Westinghouse 610L Side by Side WSE6100SF (Stainless Steel)

WHY IS THIS NOT A RECALL BLACK TAR ISSUE – Brought new and only lasted 5 years I will never buy Electrolux products ever again before the service technician seen the fridge he knew the tub liner would be cracked even though I called about a black tar oozing from the bottom of the center devide after waiting 6 weeks for a reply and booking an unpaid day off work he didn’t even try to fix it what a joke  Show details

Great fridge – Great fridge. No issues for many years. Still going good. Show details

14 years old – Have had this fridge for 14 years Started freezing up Thought the Thermostat was buggered, Gave it a good clean and no more problems. Have never had an issue apart from when it attempts to talk to us (Gurgling Noises) This Fridge was Australian made. Show details

Familiar problem was easily fixed – I bought this fridge second hand nearly 5 years ago. As others have noted, it makes weird sounds which occasionally have me concerned. I had what seems to be a common problem of the centre wall getting burning hot, I found that this can be caused by the compressor fan being stalled. In my case a mouse had become lodged in the fan. Removing the mouse fixed the problem. So far this has been a fine unit.  Show details

It's a good Fridge – We bought it new. It has been a great fridge for just over 4 years. Easy to clean. Keeps everything cool or frozen, whichever is required. We had one warranty issue with it just recently, and that was quickly resolved and cost us nothing (We bought an extended warranty with it, and it paid off). Free fixing is always good. It's a good size. The… Read more

only real issue is it's so big it wouldn't fit into the fridge recess in any of the houses we have lived in since buying it, but, it's not a TARDIS and you can't fit more in than the dimensions dictate, so if size is what you need...... It just has to live in the dining area, and we put clever cube shelves for storage in the fridge recess. lol

poor quality, shamed on "Australian made" – I got exactly same issue as below, "I purchased my Westinghouse WSE6100SF side by side in 2014. There is a black gooey tar like substance oozing out of the seam on the centre column at the bottom where the doors meet. It is almost impossible to scrap/clean off. From reading some of the other questions and reviews I can see that this is not… Read more

something new to this model or to Westinghouse. So my question is, what is Westinghouse offering to do to resolve the problem with my fridge? Now my fridge and freezer have stopped working the fridge light remains in but the control boards that show temp ect is now blank"

Very disappointing – The fridge compartment freezes over and now the fridge door won't seal properly. The shelves are very brittle and some have broken.

Fridge started leaking back tar substance from middle Pilar at bottom – Fridge has started to leak black tar from the bottom of the middle pillar, which from what I’m reading is a common fault with this fridge. I also purchased mine from Harvey Norman Show details

Beware the sticky black ooze – Like many other reviewers my fridge has also started to consistent leak sticky black tar at the bottom of booth doors. The seal on the freezer has now come away from the door as it sticks to the fridge every time the door is shut. The gunk is hard to clean off, but eleven then you have to wonder why you even need to deal with this type of defect on a $1500 fridge. Don’t buy Westinghouse is my recommendation for anyone reading this. Show details

Plastic waste – First one was replaced under warranty due to cracking in the interior floor. Second one ate its way through a ridiculous piece of plastic built in obsolescence passing off as a door hinge. Once this goes the fridge door stops closing, the bottom of the door cracks and you have to replace the entire door to rectify it. If you're someone who fights our growing waste problem, they've still got you because you can't buy the doors any more. Show details

black tar – Did bit research and looks like that the black tar is a common issue for Westinghouse fridge. I did not realized the black tar was from fridge at first. It was so sticky and broken the seal of doors. So I bought a new seal around 100 bucks and replaced. wiped out the black tar, after couple months, found out the seal was broken again. and the liner also broken. So frustrated. The fridge is out of warranty already. Show details

Westinghouse side by side fridge – Was quite happy until the handle on fridge side came off in one piece in my hand....grrrr. Now thinking of buying a fridge with no handles, otherwise fridge has been ok. Show details

Another specimen of this model WSE6100SF leaking a tar like substance – Review update --------------- I am updating this review to reflect the responses received from Electrolux, the owners of this particular brand. It would not be fair to leave the review "as is" after what transpired post my review. My initial poor experience with Customer Service was somewhat improved when more senior people took over the case. … Read more

After initially being asked to pay for the service visit, the fee was waived and a service visit was arranged (I still ended up having to take a day off work). My suspicions of a manufacturing fault were confirmed when the very experienced and knowledgeable technician explained that this Australian made fridge was manufactured for a period of a couple of years, without a seal, that was supposed be applied to this model. The seal prevents the black tar like substance from leaking out.

