cute fuzzy bunny
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I'm at my ropes end.
I bought a new GE refrigerator last year, and after a bit noticed that it really wasnt getting that cold in the refrigerator section...and it wasnt very consistent. Some mornings it'd be about 39 degrees, others in the low to mid 40's. Thats turned all the way up to '9'. The FDA suggests a temp of 41 or less, and I've usually run mine right at the ragged edge of freezing stuff, at about 34-35 degrees...and gotten that at a setting of about 6.5-7. Usually after about 10 years I have to turn it up a notch to maintain the same level temp. So while this one is in the vicinity, its not really chilly in there and I have no room to 'turn it down' any further.
GE's 'state of the art telephone response system' is the worst thing I may have ever encountered. It very actively tries to prevent you from ever speaking to a person. After a series of 'press 1 for this', 'press 5 for that', it wants you to 'speak your 14 digit model number' and then your serial number, your name, address, etc. If it doesnt understand something you say, it says "I dont understand you, call back again sometime, goodbye!".
I thought rule #1 on customer service was 'dont hang up on the customer'?
If it does understand you, it just tries to schedule a service call to you automatically...whether you want one or not.
My first service guy was interesting. Showed up, said he knew nothing about the model, would call GE and get some ideas from them. Three weeks later I called him and got what sounded like a home answering machine and no response to my call. A few weeks after that I went round 2 with the GE state of the art phone hanging up system.
I finally got a real person after 2 hours and about 9 attempts.
They sent another company out. Although the original repairman did pop back up six weeks later with a replacement part, seemingly mystified at why a six week absence was in any way a problem. "I've got some folks I ordered parts for last august!" he declared, seemingly pleased with this.
Anyhow, long story shortened, we're four months, eight service calls, two companies and three repairmen later at exactly the same place. About $1400 retail worth of parts and labor have gone into an $800 fridge. The last 2 weeks the refrigerator portion didnt work at all because the repairman put in the wrong controller board.
The repairmen have also broken two of the plastic interior parts in the unit because they werent sure how to remove them, so they used the force method. Those were finally ordered yesterday although the repairman called later on to say that his boss was pissed at him for taking so many calls to this location and wanted me to install the parts myself when they came in. Good management!!!
I've asked GE about 10 times to replace this unit as it appears after all this they cant fix it. They claim no ability to make this decision, no escalation, nobody else who can make it. Its some sort of catch-22 where the repairman and his company have to declare they cant fix it to GE, who will then give them 5 more things to do that have already been done, and the repair people dont want to admit they cant fix it...or even come out to fix the stuff they broke themselves anymore.
As we all saw from my advice to Laurence on his hot tub, I'm not a real shrinking violet when it comes to dealing with problems, but I cant seem to figure out how to dent this system for any results.
I'm about to push this thing into the garage and go buy another one...that isnt a GE!
Between the customer prevention systems and the inability of the repair system to actually resolve a problem I'd be questioning owning any GE stock right now. Management that puts a bad phone system in place and advises customers to install their own parts just doesnt seem to be with the program.
I bought a new GE refrigerator last year, and after a bit noticed that it really wasnt getting that cold in the refrigerator section...and it wasnt very consistent. Some mornings it'd be about 39 degrees, others in the low to mid 40's. Thats turned all the way up to '9'. The FDA suggests a temp of 41 or less, and I've usually run mine right at the ragged edge of freezing stuff, at about 34-35 degrees...and gotten that at a setting of about 6.5-7. Usually after about 10 years I have to turn it up a notch to maintain the same level temp. So while this one is in the vicinity, its not really chilly in there and I have no room to 'turn it down' any further.
GE's 'state of the art telephone response system' is the worst thing I may have ever encountered. It very actively tries to prevent you from ever speaking to a person. After a series of 'press 1 for this', 'press 5 for that', it wants you to 'speak your 14 digit model number' and then your serial number, your name, address, etc. If it doesnt understand something you say, it says "I dont understand you, call back again sometime, goodbye!".
I thought rule #1 on customer service was 'dont hang up on the customer'?
If it does understand you, it just tries to schedule a service call to you automatically...whether you want one or not.
My first service guy was interesting. Showed up, said he knew nothing about the model, would call GE and get some ideas from them. Three weeks later I called him and got what sounded like a home answering machine and no response to my call. A few weeks after that I went round 2 with the GE state of the art phone hanging up system.
I finally got a real person after 2 hours and about 9 attempts.
They sent another company out. Although the original repairman did pop back up six weeks later with a replacement part, seemingly mystified at why a six week absence was in any way a problem. "I've got some folks I ordered parts for last august!" he declared, seemingly pleased with this.
Anyhow, long story shortened, we're four months, eight service calls, two companies and three repairmen later at exactly the same place. About $1400 retail worth of parts and labor have gone into an $800 fridge. The last 2 weeks the refrigerator portion didnt work at all because the repairman put in the wrong controller board.
The repairmen have also broken two of the plastic interior parts in the unit because they werent sure how to remove them, so they used the force method. Those were finally ordered yesterday although the repairman called later on to say that his boss was pissed at him for taking so many calls to this location and wanted me to install the parts myself when they came in. Good management!!!
I've asked GE about 10 times to replace this unit as it appears after all this they cant fix it. They claim no ability to make this decision, no escalation, nobody else who can make it. Its some sort of catch-22 where the repairman and his company have to declare they cant fix it to GE, who will then give them 5 more things to do that have already been done, and the repair people dont want to admit they cant fix it...or even come out to fix the stuff they broke themselves anymore.
As we all saw from my advice to Laurence on his hot tub, I'm not a real shrinking violet when it comes to dealing with problems, but I cant seem to figure out how to dent this system for any results.
I'm about to push this thing into the garage and go buy another one...that isnt a GE!
Between the customer prevention systems and the inability of the repair system to actually resolve a problem I'd be questioning owning any GE stock right now. Management that puts a bad phone system in place and advises customers to install their own parts just doesnt seem to be with the program.