Ray Craft
Manager Consumer Relations
General Electric Company
AP6 Suit #129B
Louisville, KY 40225
..
Subject:
Demand for Recovery of Extra Cost $753
Design Flaw GE Refrigerator
Model GTS201CNAWW Serial #HD041826
Purchased from Home Depot July 25, 2002
GE Case Number 4944578
Dear Mr. Craft,
.. This is a demand to recover $753 for equitable relief caused by
defective products, and failure to disclose a known defect. Please respond by
email (******************.net) to expedite communication.
..
I
purchased
subject product for approximately $600 on July 25, 2002, and was
not told of a latent defect in the condensate drain system. This defect became
manifest with leakage on the kitchen floor on or about October 26, 2004. GE
service department then disclosed that this is a
common problem.
GE made
repairs on October 27, 2004 and charged an additional $145. About six (6)
months later this past May, the problem occurred again. On June 16 a service
representative again stated this is a
common problem.
Service was performed
on June 20, and the cost was reduced to only $100 because a local mechanic
performed the work to save GE's administrative costs.
..
GE Customer Relations replaced the defective unit with an upgrade model
GTS22JCPWW at an additional charge of $508. To mitigate damages, I approved
this transaction. This makes a total additional outlay of $753 for repair
and replacement to acquire a serviceable refrigerator. At this time, I am
prepared to forego recovery for labor managing the case of approximately $1,300
in exchange for the amortized value of the original outlay in July 2002, which
is estimated at approximately $120 (20% of $600).
..
GE's liability rests on evidence showing a latent defect, that GE knew of this
defect, and failed to disclose to the customer through GE's vendor Home Depot,
who maintains that
sales representatives are required to disclose defects
that
require regular service expense, as occurred here, and would have done so in
this case to alert customers, but did not do so, because GE failed to give Home
Depot notice. Home Depot's explanation is supported by Mrs Turner in GE
Customer Relations. On June 28,
Mrs Turner
advised that, while the defect in
the condensate drain system is commonly known in the GE Service Department, the
matter is not documented by Customer Relations, and so Home Depot was not
notified. Therefore, this sounds like a GE matter.
..
Please access case history on line for more details, if needed, at...
http://welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/05/07/12/084754.HTM#0W8L
...or call me if you prefer to work with printed documents. I
can submit the full record by mail, but this is rather bulky, and so more
awkward to manage, compared to the online version supported by
precision access. ..
I am pleased to commend Mrs Turner in the Customer Relations department. Her
work on June 28 got the ball rolling to balance policy with equity that builds
customer loyalty.
..
Phillips Delivery company installed the replacement refrigerator on July 15.
Dayna at Phillips (209 833 8930) advised this morning to contact GE about
replacing the
freezer door,
which was blemished and dented, noted on your
shipping order #T5065119 dated July 12, 2005, and witnessed by the delivery
agent on July 15.
..
As you know, step four (4) of GE's instructions (taped to
the front of the refrigerator on delivery) say for the installer to remove all
tape and packaging, and to use polish wax to clean residue from the tape that
holds moveable parts in-place-during-shipment, e.g., shelving. The
installation agent advised that, during his two (2) months on the job, he has
not previously removed the temporary transport tape, and was provided no
cleaning agent by Phillips. This was therefore a struggle to get the tape
removed, which the agent eventually performed, partially, after reading GE's
instructions. I note further that the agent was at all times courteous, and
professional, though obviously some details were overlooked.
..
Additionally, the ice maker has not produced ice for the past four (4) days. I
tried to trouble shoot the problem with guidance shown on Page 10 of the
product manual (200D2462P007 49-60339). This has been unsuccessful.
..
Yesterday, I pulled the refrigerator out from the wall and kitchen cabinets (no
small task for a 70 year old), and found that the water valve was still in the
"off" position. I turned the valve on and managed to maneuver the unit back
into position. Still no ice after four (4) days. This sounds like another
defect. Temporarily, I have worked around the problem with conventional ice
trays. Possibly the ice maker is defective, or I am doing something
wrong? Hopefully, the problem is correctable by telephone. This ice maker
does not have a switch, like the previous model, which worked well.
..
Today, I found ice build up on the exhaust manifold running vertically in the
middle of the back panel, and partially across the ceiling inside the freezer
compartment. Somehow, I think this should not be occurring. Maybe this is
related to the ice maker problem.
.. Please submit GE's plan to resolve these new issues on customer value.
..
Finally, this is a complaint, but probably not actionable. When GE offered to
replace the previous model (see subject above), I noticed on the Internet that
the dimensions were slightly bigger than the prior model. I also verified the
replacement would fit in the refrigerator space constricted by kitchen
cabinets. This worked. The new unit barely fits, so far so good, except this
may have caused the blemish and dent on the freezer door, when the delivery man
elected to bring the unit through the front door, which is constricted by a
short turning radius, rather than use the direct route through the garage door
entry, as was done for the prior delivery, and without incident.
..
When the new unit arrived, I removed everything from the freezer, and from the
food compartment. After the installation technician left, I tried to put
everything back just as it was, assuming that, since this is a replacement, and
since the dimensions are slightly bigger, there would be more space. You can
imagine my surprise to find there is less space in the food compartment. I had
about 15 jars that just could not fit into the door of the new unit. About ten
(10) of these items are sauces and exotic items I had forgotten I had, and so
the problem was partially solved by throwing them out. The other five (5)
items, I squeezed into the three food storage shelves. But, my sense is there
is, also, less space in this area than the prior unit.
..
For one thing, there was room in the prior unit below the lunch meat crisper on
the third shelf, and above the vegetable bin, to fit two (2) plastic containers
about 5 to 6-inches high, where I store asparagus in one and onions in another.
The new unit has only about 2-inches for the same space. This reduced space
prevents using the prior arrangement, and so everything is much more crowded
and squeezed, reducing utility compared to the prior unit.
..
I next took everything out of the refrigerator, and tried adjusting shelf
levels for an efficient configuration. Raising the shelves to clear the
plastic containers that fit in the prior unit, prevents storing juice bottles
on the top shelf of the new unit. Since previously everything fit with room to
spare, I was disappointed having to fight to fit things into a smaller space on
an "upgraded" refrigerator that is nominally bigger.
..
My hunch is that the freezer
compartment was expanded by the engineers, and this reduced space for
food storage. Another possibility is that the walls were thickened for more
insulation to improve temperature retention, which saves energy use. Again,
there was no disclosure to the customer on GE's website, nor by anyone at GE
involved with this transaction, that food storage in the replacement unit
has markedly less space. That seems like a useful fact for customers to know
in purchasing a refrigerator.
..
Needless to say, after owning GE refrigerators for going on 50 years, and never
having spent a moments thought about operations and maintenance, other than
filling the ice tray, and keeping things neat and tidy, I am disappointed to be
spending so much time worrying about an appliance, and writing letters to GE,
whom I have long admired.