Ten Reasons Why You Should Not Buy GE Appliances

I Will Never Buy GE Products Again!

A. Ormont, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Aug 31, 2006 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

I have had many GE appliances over the years. Never again will I buy any though! I actually did not choose any of the GE appliances in the first place! The first set came from a new home builder. The only package they offered were GE appliances and since they were throwing them into the package deal we made, we accepted them. The second set of GE appliances came when we bought our current home. The previous owners did not want to take their GE appliances with them and now I know why!!!

Here are the 10 reasons why I will NOT buy GE products ever again!

1. My first problem with GE came with my washing machine. I had a washing machine on the second floor of my town home which seemed convenient but became a major problem when the machine started LEAKING! The problem was that after only 1 year, the clutch went up. It caused the machine to spin when it's supposed to agitate; the spinning caused water to spew over the top of the tub, unbeknown to the user. It took a while to diagnose what the problem was. Even an appliance repair person didn't figure out the problem at first. Of course, since it was just over a year after purchasing the machine, it was no longer under warranty and thus it was very costly to repair.

2. In the same townhouse, we had a GE Profile Dryer. We had problems with that too! The first problem is that the moisture sensor does not work. Supposedly if you set the moisture sensor, the clothes will be DRY when you take them out. Well, I did that and ran the dryer. I went back to get the clothes when the cycle was over and the clothes were WET! I turned off the moisture control feature and just set the dryer to dry. I had paid extra for such a useless feature and that makes me mad! In addition, the dryer alert that the cycle is done is very quiet. It cannot be heard in my kitchen, right upstairs from where the dryer is even with the basement door open! And, one more thing! The dryer lint trap is in the dryer and every time you try to get the lint out, it goes back into the dryer onto the nice, formerly clean clothes!

3. Fast forward to a new house (well, new to us!). The previous owners have left us a GE Dryer. It worked for about 2 months after we moved into the house. Then, it just stopped heating. After calling the appliance repair man, he tells us that the heating coils are not heating. I asked him how old he thought the dryer was and after looking at some serial numbers or something, he says that he is sure that the dryer is not more than 3 years old! I would think that the heating coils of an electric dryer would last more than 3 years!

4. Next I had a GE Spacemaker microwave oven. It had problems almost from day one! A part called the magnetron went up. It was supposedly under warranty but the labor wasn't thus costing me more money on a microwave I had just purchased!

5. In our current home, the first thing to go wrong with our GE Dishwasher was that the part on the top of the machine that spins around and squirts water broke off. I found it on the top rack after one washing! I tried running the machine without the part and the top of every glass came out dirty because nothing was cleaning the tops. Then, the dishwasher developed a leak. My husband thought it was a clogged drain line from the dishwasher was clogged with the type of soap I was using but our handy appliance man came to check it out and told us that the pump was shot and leaking. This was too expensive to be worth repairing.

6. Even small appliances are not made well when they are made by GE. We had a speaker phone that had a cordless handset. When I would speak to anyone on it, they said that it sounded like I was very far away. If I would change phones, I sounded much better to the person I was speaking to. This happened with many phone calls. In addition, I could not walk more than 20 feet away from the base of the phone or it would get a very static-y sound in the phone. (I have since used other phones with similar 900 mhz capability and can go all the way into my backyard and it still sounds fine. I could barely walk into the next room with the GE model). By the time it turned one year old, the handset was totally not working and the phone only had speaker phone capabilities.

7. Many new homes will come with a GE appliance package. There are usually no choices unless you choose not to take the package at all and then you usually wind up losing out either way. GE must make the lowest bid on the new housing contracts somehow and then provide the lowest of their lines so that they will only have to be repaired or replaced quickly anyway.

8. GE rides on their reputation. Everyone thinks that they are a good name because they are big. For example, Home Depot ONLY carries GE and Hotpoint appliances! Some consumers will for this thinking that it must be a good product. The name is meaningless!

9. Hotpoint is made by GE. Don't be fooled. GE hides behind their Hotpoint brands thinking people won't know that they make that too. It is no better. In fact, I have talked to friends with Hotpoint appliances and they have complained more about their Hotpoint appliances than I have complained about my GE products and that is a LOT!

10. Both Consumer Reports and www.epinions.com typically do not give most GE products a top rating. There may be some that have better ratings than others but, overall, it seems that there are other brands that consistently rate much higher than GE.

Let the consumer beware. Do your research and you will note that there are definitely better brands out there than GE products!

Published by A. Ormont

A is a mom and an educator. She has 2 beautiful children and has over 10 years teaching experience in schools. A. likes to write about homeschooling, children, parenting, and anything in and around the tow... View profile