GE Factory Service

This is the absolute worst customer service I have ever experienced. Our fridge had stopped working from a home we purchased this past fall. We called GE factory services for someone to come out and look at our fridge as our home warranty may cover the cost of repair. The soonest GE could get anybody to our house was 1 week for a non-​emergency call. Understanding that it is winter time and there may be people without heat or other true emergencies, my wife and I decided to agree with this even though we would lose about $ 200 worth of food for the sake of others in need. We were scheduled for a tech to come between 12−5pm This past Tuesday. We even got a confirmation call about this 1 – 2 days prior. My wife and I are in the health care profession and she had to take a day off of work from her patients to wait for a service man. I called to talk to my wife around 4:50 pm and still nobody from the company came nor had she or I gotten any phone calls letting us know if there was any delays. I followed up with GE who informed me that someone was still on their way to our house and they had contracted our call to A&E factory services. They gave me their number and I followed up. The person I spoke to stated that she spoke to our driver and there was a little delay but he was on his way. I waited another 45 minutes and still nobody came or called. I called again at 5:30 and the receptionist put me on hold while she «contacted» our technician. She got back on the phone with me stating that he is definitely on his way and that he will call us. No call came. I waited until 6:15 and called again, still out of food for over a week. The person picking up stated that he just spoke to our driver and he would definitely be at our house between 6:00 and 6:30. Nobody came, nobody called. I called again at 6:45, this time the receptionist told me that it’s almost 7pm, nobody is coming to our house. I asked to speak with their manager, she said she would forward the phone to him, then hung up on me. I called GE to discuss this with them and see if we can get someone out right away to help us possibly this weekend as by this point we will be without food in our house for 10 days. They pulled up my file and said that the «ticket is still active» and to call back in the morning when it’s expired so they can reschedule. I called back this afternoon and the receptionist told me they automatically scheduled the service to come out in a week. Both of us work and have full schedule of patients and are unable to take time off. GE also stated that they were unable to get someone out sooner because the «ticket had already been processed». Bull. Worst customer experience I’ve ever had. Still without food.

It looks like I am the outlier with this company. The repair was just made today, and I could not be happier. I called for an appointment to repair my ⁹⁄₁₀ year old ‘Profile’ refrigerator Sunday afternoon. The earliest appointment was for Tuesday, between 12 and 5. Luckily my refrigerator cycled back on before the food started to spoil but went down again a few hours before the repair was scheduled. Brian arrived at 12 and based on my description on the telephone, had diagnosed the problem. He had the repair part in hand. 20 minutes later he was done, and the refrigerator was humming again.
Before he started, he did explain that labor was guaranteed for only 30 days, but the part had a 5 year warranty. Things could go south, but I was relieved with this fix, especially since it was ¹⁄₆^th the cost of a new refrigerator – not counting the hassle of trying to save my food, shopping for a new unit, and waiting for it to be delivered.
The technician was pleasant and knowledgeable. In general I have been very satisfied with my GE Profile appliance and repair experience. No one ever likes to pay for repairs, but it seemed reasonable to me. If I had to pay for labor again next year, it would still be worth it.

When we purchased our home 5−½ years ago the kitchen appliances were all GE Profile. After 3 years the microwave stopped working and was eventually replaced by GE because of a design failure. The new microwave, designed for families who can’t cook, is functionally useless. Last year the ice-​maker in our side-​buy-​side refrigerator went on the fritz and cannot be replaced without having a technician do it. Today, it started leaking water from inside the front of the freezer door from a source that cannot be readily determined. The gas range now appears to have recently started to leak gas from some internal area in the oven.
Bottom line, what ever your thinking of doing, we strongly suggest that you do not consider buying any GE Profile appliance. Our experience has shown us that they are unreliable and have presented built in defects within 3 to 5 years. Considering the cost for these appliances, your money can be better spent on more reliable products!

