There are warranties and there are warranties

Many of the major appliance companies have a warranty that survives the one the salesperson tells you about in the store when you are dazzled by the gorgeous new appliance.

I always ask if they have one, even if I am not sure. 

When we purchased our new washing machine from Spenser’s Appliance (You know the slogan, “You have a friend in the business”) in February 2019, we were not thrilled with what was available.  Every appliance has a computer embedded within.  I thought, “Well, GE is a good company, so I was sure I would get years of service and declined the extra warranty. In July 2020, it stopped spinning, with a full load of towels. 

I called Spenser’s (you remember my friend in the business) and was told it would be just shy of $85.00 to have a service person come out, AND the $85.00 did not become part of the repair.  There was no mention of an additional warranty.  I called around and found someone to come out for $59.00, which was also not part of the repair. 

Well, the repair person spent several seconds and declared the control board was bad. A new one, along with the labor, would be about the cost of a new washing machine.  When I picked myself up off the floor, I paid him and decided to write to GE to see if there was something they were willing to do. 

So I did; my case # 04229845 was acknowledged by GE on 7/29/2020, with this reply: “Thanks for reaching out to us.  A member of our support team will reply as soon as possible. If you’d like to provide any additional information, please reply to this email, and your case will be updated.”

If you know me, you know I am a little impatient!  I wrung out all the towels and let them dry on my sunporch. I waited for almost 2 weeks for an answer from GE. 

Finally, remembered B&B Appliances, sell new and renewed appliances.  Even though we were in the middle of a pandemic, we drove to the store. We bought a used washer without ANY computer activated equipment. They have a 6-month warranty. 

It was installed, and the useless GE washer was taken away.  I put one load through it, and it made a terrible noise.  I called them, and a service person came out and declared it DOA.  When I called the store, they told me it would be another week.  I was disappointed and made that clear to the poor customer service person.  The phone rang just as I was picking it up to call and apologize, and he said a new washer would be delivered the next day, and he was sorry for the delay.  Now that’s service!  

About 2 or three weeks later, I got a call from a live person from GE.  She told me if I had not been so hasty (her words) and had waited until they got around to answering my email, she would have sent a GE repair person.  It would have been repaired FREE, and GE would have issued a 5-year warranty. 

My question to GE is; If you were willing to give this level of service, why didn’t Spenser’s “MY Friend in the Business” know about it? 

My second question is: Why didn’t you tell me that in your first email reply?

By the way, GE, can you give me ONE good reason to give you any feedback?

Consider this your feedback!  Why would I need to purchase a warranty on a washer that by now is in a landfill??? I’ve received at least 6 emails offering to sell me a warranty on my washer from you! Don’t hold your breath!

Published by Time Traveler of Life

Biography Creating worlds, characters, and wielding power like a madwoman, making my characters happy, sad, angry, and some of them with no redeeming qualities. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I sometimes laugh out loud when I am writing a scene, and I have been known to cry when one of my favorites has to die. I am a left-handed Gemini, what do you expect? Reading bedtime stories to my two children until they fell asleep or until they just told me to go away, was fun. Making up wild stories for my grandchild, and creating Halloween costumes from Cowboys to a Dragon, was another favorite thing to do. I missed that so much when they were grown, that I started writing. My yearly newsletters frequently were drafted third-person by my Love Birds, Miranda our motorhome, and by Sir Fit the White Knight, our faithful Honda. Throughout the years, some of my creative talents centered around writing letters of complaint expressing my displeasure with services or products. One crucial, at least to my Son, was a note to our local school bus driver petitioning her to allow him back on the bus. He was kicked off for making an obscene gesture at his buddy. I reminded her that it was not directed at her, and that “obscenity can be in the eye of the beholder,” kids use that gesture as a greeting. He rode the bus until he graduated. I loved driving my English teacher crazy. Leaving a “continued next week” at the end of my five handwritten pages required each week. He was one of many people that suggested I “do something about my writing.” I graduated from the School of Hard Knocks at the top of my class. After 30 years, in the trenches as a Real Estate Professional, I have found that truth is stranger than fiction. My books are filled with characters I met in that profession. Their names were changed to protect the guilty. Others were from people we met traveling around the country in Miranda, our Motorhome. I am married nearly 60 years to the love of my life, Shirl, and partner-produced two exceptionally talented children, and one grandchild who is our pride and joy.

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