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Executive e-mail carpet bomb!
Definitely talk to the retailer. Also, don't be afraid to go to the local media; the local TV troubleshooters LIVE for this sort of thing, and they usually get quick action. Maybe check with a consumer advocacy group (Consumer Reports, maybe?) and see if they have any ideas?
\"Might it be easier to deal with Home Depot? Just a thought. \"
After 8 weeks? Last time I checked most places don't have a 56 day return policy.
Isn't there a state attorney general or something to contact (or even small claims, if necessary)?
GE. We bring good things to life!
Too bad they didn't mention it was bacteria.
I purchased a stove and a dishwasher from Home Depot. When I had a problem with the stove, I called HomeDepot first. The HD service rep did a conference call with Maytag, and got everything set up for me.
I also was told by GE that nobody makes an adapter I needed for the portable dishwasher. When I went to the Home Depot store to complain about it (I was told by both their plumbing and appliance reps that the part was included), the Manager called over the head of the plumbing department, who located the part on the shelf. She then proceeded to take the part out of the packaging, handed it to me, and said \"Let me know if it doesn't work.\"
So far, I've had excellent customer service from HD. I'll continue to use them over Sears any day.
EECB FTW!!!
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.....My parents bought a GE fridge with some sort of extended warranty. They've had no problems getting it fixed, BUT... It's had to be fixed three times in two years. Sounds like a piece of crap to me.
.....Last year's Christmas Eve dinner was interrupted by the GE fridge failing. Instead of a few leftovers, we had to take home a massive cooler of stuff from their house to cram in our icebox. (Which is an ancient Maytag that has yet to have its first service call...)
It's 4 hours above 40 degrees, not 2. But it's cumulative, so if the food in the fridge rose above 40 four times for an hour each time, the food would be suspect. And you probably wouldn't know it. Remember that the food itself has to go over the threshold, not just the air in the fridge.
Other food safety fun-facts (I am certified in food service sanitation):
:Keep your fridge as close to 32 as you can get it without freezing. Your stuff will keep fresh longer in general, and you run less risk of things accidentally going above 40.
:Freezer should be at 0 deg F. Remember that even frozen food can get nasty. Freezing only slows certain chemical and physical reactions, it doesn't stop them completely. It keeps food SAFE, not necessarily fresh.
:Always store meat, fish and other yucky, drippy perishables at the bottom of the fridge, and preferably in a leakproof tray. The \"crisper\" section is dangerous because anything that drips can get in there and spoil your vegetables.
:Always thaw food in the fridge (or under RUNNING water). Then, if you prefer, let that fully-thawed steak rest on the counter for 20 minutes to get it up to room temperature.
:Survivalists: keep your stockpile of canned goods in the fridge so they'll be fresher when the robot invasion comes.
Thank you for posting my story! Thank you to everyone who has commented. I also welcome comments on my blog. When I talked to Home Depot they said GE would replace the refrigerator. Of course, this has not happened yet. I have a lot more work to do.
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GE appliances are crap. Our $2400 GE fridge has broken down 4 times in the past 2 years. Next time it's getting replaced by a real appliance.
\"Friends don't let friends buy GE\" is a statement commonly seen on another online forum about home remodelling.
Call up your local TV station about this. WBBH-TV in Ft Myers did a whole series of stories on defective GE fridges and ultimately led to a recall.
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I went round and round with GE over our last fridge. Even after a recall of our exact model, even after I turned into all of the materials to be reimbursed for our replacement fridge, they rejected my claim. TWICE. I got nothing, except the privilege of buying a new Whirlpool frige three years after buying a brand new GE. Jerks.
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Swalve, its two hours in a professional kitchen.
@Ponygirl: Has this changed recently? In all of the multiple food safety certification classes that I took as a restaurant manager, it was always 4 hours.
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GE: \"What's your problem Paul? Just wash down your rancid spoiled food with a glass of our complimentary PCB-laden Hudson River dredge water.\"
[tongue in cheek] It takes less time for food to go off because we have GE bugs (Genetically Engineered).
@swalve: Awesome! Thanks for the tips. We keep the fridges in the lab at 4°C (40°F) and I didn't realize that it's safer to keep the food fridges lower until my fridge's manual suggested keeping most foods at 34°F. It's nice to get some confirmation of that from someone other than the manufacturer.
Answer this for me - I've been taught by microbiologists that food should be transferred to the fridge as soon after cooking as possible, while some people insist that you should let hot food cool to room temperature first. This seems like a ridiculous holdover from the days of ice boxes to me. I'd love to know who's right.
