Every manufacturer knows what parts will likely fail, and when. Some will fail within the warranty period, some will fail shortly after, and others will last for 10 years. Amana warranted the fridge for one year, no problems occurred during that one year, and the part that failed at 18 months happens to 1 out of 2,500 units while the others last for 5 years. So Amana doesn't really *have* to do anything, but they SHOULD. This is a customer loyalty issue, and they should honor this repair for those 1 out of 2,500 customers who have it. It's just courtesy. Seeing as they refuse to repair it, your only course of action is to make a lot of noise. Write a letter, be very specific about how you will never buy their brand again, will tell your friends to never buy this brand, and also mention that you've outlined your issues on Gardenweb which is routinely visited by thousands of people every day. At the bottom of the letter, copy Consumer Reports, the Better Business Bureau, your local TV station with a consumer reporter, and anyone else you think might be interested in hearing your story. Send this letter to the head of the department involved, as well as the President and/or CEO. Send it in an overnight letter by FedEx (that usually gets attention), or by certified snail mail w/ return receipt -- both of these tell the company that you are serious. My partner's coworker had no end of problems with a new Apple MacBook he just purchased, and had it "repaired" three times at the local Apple Store, to no avail. He wrote a letter directly to Steve Jobs. Well, a couple of weeks later he got a call from the Apple Store saying they would be happy to replace his laptop with a brand new one. Voila! It pays to rattle their cages sometimes, and they DO listen -- especially if they see in your letter any hint that may lose future business over this.

and we have 2 accts..one with local cu, and local big boy bank...to tell you the truth don't have a clue why we've kept both, other than cu doesn't offer lock boxes and big boy does...

@gardengal48 I want to be clear that I am not making a statement that all individuals within landscaping fit into the profiles I was giving. The point was that most of the service providers are either simplistic maintenance people or doing large high-end projects. "Most" is not "all". I am going to supply evidence for that, but first let me make a diversion. It is very clear to me that you are not in the categories I described. You are a very special person who has a deep love of gardens. You have a lot of experience in the nursery side of the business, in operations and as a buyer. You obviously enjoy thinking about plants based on the quality and number of responses you give to questions here. But what I would like to suggest is that you are not common at all. It is very hard to find people like you, in most places. Now, as some evidence for my claims, please go to Yelp and search within two categories: "gardener" and "landscape design". For gardeners, you will find low-budget lawn sweepers. If any of these people have deep knowledge of soil and plants, they do a superb job of hiding that fact on their websites. Why would you hide such basic information if it was your core skill? The mix of services that are typically offered are weekly maintenance, hardscape installation, and tree services. My kingdom for a single profile on Yelp that talks about deep love of plants and soils and simple garden design projects done by the principal and not done by his "team" of guys he hired at Home Depot.... I mean I have done that exercise and finding just one person who does not fit the general category I described is very hard. For "landscape design" you find architects, many of whom are superb. But they are not going to support the operation and maintenance of your garden. So pass on that. You also find implementers. But call up these firms and what you quickly realize is they want large projects over $10K. They are never going to supply you with one knowledgeable person who can come over to your house twice a month and supply your plants and garden with some simple love. I am not making this up. I have called up every single one of the top 20 rated firms on Yelp in both of these categories and most of them simply do not provide the services of what you call a "fine gardener". If it is different in your area, then maybe I should think about buying a vacation home there. Seriously.

I could be wrong, but adding R22 to a system that has a known leak in NJ is illegal. The way this statement is worded, you are wrong. The EPA requires systems with over 50 Lbs. of refrigerant for the Freon leaks to be repaired before recharging. These kinds of machines of this capacity are commercial and industrial machines. There is nothing illegal in the recharging of Freon for a residential based AC system. The total charge on a residential system could be as little as 4-5 Lbs. or as much as 20-25 Lbs. Now, just because it's legal to recharge a system with refrigerant doesn't mean it's 'economical' to do so. Because if you don't fix the leak, the Freon will just leak back out. How quickly this happens depends entirely on how bad the leak is. If the system is flat on Freon, I personally will require the homeowner to pay for to fix the leak and the Freon needed to recharge the system. Because common sense tells me if I recharge a 'flat' system, it will be flat again in short order. The leaks in some cases are so bad that it leaks out faster than it can be recharged. It doesn't matter what type or kind of refrigerant you have. They all function the same way. If you have a leak, the more economical choice is to fix the leak and recharge it. In some cases where refrigerant leaks are really small, the expense just to find the leak may not make the situation economical either. This is where 'skills' come into play. I service the Katy, Texas area.