I had stumbled across the area of the GE Web Site where you can purchase extended warranties. I thought it was a great idea to order all of my extended warranties through a single company and especially one as big as GE. I have approx 8 separate extended warranties through them. Everything was going great until I needed them. I was traveling on business when my warrantied Compaq Ipaq Pocket PC died.
1) I called the number on their website and went through their menu only to be given another phone number for computer repairs. When I called this other number it was a company that claimed that they do not do repairs for GE
2) I called GE back again and this time went through their customer service. I was put on hold for almost 1 hour and then the phone went dead. I am not sure if it was silence on the line or they hung up on me.
3) I called back again and after going through their menu and then being on hold for approx 30 minutes I was connected to a totally incompetent person who wanted to walk through a trouble shooting session. It was his job, so I agreed. When I gave him my model number he insisted with me (for over 5 minutes) That Compaq does not make a 3630 model. He told me he did not see it on their web site. At that point I was starting to get frustrated and asked him if he looked through their discontinued models. After all, the unit is over a year old. Again I was put on hold for almost 30 minutes. I was then asked for my extended warranty contract number. I was traveling on business - I did not have the contract with me. He stated that he would try to look it up. Another 20 minutes on hold and he came back to me and stated he saw many contracts with my name on it but could not identify which one was for the IPAQ. At that point he stated he was transferring me to customer service. As soon as he transferred me all I heard was a busy signal.
4) I called back again and explained my situation to another rep - Again I was put on hold for approx 20 minutes. This was in addition to the wait time to get to the rep - approx 15 minutes. Again we went through the diagnostics even though I explained to him that I did this less then an hour ago. He kept explaining to me "If the conversation is not going in a productive manner I will hang up on you" I heard that over five time from him. After telling me the unit will need repair he asked for my contract number. I asked him if he can look it up and he told me that he found the contract but it was not for a pocket pc - it was for a camcorder and it was not purchased at CompUSA - it was purchased at Circuit City. I explained to him that the contract he was looking at was a different one. He then stated he sees the contract but the information is not complete. Unless I can produce a contract he cannot help me. I went on to explain that I am traveling and the reason I purchased a contract from them is because I thought they were going to assist me no matter where I was.
4) I then called their customer service department to complain about this while situation. I was transferred to someone in INDIA. It seems some of their customer service is done there. A supervisor promised me that this would be resolved the next day and I would get a call back. Two days later and I am still waiting.
This is a summary of what had happened. There were at least 15 other phone calls, many more hours on hold and multiple incompetent GE employees involved.
It was amazing how little these people are trained. People insisted they were technical experts for my device and at least two of them ask me to remove the battery. On this unit the battery is not replaceable and the end user does not have access to it. On three separate occasions I had to show them on their web site how you can order an extended warranty directly through them and not going through a store.
My little bit of pleasure will be when I produce the contract and point out the in-home service feature. Somebody will have to come to my home to fix (or pick up) the unit. My second little bit of pleasure will be when I cancel every one of my extended warranties that I have with GE
Todd
New York, New York
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