Insinkerator Badger 1 1/3 HP Garbage Disposal Review
The Insinkerator Badger 1 1/3 HP Garbage Disposal features galvanized steel construction and a compact, space saving design. The Badger series of disposals from Insinkerator are affordably priced and they are easy to install.
All Insinkerator disposals feature a “Quick Lock” mount making it easy to remove an old unit and replace it with a new one with a simple twist to lock it in place.
Although the badger series of disposals is affordably priced, sometimes you get what you pay for and it may be a good idea to go with Insinkerator’s more expensive, but much higher quality, “Evolution” series disposals.
Product Features and Specifications:
- Product Dimensions: 7 x 7 x 12 inches
- Product Weight: 14 pounds
- In-Sink-Erator Badger 1 food waste disposer designed for years of trouble-free service
- Stainless steel construction and increased horsepower for grinding tough bones quickly and efficiently
- 1/3 HP, Powered by rugged induction motors and mounted to your sink with tough, stainless steel assemblies
- Insulated sound shells that shield grind chamber noise
- 1-year parts and in-home warranty
* Note: The features listed above are from the manufacturer and the “years of trouble free service” type statements are a little hard to believe after reading a few dozen reviews from people who have purchased and used this disposal.
The Reviews:
The reviews for the Insinkerator Badger 1 are, in a word… Terrible!!! There were a handful of positive reviews with people saying things like “still going after 12 years” and saying that this disposal works great and we are very happy with it. Unfortunately, these people are in the minority and if their Badger 1 disposal is still going strong, they must have gotten lucky.
The steel construction is supposed to make this disposal durable and corrosion resistant by a number of people report significant rust. An alarming number of people report cracks in the casing and considerable leakage after just a year or two. A number of people report that this product has trouble grinding things like egg shells or apples which really shouldn’t be too difficult for a garbage disposal to handle.
There is a one-year warranty on this disposal however its useful life seems to be in the 2 year to 5 year range (consider yourself lucky if it lasts five years). When researching the Evolution line which is also made by Insinkerator we found almost nothing but very positive reviews. Although the Evolution line is considerably more expensive, the reviews for the Evolution disposers and the Badger disposers are polar opposites. Our recommendation would be to spend a little more money and go with the Evolution line and avoid the Badger disposals.
6 Comments at "Insinkerator Badger 1 1/3 HP Garbage Disposal Review"
This truly is a horrible garbage disposer. I purchased my house and it came with one of these installed. It constantly jams, so I had to constantly go under it and twist the unjammer nut. Finally after a year of serious use, it springs a leak. The case is not contained well and the leak eventually shorts out my power.
Finally, when I decide to discard this machine, I find it’s also incredibly difficult to uninstall. WHY DO THEY HAVE 3 SCREWS HOLDING THE UNIT DOWN!?
Anyway, I purchased this machine because of the reviews.
http://www.garbage-disposal-reviews.com/waste-king-l-2600-legend-series-12-hp-garbage-disposal-review
This is a far superior machine. The installation was also a breeze. I was amazed and awed by the ease of installation. You screw one large nut in instead of 3 random screws to hold things in place.
I can only wonder what twisted vile man invented the badger series garbage disposal.
I have had a badger and I’m not sure what the life expectancy is suppose to be, however it bit the dust after 6 years. The motor froze up.
I bought one of these desposal units and this was my comment to the company when they sent me a custormer service survey regardng my complain that the outside of the box did not indicate that the unit does not come with the cord or cord strain relief parts to complete the installation.
Sir,
You are correct. I did say I would fill out a survey. Since I have not received any indication that anything has been done to remedy the issue I contacted you about there is no way to answer or quantify your response performance. This survey is merely a way for you to close out an issue with answers to nebulas questions that do not address your customer service quality. The person I talked to had very little product knowledge and just answers phones and provides no process for problem resolution.
