 2010. In the first year alone, we called twice for service because of the nefarious F7 - Call for Service code that appeared almost every time we used it for more than a minute. Finally, less than two years after we moved in, it would appear that the magnatron has blowm, and now the microwave won't heat food at all. Be warned- if you purchase this item, you should definitely get the extended warranty, or better yet, JUST DON'T BUY IT!

My biggest nightmare is to buy Whirlpool products... they have the worse maintenance and products. Have never had this much problem with a big company like this to take ownership and stand behind their product. My Microwave stopped working 2 days before the warranty expire. I contacted the Whirlpool customer service and the first thing they did, they sold me a new warranty. They send someone to look at the unit, they ordered the part, it made it worse that what it was. I called Whirlpool to replace the unit and they did not want to hear about it. I contacted 7 on your side and am trying to go after them... Why is it so difficult for a company like Whirlpool to have a good support for their products, if they believe in their products... Now they do not even want to bother to even make an attempt to fix the unit. BIG MISTAKE WAS TO BUY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY BECAUSE NOW THEY SAY IT IS NOT THEIR PROBLEM AND NEW COMPANY THAT SOLD ME THE WARRANTY HAS TO TAKE CARE OF IT AND ALL AND ALL, I THOUGHT THAT THEIR COSTUMER SERVICE AGENT IS SELLING ME WHIRLPOOL WARRANTY AND NOT 3RD PARTY COMPANY. OH THEY SAID THAT THEY ARE SORRY THAT IT WAS NOT EXPLAINED TO EM THAT IT WAS A 3RD PARTY COMPANY... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT BUY WHIRLPOOL PRODUCTS EVER AGAIN, I WILL NOT FOR SURE. I would rate it below "0" if it was possible....

This microwave stopped working 364 days after we bought the house. Unfortunately it was the Firday before a holiday weeked and I was not able to contact Whrilpool until the following week. Whrilpool refused to honor the warranty when I called becasue it was two day expired.
A service repair man then came to the house to diagnose the problem. He told me the the microwave needed an new magnetron and control board. However, he said me that I should just get a different microwave. If I replaced the parts in this microwave he would probably be back in another year becuase Whrilpool had so many problems with this model. After that recommendation I looked at reviews on the Whrilpool web sight and Amazon, defective magnetrons seem to be a problem with this unit.
I would not recommend purchasing this unit since it seems that there is a problem with functionality and their warranty department is unwilling to budge on anything.

This microwave is H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E. It is most atrocious, negligently engineered appliance I have ever owned. It is an embarrassment to modern manufacturing and quality control procedures. Whirlpool must have recently fired the guy in charge of their ISO 9000 program and decided to go low budget. They must have outsourced the design, manufacturing and QA to a bunch of lobotomized spider monkeys.

Yes it is that bad. So bad, that I will never buy a whirlpool product again.

Here's the story:

I bought a new construction home with many upgrades 6 months ago, and the builder selected this microwave as the high end option. It looked great and I was excited to start using it. After 1 month of VERY light use, it made a loud popping sound and stopped working. I called service because it was under warranty and the repairman arrived fairly quickly. However, he was baffled by the amount of parts that had malfunctioned and he spent 4 hours taking the entire thing apart and replacing $600 (parts and labor) worth of parts. This microwave is not even worth $600 brand new!!!

So it was fixed and we figured it was just bad luck. 2 months later it makes a loud buzzing sound and shorts out again! Are you kidding me? NO WAY am I sticking around to deal with this piece of junk after its warranty expires and I'm on the hook for an endless nightmare of downtime and expensive repairs. As soon as my garbage company has its annual curbside pick up day, I'm going to beat this thing senseless with a baseball bat and then throw it on the junk heap.

Whirlpool, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Look at the ratings you have earned for your efforts here. 100% 1 star ratings!!!!!! Fix this!!!!!!!!

I am completely disappointed in this microwave. It stopped working after about 16 months, hence it was beyond warranty. Every microwave I have ever owned has lasted at least 5 years! Now Whirlpool wants to charge me $100.00 service fee? This despite all of the documented "magnetron" issues in the reviews, yet they claim to not have any documented problems with this model. DO NOT purchase a microwave from Whirlpool. It's beautiful to look at, but now it's just a giant (pricey) paperweight hanging above my range. I'll never buy anything from them again! It doesn't DESERVE a star, and neither does Whirlpool's customer service!