I called GE CARES to address a problem with our refrigerator. The woman who took my information booked us for the next day, and the GE technician who came out was very professional and courteous. Turns out we realized that the problem may have been due to the door being ajar over night, since the refrigerator was working just before he arrived. He went on, though, to check out the coils, which were fine, couldn’t find any other problem, and wouldn’t take any money for the call. I wouldn’t hesitate to call GE CARES if another problem occurred, and based on my experience, I highly recommend their service!
Jeanne P.

Called to set up an appointment for the brand new GE washing machine that we bought and broke after 2 weeks of use. I explicitly explained the problem and gave the model and serial number to the Rep I spoke with at 1−800−432−2737. They set up my appointment and I waited until the day before and went online to check the status because I received no call. Online said the appointment was cancelled so I called the 800 number and wasted 15 minutes talking to someone who just did not get it and had them connect me with a supervisor (?). They looked up the original appt and said it showed I was calling in for warranty service on a stove that was over thirty years old and it showed my address to be in International, WA instead of Seattle! So instead of calling me they just cancelled me!!! So we finally resolved this by setting a new appointment but I had to wait another week for a 8am — Noon appt. At 8:30 I received a call saying the repair person would be late and they had to change the time to 1 — 5pm. They finally arrived at 4:10pm, my day wasted and I’m waiting right now to see if they can fix it for me. The only reason we bought GE was that my wife wanted a Red w/​d and Ferguson Appliance said it had to be GE. I am definitely divorcing my business from Ferguson and GE but I’ll keep the wife!

The toll-​free number for GE Service is 1−800-GE-CARES. This is an utter load of crap and let me tell you why.
Last summer my GE dryer started squeaking; and when I write squeaking, I mean S-​Q-​U-​E-​A-​K-​I-​N-​G-​! We could literally hear the machine from one floor to the next, from one end of the house to another. It sounded like an orchestra of beginning clarinet students trying to blow a note for the first time ever.
I tried to ignore it – and my family’s pleas to have it repaired. Eventually one of those – and I’m not telling you whether it was the family or the dryer – wore me down and I made a service appointment through the GE Appliance website.
A few days later, the repairman arrived, on time and ready to tackle whatever the problem was. As it turns out, the problem was a top bearing which needed to be replaced. The repairman showed me exactly where the part had worn out and fortunately had one in his van. As you can see from the receipt (
) the repair was not inexpensive.
$ 86.20 for the parts
$ 195.93 for labor (including a $ 79.95 initial charge)
$ 26.80 in taxes.
All in, it was a $ 308.93 repair. Ouch.
Still, the dryer was six and a half years old. It’s used constantly and sometimes things wear out. I get it. The cost of the repair is just part of the overall lifetime cost of the appliance and as long as the dryer remained functional well into the future, then I was fine with it.
But of course, that’s not what happened.
Recently the dryer started squeaking again. The exact same clarinet orchestra squeak which frayed our last nerve last summer was back. Confident that GE would take good care of me and stand by their repair of only five months ago, I called the GE Factory Service number to schedule a warranty repair. I explained my problem to the woman who answered the phone. She responded with a curt reply that while the part has a five year warranty, there was only a 30 day labor warranty, so it would be another $ 79.95 initial charge and then whatever additional charges accumulated after that.
I nearly lost my shit, but pursuant to my 2013 New Year’s resolution to not lose my shit (see my Gene Juarez Academy review:
), I stayed calm and merely mumbled something stupid about how disgusted I was.
So here I am, with a seven year old dryer that I just dropped three bills on that’s nearly unusable, at least while someone is actually home. As I see it, I have two choices, either replace the whole damn thing and spend whatever a replacement dryer costs or, shell out more money for another repair that GE won’t warranty.
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.
Back to that 1−800-GE-CARES phone number. It’s a sad statement that the only thing GE really gives a damn about is making a buck off of your bad luck. What a perfect and shameful example of American exceptionalism going right down the toilet.
Learnings
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience (besides GE sucks) it’s the value of calling around and asking about warranty coverage. Had I known that GE only offered a 30 day labor warranty, I may not have gone with them, instead finding someone who offers a more comprehensive labor warranty. I’m sure Unilocal could have helped me out with that.