Hi there....

First off....based upon this experience and on what I have read, we
will not buy a GE appliance. I would encourage others to shop around
for other brands to meet their needs before buying GE.

We have just had a "not so good" experience with GE in terms of their
repair/support capability and am wondering how many others have a
similar experience.....

Ours is not as bad as some, I am sure.

Placed a service call for a "trinitron" or something similar for our
$1000 built in microwave. Everything works except the heating element.
A $150 part, plus service and labor.

Called Scotland or India or wherever (with a 20 minute wait time just
to chat with a person) to place the service call....1-5pm for our
service call....at around 5:20 the day of service I called their 1-800
number and reached a person at 5:45 "We have you scheduled for 1:00
- 5:00 today, didn't you hear from them". "No". Long story short....

The technician called us at 6:20 (which he should have done per GE
guidelines at 4pm if he knew he was going to be late, but I think he
only did because I asked them to page him) and said, "well, that is an
old microwave (11 years old), I am not sure I have the parts and are
you sure you want to fix it?" We cancelled the service call. If GE
didn't want to fix it, they should have told us up front.

I will call their Consumer Relations Dept tomorrow, but I am thinking
they don't really give a s--t.

What's your experience with GE? And....better yet...what company's
appliances have totally beat your expectations? What would you
recommend to someone in the market for a new appliance?

I can tell you we have a Kenmore (Whirlpool) refrigerator that is at
least 15 years old and have NEVER had a service call, nor on our
Whirlpool washer and dryer (also close to that).

We are unhappy with GE. They have lost our business.

Sort of a funny.....when I ended the call to GE to find out where the
heck our service technician was, he said "Thank you for shopping GE".
I said "Not ever again, thanks,".

Cynthia

Cynthia wrote:
What's your experience with GE? And....better yet...what company's
appliances have totally beat your expectations? What would you
recommend to someone in the market for a new appliance?

I can tell you we have a Kenmore (Whirlpool) refrigerator that is at
least 15 years old and have NEVER had a service call, nor on our
Whirlpool washer and dryer (also close to that).

We are unhappy with GE. They have lost our business.


You are being unreasonable. Eleven years old? I'm surprised they service
anything older than ten years. Many things today are cheaper to replace than
repair... the service tech's question was valid. I admit I'd be ****ed if I sat
around waiting for a vist that never happened.

Those Whirlpool appliances that are 15 years old: do you think Whirlpool will be
able to fix those if they were to die in a financially feasable way? Since they
haven't died yet, you have no way of knowing... but I'd bet they won't.

You can probably find a microwave with the same features as your old one for
half the price now. I replaced my GE over the stove microwave with another
one... and the new one is one thousand times the microwave. I wish I'd bought
it sooner.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

GE is not what it was when "Ronney" was advertising for it.
You got 11 years off a magnatron in a GE microwave? You are the man.
I understand that it's built in and you'd probably rather not deal with
changing it. However, a newer one probably would be fairly cheap and
easy to fit in there because the technology has made them lighter and
smaller.
You should still be able to find someone to service your product other
than GE. Just move on and make a decision.

You think they're going to reduce the price of spare parts for an old
appliance? The price of a new magnetron for our old microwave (also
happened to be GE, but I doubt that the practice is peculiar to GE),
even from one of the online discount parts suppliers was more than the
cost of a new microwave. Spare parts are typically very expensive: ISTR
that any years ago somebody priced building some popular model of
automobile from parts and came up with a figure 10x that of just buying
the complete car.

Even closeout items are typically priced in relation to the original
price, not in relation to the price of the
newer/faster/quieter/better/cheaper one.

Perce


On 11/03/05 08:41 am Al Bundy tossed the following ingredients into the
ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

GE is not what it was when "Ronney" was advertising for it.
You got 11 years off a magnatron in a GE microwave? You are the man.
I understand that it's built in and you'd probably rather not deal with
changing it. However, a newer one probably would be fairly cheap and
easy to fit in there because the technology has made them lighter and
smaller.

snip

Al Bundy wrote:
GE is not what it was when "Ronney" was advertising for it.
You got 11 years off a magnatron in a GE microwave? You are the man.
I understand that it's built in and you'd probably rather not deal with
changing it. However, a newer one probably would be fairly cheap and
easy to fit in there because the technology has made them lighter and
smaller.


