Forget faulty products: Poor customer service is the worst culprit
Elizabeth Gould is getting her fruit-freezing refrigerator replaced this week at no charge by General Electric, but Alexander Gessen is still waiting for a resolution to his furnace-soot problem with Home Depot...Home Depot, however, was still talking with Gessen last week about what to do. His furnace occasionally spews soot into his home, and no one is quite sure what to do about it. The most severe incident occurred in February and cost $11,000 to clean up.

Boston Globe
Forget faulty products: Poor customer service is the worst culprit

By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff  |  June 25, 2006

Gould of Winchester and Gessen of Falmouth were featured in an article two weeks ago that asked readers to give their opinion on how far companies should go in dealing with problem products.

The readers, in an unscientific poll on Boston.com and in separate e-mails, said GE and Home Depot should do more for Gould and Gessen. GE didn't even wait for the reader feedback. It scrapped its offer of a 65 percent discount off a new refrigerator and promised Gould a replacement at no extra cost.

Home Depot, however, was still talking with Gessen last week about what to do. His furnace occasionally spews soot into his home, and no one is quite sure what to do about it. The most severe incident occurred in February and cost $11,000 to clean up.

At a meeting last week, Gessen said Home Depot zone manager Chip Garre outlined four options.

One would involve reorienting the furnace to reduce the length of a stretch of horizontal exhaust pipe where soot and moisture may be collecting. Garre also suggested moving the furnace closer to the chimney or an outside wall to improve the exhaust. The final option was to rip out the furnace and refund Gessen's money.

Gessen said he and Garre also discussed bringing in an independent furnace specialist to recommend the best course of action.

``Basically, they came up with nothing," Gessen said. ``I'm not going to reconstruct my house just because of their mistakes."

In the Boston.com poll, nearly 78 percent of the 49 people who responded said Home Depot owed Gessen more than a properly operating furnace for all his trouble. Just over 53 percent said taking out the furnace and issuing a refund would not be a satisfactory remedy, while 37 percent said it would be.

Several people involved in the heating business sent e-mails offering possible technical fixes to Gessen, while several consumers warned against using Home Depot to do work on their homes.

``Isn't it time someone told the truth about Home Depot and its misleading advertising?" asked Ed Lawrence of Natick. ``It doesn't do installations. It subcontracts out just about everything, and then it can weasel out of any problems by saying, `Go to the contractor.' "

On the Gessen job, Home Depot subcontracted the furnace installation to Eaton Mechanical of Brockton.

Tim Carter , who runs a website called Askthebuilder.com, said he would be wary of hiring Home Depot to do work on a home. He said any contractor relying on Home Depot to steer it business is probably not ``the cream of the crop."Continued...

Home Depot spokesman Yancey Casey said the talks with Gessen are continuing. He has said repeatedly that Home Depot stands behind the work it performs.

Nearly three quarters of those who responded to the Boston.com survey said they agreed with Gould, who said she suspected that companies routinely make half-hearted attempts to fix products, knowing most consumers will eventually give up and stop complaining.

Gould bought her GE refrigerator in 2000 and said technicians have been coming to her house roughly every six to eight months to figure out why her bottom-drawer freezer periodically gives frostbite to her fruits and vegetables.

After she wrote a complaint letter to GE's chief executive in May, the company agreed to sell her a new, similar-size refrigerator at 65 percent off the listed price. A company official called the offer very generous, since refrigerators typically last 10 years.

Of those who responded to the Globe poll, 73.5 percent said Gould deserved a new refrigerator at no extra charge, while 26.5 percent advised her to accept GE's offer.

Many readers who sent e-mails urged Gould to file a claim against General Electric in small claims court. Andrew J. LaCoursa of Lowell said GE gave him a new oven after several repair attempts on his old one failed, but only after he filed a claim against the company .

Catherine Cannivet said she endured two defective GE refrigerators before launching a campaign to replace her unit and several hundred belonging to her neighbors in a new development in Naples, Fla. She is now bird-dogging the settlement of a class-action lawsuit involving hundreds of thousands of defective GE refrigerators through her website, www.BringGoodThingsToLife.org.

``We are not attorneys, just average people who decided to take on the giant," she said.

Gould's battle with GE appears to be drawing to a close. Two days after the Globe story on Gould appeared, a GE official called her, offering a replacement refrigerator at no cost plus reimbursement of this year's bill for her extended warranty.

``The real issue here is that companies have got to change the way they deal with customers," Gould said. ``It's not just about taking care of the squeaky wheels like me."

Bruce Mohl can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .