Scamed by a GE extended warranty.

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flappintoots

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Apr 14, 2006
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I purchased a HR10-250 in September 2004 at Good Guys for $1000 + a $100 extended warranty.

This unit quit working in October 2005. I called GE shortly after the unit failed. I was told by a GE CSR that they would research the nearest authorized service center and give me a call back within 24-48 hours. I did not receive a call after 96 hours so I called them back. I was told that GE had no service centers near me, and I would need to ship or carry my item to Salem, OR (100 miles South of me).

In the mean time I was paying on a DTV contract for TV I couldn't watch, I could not cancel.

I sent my HD-DVR to Westronix in Salem, OR. I drove it there in person on 10/20/05. I was told the turn around time is approximately 2-4 weeks.

I called Westronix a few days after I had dropped my DVR off, they said it was beyond their ability to repair in house. They were going to ship it to the manufacturer.

December of 2005 I called Westronix for an update on my DVR repair. I was told that they were *going* to ship it to RCA (the manufacturer). So I guess they were just sitting on it for a month and a half...

The frequent phone tag started at about this point and continued throughout the rest of my dealings with Westronix. Westronix always had very little information to give, but always promised a call back that they NEVER EVER MADE.

I called Westronix toward the end of December, I was then told that it would be a while longer because Westronix had mistakenly shipped my DVR to the wrong dock at RCA. RCA was shipping it back so that it could be sent to the correct dock!

I began complaining to GE about my repair that wasn't being repaired. I requested a replacement, but they had NO SYMPATHY AT ALL. They told me that there are no time limits on repairs, and that they had an indefinite amount of time to repair a product.

I called Westronix in early January 2006, and was told that RCA had properly received my DVR, but had sent it back. RCA claimed that it was a DirecTV product and must be serviced by them. At this point Westronix told me that my DVR was going to be sent to DirecTV for a replacement.

I called Westronix in February 2006 and was told that they had shipped my DVR to Harmon Kardon!? I have no idea why they sent it there, and apparently Harmon Kardon didn't either. They sent it back unrepaired to Westronix. This was their third failure to get a third party to repair my DVR.

At this point I became frustrated enough with Westronix and their call back promises that they NEVER kept. I went there again in person 2/10/06. They told me that Harmon Kardon had shipped my unit to DirecTV (This was a proven lie). My unit was NEVER sent to DirecTV.

After another week went by. I called Westronix back and was told that they had my unrepaired DVR and could ship it to me. They told me that they had negotiated a deal with DirecTV. I simply had to call DirecTV and that DirecTV was going to send me a free swap out replacement.

Late Febuary 2006 I received my DVR back from Westronix, a bit worse for wear, and of course unrepaired. I called DirecTV for my "free" replacement and was told that they had not heard of such a deal, and that my only option with them was a $150 + $15 s/h replacement receiver. Ohh, and my contract would also be extended two more years.

I called GE again and told them that their authorized service center had sat on my DVR for 4+ months had returned it to me unrepaired. I requested a replacement, and was DENIED! I was told that sending the unit to Westronix was a strange mistake that one of their CSRs had made (I guess all those other CSRs I talked to while my DVR was at Westronix were mistaken as well?!). Now GE wanted me to send my DVR to Accurate Video Repair in West Hills, CA. I told the GE CSR I was talking to, about the long saga this repair has been, I told him about the two 200 mile round trips I have taken for this. He was not only unsympathetic, he was an asshol*. He smartly told me that I could drive this DVR down for its 2000 mile round trip too.

I called Accurate Video Repair. They told me that they do not repair HD-DVRs. They send it to another place!

At this point I realized that GE will probably keep me bouncing these repairs around until I give up. They have stolen my money.

In despair I let my defective DVR sit in its Westronix shipping box for the month of March 2006.

