General Electric
Reviews and Complaints

I, Princella Singleton, am complaining. I brought a $2, 000.00 GE refrigerator. The fridge began rusting on the exterior finish right away(least than six months) I complained. GE sent out a service man, who stated they do not warantee exterior finishes. I read the least than one year product warantee, state that the finishes is covered.

I called GE. They gave me the run around.

GE installed a new refrig/freezer last summer. It has a freezer drawer in the bottom with an ice maker. The ice maker continues making ice even when the ice drawer is full. When you Pull out the ice drawer, to get some ice, the cubes piled up at the back are knocked off onto the freezer floor. When cubes are on that floor the freezer drawer will not close. It is necessary to get down on the floor, reach way back into the base of the freezer and sweep out the cubes for disposal - then you face the job of trying to get up off the floor - not easy for an 85 year old. This process has to be done 2 or 3 times per week. After my first call to GE customer service they sent a technician who determined that the ice maker needed to be replaced - which he did - accomplished nothing. I next emailed to customer service - this evoked a phone call telling me that the solution to the problem is to turn off the ice maker when the drawer is full and turn it back on when I need more ice - this necessitates removing frozen food from the shelf in front of the ice maker, removing the shelf, turning off the ice maker, install the shelf and replace the food - a rather stupid solution to the problem. I next wrote to the president of GE with a complete description and he had an associate call me and told me to turn off the ice maker.

On 1/3/2009 I opened the freezer to get some ice. When I closed the freezer drawer some ice cubes had been dragged onto the floor in front of the refrigerator (without my knowledge). A couple hours later I went to the refrigerator to get an apple and slipped on one of the ice cubes that was on the floor – the only reason I didn’t have a bad fall, and injury, is because I had a good grip on the handle of the refrigerator. Someone else will not be so lucky – there’s almost sure to be a serious injury from this problem. When such an injury occurs I hope the injured person sues GE for millions of dollars – and I hope I hear about it because I have a complete file of everything I have done to try to get GE to remedy this problem and I will be happy to give that data to the injured party.

GE has been making ice makers for decades - this model is obviously a defective design - GE WILL DO NOTHING ABOUT THE PROBLEM.

Shirley @ GE consumer services aknowledges a manufacturing defect in the stress cracked supply line to the water dispenser of 2003 GE refrigerator that they will not repair at their cost. I will no longer purchase GE appliance and hope to communicate their poor customer service to all who will listen. The supply line is defective due to a manufacturing error at the GE plant, defective tubing, or using a tubing incorrect for the application.

They readily understood their problem with the model # & serial # and still refused to help. She was not at all helpful or in any way an asssett to their customer service.

Before I start, I want to let everyone know that I THOUGHT I had done my research, but apparently not well enough. My husband and I purchased a brand new GE side-by-side refrigerator in July 2007. I checked reviews for the product online and looked for just the right model. Then we went to Home Depot and purchased the side-by-side model with clean steel and ice maker. We purposely bought an Energy Star model to reduce our electric bill. We did not buy the extended warranty, because who needs that for a refrigerator that should last at least 10 years for a cheap model. My parents bought a refrigerator when I was a kid that lasted for almost 20 years, and my grandmother had the same refrigerator for over 40. I registered the model with GE right away. Immediately I began receiving almost daily emails from GE urging me to purchase the extended warranty. We considered it, because it only has a one year warranty, but as I mentioned before it seemed like a waste of money. About 6 months ago I discovered why they push the warranty so hard. My 2 year old refrigerator began making a horrible alien sound. The sound has now progressed to include an interment grinding noise. Apparently, GE makes the refrigerators to last only as long as the warranty, because we believe the compressor is going out! Yes, you read that correctly! A two year old refrigerator is on its last leg. The best part is that our brand new GE dishwasher, which is less than 2 years old decided to die right before Thanksgiving! I will never purchase another GE appliance again. Thank God the new electric range is an LG! I don't know how we are going to afford to purchase brand new appliances again. We saved to buy the ones we have now for a year! I guess GE is making a killing on their appliances, because they must have a very high profit margin with the shoddy craftsmanship and added bonus of extended warranty sales. All I have to say is stay away from GE Appliance and spend your money on an LG. So far, it is the only company I've had any luck with.