@Ponygirl:
i've never heard this. every text (culinary or usda) says 4 hours. i wonder where you heard this... because i've never seen a \"professional\" kitchen that worried about the rules to change them against their own interest.
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A few things from someone in the appliance business. First of all, support your local non chain retailers. If you had a problem with a non chain store, they will fight for you.
Second, find a local non chain appliance repair that also does sales, and tell them this story. A repair may fix the problem, and if not, they will generally have their own GE rep, who, unlike the long wait on GE customer service lines, will be only a ring or two away, and can get things done.
Third, know that this is a fluke for the machine, and GE sent an authorized tech to fix the problem, and (I believe, anyway), you consented that the fix worked, as it did at the time. GE doesn't want to waste any more money repairing something that they were told was repaired, especially after their dishwasher recall. The best thing to do is to continue hounding GE until you can get your machine field scrapped. They will then give you a check or a new machine, which most likely won't have these problems, as GE tends to be good in everything but laundry and microwaves.
On a side note, if you are under the dishwasher recall (as Jet Dry can leak onto your wiring in the door, and start a fire), please note that the free repair they offer doesn't actually fix anything. They add new wires, and a much smaller piece of insulation than they pull out, and even then not near the wires, which are still being leaked on, at all. Please just take the 150 rebate for a regular GE machine, or a 300 dollar for a profile machine.
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it's gotta be four hours because i would eat anything after two
D
^Whoops.
I agree with everyone who says you should speak with Home Depot. They may be willing to just take it back and fight it out with GE themselves. Manufacturers will often bend over backwards for a big box store to keep them happy.
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All together now....CHARGE BACK! :)
I agree with the consumer that he should stop using the appliance until he is confident it has been repaired.
My advice to the consumer is to keep calling or carpet bomb. Give a time frame when you call or write, and if the appliance is not repaired in your time frame, purchase a new one from another retailer, and begin the return process.
The consumer has given GE more than enough chances to remedy the problem. Because they were unable to solve the problem and I am sure it was paid for by CC, if HD refuses to take the defective unit back, do a charge back, and let the CC company dispute it. (Beware the 90 day return limit)
Can anyone clarify the good faith requirements under the law? What exactly does the consumer need to allow in terms of attempts to correct the problem before he is within his rights to refuse payment?
My new condo came with a GE Profile fridge, and just two months after the one-yr warranty ran out, I started having problems with the freezer periodically frosting over. I made sure the compressor coils and vent thing weren't dusty or blocked, tried both dialing up and another time down the temperature of the fridge and the freezer, and nothing worked. It only happened periodically so it wasn't worth my $$ to bring in a repair person (plus I knew I was selling pretty soon), so I still don't know what the deal was. Never made any noises either...
A little different - but when I had an issue with an appliance and the store absolutely refused to take it back (and told me I would lose if I did a charge back b/c I signed a no return policy) I finally just showed up in the store with the item and they gave up and refunded. A little easier to do with a dishwasher than a fridge, but still, it got the point across!
(ps - it was a Bosch dishwasher that I returned for being too loud - definitely defective - now I have another Bosch and love it).
East Coast Appliance SUCKS!
I don't want to be a \"me too\" without a good answer, but I have to pipe in and comment that I have NEVER had a GE appliance that was well engineered or constructed out of quality parts.
Check out the exploding oven windows postings- http://ask.metafilter.com/29427/Encyclopedia-Brown-and-the...
I still buy stuff at Sears (Kenmore and Craftsman) and that's been working for me.
It seems like Caveat emptor has never been more true than today. It also seems that manufacturers will lure you in with the promise of a long warranty, but then make it so hard to use that you eventually get so frustrated you leave them alone.
Has it come down to companies valuing a single purchase profit over a long-term valued customer?
Thank you for all your comments! Thank you Consumerist for posting this.
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I don't know how things work at GE but when I worked for the other major refrigerator manufacturer we never ever ever tried to pass off a customer's concern as working as intended.
Phone Monkeys should be good at service, listening, and typing fast. Even if we were service repair experts, we'd be foolish to try and diagnose problems over the phone.
Basically just inform the customer that you'll send out a repair tech to look at it, regardless of it's status. If it needs fixing, he'll look at it and do his job. If it doesn't, personal visits aren't exactly covered under warranty.
Sure it has it's downsides but I still think it's the best policy. Till you get into the 100 dollar \"nothing's wrong\" visits that happen in New York. Thank god I didn't work in billing.
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I've got a GE refrig in this place (side by side from like '96) and its still running like a champ. Its got to the be the largest fridge I've ever had in a house, too. Alltho my dad's sub-zero is holy crap huge comapred to this one (and most likely more efficient).
