We had/have a GE monster of a fridge/freezer, side by side type, if you see what i mean. A US import ( i think ). 10 or 12 years old.
From time to time ( like once a year ) it would blow a small part ( apparently there to protect the fridge ) and it would cost me 200 pesos for some1 to come round and change it. A guy I knew who worked for industrial fridge thingy company.
Anyway I once got the the wrong guy round ( they all have the same names, and are all related somehow ????????????), when my wife was away in europe.
Well from that day onwards it never worked properly.
During a year I had the " unfreeze thingy" on a manual timer, and the temperature control on a manual knob.
Then the "resistance" that heats to unfreeze the fridge blew. So I would just switch off the bugger for a couple of hours every day to unfreeze??????????????????.
Thankfully we also have a frigidaire brand freezer that works very well to store and freeze food.
There again 10-12 years seems a nice life span for a fridge, i guess.
For the sake of sanity, I gave in and bought a whirpool fridge, in the dr. Its a top freezer combo thingy. And has all the bells and whistles. ( fast freeze compartment, shelves and tubs for ice cubes, can holders, egg holders, vegetable shelves with humidity dispenser, digital panel with alarms and stuff, etc......).
So far so good..... and it uses much less electricity.
Its capacity is a tad smaller for the fridge part, and the freezer part is much smaller...... but at least it works correctly !!