The large temperature fluctuations were related to the automatic defrost function and were a measure of the air temperature rather that the temperature of the stored items like food and liquids.

A digital temperature meeter was deployed with a sensor immersed in a glass of water (Got it a Jaycar). This is a much more accurate method of tracking the temperature of the items stored in the fridge. The technician also informed me that the fridge temperature would be 2 degrees above the setting on the digital display inside the fridge. Mine was set to 4 when it should have been set to 3. After setting it to 3 and monitoring the fridge for 14 days, it appears that the fridge is performing correctly with the temperature variations sitting between 4.0 and 5.1 degrees on the meeter.

I still feel that Electrolux need to improve on their customer service, especially in cases where known issues with certain appliances could be handled better, especially with manufacturing defects that really should be rectified without the customer needing to pay fairly high fees for a service visit, even if the appliance is out of warranty.

I have updated the overall rating to 3 instead of 1, build quality a 3 instead of one (Fix was minor) and the cleaning and maintenance a 3 instead of 1 as the leaking black substance will no longer happen, making cleaning a lot easier.

Original review =========== Purchased this fridge from Harvey Norman on July 19, 2013. It started leaking a black tar like substance and later I have noticed large temperature fluctuations in the fridge compartment.

Unfortunately this fridge started playing up shortly after my 5 year extended warranty ran out. I called the Electrolux Customer Service and they were less than helpful. They only come to my area in the afternoon (Melbourne West) and not on weekends. So I have to take time off and their "window" is 5.5 hours for an arrival and I just have to wait.

They also said they would not "charge" me for the cleaning up of the black substance but will still charge a $145.- call out fee and charge me separately for looking at the temperature fluctuations, although the cause of the black substance leak can be traced back to the external part of the fridge getting too hot due to an issue with the condenser motor (According to other sources).

What the "Service centre" told me is that: "Unfortunately your fridge is out of warranty, pay up". No sympathy for the fact that this appears to be a manufacturing or design flaw (Which they deny).

All I can say is that many people appear to be having this issue, maybe a class action or some complaints to the ACCC could get Electrolux to move.

Do not purchase anything from these guys unless they have better warranties and better customer service, and particularly better product quality. A fridge like this should last more than 5 years.

Black Tar Leaking – I thought it was just our fridge doing this. Did a google search and found this website. I am so disappointed with this fridge, the black tar like substance just keeps oozing out all over the fridge and floor. Not to mention the fridge randomly just freezing everything. We will never ever ever buy Westinghouse again. STAY AWAY!!!

Leaking Black sticky goo – Very Disappointed !!!! From both the side of the doors (freeze and freezer) , some black sticky goo has started to leak. I've called the retailer and they are saying we can not do anything as my fridge is no more in warranty period. Show details

door handles crap, – the handles are cracked after normal usage, and the price for these parts is the cost of a new fridge! what ever you do, do NOT buy fridges from Westinghouse.. Terrible service, bad attitude, and to top it off, they dont answer emails or phone calls...Terrible service, and price gouging to the max  Show details

Great Space..Disastrous refrigerator – The membrane cracked everywhere. Black goo oozed out under front doors. The engine ran hot. I thought it was my fault... that the goo was coming from spilled food, the cracks appeared because it must ( I assumed ) have been bumped during installation, and the fridge may have been overloaded causing the heat. IN FACT, it’s a design fault that… Read more