General Electric,

i have problems with your distributor in turkey, enkay group. i had a very bad service experience today and want to share it with you. i had a problem with my disposer. it was stuck and i think it was my fault. so icalled the service and they came. in 30 sec. they fixed the machine and charged me 40 TL. i refused it and asked them why they didnt inform me of the fee, before the service took place. they said it was the corporate policy, not to tell the price before the service took place. once, they were telling the customers the minimum fee they had to pay, but when the customers reacted badly and refused the service, they decided not to tell about the service fee, in order not to cause harm on the corporate image. may be they think that forcing the customer to pay the price after the service took place does not cause harm on the corporate image. but as a customer, it bothers me so badly. i'm thinking of not to buy a ge product again, because of this poor after sale point of view. i wanted to inform you and wanted to see how important is customer satisfaction for you.
(by the way, the retail price of ge disposer gfc501 is approximately 500 turkish liras. they forced me to pay 10% of the product for a service for 10 sec. it's another point)

Our 2-year-old GE Profile dishwasher malfunctioned in the middle of the night and it wasn't even turned on when we went to bed. We were awakened by our dog and smelled smoke, but we couldn't find the source of the smoke/smell. We were getting ready to call 911 when we felt immense heat from the dishwasher and noticed that items on top of the counter had melted. We got it open and the inside of the dishwasher is completely melted; we could not get it turned off so had to turn off the breaker. I called GE who tells me that it is not a safety issue - that the dishwasher is designed to not start a fire. (What about the items around it that got so hot they could start on fire? If we hadn't had granite, they would have.) They offered to waive the tech fee to come look at it, but if it is not repairable (and, really, could it be?), we will pay a prorated fee for replacement. The CS person in the Chairman's Office also told me to quit interrupting her when she was explaining the procedure. Admittedly, I was very upset when learning about their procedure and "safety features." Instead, we are going to call our extended home warranty company and let them deal with it.

I bought a GE cordless phone in Mumbai, India from a well reputed retail chain. This line of cordless phones had just been launched in India. When i reached home i realized that the Called ID on the phone was not working. I connected my old cordless and it was working on that. I also called my telephone operator and confirmed whether the feature was activated. I drew the conclusion that the phone was probably not equipped to recognize the Indian number format.

After this, i went to one of the GE appliance web sites, went into the 'Contact Us' section and wrote a long complaint about how they should have thought of something as crucial as Caller ID before launching the phone in the country.

All i got as a reply was an automated message saying that they would be able to clear my queries better if I call some helpline. The helpline number was not Indian based and I am unable to call it. I think this has been the worst experience with customer feedback i have ever had.

GE as a brand, has lost a great amount of credibility in my mind. I would not recommend anyone out there to go spend their hard earned money on any of their products.

I got this call about 30 minutes ago and when I asked the lady why she was calling on my sunday, she said she had the right. I said well I guess your company is the only one then because no one else does!
Anyway, when I tried to tell her to stop calling my number and give her one where she could reach my husband, she went off on this ranting about the laws of my state and it being a no spouse state and I can't give her a new number without him telling me to and on and on. Then I told her and not politely that it was my number she was calling and I wanted them to stop calling it! She then again was rude and snotty and said, "you know what, have a nice day maam. Blah blah blah"
Yes I was rude! This is sunday! A day where I don't even bother people! However, this company calls and this lady won't allow me to give another number to her so she can reach the right party!
Stop calling my number! I am sick of it and stop calling me on sunday!

Ge spacesaver microwave, model jvm1870sf2
Glass microwave tray broke in two while heating food! unit is about 4 years new. ordering one from ge is about $100! still paid $50 from third-party. amazing. i've used more variety of ge medical products than probably anyone in us, because of my diverse medical training: diagnostic ultrasound; mri scanners; ct scanners; general xray; specialized ir, and cardiac c-arm machines. ge currently cannot repair problems on my cardiac equipment at a major hospital for one year now. as a consumer, every company out there makes junk. part of the bigger problem is us. we've been programmed to expect less, after years of using chinese-infused products. glass microwave plates breaking when being heated? what did the engineers think it was going to be used for? $100 for replacement. pyrex glass bowls (same thing) cost $5.87 at walmart, and they use more glass. c'mon ge...i'm obviously a brilliant person to use all those medical devices and my opinion counts bigtime. $100 for something which should have been manufactured to withstand heat of a microwave oven. $50 was bad enough for a product that was probably made in a sweatshop, in some smog-filled chinese city without safety or qc. the sad part is that both trays probably come from the same chinese factory; the ones with the ge logo on the box costing twice as much.