Do you think it's okay to eat a Thai-style burrito that was out from Saturday afternoon until Monday evening? It was a veggie & tofu burrito.
@kerry: It's usually best to move it to the fridge as soon as possible. However, if you have a large container (say you made a big pot of soup), you're probably better off putting it in a cooler full of ice to help it cool down faster before putting it in the fridge. --The goal is always to get food out of the danger zone (40°-140°) as quickly as possible.
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You should have informed them of your intent to blast them in a blog, bet they would have done something then, before this makes its way to the hands of NBC, FOX or any other network stations.
Beyond that, I've never liked GE products. My dislike stems back from a boombox I received as a Christmas gift back in the 80s, within days of ownership it stopped working. Aside from CFL light bulbs, you'll never see their brand name hiding inside my house.
If you can, dispute the charge with your credit card company and buy something else.
Consider a Whirlpool, I've always had good luck with their products. Though some users may have different opinions, can't say they've had a sparkly history over the last 10 years. Or better yet, checkout LG [Life's Good aka GoldStar] that's another company I'd recommend. I've got friends who won't buy anything else, they've bought products from them under the GoldStar logo and carried it over to the LG logo with no issues, so far.
But what do I know, I'm no walking advertisement, nor Consumer Reports.
In any case, good luck with this little fiasco and give fox news a call… IMO they've had their chance to fix the problem, now it's time for a public flogging.
@shades_of_blue: I don't mean to suggest that LGs aren't good, but they are generally not great machines, and from the service side of things I know that they are not easily serviceable mainly due to it being hard to find proper parts for the appliance. Not to be a party-pooper, but unless you know of an experienced LG repairman in the area, I wouldn't go with that.
As you may know, Whirlpool has bought out Maytag (Which owned Amana), and now some appliances are changing. For a refrigerator, you should find one that is a Maytag or Amana, as the problems with those machines are few and far between. Only go with LG is you desperately need a television in the door of your refrigerator.
This motivates me to keep doing more minor repairs to keep the older Amana that came with our house going a few more years.
It seems like what are supposed to be reliable brand names that usually come at a slightly higher price don't last like they used to.
You might want to have a local (good) repair guy take a look at the GE unit. His opinion of the unit might help give your complaint some weight. I would be looking at the chargeback policy of your credit card or debit card. We have been able to run chargebacks on our debit card in certain circumstances. Most banks require them to be significant issues, this sounds like one.
my sears fridge crapped out last july during a heat wave.since it was still under warranty we called sears service......we were told they could have a repairman out in 8 days.....it's july and in the 90's .....i can understand waiting for a tv or washer tho it's an inconvenience, but not a fridge in july.....we asked to speak to a supervisor ,but were told that the supervisor would tell us the same thing.....well ,from now on we buy our appliances from a local appliance store.....no more sears.....
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@bohemian:
It seems like what are supposed to be reliable brand names that usually come at a slightly higher price don't last like they used to.
They are probably all made with the same dime-store low-quality Made-In-China parts as the lower-end units.
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This year I'll be remodeling my kitchen and replacing my 10+ yr old appliances. After reading this it looks like I'll cross GE off of my list of brands to consider.
I have had exellent luck with Sears appliances and service the one time I did need a warranty repair.
Your contractual partner is Home Depot.
They sold you a fridge/freezer that is not fit for purpose. i.e keeping food frozen or chilled.
Document the settings on your fridge and the measured temperatures.
Take this information to HomeDepot and require them to replaceme it. As simple as that
Hi-
To jump to the top, you need to email Jeffery.Immelt@corporate.ge.com
Mention the word \"Integrity\" in the email in regard to the people you have talked to, and that the refrigerator has failed to meet your quality expectations.
Stress that you are very unhappy with product, and unless this is resolved will not buy another GE appliance and will recommend against buying GE products to others in the future.
That should be enough to set off corporate.
I don't work for appliances, but I'm always concerned when I hear complaints come in.
I sell appliances for The Home Depot. To be truthful, every single brand of appliance has issues - major or minor. GE's customer service is normally very helpful in my experience dealing with customer issues. Maytag's track record is much worse with customer issues. As far as calling the The Home Depot about this, it is pretty much out of their hands because the warranty is backed by GE for one year so all they could do would be to call GE as well. However, GE and Home Depot are close partners and have a \"Home Depot Support Team\" with a special 1-877 line, those guys are normally easy to work with so you might want to try that.
Sorry to hear about your issue, but this case is just rare - GE normally stands behind their product much more than their competition.
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Our KitchenAid is an awesome fridge.
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Just a thought that if you purchased it with a Visa or Master Card, most of them have some sort of buyer protection plan.
