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GE Tries to Get It Right in Latest Dishwasher Recall

But Company Could Do More, Consumers Union Argues

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 18, 2007

GE Dishwasher Recalls • 2007 Recall • 1999 Recall --- • GE Tries to Get It Right in 2007 Dishwasher Recall • 2000-Suits Filed Against GE • 2003-GE to Pay $1.4 Million --- • Consumer Complaints

General Electric may be getting it right the second time around.

Its recall of 2.5 million dishwashers to fix a fire hazard avoids some of the missteps of a 1999 recall that enraged many consumers and put the company's reputation through the wringer.

The latest recall affects dishwashers sold from 1997 to 2001. It offers customers the option of having General Electric fix the washers or rebates of up to $300 toward the purchase of a new GE dishwasher.

In 1999 the company addressed a nearly identical problem for 3.1 million dishwashers sold from 1983 to 1989 after at least 50 fires were blamed on the combusting cleaners -- but instead of offering to fix the machines, it gave consumers $75 rebates towards the purchase of a new dishwasher.

Customers felt they'd been hung out to dry.

“After I was informed of the recall I began looking for a new dishwasher,” David of Tampa, Fla. wrote in 2000. “Only GE benefits from this 'recall.' They get out of the responsibility of correcting the problem by creating this farce of a program that benefits ONLY GE.”

As a result of the recall/sales scheme, then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer successfully sued General Electric for $1.4 million in 2003.

Faint Praise

Consumers Union, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, noted the difference in the way General Electric handled the latest recall, but said the appliance goliath could have done more.

“If they are repairing the item, that is important, but because of the low recall rates, we have urged the Consumer Product Safety Commission to urge companies to offer additional incentives to repair the hazardous dishwasher, like a general gift certificate for $50 or $75, and not just for a GE product,” Sally Greenburg, senior product safety counsel for the Consumers Union wrote in an e-mail.

“That would get people to respond to the recall more effectively. Few companies do this, but they should, in our view,” Greenburg continued. “If they were required to do so, they might take more care in putting products into the marketplace before they were properly tested.”

Consumers are urged to stop using the dangerous dishwashers immediately and call General Electric toll-free at (877) 607-6395 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday. Consumers also can visit the firm's Web site at www.geappliances.com.

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