4/5/06 I called GE back, I was prepared to acquiess to their new shipping demand because I hoped that I could ship it to someone that could sympathize with my plight by enclosing a letter detailing it. !!!GE now tells me that this bouncing around, and months without my DVR is probably worth simply replacing it!!! The CSR requested authorization to replace, she said it would take 1-2 days and she would call me back when she had it.

4/14/06 Big shock, GE never called me back, so I called them. They said my replacement was DENIED. Now I need to ship my DVR to Professional Satellite Repair, Inc. in Osceola Mills, PA. Once I do this my DVR will have probably traveled to and through every state in the U.S.

Moral of the story GE Extended Warranties are a scam. This is probably a part of their business model, just keep bouncing until the customer gives up.

Westronix is also a disreputable little hole in the wall of an appliance store, I will never use them for service again.
 
Sounds like a lawsuit. If you tell them that you want your money back you are still out your 200 mile round trips and all the time and hassle you have had.

They might be trying to bounce you around until your warranty expires then they will tell you that they can do nothing since the warranty ran out.
 
Sounds like a small claims court to me. If you have kept good paperwork / notes / etc, it shouldn't be a problem to get the $ out of them.

Ask for the cost of a replacement unit, the cost of your filing fee, and about .37 cents a mile. (thats about the going rate these days), also may want to consider "fees" that were spent with D* while unit has been inoperative.
 
Maybe it's just me. But I don't get it. Where does GE come into this? The HR10-250 is a Directv brand receiver that was purchased at a place called Good Guys. How do you end up with a GE warranty?
 
rockaway1836 said:
Maybe it's just me. But I don't get it. Where does GE come into this? The HR10-250 is a Directv brand receiver that was purchased at a place called Good Guys. How do you end up with a GE warranty?

GE is the one who provided the EW's for the Good Guys.
 
Having never bought an EW of any kind I have no experience with this kind of situation.Your saying that the EW is provided by an outside company, rather than the the store it was purchased from. Is this a common practice?
 
Shipping costs would have probably been cheaper than the trip there considering how much gas is these days plus you would have had receipts for proof of the shipment.

According to the government it now costs 48.5 cents per mile to drive a vehicle. All you have to do is find that in the federal tax booklet where you take mileage off for expense and you will find that in there. The courts may ask why you chose to drive it there instead of shipping it there since shipping it there would be a bit cheaper. The 48.5 cents per mile does not take into consideration your time and effort put forth into driving it there and back.
 
rockaway1836 said:
Having never bought an EW of any kind I have no experience with this kind of situation.Your saying that the EW is provided by an outside company, rather than the the store it was purchased from. Is this a common practice?
Yes. Nearly 100% of the extended warranties on products are provided by 3rd party companies. The retailer offering the extended warranty is paid a commission by the 3rd party company for each extended warranty they sell. That's why many of them (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) push them so hard.
 
I had a similar case with a DV Camcoder. Shipped via UPS to their service center in Boston and had proof of delivery. 6 months later after nomerous calls it turned out that the camcorder was still sitting in the same UPS box at their shipping/receiving center. By the time i made a huge complaint with all the supervisors, they finally opened the UPS box, worked on the DV camcorder. And for some odd reason the tech damaged my camcorder during the repair process and said that the warranty had already expired and there was nothing that can be done.

I told the supervisors that my package sat at their shipping and receiving for 6 months before anyone bothered to open it for service.

The supervisor replied that although it sat there, the service call does not count until the tech opens the actual shipment and by that time the GE warranty had already expired.

I gave them hell, and nothing was done about it.

So I decided to write to the BBB and submitted all emails, along with the actual UPS tracking # which showed that it arrived at their premises way before the actual warranty expired. Plus I also forwared them the email that came from the tech saying that the DV camcoder was damaged by them during the repair process.

BBB did their thing and can you believe by 5 business days, I got a reply from GE saying that they will pay the cost of the DV camcorder in full if I can provide them the actual receipt.

I faxed them the receipt and i was refunded $699.99 within a week after I placed my complaint with the BBB.