A long time ago I gave up on buying Black & Decker because it was pure crap. I've had a recent history of GE products not being very good, and your story convinces me to write them off for future purchases too. It amazes me that they can say that a freezer that wont operate below 32 degrees is operating within standards. Duh!
Okay, I'm just going to eat it then. Thanks, guys.
I would recommend taking up the issue with Home Depot. Big chain stores generally don't care about your problems, etc, but they do generally follow their return policies. If your refrigerator still falls under their return policy, they will likely let you exchange it with no questions asked.
Sears did good by us. A few weeks ago our two-year-old fridge iced up and the temperatures started rising. They had a repairman out the next day, with a trainee along to watch. It was a defective defroster thermostat, a pretty common problem. The repairmen were friendly and quick and everything was covered under the extended warranty. Can't complain.
formergr, check out http://www.bringgoodthingstolife.org. I had a similar problem and had to get the doors replaced. (Which only ended up fixing it for a month or so.) Be warned--getting new doors is a huge, time-consuming hassle. I had to take four days off from work to have it done. Not to mention GE's customer service is unbelievably rude, and they will outright lie to you if it suits their purposes. GE sucks.
This reminded me of when my fridge burned out its defroster element or w/e, my landlord told me to go to Home Depot and get an outlet to cycle the fridge off every few hours so it would defrost...
I had a very similar problem with a Frigidair refrigerator. Tis was a vcery expensive, side by side model. The first one wouldn't go below 45 degrees in the refrigerator and 20 degraees in the freezer. They sent me another one, and that one would get below freezing in the freezer, but onle 37 degrees in the refrig. My wife wanted to set it to 34 degrees. After going round and round with the company, my wife finally talked with one of the engineers with the company and he revealed that the company had decided to limit the temperature in the refrig because some customers had complained that their refrig got too cold. I guess they didn't know how to raise the temperature with the controls. I finally sent the Frigidair back and bought a Kitchen Aid. No problems. Because of this stupid company policy, they lost a sale.
First) With all the monies that GE makes, treatment like this is shameful. If you recall I believe the CEO there was paid really really high.
Second) I have worked with Home Depot business to business with not much success. They are a little more accommodating with non-business customers. I would take the refrigerator there on a busy day. Take there in a truck and wheel it in with your purchase receipt. Then have the truck go away and say that your neighbors drove you there and had to go so I have no way to get this out of here. Get the store manager, talk loudly but don't shout and I would bet that they might just return the refrigerator like they would return a broken power drill.
Third) Contact the BBB.I had faulty stove grates and I just found the corporate office of the stove manufacturer and submitted an online Better Business Form coinciding with the BBB office of the corporate office headquarters of my stove manufacturer. I filled that out online and did nothing and three weeks later my new grates arrived in the mail.
I recently decided to buy a new washer and dryer as my old ones were giving out. I'd shopped around, and finally found a decent deal on some high efficiency units at Home Depot and decided to make my purchase.
The guy who filled out my order didn't seem as professional as the place I usually make these types of purchases. I'd pointed out to him that I live outside the city and wouldn't need to pay city sales tax on the purchase since it's delivered to my residence (the other store always seems to know this.) The guy took his time filling out paperwork, brought it over and I notice that he charged me the city's tax rate even though I'd just explained the situation to him.
I pointed out his error and he said he would guarantee me that nobody in the store knew how to run the software correctly to change the tax rate, so he put in some sort of wacky rebate into the system to make up the difference and reprinted the paperwork.
When I went up front to pay, they couldn't ring it up correctly because their system said I was supposed to have a coupon. (As it turns out, this wasn't the instead-of-tax rebate that was asking for the coupon, it was the sale they were having. And, no, there was no actual coupon.) I was bounced to the service desk, and they eventually brought over a manager who did manage to re-fill out the order so that it was all entered correctly. That took way too long, and I was really not impressed with the general cluelessness of everyone I was talking to about how to properly sell large appliances.
Finally, as I'm just about ready to leave, the girl at the service desk tells me I'll have to re-sign the contract here on the third (or fourth or whatever) order that they've printed up. I looked at her. \"Re-sign? What is this?\"
Apparently the original salesperson was supposed to have had me sign this document. It was a contract including things like how I had X business days to rescind the purchase after which time if I decided to return the appliances I'd be stuck with a hefty re-stocking fee. And a good number of other items.
Let's just say I'm pretty non-plussed when people try to slip me contracts to quickly sign at the last minute... I did sign it, though.
I left the store with a pretty bad taste in my mouth. That night I was thinking about it. If they can't even figure out how to enter orders... do I really want to trust them to move, set-up, and, if necessary, support my new appliances?
