The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

New oven thoughts? Avoid GE products

alfanso's picture
alfanso

New oven thoughts? Avoid GE products

Avoid GE products

I really don't like using TFL as a kind of bully pulpit, but I am pretty darned frustrated with General Electric right now.  

Oct. 2014 I decided to replace my perfectly good range with a new range that came with a double oven.  I could provide a permanent home for my baking deck and lava rocks and leave the upper oven for most other oven things.

From the first month the oven lights blew out, first the upper and shortly thereafter the lower.  I had GE service repair come in and check.  Scroll forward one year - the lower deck oven light continues to blow out.  I've probably replaced it at least a half dozen times, most recently last Friday.  

The GE service repair person has made three visits.  Each time he plugs his laptop into the range to dutfully perform diagnostics and has never found a problem.  Just under one month ago he swapped out the oven lamp sockets for new sockets, and new bulbs.  No dice.  His next, and 4th, useless visit will be this coming Saturday.

GE states that their warranty (at least in the USA) will cover repairs only.  No matter who I speak with at their Customer Relations Center, they will not replace the unit, which is apparently a lemon.  I've had them extend the warranty one year more, but that doesn't resolve anything.

They are "nice" enough to offer me a replacement range for a small discount, so in essence I would be paying pretty much double the price of my one year old range with no chance to replace it when that one goes south too.  No thanks.

So...unless you mother has her retirement invested in GE stock, my suggestion is this - 

Look for another appliance company for your next "durable goods" big ticket appliance.  Find one with a replacement warranty.  But avoid GE as though it has the measles.

If you have any other forums or website suggestions where I can make my statement "heard" please add a comment as to where.  Thanks,

alan

bonnibakes's picture
bonnibakes

When I built my new house in 2007 I bought all new appliances. Over the next few years both the washer & dryer required replacement computer boards at about @275 each; the dishwasher has had several repairs but best of all was the electric stove turning one of the large burners on by itself in the middle of the night. I discovered it before the house caught on fire but had to flip the breaker because you couldn't turn the stove off. As it turns out this malfunction was widespread and part of a recall...but I was never notified.

alfanso's picture
alfanso

I believe it was Electrolux appliances that my brother installed, across the board, when he redid his kitchen about 3 years ago. Anyway, whichever company it was, he had a situation whereby he had to reset his wall oven.  Amazingly, the reset button is located on the backside of the unit.  He had to have a service call so that the repair person could deinstall the oven press the reset, and then reinstall the unit.  How does a layout like that ever get green lighted?  Some QA department they have going!

embth's picture
embth

I put in all "top of the line" JennAire including a dual fuel range…..the oven temp is 25 degrees below what is indicated, the convection fan doesn't work, I have replaced gas burner units…all within eight years.    I replaced the refrigerator (the original just quit one day and the repair man pronounced it dead).  I think this new one which cost nearly twice as much is very poorly designed and engineered, and I feel like it may last 5 years if I am lucky.    I hate the thought of replacing appliances for two reasons….first the expense of them and secondly, I expect the new one to be of less quality than the ones I have now.  Welcome to the 21st Century!

(as I posted this, what pops up on the TFL screen but a Maytag advertisement.  Technology may be frustrating, but it can be amusing….)

dablues's picture
dablues

My opinion only, but the quality in almost everything ha gone downhill.  Appliances and TV's lasted and lasted years ago.  Cars were cars, not junk like they are now with high prices.  Seems everything is made out of plastic.  I long for the good old days when products were great!  Not so anymore!

gerhard's picture
gerhard

I couldn't disagree with you more strongly, I think everything is better today.  Things just work and we expect them to work, in the '60s and '70 everything truly was junk and our expectations where low so they where easily met.  Today we can communicate with thousands of people at once by typing on our home computers so when there is a dissatisfied customer all a sudden thousands of people hear about it and usually more than once.  I can't remember my last car breakdown and other than our dishwasher our appliances are 25 years old and showing no signs of needing replacement.

Gerhard 

dablues's picture
dablues

That's what's great about opinions!  I also, disagree with you, so we are at an impasse and no need to go further with this discussion, anyway on my part.  Discuss with whomever you like so they can see your input and they will eventually decide for themselves.  So you do not need to respond to my posts.  We both just disagree with each other!

