GE Appliance warranty service not so good

[Ed Pawlowski]

Never a fan of GE appliances but it is what the builder put in the kitchen of our house. We upgraded the models but stuck with the brand. For the most part, they are OK but after 22 months, the garbage disposal died.

Went on line, made an appointment and a repair guy came out five days later. He found the problem, an internal seal let water into the electrical portion, dead short. OK, I'll order another and be back next week. There was a $99 service call even under warranty after one year.

First problem, they brag they have most parts on the truck. He did have the smaller 1/4 hp but not the 1/3 hp model. Why not carry the better one and offer to up sell? Of course the model was not readily available so the appointment was moved another week. Meantime, it was delivered.

The morning of the appointment I get a call and a recorded message that all calls are recorded and the line goes dead. Half hour later I get an email "Thank you for rescheduling your appointment" They moved it to Thursday. I called immediately but did not good. The snippy customer service person just said "be sure to answer the phone" and hung up.

Today the same guy came out and quickly made the change for $69.

Lesson learned. I can no longer crawl under sinks but my first inclination was to just dump the POS and put in an InSinkErator or Kitchen Aid like I've had in the past. Would have cost a few bucks more but they last for many years.

The only thing GE did was assure I will never buy anything from them again. The repair guy that came out was good, he has no blame but has little support.

[micky]

Aren't 90% of all garbage disposals made by inSINKerator? Is GE one of the exceptions?

Of course. The tape recorder didn't want to be recorded. Who knows the dangers of being recorded better than a recorded message?

Yes, it was nice of you. Reminds me of the email a girlfriend sent me, "Thank you for breaking up with me." I don't remember doing that.

LOL But t hey emailed you.

It's really hard to lift a disposal when it's at arm's length. I think last time I used a small** floor jack. It made an enormous difference. The rear wheels stuck out from the cabinet and I can't remember if I found a box of the right height to make the jack horisontal or I just skipped that part.

**I had bought a medium sized floor jack but it's 80 feet from my house to the parking lot and it was a real pain to bring it back and forth, so I bought the mini version Big Red or something like that. It's so much easier to work with a strong to lift any of the last 6 cars I've had.

I guess even the medium sized jack could have worked for the disposal but I'd have to put some padding between it and the door frame, the floor of the cabinet.

It's good to have assurance.

[trader_4]

Was that $99 + $69? Not surprised, that's the problem with many of these warranties. On the other hand, given that these things only cost $100 or $150, IDK how they could do a real warranty, send a guy to replace it, etc. So instead they shyster.

Only warranty experience I've had in may years was with a State water heater. The thermocouple failed after about 5+ years. I called them up, they looked it up, had a replacement here in two days, no charge. I didn't have to sent the old one back.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, 99 + 69. To replace an item I could buy for $140. A Kitchen Aid Or InSinkErator would be about $225. If this one dies under warranty I'll just trash it and go from there. I took the easy way out. No changes in drainpipe, etc.

[Ed Pawlowski]

If is is, this is a lower quality than the ISE/KA that I've bought in the past. They were true work horses by comparison

She knew you were a gentleman and handled it accordingly. I guess you have good taste in women.

[Scott Lurndal]

[Dan Espen]

I got my first insinkerator in 2000, picked and installed by a contractor. It rusted out in just 2 years. I bought the top end insinkerator in 2002, I installed it myself. It's still going strong.

The point of this story is that the low end models are junk, the top end models last forever.

[dpb]

Actually they sold the appliance business lock, stock and barrel, including the brands, and not quite that long ago. GE had bought Hotpoint back in the early 50s.

The deal with Haier was announced in Jan, 2016, and the transaction completed in June same year.

The Louisville, KY, facility is the same location.

Actually, the final sale went for $5.6B instead of $5.4 it appears.