I understand that you cannot answer every customer concern your get from the buying public, but you and I both know that that is your way of not actually addressing any of the consumer concerns directly beyond the scripted answers given to the cubicle call staff. If you are looking to get a valid survey response I suggest you put a little more effort into the resolution of the issue rather then the 1% solution of your useless survey.
To refresh your memory – The problem was that the disposal units sold without a cord or strain relief inside the box did not indicate that on the outside of the box. Regardless of the fact that you sell them with and without these parts to retailers, most retailers do not stock the units both ways as to alert the consumer to this issue. It the retailer chooses to stock units that do not contain those necessary parts there is nothing to inform the consumer that those parts will be needed to complete the installation until the box is opened on site.
This should be an easy fix and requires only an artwork change to the packaging so the box indicates “additional parts needed”.
The lame excuses I received from the customer service person shows that your customer service staff does not possess either the authority or intelligence to fix a simple issue like this and then respond to the consumer with a tangible solution.
From this email you should be able to conclude that this former customer values substantive performance over faked concern for customer satisfaction clouded in disingenuous platitudes.
If, as you indicate ”your satisfaction is our number one goal”. Please take a few moments to correct the problem and report back to me. I would like to know if what you indicate about customer satisfaction is true or just a BS company byline. Then I will be able to fill out your survey with that, oh so valued opinion you indicated.
This will be the litmus test that indicates how well the communication within your organization works. If the customer service person generates a change request to drafting to change the drawing and artwork on the box that is in turn acted upon by your purchasing department and incorporated by manufacturing so the change makes it to the retail shelf then you will have a closed loop process improvement system that you can be proud of. If it does not happen, then you merely have a customer service reach around process that is designed solely to make your staff feel good about their compartmentalized job function measured by the pointless graph on the wall in the call center.
Aim low – feel good.
Yours, without expectation,
Paul Bartoletti
——————————————————-
From: info@insinkeratorsupportsurvey.com [mailto:info@insinkeratorsupportsurvey.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 6:30 AM
To: pbartoletti@cox.net
Subject: Customer Service Survey
Dear Paul Bartoletti
When you contacted In-Sink-Erator customer service on May 5, 2010, you indicated that you would be willing to participate in an In-Sink-Erator survey based on your Customer Support experience or product solution. At In-Sink-Erator, your satisfaction is our number one goal. Please take a few moments to complete the survey questions below. We would like to know how we are doing. We value your opinion.
Click here to fill out the survey
Related Product Information: Badger 5 Household Disposer
Customer ID: 1891532
Provided by, In-Sink-Erator
Please send email related to this survey to iseconsumerrelations@insinkerator.com.
If your message is not related to this survey, please visit http://www.insinkerator.com/service/contact.html to contact us.
I bought a Badger 1 a couple of months ago and it broke last night. I found this site hoping to find something good. I found the Badger 5 also on this site and that one has great reviews as well. If you’re looking for something to replace in your kitchen then sell the house maybe this is the one, otherwise go with something a little better like the Badger 5 for a high end one. Great site btw, very helpful and objective views are shown, I love it.
Had this for about two years (how long the previous occupants had it, I don’t know). Worked ok after we moved in, but jammed every now & again and did not have good power. What do you expect for 1/3 hp? Anyway, stopped working recently – just a useless hum and no grinding of trash. Tried every humanly possibly way to try and clear any clogging debris in it (including a lot of allen-wrenching; nothing there). Took away hose to it and found the inside utterly corroded – like it was dragged up from the wreck of the Titanic. Took one last good swing at it after the Mrs. reported it is now clogging water in the drain, too, and leaks. After a few solid hammer strikes, it shot out two sparks and finally gave up the ghost for good. Don’t buy this; buy anything else!
I experienced the same thing with my Badger 1 that many of the others have reported. A cracked case in three different spots. Significant leaking. Called the company and expressed my dismay and they said that due to the fact that the one year warranty was up that they would not help or compensate me. In other words they told me to “walk west till my hat floats”!
Watch out for the Badger 1
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