Problem Solver: GE Repair Complaint

7 On Your Side has told you before that getting a warranty honored can take some work but what if you let the company make repairs to a major appliance six, seven, even eight times and it still wasn't right? One Upstate woman says GE came to her home at least that many times but couldn't make the repairs needed to get her freezer to work properly. Dianne Derby takes on her fight in this 7 On Your Side Problem Solver.

Faith Siler says she's spent months trying to get her GE freezer fixed. She says it continuously leaks water onto her kitchen floor making a dangerously slick surface.

"When I came home with groceries one day I almost went across the floor," said Siler.

She claims it stopped working during the one year manufacturer's warranty but she even purchased a 5 year service contract through GE to keep her covered. Still she says even after at least 7 service calls to her home that included 2 new icemakers and a new front freezer door panel, GE just can't seem to get it fixed.

"It's just been me being on the phone for hours at a time constantly trying to ask to speak to somebody above and they just keep on giving me the same run-around," said Siler.

It's the kind of run-around we feel like we've had, too. We first contacted GE via e-mail on May 14th and after numerous requests for answers were told we would have an answer by the end of last week. When that answer didn't come we told GE we were headed to Ms. Siler's house for an interview on Monday and it wasn't until we were actually inside her home that we got a response. In an e-mail to us GE's Kim Freeman said, "We have been in contact with Ms. Siler and have scheduled a service call for 6/11. We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused Ms. Siler and will work to remedy the situation to her satisfaction."

"So basically what they're telling me for the inconvenience is they're just going to put me through this over and over," said Siler.

We tried to call Freeman back to ask how many repairs they would consider reasonable but we had to leave a message. Instead we got an-emailed response saying she had nothing to add at this point and to use the statement she had already sent.

Now all Faith can do is hope the promise made to 7 On Your Side to "remedy the situation" is one GE will uphold.

If you can't get a company to honor your service contract or warranty the SC Department of Consumer Affairs says you should:
--Put the complaint in writing and tell the company you've "lost faith in the product"
--Find out about the company's Alternate Dispute Resolution Program which is run separately from the company
--File what's known as a "Revocation of Acceptance" in civil court and make sure you do this within a reasonable amount of time