Why can't electronics on new washers & dryers be tougher?

Ah, but they would supply it, for a price, that is. In the laptop world, some components cost more then a new laptop....

Yes, and maybe the real problem was that the price asked for the replacement part would make the repair uneconomic. But William said that obtaining the part was impossible. I took that to mean that GE indicated they were unable to supply one, not that they were asking too much for it.

Sylvia.

There's no part in a laptop that costs as much as replacing the laptop (same model) unless perhaps you live in a place so remote that it costs $2000 to have a screw delivered.

Around 1990 my brother had the family microwave and threw it away for because it was larger and was in the way. It was the 20 year old Heathkit microwave I assembled around 1970. Cost about $400, or $2000 in todays money. I had to keep up with maintenance though, fixing a couple things.

Right now my most expensive unit is a Sears GE mocrowave/turbo oven which run about $450, and I hope it holds up. Above the stove ventilator model. I prefer using the powerfull Panasonic 1250 watt inverter to the 900 watt GE most of the time. I also prefer to use my little turbo oven rather than the GE because it also works much faster. Good things come in small packages some times.

greg

If the gizmo cost less than $500, you wouldn't even have to do that, you could just take them to the Small Claims Tribunal, & you'd probably win.

Ayup. LCD panels & main boards being the two standard examples.

ROTFL! Wanna bet?

My ex threw away a huge, old, ultra-reliable uwave for pretty much the same reason. I was /really/ pissed off that she hadn't at least asked me if I wanted it.

Then you should have no trouble naming some parts that cost as much as replacing the laptop.

About 15 years ago I bought a discontinued made-in-the-U-S-of-A Litton microwave. I put it aside when I moved to a condo (as the new kitchen had a GE "vent hood" microwave that's given perfect service. But the Litton was solidly made, and on those rare occsions when I've had to schlep a microwave to a party or dinner, it's worked fine.

In fairness, the Litton and other American microwaves were probably "overbuilt" -- the quality level was much higher than it had to be, even for a product intended to last 20 years or more. The quality of the non-American GE appears to be "about right".

Hi!

When I called GE Appliances, the people I spoke to were professional and courteous. They really tried to help. I cannot fault them. A control panel was the smallest part of the assembly available. Daewoo built the oven for them, so this doesn't come as a terrible surprise.

I never did think to ask about a slight extension of the warranty, a pro-rated repair or even something where GE might pay for the part and I'd pay for the repair (which means "do it myself").

Having struck out with GE, I tried to see if I could find a source for the G5G-1A relay. I didn't even get that done, so finally I turned to OMRON themselves. Proving that I'm something of an eternal optimist, I felt they would send/sell me *one* piece as a gesture of goodwill toward a potential customer.

That they would not do. To top it off, by the time I got the person who could make that decision, they were exceptionally rude and absolutely unwilling to do anything.

But you know what? That's fine. Next time someone comes up to me and says "oh golly, I'm designing this thing that will be mass produced and uses a relay" I will think for a bit, smile and say "whatever you do, don't buy the parts from OMRON". Two can play that game! :-)

In the end, I made my case to my mother, dealt with Best Buy (who were excellent about the whole thing!) and purchased the oven I felt she should have bought to start with. I would have considered a workaround, but I was tired of the whole thing and never liked that oven anyway.

William

With respect to good customer service...

Last year I bought a really nice GE (ie, Thomson) DECT 6.0 telephone system. (It works very well, and is easy to use, quite unlike a Uniden unit I'd bought and returned. It's unusual to see a product where someone has actually paid attention to the shape, size, layout, and grouping of the controls.)

One of the cordless handset batteries was defective. GE would not simply replace the battery -- I was supposed to return the entire unit! When I asked to simply purchase the battery, I learned it cost around $20 (that's for two AAA NiMH cells), and wasn't in stock anyway!

Circuit City treated me well, swapping out the bad battery. Of course, Circuit City was then obliged to return a complete "defective" unit, which is not the way things are supposed to work!

I beg to differ. If you buy replacement panels from the manufacturer, then one can easily pay as much as the laptop (for low end models only). However, if you purchase them from numerous vendors on the web or on eBay, the prices are typically $60-$200 depending on size, new/used, and oddity. I've repaired many broken LCD displays this way with few difficulties beyond ordering the wrong panel and misplacing the screws. Same with the even cheaper LCD inverters, which are a more common problem. Depending on difficulty, I usually add 1-2 hours labour at $75/hr onto the bill with the panel and parts at cost. Unless the laptop is junk, it's still economical to repair laptops. (Note: I can't say the same for fixing failed BGA chips on laptop motherboards).

I think what you're referring to is the relative cost of building a computer from replacement components versus buying a package. For entertainment, I sometimes add up the prices of *ALL* the replacement boards, case parts, modules, and pieces that comprise a machine. I haven't done this for perhaps 8 years, but last time I checked, I could build an Apple G3 laptop for only 10 times the cost of a new G3 laptop. PC's aren't much better, where I vaguely recall an HP something laptop parts collection also costing 10 times the replacement parts cost (not including assembly and repair labour).

Long ago, I worked for a radio manufactory. We sold a $0.50 transistor for about $5.00. Most of the added cost was picking, boxing, shipping, insurance, handling, billing, etc. I once calculated that the cost of shipping an empty box (no contents) was about $75. It's probably higher today. I convinced sales to only sell small transistors in lots of 25 pieces. The delivered price was the same as a single piece price, $5.00. Later, we were selling 100 piece parts kits to the dealers for not much more. In other words, the parts were worthless, but the overhead is where the money was hidden. A new LCD panel from Dell, might be worth only $150, but cost perhaps $400 because of handing, stocking, flooring, inventory, packaging, executive compensation package, etc.

no wonder they're out of business.

If you aren't restricting yourself to buying manufacteror replacement parts, the cost of repairing a computer isn't prohibitive at all.

HP might want $500 for a motherboard replacement, but that doesn't mean that the microatx MB can't be replaced with a non-HP board, probably of far high quality, for $50.

If you tally up the parts that make up a computer, the total cost is about what PC sellers charge. Only difference is that their bulk buying savings means that they can basically toss in the OS for free. Of course, it isn't easy finding those crappy $8 power supplies that make their way into most PCs. I always seem to use power supplies that cost about $40 and unlike the crappy $8 ones, they won't have their fan fail in a few years, or run a 5% chance of blowing up and taking out everything they power.

Circuit City is out of business for more-significant reasons than having to pick up after a manufacturer's mess.

They're out of business because their staff was incompetant at every level of the organization. That a low level stock jock thought it reasonable to return a phone as defective in order to swap out a battery was just an indication. The clerk was incompetant. The manager who trained him was incompetant. The regional management and HR who put that manager in his position were incompetant. etc.

reasonable

Although Circuit City had really lousy salespeople (because it fired everyone and replaced them with lower-paid people), in this particular case it was MANAGER who swapped out the battery. The unit had been purchased just a few days previously, and I had the right to return it for any reason, anyhow. He was trying to help a customer, and I was grateful. He "did the right thing".