Complaint Review: General Electric Company - GE Extended Warranty Service

Seven years ago we bought a house with a 4-year old GE Monogram refrigerator. The Monogram is GE's top-of-the-line built-in refrigerator. A new one today costs about $9000.

After having to have three major repairs costing over $1200 within the first two years of moving in we purchased an extended service warranty that will expire next year in 2011. We have had a total of 7 repairs while under the service warranty. We had to purchase a back-up 20 sq. ft. refrigerator because our Monogram will not stay cold about 3 weeks of the year and we don't want to lose hundreds of dollars of food each time it goes out. Each time we have a break-down it is the same story. There are not enough GE technicians and we have to wait a week, they never have the part we need on the truck and it has to be ordered which is another week.

Here is out latest break-down story. On Monday before Christmas our Monogram broke and we called 1-800-GECARES for an appointment. We were told that there we know GE technicians available and our repair would be subcontracted out and we would hear from their contractor within 48 hours. We heard from the contractor 6 days later. The contractor said that GE had just sent them the request the morning they called us -- 6 days after we reported the problem. The contractor came the next day and diagnosed a melted defroster timer, which would, of course, have to be ordered and would take 7 to 10 business days because paperwork must be submitted by the contractor to GE and GE must approve the request which can take 2-3 days and then the part can be ordered and shipped to the contractor .... so efficient!

Seven days later (two weeks after our breakdown) the contractor came back with the new defroster timer and installed it. Everything should have been just great at that point, except that now that the defrost timer was working he could see that the motor fan was broken. Yes, you guessed it -- another 7 to 10 business days to get the new motor fan. Twenty-one days after reporting the problem, the contractor came back with the motor fan, installed it, and discovered the refrigerator still wouldn't run. He told us that the Monogram is "unrepairable," and probably had a loose or shorted wire in an inaccessible area and that he would file paperwork with GE to report this and we would hear back from GE in 1-2 business days with a buy-back offer or the offer of a replacement Monogram (fat chance of that). That was last Thursday and it is now Wednesday of the following week. Have I heard from GE? --- nooooooo. We are still living out of the backup refrigerator parked in the hall leading out of the kitchen.

My theory about GE and their service warranties is they try to wait you out when you have a problem appliance (a lemon). They don't supply service in a timely way and they hope that you will just give up in frustration and buy a new appliance so that they are off the hook. So, buyer beware of GE service warranties!