I have had this ge dryer less than 2 years, and the circuit board is defective. I understand this is not uncommon and ge will not repair it since the warranty has expired. The repair is $460 and the dryer only cost $600 originally! This is the second ge appliance that I have been burned on.

I aked GE to come out a check my oven. I explained my concerns and he said they were normal functions of the oven (ie. smell of gas and heat ventelation out back of oven). The tech. proceeds to bait me by engaging a conversation regarding the ovens self-cleaning mechanism. The tech then draws out a diagram on a piece of paper showing me how the oven's temperature fluctuates. At this point I figure if nothing is wrong with my oven maybe I should have its internal temparature checked to make sure its holding its heat. This required the tech. to take a trip to his van(laborious)and stick a wire in oven(back braking)and wait. All of this cost me $120. I was charged for customer education. I NEVER asked to be informed about the operation of my oven, I know how it works. Besides, I would never pay for someone to come to my home to tell me the ins and outs of any appliance; all that info. is free online! I believe GE trains its techs. to bait the customer into laborious, jaw flapping education that the customer never asks for AND is not even given a choice to be educated (for a fee) or not educated.

In my opinion, I was bindsighted. If you call a tech to come out to your home, you better ask every time the tech. opens his mouth if your geting charged for verbal labor.

This complaint is twofold: 1) ge consumer electronics refuses to honor a printed warranty valid at the time of sale, and 2) the microwave in question poses a consumer safety hazard and should prompt a recall because what this complaint is about to describe has also been described by many other owners who have posted reviews on the web.

Three years ago I bought a 1.2 cu. Ge rotisserie grill microwave, model jes1289sk, manufactured in 2003 and purchased march 3, 2006. As we do with all appliances and electronics, we kept the receipt stapled to the owners manual and filed away for future reference.

Recently, the microwave began to arch. It emitted an unusual sound, sparks were literally flying and it did not shut off. We were in another room when this started. Only by the grace of god did we prevent the house from catching fire given that it did not shut off and would not shut off until unplugged. Judging from other reports i've read, there are many consumers who report the same but because the unit continues to run some of the affected consumers have continued to operate it despite the presence of an apparently dangerous electrical flaw.

We took our ge microwave to an authorized service center, whereupon the runaround began. The service center insisted we arrange our own repair with ge because there was no warranty on the suspected part. We quoted both the service center and ge customer service representatives the warranty statement in our manual in which it stated that the magnetron was covered for five years from the date of purchase. This was to no avail. The terms of the warranty had been "retroactively" revoked. No ge product carries more than a year warranty, we were told.

The service center claimed that ge notified all its customers that the warranty statement in the manual would no longer be honored. Now understand that we register all our electronics religiously in the event of a recall or a problem of this sort, and despite the fact that we have not changed addresses we were never notified in writing of any change in warranty coverage whatsoever. Furthermore, upon reading the warranty that was in effect when we bought the appliance — as printed in the user manual — there is no language to the effect that ge reserves the right to amend or cancel the warranty terms at any time with or without notice.

As the original owner, I am inclined to file a class action lawsuit and would like to hear from a lawyer experienced in consumer law to fight this on behalf of what I suspect are thousands of ge customers who have been unlawfully denied warranty coverage. Make no mistake: this is not a controversy over abuse or misuse of a product. This is a violation, to the best of my knowledge, of california, if not federal, law.

After spending an hour on the phone with ge on friday, may 1, 2009 it would appear that staff have been coached to do everything in their power to feign ignorance and thereby delay and obfuscate us into giving up in frustration. At one point, an employee insisted that none of ge's own product literature read like ours did.in so many words, we were being accused of lying about what our warranty statement said. Now I don't know what revision number this customer service agent was looking at — given that all technical manuals have some sort of revision code to signify when they were written or published — but I find it impossible to believe that a company that must receive calls like this everyday from consumers and service centers alike would not be clear on the rights of an original purchaser. We are able to supply proof of their own warranty statement, an original receipt, a serial number and a purchase date. There's no excuse for the impression that the customer service reps had either been trained to deny warranty coverage for spurious reasons and/or did not have adequate enough record keeping to confirm for themselves whether our claims of warranty coverage applied.