Moots's picture
Moots

I have been very happy with our 8 year old JennAir electric oven. The proofing feature runs a little hot, but is useful when the house is cool in the winter. We had an initial problem with the door not closing correctly, but that problem was corrected within weeks of the install. 

Just don't get me started on our 2 year old LG refrigerator. I will never buy another LG product.

breadboy025's picture
breadboy025

I have had refrigerator, cooktop, ovens, and dishwasher from different vendors including Kitchenaid, GE, Bosch, Dacor, and Whirlpool.  All have failed in some way.  My Kitchenaid ovens (a double oven) have different temps top and bottom;  the glass broke at one point, the interior doesn't clean equally;  The fridges often freeze and it was a fight for a year and a half with my manufacturer before the store just stepped up and replaced it (sending the original back to the manufacturer);  Dacor cooktop had known defects that they admitted but then tried to sell me a replacement, and on and on.

 

Basically, they all have problems, and I think my final impression is that you don't get what you pay for;  service costs a lot;  None of it is built to last, and the companies run at any sign of trouble.  Sorry to be a pessimist but that's been my experience

JeffRo's picture
JeffRo

It is true that there are certain manufacturers who are known to produce better products than others. And at times a specific item will come off of the assembly line with an unidentified defect that can cause you to pull out your hair. However, being a nerdy-technical-type, in a situation like this I like to try and find root-cause. Especially since this problem is with a component as simple as a light bulb.

Since you are obviously an avid bread maker - as are we all - my gut is telling me that you like to make breads with a high hydration formula. We all love those, right? Also, you mentioned you are using lava rock in your baking oven. This likely indicates that you commonly add the customary "cup of water" to the oven to produce steam for the initial bake - to get that nice crunchy artisan crust. Right?

With that said, most consumer-grade ovens are not designed to handle that amount of moisture in the oven chambers. And it is especially the electronic components that suffer. They are not typically insulated with a vapor barrier to protect them from the high humidity of the steam. And over time (or sometimes very quickly) these conditions will cause the light bulbs to blow, and can eventually cause serious damage to the controlling electronics (circuit boards, temperature sensor, etc.).

I know it can be therapeutic to vent. I agree customer service and quality of product has seriously declined over the years. And sharing war stories and finding support in a forum like this can help deal with the frustration.

But I am a self-proclaimed techno-nerd. So please take my comments with a grain of salt... and yeast. :

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Hi JeffRo,

Thanks for the input.  I'd be inclined to think so too, as it is a logical type of conclusion, one that crossed my mind with the second bulb blowing out.  But a few things lead me to believe that it isn't the case.  So. I'll make my "case".

I was replacing an oven that was certainly less than10 years old, new enough to have electronic circuitry, and weathered enough to have "experienced it all".  That same oven was subjected to the same high humidity for over a year, with no issues.  I have no idea when the light bulb in the old oven had been replaced, but it was earlier than in 2011, when we took ownership of it.

I'm pretty sure that this oven vents more efficiently than the old one, so the steam will dissipate and escape from the vent with more rapidity.  I clearly recall thinking about how I might, foolishly, try clogging the vent when we first got the oven in attempt to mitigate steam loss.  Never did that.

The bulb in the larger compartment, the one where I bake, burned out within maybe two weeks after installation.  The upper oven bulb preceded that by a few days, and we don't bake bread in that one.  So this was a brand new stove I'm referring to here.  And it immediately started to show this flaw.

Last month, just prior to calling GE for another service visit - the visit where the sockets were replaced, the lower oven bulb blew out, was replaced, and the replacement bulb blew out maybe less than a week later.  So, really, how much steam abuse could the oven receive in a few days time from a home baker who does two small bakes a week, three in a big week?

And lastly, the owner's care manual, warns against everything voiding the warranty.  Just shy of sticking a fork into the same electric socket as the oven is plugged into.  If they wanted to escape scrutiny on the moisture in the box issue, they surely would have made a note of that to exonerate themselves.

