my defective GE refrigerator

I bought a new refrigerator.   It turned out to be a defective product.  I was never able to get satisfaction so I now own a defective GE refrigerator that can't keep USDA recommended safe temperatures.

The GE refrigerator model number is GTH21KBXWW.


I needed a new refrigerator and this ad looked great - competitive price, local dealer, "Energy Star," "eco source" and a name brand:  GE.

I bought this refrigerator.  Quickly I noticed it didn't keep proper temperatures in either the freezer or refrigerator compartments.  My lettuce was freezing and my ice cream was melting. I have thermometers in both compartments and observed the temperatures fluctuate up and down.

I visited usda.gov and they recommend that the refrigerator should be at 40 degrees or below and the freezer at 0 degrees or below.  My machine was not maintaining this these recommendations (I had thermometers in both compartments).   My thermometers showed wide fluctuations - in the refrigerator compartment temperatures ranged from sub freezing to over 40 degrees - in the freezer compartment temperatures ranged from -10 to not freezing.  This caused my lettuce to freeze and my ice cream to turn to soup.  Not good.

I contacted the dealer that sold me this refrigerator, Manual Joseph Appliance Center in Sacramento, California, and they said once the refrigerator was sold it was was not returnable, not their responsibility and gave me the 800 number for "GE Cares".

I called GE Cares and started a journey of 9 phone calls and 5 GE technician home visits.  The bottom line is that GE wore me down, refused to admit that this refrigerator model  has problems, did not take responsibility, and refused to fix or replace my defective refrigerator.

I call it defective because it cannot maintain USDA recommended safe temperatures.

9 conversions with 800 GE Cares.  The phone support people were sympathetic and set up home visits with technicians.  And you know how much fun it is to navigate 800 phone number prompts and hold times.

5 GE technician visits to my house to fix the wandering temperature issue.

The first home visit tech said that I had to fully load the refrigerator with food, because it was designed to work with a full refrigerator load.  I did that and it still did not maintain proper temps.

The third home visit tech took apart the back panel parts and played with the controls.

The ice maker broke after 2 months.  The fourth tech replaced the ice maker.

One tech admitted to me, off the record, that this model was not good at temperature control.

One tech put a probe into my bowl of radishes in water and reported the temperature as 41 degrees.  Another tech had a device that he could point to surfaces and read the temperature- all readings over 40 degrees.

That bowl of radishes in water would freeze.  Once a bottle of root beer in the refrigerator froze and exploded.  Glass shards all over.

My friend James listened to my weekly rants about my refrigerator temperatures and chided me for being over critical of my refrigerator.  But turns out he subscribes to Consumer Reports and asked me the model number of my errant refrigerator and this is what we saw:

Note the black dot in the Temp. performance column which means poor.

So I have an energy efficient refrigerator, that is good, but it wrecks my food and worse is a health hazard.  Imagine your lettuce frost bittten and your milk not cold.  Milk not cold does not taste as good and spoils.  

GE blew me off, never admitting it was a defective product, never offering to repair or replace it.  They stonewalled me with their 800 GE Cares phone number and service technicians.

Food not stored at proper temperatures is a health hazard.

GE built and sold me a defective refrigerator.