My old GE Spacesaver only had about 11" inside from front to back; the new one
is a hair over 14".... and yet I doubt it sticks out more than 1/2" further into
the room than the old one. This has made the difference between night and day
in terms of what I can stick inside it. I believe it's probably roughly twice
the power, and now I have defrosting and other features the old one didn't.

Although the instructions specifically say not to install it without help, I
love a challenge and was able to hang it by myself. I used a couple of 24"
spreader clamps to help hold things steady when it ran the bolts through....
jamming them between the bottom of the oven and the countertop on either side of
the stovetop. It was a bit of a job but like I said... I love a challenge.
Sure turned out well...

It's sad to think that someone considers reliability beyond 10 years
unreasonable.
We bought a Whirlpool Washer from KMart in 1972. I never gave us a
problem until I broke the stud that holds the dispensing basket or
whatever, in 2001. We only gave something like 125.00 for it.
We bought a Maytag Neptune for around 1100.00. We bought the reliability
gag.
We bought the expensive warranty extension, thank God.
They have had to replace electronics 3 times, at least, I think.
About 350.00 each time if we hadn't paid the 300.00 warranty for 3 years.
What were American Companies producing good merchandise has been
replaced by Global Corporatists with junk that may break before you can
get it out of the box, and at a much higher price.
Didn't Clinton, BushI and BushII say that Free Trade was going to our
salvation?

tightwad wrote:
It's sad to think that someone considers reliability beyond 10 years
unreasonable.


That's how long most car companies make parts for a car, isn't it? Past a
certain point, it becomes cheaper to replace something rather than fix it. If
the OP were able to find the necessary parts, they'd end up having sunk
significant money into the microwave and still have an eleven year old unit.
Maybe something else is getting ready to crap out next month.

Most electronics are more capable today and/or cheaper than what was available
ten years ago. As a point of reference, I paid $1400 for two satellite (second
generation Sony) receivers for my parents many years ago. Last year I replaced
them for about $50 each... and the newer ones are much smaller and do more.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

Well, I appreciate everyone's responses. I do understand that
appliances don't last forever, I was just very disappointed with GE's
service response. And, my experience with home appliances, mainly
Whirlpool and Maytag, have been excellent, so I guess I was
disappointed.

The contracted service guy finally called us around 6:30 that evening
and basically asked us why we even wanted to fix it. We cancelled the
service call and placed another call with a reputable service outfit
for early next week. (Good suggestion by someone).

We looked into options of purchasing a replacement and couldn't find
anything that would fit into the space easily, so we are delaying THAT
decision until the oven breaks as well.

Thanks again for your responses. Cynthia

Hi all (Happy Endings Message),

We had the (non GE) service techincian out today and with a $6
microswitch replacement, our microwave is again working. It cost us
$130 in total (service call plus labor), but the microwave is in a
built in cabinet above the oven, and it would have cost us
significantly more to purchase a replacement, if we even could have
found one (the size is unusual, and it is convection). I think we have
put off our replacement decision for at least a few years (the oven and
microwave).

This technician
a. called us when he was going to be late
b. showed up at the revised time
c. diagnosed the problem correctly and installed the new part within
45 minutes (he had to take the unit out of the cupboard to do so, and
then replace it).
d. was very professional in his demeanor
e. didn't sell us a $150 part that we didn't need, even though we would
not have known and would have paid it.

Guess who? Sears. Surprised? I was.

Happy endings. Cynthia

"Cynthia" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi all (Happy Endings Message),

We had the (non GE) service techincian out today and with a $6
microswitch replacement, our microwave is again working. It cost us
$130 in total (service call plus labor), but the microwave is in a
built in cabinet above the oven, and it would have cost us
significantly more to purchase a replacement, if we even could have
found one (the size is unusual, and it is convection). I think we have
put off our replacement decision for at least a few years (the oven and
microwave).

This technician
a. called us when he was going to be late
b. showed up at the revised time
c. diagnosed the problem correctly and installed the new part within
45 minutes (he had to take the unit out of the cupboard to do so, and
then replace it).
d. was very professional in his demeanor
e. didn't sell us a $150 part that we didn't need, even though we would
not have known and would have paid it.

Guess who? Sears. Surprised? I was.

Happy endings. Cynthia

Great story, Cynthia. Thanks for the follow-up. Service does count and
I've found that using rating services such as Angie's List makes finding
good service people easier. GE certainly ought to know about service by
this time; but I've also found that the independent service folks take a
more personal interest in their customers. However, for those who yearn for
the old reliable appliances, take a look at http://www.lehmans.com/index.jsp
They're still around.

TKM