Today’s question is:  Why don’t manufacturers of household appliances stick by their products and admit mistakes?

Background:  After having a lemon of a dishwasher for 6 years I really have a low tolerance for appliances that aren’t built to last, which brings me to today’s story.

My cousin (husband’s side) bought a new GE Monogram Professional Range five years ago.  This is GE’s top of the line model and she spent a boat load of money purchasing it.  It developed a problem, it made a noise, it clicked, she finally called to have service come to fix a sparking burner.  A sparking burner, that, for the record, sparked a minute at a time, for hours on end.  Clearly some sort of defect.  So they came, they tried to fix and instead they broke the entire unit.  The whole thing.  The gas line, the burners, the oven, the half oven, all of it.  So they left her a message about it…..here it is verbatim from the GE customer service rep:

 ”We were actually rejected simply because – and this is the way my supervisor explained it to me – the tech did damage the appliance during the repair. But he would not have been able to repair the appliance at all without attempting what he did attempt. He also said that often happens when you are attempting that particular repair. Had we not attempted that repair, we would not have been able to fix the unit at all. It does happen when they do attempt the repair.”

What they are saying is that it is not their fault that the unit is broken, or it’s not their fault they broke it.  I guess they are saying, every time they try to fix this problem they break the whole thing and they are sick of replacing them so now they have decided it’s not their fault.  However, they are ever so happy to offer a discount on a new appliance.  They broke a 5 year old, defective, $8500 professional range and they say it’s not their fault, but they are happy to offer a discount for a new one?  They must be kidding.  Is this all we can expect out of our appliances these days?  If that is the case there is no point in spending more than the minimum.

How about integrity?  Does GE have any?  How could they go in to fix the unit, that was running perfectly fine except for the sparking burner, and come out breaking the whole unit and think offering a discount on a new (did I mention they cost about $8500?) one is in any way a good deal.  Who spends that much money and thinks they would be spending another cent on a range for at least 15-20 years?

I give my cousin credit, she is standing her ground and trying ever so hard to make GE see that they are the ones at fault here.  Let’s hope it works.  In the mean time, my cousin has resorted to using her GE Monogram professional range as a stand for her indoor grill.  She is currently requesting suggestions for Christmas dinner on the little grill, please leave one in the comments.

I simply don’t understand why companies do not stick by their products these days.  Shame on them.

Today’s question is: Why do people have mobile phone conversations while they are picking up their children from play dates?

Background:  The other day one of my children had a friend over to play.  It was getting late and the mom arrived to pick up her child.  I answered the door and she was talking to someone on her mobile phone.  Barely pausing her conversation she asked for her child.  I went to get her child and then she left.  It was as if she didn’t want the person on the phone to know she was doing something else.

This seriously makes me scratch my head.  If the mobile conversation was so important why not just finish it before walking to the door?  It is as bad as answering the phone while you are dining with friends, and talking on your mobile while you are checking out in the grocery store (or anywhere).  Give it a break already.

I wonder, does she consider what she is teaching her child?