Westinghouse knows about and many other people have experienced! The fridge is still running. Still keeping food cold but I’m throwing it out before it stops and spoils everything. Shame on Electrolux/Westinghouse. DON'T BUY products from this company

Leaking Black sticky goo – So disappointed!!!!! I bought Westinghouse thinking it was a reliable brand but I think I was very wrong!! Black sticky goo will not stop leaking out of the base of my fridge, it’s buggering my seals.....never will I buy another Westinghouse. I’m glad this model is discontinued so other people don’t have to deal with this  Show details

So disappointed – After having the fridge a couple of months I noticed the plastic surrounds in the glass shelves cracked. This has been discussed with them when it happened, was supposed to receive replacements but never did. Recently I noticed so many cracks in the molding inside the fridge. Westinghouse is classed as a mid range fridge so you would expect… Read more

approx 10-12 years. Not approx 4.

I have emailed electrolux in regards to my findings on Wednesday 12th Dec evening with photos, so far no return contact. (18th Dec).

Pile of rubbish – Initial issue with Fridge freezing after 3 months of purchase.. Now Alarm going off again after being repaired 4 days ago. Fridge not cooling. Freezer not freezing. Total unreliable and cx waste of money. Lucky product care will cover again. I will not be buying a westinghouse unless they can prove the value issue has been rectified on new models.  Show details

Westinghouse warranty non existed – I bought a Westinghouse fridge from store after my existing Westinghouse fridge finally broke down after 20 years of use. I decide to buy an expensive fridge after the good run I had with my last fridge. This Westinghouse fridge stopped after only 2 years, so I went to the store where I purchased the fridge, they said Westinghouse were very… Read more

good.

With there warranty and there would be no problems with fixing and getting the fridge back in action.

When I phoned Westinghouse they were not interested in there product and warranty was simply my problem and the payment for a faulty control box was my problem, I certainly will not be buying another Westinghouse product. after this experience.

Thankfully the model is discontinued!! – Like many others our fridge suffers from the black goo leakage. Approx 9 months ago I contacted Westinghouse and they sent someone out. I thought a fix was being done. Nope. The tech simply cleaned up the mess, told me to buy a citrus cleaner from bunnings. Best he could do. 9 months on the black goo is back. More black than a tar making… Read more

facility. Just spent another 30 mins cleaning the fridge. Not good enough. I dont care that the stuff is 'harmless' it is just downright annoying. Can't wait for next hard rubbish to throw an expensive good working fridge away and buy a fisher & paykel instead. I bought a westinghouse on prior reputation but will now steer well clear

Fridge Fling - Just out of warranty and frosting up and PCB needs replacing – As a designer, I am aware of planned obsolescence but this was next level. The fridge has been working fine for the last few years and never missed a beat. We read all the reviews so anticipate the handle issue, the noisy compressor and experience the infamous "Gurgling sound" that they are famous for. But what every technician has explained to… Read more

me, and what the sales guy Didn't explain is that they are only built with a 5-6 year shelf life. Now keeping this in mind, there is a plethora of spare pats for a discontinued product... "weird ay" Every time the technician gets a call out and you slowly utter the words West-ing-house they begin to salavate. They are in fact quite easy to diagnose and fix, however the poor unsuspecting owner just experiences the large metal box that stores all of their rotting food. Although the dog does enjoy these occasions, my hip locked does not. The medication compartment in the fridge is pretty cool though...

Black goo – I have the same black goo on the bottom of my fridge freezer its gotten so bad that it has damaged by fridge/freezer seals my freezer no longer shuts but didn't relise this till I got home after a weekend away with now spoiled food. Yes obviously a issue with this fridge yes should of been recalled & yes might be 4 years old but should last longer than 4years  Show details

Black Tar – I am also having this issue of black tar oozing from my fridge doors. I'm concerned about the health risk of this substance as it requires very hot water and several scrubs to get removed. It has stained my wood floors.What is it doing to me when I touch and breathe this substance in. I have just sent a letter to consumer care requesting a… Read more

replacement as I am not happy that I was able to buy this fridge with this defect known.

If this fridge was a car it would have been recalled.