The actual value of the camcorder was around $200.00 since it was about 2 years old, but since I kept the original receipt. I was able to get the whole amount paid.

So I recommend that you go after them the same way I did, and report that to the BBB.

This was about 2 years ago, and can you believe after all that mess I still receive junk mail from GE saying if I want to add extended warranty on most electronics.

They have the nerve to mail me those requests.. GE you SUCK.
 
I've bought EWs on a couple items from Good Guys. Now that they're gone and GE is handling things, I've just about wrote off any thought that the items that were covered will ever be repaired or replaced. It's like I never bought warranties in the first place and wasted hundreds of dollars.
 
That is what will probably need to be done, to try the Attorney General's office and Better Business Bureau first and if that does not work you would have to contact a lawyer.
 
On the bright side, I've bought EWs from BestBuy on several things and NEVER had as much as a whisper of a problem. When my laptop developed dead pixels they replaced the screen and even did the battery while they were at it. Didn't cost me a dime, or one gray hair. I bought the EW for my plasma TV, it covers two tuneups, in home, per year, for three years, and covers everything but burn in. I can live with that.
 
An easier solution is to make sure you buy expensive items with a credit card which doubles the MANUFACTURERS warranty. I bought my 37" Toshiba LCD HDTV from Best Buy Online using my American Express card. Using this card automatically doubled the one-year manufacturers warranty to two years -- FOR FREE. Note, this doubling is usually limited to an additional year, but it provides the FULL PROTECTION of the original warranty and the credit card company will even do a good bit of the interfacing with the company.

Most credit card companies do this - especially Gold and Platinum cards - but they don't advertise this coverage too heavily.

I had to use a "doubled warranty" one time on a Pioneer receiver that died after the manufacturer warranty expired. There were absolutely no problems at all.
 
scotsmanron said:
I bought the EW for my plasma TV, it covers two tuneups, in home, per year, for three years, and covers everything but burn in.

How do you "tune up" a plasma??? Just curious never heard of that before.
 
I will have to remember this when buying an appliance/electronic item. I doubt that the warranty coverage applies to satellite receivers/hardware.
 
rockaway1836 said:
Having never bought an EW of any kind I have no experience with this kind of situation.Your saying that the EW is provided by an outside company, rather than the the store it was purchased from. Is this a common practice?

yes ge in this case is the "warranty administrator" aka the one who makes the call on if its covered or not. ge then in turns buys a blanket policy from an insurance underwritter such as AIG. no store that offeres an "extended" warranty actualy is the one that is providing the coverage, they are simply "selling" you the policy that is handled by someone else, the only good waranties are the ones straight from the mfg.
 
rockaway1836 said:
Thanks bmeeks8 that's very interesting. It would seem that anyone buying a D receiver would be better served going with the D protection plan over store bought plans.
directvfreak, it would seem that GE no longer owns RCA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA
Yep! The DirecTV Protection Plan is probably superior from a service point of view, but an economist could likely prove that financially it's the most expensive. The truth is most electronic widgets are extraordinarily reliable, and any warranty purchased by the consumer (beyond the manufacturer's standard one) is likely a waste of money. I generally don't take them on anything. I did break my rule when I bought my 50-inch LCD TV from Circuit City a couple of years ago. So far I have not needed it, and it may turn out to be a waste of money on my part.

Business Week had a good read on the Extended Warranty industry several months ago. The article explained the ins and outs and how the commission process worked. Some electronic retailers derive a significant chunk of their profits from them. I believe it mentioned Circuit City by name as one that depended on extended warranty sales to show a decent profit.

These warranties are like insurance. You're betting the equipment will break and the company is betting it won't. The odds favor them. Furthermore, as folks here have described, they make it super difficult to collect on the "insurance" when you need it. I always say no insurance company makes money by paying out claims. Therefore, they make collection a time-consuming and difficult process hoping to discourage many folks. :)
 
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