General Electric Complaint

Mark234 says: (9 months ago)

 0

Beware of GE Customer Service. I had a very serious problem with 220 volt wiring at the top of the tank that represented a fire hazard.

I contacted the GE Warranty Call Center and received every conceivably bizarre recommendation on what to do because the unit simply was not heating water even with a change in circuit breakers. One customer service rep told me it had to be the upper tank heater element and they would send one out to me to change. (It never arrived.) She was certain I had burnt out the element even though I informed her the water levels were consistently high and normal. Another told me to go to Home Depot and diagnose the unit myself with a continuity tester device since it was just slightly out of warranty but the problem occurred in warranty (go figure). They were very uniformed and have extremely low technical knowledge.

I had my electrician to my home again to discover that the wiring under the metal cover on top had shorted out and did everything but explode. He rewired the hot water heater, checked the breakers again and the unit works fine and the cause of the short remains a mystery. For days my family was in jeopardy from a major electrical fire because the breakers were left on when I finished testing this so called safe unit not knowing it was shorted out at the top.

There is a lot more to relate, however, I can tell you that these people are incompetent; have no technical knowledge of significance; do not maintain correct progress notes, and in general every call to them is a shot in the dark. The service company they recommended as one they work with did not even have a policy to get reimbursed for warrantied parts. Thus, I never called them.

The most outrageous and dangerous thing they are doing is telling homeowners to "fix it themselves". I have an engineeering background of which they had no idea. I know what kind of voltages run through the areas they want customers to test. One wrong move at the breaker panel and finger on a live wire or screw and a person could be fried.

I think from all I have related people can come to the conclusion that they are underpaid incompetents who should never be advising people to work with 220V electrical devices and are irresponsible.

By the way, it took over 10 days to finally give up on GE and solve the problem along with my electrician. What a poor excuse for "service". They need to be technically trained and legally advised. Very disappointed.