And lastly lastly!, I cannot recall seeing any one of our compatriot bakers on this site, many who bake with steam, make an issue of this malady.  Now, it doesn't mean that they didn't/don't have a similar problem, but no one has mentioned it here, as far as I can tell.

Thanks for the thoughts.

alan 

FueledByCoffee's picture
FueledByCoffee

Try baking with a Cloche or some similar device that traps the steam produced by the bread hitting the hot stone...Then you don't have excess steam in the oven...If the oven still continues crapping out you can pretty much be sure it's not the steam.  If that seems to solve the problem then great...

alfanso's picture
alfanso

But, this is what the inside of my oven looks like when I do a bake.  Not so easy to take the cloche approach.  And that is no different than with the prior oven.

alan

dobie's picture
dobie

This is a very interesting thread. A lot of good thoughts and ideas on both sides of the fence. I offer you my experiences, for what they're worth.

Ten years ago we did a major kitchen rebuild (down to the studs, electric, plumbing and all).

I guess you could say we were going thru our 'Bosch' phase. We purchased a Bosch cordless jig saw (to do the build), dishwasher and oven.

Six years later, the dishwasher wouldn't drain. To the point of the differences in our 'modern' age, I was able to go on youtube and within an hour or two, found out how to test for what the problem was.

Once that was done and confirmed, I searched out the best price for the replacement part (shipping considered), which arrived 3 days later and cost about $65 total to the door. Within 1.5 hours the DW was up and running and has been ever since (but those 3-4 days were a bitch).

A few weeks later, one of the burners on the stove top wouldn't light. There was much discussion about getting a new range. Problem was, I really like this thing. Convection, proofing modes in the oven, well engineered hi and low heat sources on the cook top and lots of other details.

When we bought it, we had thought long and hard about our choice, had looked at many different brands and were willing to spend more money if we thought it worthy (for our situation).This one priced out in the low-middle of $800 to $5,000. I had to do more than a little convincing that this was the best choice for us. Personally, I love this range. But now it's broken.

Then the bulb went off in my brain and I asked the 'keeper of files' to check whether or not we had an 'extended warranty' on this thing. As it turns out we did, and as it turns out (and imagine this, for once) it was 3 weeks from expiring. So we called in for a repair visit right away.

First, I don't usually buy extended warranties.The reason (I now recall) that we bought this extended warranty was that I was uncomfortable with the fact that this was our first major appliance that was 'computer board' driven. And knowing the cost of parts (let alone repair call), I thought $200 on a $2000 unit (we actually got it for less) for 5 years on top of the one (or two?) provided, was worth the risk. A gamble well played.

I say we got it for less because we had found our best price (on that pesky old internet) and went back to our local brick and mortar and told them that if they could get it within $100, we would buy from them.

Then, we piggy-backed the Dishwasher and with delivery, installation and removal of the old units, saved $3-400 dollars than otherwise. The DW was nearly free.

As it turns out, we also had an extended warranty on the Dishwasher I had just repaired (came with the deal). Oh well.

So the service guy shows up, scopes out the job, writes up the parts list (over $1200 worth retail) and asks us to call him (personal cell phone), when we actually had the parts in hand (that was smart).

As it turns out, he completely rebuilt (replaced all non-computer parts) of all four burners, soup to nuts. I figure I've got another 3-4 years before the problem recures, but I did ask a lot of questions and took pics and vids of his work every step of the way, just in case.

Ironically, the computer boards of neither unit has ever given out. The problems have all been mechanical.

I will say, that when called, Bosch did a great job honoring the warranty.

As for the jig-saw, after pretty good use during the rebuild, it was only used lightly thereafter (once or twice a month on small projects), but eventually (after about seven years) the magnets around the coil all dropped out. The cost of a new motor was so close the cost of new, I ditched it and bought into Ryobi's system (which I have been very happy with).

So, planned obsolecents, digital age, better or worse, I don't know, but here's another contradition.

The range we replaced was a Sears Kenmore (circa 1950). If it hadn't have been so small, we would probably still be using it. On the other hand, our cars don't break down on the road or need much repair of any kind compared to those of the same era.

I'm not so sure how the good old days were. Still an open question in my book.

dobie