Nov 14, 2010

GE is the GM of the future!

Back in 1978, I had the misfortune to buy an Olds Cutlass, a classy looking car with the classic GM pre-planned burnout at 50K miles.  After that, I swore I would never buy another GM car (or American car, for that matter).  Hondas became my mainstay and they didn't disappoint with price points and reliability that surpassed my Oldsmobile.  In the mid-90's I relented, bought a Chrysler Grand Jeep Cherokee .. Just 50K miles later,  when the drive train faultered, I was back to Japan, and my Lexus rx300 is now on it's 115K th mile. 

So...now comes GE, the big mother of American major appliances.  Our 22 year old GE ovens are still going strong, but our 2-year old GE Profile microwave blew out (magnetron) and GE would not honor the 5-year warranty, because a lead wire had also blown. (Convenient, huh?).  This morning, our 8-year old GE Profile refrigerator blew out.  We'll pay for repair or replacement, of course, but 8 years is NOT a reasonable length of life for a major appliance!  I have resolved NEVER AGAIN to buy a GE appliance.   This despite the fact that I own some GE stock.  I'm also gradually selling the stock and realizing the substantial loss on the investment.  Nothing made by GE is made in the USA anyway... The microwave comes from Malaysia;  the refrigerator was made in Mexico. 
What's still working in our kitchen?  The VERY OLD GE oven;  the Kitchen-aid dishwasher (5 years old); the kitchen-aid garbage compactor (22 years old);  and the GE profile cooktop (1 year old).  Which one would you predict will fail first?

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