Retail Store-GE Appliances and Quality/Service Issues

14 years ago

This past Friday, I was in a large independent upscale retail appliance/furniture store located in a mid sized Southeast city. Beautiful store. Sold all the major brands including many of the so called top of line professional kitchen appliance brands. I am looking to have a complete overhaul of my kichen. I am intrigued about GE's Advantium and its numerous functions and because of this am leaning toward GE. I am not interested in mixing brands.

I consider myself an above average shopper/purchaser/consumer. I know when a salesperson is steering me away from one brand as well as steering me toward another. It was quite obvious from the normal salestalk/chitchat that the salesman was literally badmouthing GE over vague quality issues along with after sale service. Because this tactic was so overt, I would say with certainty that this was being done at the direction of store management. I would be surprised if GE was not aware of this.

So what gives? I know GE Corporate is not interested in the appliance division and is actively pursueing its sale. But has this negatively affected GE Appliance Division?

Is GE quality suffering because of being in limbo? Does the Advantium have quality issues that have not been resolved with corrections/updates?

I would appreciate all replies particularly from those in the business.

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Comments (5)

weissman
14 years ago
>>I am not interested in mixing brands.
>>I consider myself an above average shopper/purchaser/consumer.

I find these statements somewhat inconsistent. If you are "above average" then you'd be anxious to mix brands. These days no one manufacturer makes the best in class of all appliances and most savvy shoppers including most people on this forum do mix brands. GE does make good MWs (I can't comment personally on the Advantium) but I would stay away from their fridges. Some good manufacturers concentrate on what they do best and don't offer a full line of appliances or else rebadge others to fill out their line.

It's hard to say what was up with your salesman - either he gets better commisions for selling other brands or else he's had lots of complaints from his customers about GE. Even on this forum we've had complaints of the form - my brand XXX appliance broke after the warranty ran out and XXX refused to do anything for me for free - I'll never buy brand XXX again. Sadly, appliances these days are not made like they used to be.

Why are you unwilling to mix brands - are you concerned they won't match? You should take a look at the Finished Kitchens Blog and you'll see many really nice looking kitchens with mixed brands. As an above average shopper, you ought to research individual appliances and get the best ones that meet your need and budget.
leel
14 years ago
Amen to that, Weissman. I have a DCS range (as do you), a Dacor wall oven, Kenmore Elite DW, and GE Profile FD CD frig. All are SS, except the DW, which is black. The stainless finishes all look fine together and I got the bells & whistles I wanted.
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Welcome to the country and to the forum. I expect you will see many brands similar to what you see in Australia. L.A. is a very good shopping city and you could go one of two ways: what we call a big box store like Home Depot Expo , Best Buy (you'll see these in malls), Sears (which has a repeatedly well rated and reliable house brand) or a smaller specialized appliance dealer if you're going upscale. Look around and see which brands suit your budget then you can ask about those here. Expo has a very wide range of products and are very good for looking at the overall picture. One thing that can be surprisingly important is where you buy. Service and waranty issues go through the dealer. So I would suggest buying from someone very near where you live and a dealer which does a brisk business (if you can discern that) in the brand you buy so you get the benefit of their buying power in terms of service. That effects waranty repairs and a replacement appliance in the unlikely event that should arise. We've seen occasional cases here where someone bought too far from home (perhaps to save the tax) with a mess when things went wrong. Good luck!
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beachlily z9a
14 years ago
Currently, we have F/P dishdrawers (awesome!), Kitchenaid refrigerator (9 yr old and noisy) and Kitchenaid range (9 yr old and ready for change). We have a Samsung refrigerator on order and are looking to replace the range with a Kenmore induction slide-in. I'd like some other range, but I'm just not willing to write the check for Diva or Viking. Oh, the washer/dryer is GE and they are based on the F/P design--no agitator. Love them! I used to be one who had matched applicances, but no more.

Our small Sears store doesn't have an induction model in stock, but my husband saw it today in Orlando. I'll be going to Orlando in the morning. The salesman here was helpful and he said he learned so much from me. Well, hey, I got the information here!
tigerdunes
Original Author
14 years ago
I do appreciate the advice about mixing brands on a kitchen overhaul and will take this under advisement.

However, my original question was not answered.

What about GE? Are there legitimate quality/service issues?

And as far as the Advantium 120, is it reliable, kinks worked out, and the best sophisticated super duper speed cook oven on the market? Any alternatives I need to look at?

I would like to hear from some dealers and users.

Thank you.
Fori
14 years ago
I doubt that an impending sale would affect products negatively. It's harder to sell something that's worthless. I think that goes for the service division as well. I'm guessing of course. But it's such a big operation, nobody is going to neglect it.

I guess I'm a GE user.

A few new low end GE appliances came with my "new" house a few years ago. The dishwasher failed within two years and I didn't pursue repairs as I prefer drawer-style dishwashers. And according to user reviews here, GE dishwashers aren't terribly good. Could have been user error in my case.

I also have a GE cheap oven/microwave unit I'm reinstalling in my remodeled kitchen because it's a very good oven. It's about 3 years old and hasn't presented any problems. I wish it did because it doesn't really match, but ovens can be finicky so I'm not going to try my luck with a new one until I have to.

I purchased a Monogram hood for my remodel but haven't installed it yet. I think it's made by another company but has enough functional differences to justify the markup. Plus it looks good.

Retail Store-GE Appliances and Quality/Service Issues

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weissman

leel

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