Siemens American fridge freezer problem

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I have a Siemens American style fridge freezer code KA62DP90GB that suddenly stopped freezing. The fridge, ice generation and water all work fine. It's five years and six months old and therefore six months out of warranty.

It broke on the 18th of Dec so I called the Siemens customer services and they sent an engineer around who took the internal panel out and found an ice ball on the cooling grid. He advised that he couldn't fix it as he wasn't the right type of engineer, but that it was a blockage and so he'd arrange for someone to come around, drain and clear the blockage, refill and it would be fine.

On the 22nd the next engineer came, but said that it would be impossible to just drain as its a sealed system and so needed a new compressor, which the first engineer hadn't ordered and so he couldn't do anything, but did order a new compressor.

He returned on the 31st to fit the compressor, but was very insistent that it would probably not work as there was likely still a blockage that he couldn't clear. Instructions were to leave overnight and see if the freezer started to cool properly. He charged me £500, but said that if it didn't work that would be offset against a new replacement.

Nothing happened at all and so now I have to call them back to have another engineer come, confirm it doesn't work and then they will 'allow' me to buy a replacement for the additional £1,500. They are and were 2k new.

Apologies for the length of the post, but I am extremely frustrated with the whole thing. Firstly, I'm amazed that you can't fix a freezer element for less than the replacement. While it's a sealed system, it can't have been sealed in the first place and so it must be possible to fix? Secondly, I don't see the incentive for the Siemens engineers to actually fix the unit - they get paid anyway, but are almost incentivised to not fix it as then Siemens have you over a barrel to buy a new one - you're already in for £500...

Can anyone advise if there are any other options for me other than to pay up and try to work out how to get an enormous basically brand new looking fridge freezer removed and another one brought in all for the privilege of paying £1.5k.
 
Does this have a separate circuit for the fridge / freezer sections? - in other words, two compressors?

Initially, this sounds like a complete misdiagnosis. If a blockage in the refrigerant circuit was suspected, there would be no need to replace the compressor. The symptom given (ball of ice) could also mean that the system was short of refrigerant - ie; it has a leak.
If the engineer has changed the compressor and recharged it, he should have known there and then if it was going to work and any suspected blockage had cleared - if he actually knew what he was doing! - which I suspect not.

You say that the fridge and cold water are working, but is it still making the ice cubes?
Also, what temp reading are you getting on the freezer section?
 
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