We suspect that we received the runaround from ge intentionally because most customers would not have the time or patience to pursue a matter, let alone go without an appliance they use on a daily basis while the matter is being straightened out. We wouldn't be surprised if the average person, at least in better economic times, would throw a 3-year-old appliance in a dumpster, environmentally insensitive to the consequences of that act let alone cognizant of the reality that an enforceable warranty may still apply. Ge undoubtedly has solicited studies on consumer behavior in this regard, so it would not come as a surprise if they are training their employees to push their consumers to go out and spend the money to replace a product rather than to pursue a warranty repair. However, this is a different economy and like so many american households, the main breadwinner has been out of work for many months. Our money doesn't grow on trees, and even if it did we would not put it toward another ge product! That is why we find it more than ironic that in this recession wherein customer service ought to be at its best in order to keep bottom lines and stock prices propped up, ge customer service agents cavalierly drive off repeat customers with service that is not only poor — transferring our call about for an entire hour without ever arriving at an an agreement to replace the part — but, worse, seemingly afoul of the law.

Like too many companies that have grown too big to fail, ge does not appear to have a customer-first mindset. As product purchasers, we are essentially left to choose from "evil" or the "lesser-of-several evils". That's what happens when a few big corporations corner the entire market. None of their products have to compete anymore, and even more ironically many consumer products are essentially built for a short shelf life and a disposable end even as we enter a time when "going green" ought to mean building something to last. Consider, if you will, how many items, from microwaves to toasters, last less than five years even as a 1950s a wedding gift might continue operating for 25? Building products cheaply is a recipe not only for consumer frustration, but the necessity to go out spending over, and over again to replace products stacking up at landfills because they were built so cheaply as if to be a form of "planned obsolescence" on the part of the three or four manufactures that presently supply in excess of 90 percent of the electronics and appliance brands on the us market.

It seems obvious to us that this ge combination microwave oven was manufactured and purchased before changes to ge product warranties went into effect. Our product manual states that we have a "5-year magnetron warranty" and we're going to demand it if for no other reason that large companies should not be permitted to badger customers into believing that warranties are not enforceable. Nobody wants to call a company and feel that they are being tossed around from one telephone extension to another like a hot potato, or that the customer service reps who have taken their call were hired less than 24 hours ago and can't answer questions about their own products.

My plan is to report this microwave to the consumer safety product commission and ge to the better business bureau. My reason for posting on this site, however, is to ask anyone who has experienced this problem to come forward and share their own story. If you own a ge product that is still under warranty according to your instruction manual but the company denies it, please do not make the mistake of posting nothing more than a comment. If you have the original receipt and warranty statement to prove it, please write up and post a separate complaint on this website so that the true numbers of people who have been cheated out of their warranty coverage by ge will become apparent. Finally, I would also like to hear from someone in the consumer advocacy or legal profession who can confirm whether or not ge consumer products division appears, as we suspect, to have acted in bad faith.

GE Appliances used to have a good reputation - not any more. The GE refrigerator we bought had problems within one year. The service would come at no charge to 'fix' it and within a few months it would be broken again. This happened over several years. They put in new doors to try and fix the problem. That didn't work. They put in a 'kit' for the ice maker. That worked about one year. Now we have a refrigerator that has been nothing but trouble and no ice. They said they would give $400 towards a new GE. Considering that we have only had from the beginning a refrigerator worth about $400, it's not a good deal. And why on earth would we but another headache called GE Appliances? No thanks.

Since they sent them over seas to be built, they have gotten worse and worse. Even the salesmen at stores admit this. DO NOT buy a GE appliance unless you enjoy dealing with repairmen on a constant basis. They know that there is a problem with their appliances but apparently would rather pay lower wages than have them built right!

