Emails mistakenly sent to I-Team show GE unwilling to replace Massachusetts woman’s defective oven
A home baker from Foxboro, Massachusetts is frustrated that the pricey oven she bought from GE was not working properly and attempts to fix it all failed.
Susan Barry says she was excited to finally get a high-end range. A self-taught baker, she had been whipping up desserts for more than 40 years when she bought a nearly $3,000 GE Café Series gas range.
Susan says from the outset the oven didn’t work properly. “I’m a little disappointed,” Susan told the WBZ-TV I-Team. “I’ve grown up with GE products my whole life. My washer and dryer is a GE, the microwave is GE, I think even the dishwasher even is.”
Being a loyal customer, Susan says she complained to the store where she bought the range and to GE Appliances, telling them the oven takes too long to get hot and has uneven cooking temperatures.
Susan says the items in the front of the oven would get undercooked and the back items would burn. Cakes were never level and roasts took forever. She says other functions like the air fryer also didn’t work.
Oven unable to be repaired
Repair folks tried to troubleshoot the problems and replaced parts, including the thermostat multiple times, but Susan says the oven still did not work properly. Frustrated, Susan contacted the I-Team. Edgar Dworsky with Consumer World says, “the only people that can kind of wave the magic wand and get companies to sometimes do the right thing are consumer reporters on television.”
CBS Boston
The I-Team reached out to GE Appliances. Their representative, Wendy Treinen responded claiming the range was out of the manufacturer’s warranty.
“I would expect better, particularly from GE,” Dworsky said. “In Massachusetts, there is still a warranty in the law, that’s the implied warranty of merchantability. That says everything you buy has to function properly for a reasonable period of time and if it doesn’t, you’re entitled to a remedy, and the choice of remedy is the consumer’s. It’s one of the three Rs: Repair replacement or refund.”
“Before I bite back”
Treinen offered to send a technician out to look at the range. In an email that appeared to be mistakenly sent to WBZ-TV Chief Investigator Cheryl Fiandaca she wrote:
“I’m still back and forth with this aggressive reporter and they are going to run a story. Making sure that we have our own trained technicians in this consumer’s area before I bite back,” the email said.
Susan says GE technicians came out to evaluate the range twice. The last one, she says, told her the range was defective and not repairable. Treinen’s email mistakenly sent to Fiandaca also included this language refusing to give Susan a replacement:
“I don’t want them to run this story without the offer of a service to assess at our cost,” the email said. “It’s an important viewing area and a big audience for us to get a smear but I’m also not willing to give her a replacement to make this go away yet.”
Dworsky calls that penny-wise and pound-foolish. “Here it’s going to be broadcast on Boston television that GE is not doing the right thing by a long-term consumer,” Dworsky said. “They will lose more in goodwill than it costs them to replace the unit.”
For Susan, without a working oven, that means missing out on baking for the holidays. “I’m really disappointed,” she said. “This is my season. Crazy bakers, myself and my daughter. I think it should be replaced.”
GE Appliances continues to refuse to replace Susan’s range, instead offering her a 30% discount on a replacement. Because Massachusetts has laws to protect consumers, Susan has the right to file a lawsuit and a complaint with the Attorney General’s office.
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