Since their paperwork had put the idea into my mind, I decided to go back the very next day, cancel my order, and get the charge on my credit card reversed. (I don't know if they work on commissions... but nobody there deserved one.) Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with any of the myriad of employees I'd dealt with the day before. After I repeated forcefully to a service desk minion that I NEEDED TO CANCEL THIS ORDER he decided to do just that for me (he seemed reluctant to do so at first.)
I generally don't like to make returns, and that really stands alone as the only sort of large purchase I've gone back on. Sorry, Home Depot. If you want me to have any confidence in you, it would help if you'd try to display an air of professionalism and competence.
GE Refrigerator: GSH22JFTA
I would NOT recommend purchasing this refrigerator from anywhere. We had the frig delivered and phoned the Home Depot in Blue Ridge after two weeks to come and pick it up. They would not honor their return policy according to the manager of the store. These are the things we had a problem with and are still having a problem with. Clear plastic came out of the ice maker with the ice into drink glasses!!!!! Then, metal pieces started coming out. Parts of the frig are so cold, you dare not put vegetables other than in the drawer, otherwise they will be frozen, even on the second to warmest setting! Then, forget using the snack drawer. The stuff goes bad in half the time as our old frig's deli/snack drawer! Oh, and forget the electricity savings you're supposed to get. We had a 15-year-old frig, same size as the new one, and our electricity bill is $20 more per month! We never added any new electronics, but our usage has gone up enough to impact our bill by $20 a month! So much for \"saving\" money on electricity every month! And, lastly, every time I open the frig door, something falls out. The rounded shelves do not give you an optimum place to put things. So, if anything is on the edge between the glass and the white plastic edging, forget it... it WILL fall out when you open the door. This thing is a piece of junk. I am sorry I bought this frig and didn't fix the old one. We spent $1,000 on this piece of crap! And, we made sure to get the four-year extended warranty, because who knows what is going to happen to it next!
We are currently going through an unbelievably bad experience with our GE profile 3 door stainless steel piece of crap. We purchased it just over a year ago at Home Depot. It quit working at 13 months. We also purchased an extended warranty which we usually do not do. The Profile line is supposed to have a 10 year warranty on the sealed system--twice the 5 year on their regular line. Warranty is not worth ****. Also the extended warranty is useless. The temperatures started going up and the freezer would not freeze. After 7 service calls(2 power boards, compressor, drier, etc.) and going on 8 weeks the stupid thing is still not working. Last repairman said it was going to be replaced and that GE would call in a couple of days. He said there was a restriction in the coolant tube just above the compressor and it could not be fixed without taking the whole sealed system out and that wasn't a field job. GE called and said that they were going to try to fix it again. My husband blew up and went to Home Depot. They calmed him down, gave him a tiny dorm fridge and said that they'd take care of this. Is the dorm frige my replacement? They got on the phone and talked with GE and set another appointment for another repair person to come out to see if it was junk or not. GE has absolutely no record of the last repairman coming to our house or the fact that he said it was junk. WHAT??? I submitted our complaint to the Attorney General and got a form letter telling us that we needed a lawyer and they couldn't help us. Duh. I have had countless hours of wasted time waiting for RUDE repairmen saying that they'd be there between 8am and 5pm.Two out of seven were polite. One of them sent the first set of parts back because my husband called him after a week to see if he was still coming out. I've also been frustrated to the point of tears trying to get this matter resolved for the last 8 weeks and nothing has changed. We have suffered through the hottest months of the year without a fridge or ice. The worst part of this whole scenario is the fact that I purchased 6 matching GE Profile appliances to do our kitchen remodel and we are now using a dorm fridge. What happens when the other 5 go out? Guess it'll be a matched set of junk. Totally frustrated. I am once again waiting for the next set of repair people to come out today to try to fix this broken thing that is in even worse shape than it was before they started to fix it. The door has a small dent in it now, and one of the brackets on the back is broken off from being taken apart so much, and the copper pipe with the restriction has sawed off and taken away by a repairman that GE has no record of. Waiting again.
Where's your credit card to the rescue? Time to dispute that piece of crap and get a new one from Home Depot.
Oh, and file a complaint with your state's Attorney General for GE's failure to uphold warranty obligations.
I have had a problem with the compressor on my GE refrigerator before, but it had nothing to do with cooling ability. It just made a loud and annoying buzzing noise. I actually did not have any problems with the GE techs that they sent to my house; not only were they prompt but they fixed the problem the first time. (They actually had to replace the compressor which included cutting the old one out, rewelding the new one in, and refilling it with freon. Wasn't an easy DIY task).