This is regarding a GE refrigerator purchased from Lowe's. The model is # GSH25SGPC SS. The water dispenser in the freezer door keeps freezing up and will not dispense water, I keep a hair dryer in the cabinet next to the fridge and thaw it out every two days. What a shame to have to do this on a new refridgerator that cost around $1, 000.00. I have called GE and they keep saying they are not aware of the problem and have not had any complaints. This is an out and out lie since there are many web sites where consumers have registered complaints including this one. Check "GE GE refrigerator water supply". I have contacted GE about 5 times and Lowes twice about this problem since it was new. Lowes says it is GE's problem and GE says there is no problem. I have complained to Consumer Affairs and the Better Business Bureau. I even went up to someone in Lowe's that was looking at a GE fridge and warned them not to buy. What recourse do we the consumer have when criminals like this will not stand behind their product once they get our money? I wonder if this is something some ambitious young attorney would like to get into and pursue? Surely we can all band together and force GE to do something. Check some of the web sites, I suspect there are probably hundreds of us with the same problem and even more that don't know where to turn. I have been trying so long, to no avail, that my fridge is now out of warranty which GE loves and uses to their advantage. GE did say they will be glad to come out and replace my faulty door at a cost of over $500.00 to fix their manufacturing defect! How thoughtful! Lowe's would not do anything to help either. I guess this was a $1, 000.00 learning experience. I will NEVER pirchase another GE appliance and will do everything I can to discourage others from buying GE! Total trash with absolutely no customer service.

Bought a top of the line GE profile dryer - 10 months of use and it blew up - after 2 months of weekly phone calls emails I got warranty repair - new motor and electronics - lasted 2 days - then they replaced the unit - I insisted I did not want the same model - but there was no other option from them - so I took it - this unit has now lasted 13 months - and it blew up - I was in basement and my husband & daughter upstairs and they thought someone shot a gun - after I started screaming they found me downstairs with a smoking dryer - JUNK - do NOT buy GE

I had an extended warranty on my GE Profile Over the Range Microwave Oven. When My Microwave was not working properly I called GE for service. They sent 2 technician from Dial Appliance to check the Microwave, and they discovered that Magnetron Tube on the Microwave was defective and they ordered new one. Upon receiving the part they came back and installed it but the Microwave was still not working correctly, at that point they discovered that now the transformer was kind of broken because they saw little smoke coming out during the test. The technicians left with the information that they were going to order new transformer from GE . Week later I called from GE extended service dept. informing me that they received the repair status form the Dial Appliance and decided it is not cost effective to invest any further in repair cost towards the old microwave, instead they offered me the new replacement at 50% of the cost since it was 10 years old.
I decided to take the replacement option at 50% of the cost and the new microwave was delivered with in couple of weeks. The new Microwave was delivered by Turay & Sons Trucking Corp from Bronx, NY. During the installation process they took wrong measurement through the template that was provided with the new microwave. due to that the microwave screws could not go in straight from the cabinet, therefore leaves about more than 1/4 inch of gap from the cabinet. The Microwave is loose due to only two screws installed instead of three and is not very secured and I am afraid due to his heavy weight (68 lbs) it may fall on my gas range any time. I tried repeatedly to contact the GE and the delivery people but it was of no use. GE informed me that I should contact delivery people since they are the ones they installed it, but the delivery people refuses to come back to fix the issue, because they know there is nothing they can do since they have already damaged the kitchen cabinet with too many holes and there is no place to drill any more holes to do the correct installation.
I would advise every one to carefully think before purchasing any GE appliance or the extended warranty from them since they give it to third party to do their work. I guess I will have to take this matter to litigation to resolve this issue.

My GE wall oven was defective from the day i purchased it, under 2 years ago. It releases carbon monoxide fumes due to a faulty broiler, which Public Service and their own repair man verified.
GE is insensitive to my problem, and refuses to pay for the labor cost.
I am completely frustrated, and cannot get help from store of purchase (Oberg & Lindquist in Westwood, NJ) or GE customer service.

An example of Mediocre Service :

January 21st 2009

Stove : We order ordered a GE cook top from Sears...it arrived dirty finger print all over the stove...we re-ordere the stove a total of 3 times and had simillar problems everytime...we canceled the order.

Customer Service : It is very difficult to find a phone number that will get you someone nice and helpful at the other end of the phone...when you call a number ...you get a message to call another number..when you call the other number you get a message to call this other number and it goes on and on.

Phones : The phone model number GE 28300EE2 is advertized as expandable with up to 6 handset but you can't purchase or find the acessorie handset anywhere...no one has them in stock.. USA or Canada.

Be careful General Electric does not have long to live.

After purchasing a brand new GE Cafe Side-by-Side refrigerator last week, it took only 13 hours to began smoking. I pulled the plug. The inside temperature was 95 degrees. After it cooled down, I opened the door and saw a yellow burnt spot in the back with a large crack in the wall. Had we not been home to pull the plug, there would have been a major fire in our home. I will never feel safe with a GE applaince again.

Yes, our money was refunded by the store but GE has not responded to my complaint.