Let me preface this rant by explaining that I'm the type of guy who will research the hell out of most anything before making a purchase. I feel somewhat responsible for this problem, because I only spent a few hours looking into options rather than the days or weeks I ordinarily might have.

So I purchased a microwave - an LG 1.5 cubic foot, NeoChef, countertop microwave - model LMC1575BD. I don't care about the fancy bells and whistles, the hidden controls, the fact that the damned thing sings a little tune when it's done instead of just beeping like a normal microwave (although to be fair, it is pretty slick looking).

What pisses me off is discovering that you can only set cook time in 10 second increments.

What. The. Fuck?

Whoever the hell thought this was a good idea (probably a communist) should be locked inside a brazen bull - 10 seconds at a time - until they repent and promise never to design another appliance in their lives.

Unfortunately, I was intent on recycling the box, etc., as quickly as possible so as not to have it laying about the house for the entirety of the warranty period (which would be my default if I wasn't married), and also - it was a bitch to get out of the box in the first place, so I kind of tore off a side.

Now I get to see if BestBuy will give me anything for it w/o the box. Otherwise, I'll have to try to sell it locally at who knows what kind of a loss.

I said initially that I felt somewhat responsible for this disastrous purchase, which is true, because I didn't read the user manual before buying it, which I ordinarily would have at least skimmed. But I don't feel completely responsible because the basic ability to set a cook time isn't something any sane human being would even consider to look for as a "feature".

I guess when I'm buying a new, new microwave, I had better check to make sure it comes with a door, a power cord, and perhaps a magnetron, lest I pick up the model that heats food by caged hamsters trained to operate tiny blowtorches.

LG can rot in Seoul.

-Rob

It probably has a logic button. Try press-and-hold and see if the time increments scroll up to minutes.

Also found this online:

quote:

To set the Kitchen Timer on the LG Black Stainless Steel Series 1.5 cu. ft. NeoChef™ Countertop Microwave with Smart Inverter and EasyClean®, Model # LMC1575BD, you would need to open the oven door, press CLEAR, then TIMER once. 10 will appear in the display. You can then set the desired time by pressing + or - until the desired time appears in the display. You will, not need to press 30 times for 5 minutes. The unit has a Slide Touch Key that can be used to adjust numeric settings easily. Pressing and holding + or shutting the oven door and using the Slide Touch Key rapidly increases the time. From 0~3 minutes, the time increases or decreases in 10-second increments/decrements. From 3~20 minutes, the time increases or decreases in 30-second increments/decrements. From 20~90 minutes, the time increases or decreases in 1-minute increments/decrements. Keys on either side of the Slide Touch key operate exactly the same as the + and - keys on the inner control panel and can also be used to quickly adjust settings...^IFV

LMC1575BD instructions

It only adjusts in 10 second increments no matter how you do it.

-Rob

How about that "Slide Touch Key" thing?

Selecting start without selecting a cook time, activates quick start where time can be selected in 30 second increments.

Skip to 45 seconds.

Y'all aren't getting my beef here.

I'm a tech savvy guy. I'm aware of all the different ways I can turn the damned thing on and heat stuff up.

I wasn't suggesting that I can only enter time 10 seconds at a time (like having to hit a button 18 times if I wanted a 3 minute cook time - that would be really, really stupid of me). What I'm complaining about is that there is no way to set the device for anything outside of 10 second increments (including the touch slide thingy).

Let me put it another way...

If I want to heat something for 45 seconds, the only way I can do that is to set it for 50 seconds and stop it when it reaches 5.

See?

-Rob

That extra 5 seconds would piss me off, too.

Rob -

<No Sarcasm>

With you 100% that would piss me off. Personally I hate using a microwave, but when I do I know exactly how long I want specific things to cook for specific times.

It would irritate the hell out of me if I knew hotdogs begin to split at 60 seconds so my only option was to set for 1 minutes and then watch the damn timing to manually stop at 55 seconds.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Rob -

<No Sarcasm>

With you 100% that would piss me off. Personally I hate using a microwave, but when I do I know exactly how long I want specific things to cook for specific times.

It would irritate the hell out of me if I knew hotdogs begin to split at 60 seconds so my only option was to set for 1 minutes and then watch the damn timing to manually stop at 55 seconds.

Yes! Thank you!

I was actually specifically thinking about blistered hot dogs, but more importantly, Mrs.BurtonRW uses a neti-pot religiously and knows precisely how many seconds are needed to warm the water to a comfortable temperature (we keep the water in the basement, so it's a little colder than she likes out of the bottle). And what about baby formula? We don't have kids, but that could be a royal PITA for the same reason, I think.

-Rob

We have one with that feature and over the past 10 years we have learned how to live with it.

Wow! Presumably you can compensate somewhat for LG’s 10-second Planck time by adjusting the cooking power level, but what a PITA. I’d have to use a calculator to figure out how to warm up our dog’s wet food that we keep in the frig instead of just hitting 8 seconds and full power like we do now on our microwave.

I agree. That would be annoying. I use 15 seconds for many things.

We have an inexpensive Whirlpool unit, mounted over the range, maybe five years old, with a numerical keypad that allows me to select 24 seconds, or two minutes and eighteen seconds, or whatever.

We also have an inexpensive Panasonic countertop unit that I bought at Walmart in 1995, it has a similar keypad.

That would annoy me, too.

This is an example of why we always keep packing materials a minimum of thirty days, and often a good bit longer. The TV box for the new TV is sitting out in the garage. And it gets in my way. But I'm not discarding it until Costco's "90 day, no questions asked" return window closes.

It's an LG, btw, and we love it

That would piss me off. I cook my two frozen White Castle’s for exactly 65 seconds.

Yep. I cook Campbell's soup for 69 seconds and chicken pot pies for 6.15 minutes. I'll pick my own time thank you very much. I don't need some bean counter at corporate telling me what to do.

LG's official response:

We are glad that you have raised this to our attention, Robert. It is a pleasure to assist you today.

As a consumer myself, I fully understand where you are coming from in this matter and we wish to assure you that we take cases like these like they are our own. We recognize how you, as our customer, feel about incidents like these.

Please be advised that you can only add 10 seconds on the timer for our LG countertop microwaves as you also mentioned. As we are yet to receive an update if a different option will soon be available on setting a cooking time, I will make sure to pass this on to the LG Managerial and Marketing team for improvements on overall services through our internal ticketing system via a Voice of Customer (VOC) ticket.

We always value customers who are keen to give us their feedback. For us to proceed though, may we also please request for a contact number that we may use to create a profile in our system? This way, we may have the suggestion submitted to the responsible department. Rest assured that any information you provide will be used solely for LG’s record purposes and will not result to any marketing/solicitation or will be provided to any third-party provider.

We hope to hear from you soon and once again, thank you very much for your invaluable feedback. We highly value suggestions so that we can improve our products and services to match our customers’ preferences.

We are glad to be in service with you today and we hope that this information has been a great help in addressing your inquiry. Please contact us again via Email, Live Chat or by calling 800-243-0000. LG Electronics is fully committed to customer service and satisfaction.

Thank you for choosing LG.

Ha! As if I'm expecting a software update for a freaking microwave.

-Rob

At least they think you’re keen.

quote:

LMC1575BD

It may be slick looking, but it's exactly what I'd expect from a microwave without a keypad/numbers right there on the face of it.

Yea, making something NEW! IMPROVED! when it doesn't have to be.

LG...stick with the basics!

I'm sure some LG software engineer got a hefty bonus for his 10-second shitty programming "improvement".