GE Appliance Customer Experience = $8.25

I am in the midst of a customer experience fog. In essence, my GE Profile refrigerator of 3 years has just had it's 6th maintenance visit for unit malfunctions and the response from the manufacturer is mystifying.

As a digital professional, and having worked for companies that live and die by customer service, I am approaching this with the objective of getting the refrigerator fixed and coming to resolution quickly without hardship to my bank account. So naturally, I employ digital channels. In this case, Twitter, phone, and email. Here is the original tweet:

I also call to make sure I have the traditional route covered. I use my cellphone to open a ticket with customer service, so yes, I'm still in the digital realm.

About that fan, by the way, here's a link to a :20 recording of the refrigerator fan I made using my iPhone Voice Memo app. Distance is 6-inches from the unit. The dishwasher (Kenmore) can be slightly heard in the background.

The next day, I receive an email from "Alison" on the ~AppLight Social Media Team. She is on the case and promises to follow-up with me after the repairman visits!

Time passes--well, a few hours anyway--and the repairman comes and goes. Andy, by the way, has visited our house before. He's awesome. Alison follows up again via email promising to get back in contact soon.

This morning, I receive the following email from Alison:

On Feb 27, 2013, at 4:23 AM, "~AppLight Social Media Team" <ConsIndsocialmedia@ge.com> wrote:

Dear Mr. Leavitt,

Thanks for your patience.

I have reviewed the information you provided along with your service history and I would like to offer you further assistance by waiving 50% of the parts cost to have your unit repaired.  You will be responsible for 50% of parts and the full labor cost.  You will not be charged another  home call charge as long as we schedule service within 30 days of your last appointment.

Please contact me to confirm acceptance of this offer.

Is there a day this week that you would be available for service to be scheduled? If this week is not good for you, we can schedule at a future time. Just let me know.

I will look for your reply.

Sincerely,

Alison

So let's see... the total estimate provided to fix my refrigerator--this time--is $258.34. The cost of labor is $235.93. The tax is $22.41. Which leaves the parts cost as $16.50. GE is willing to forego $8.25 to provide me compensation.

As you can imagine, my reaction is at first... incredulous...

Alison's response follows. By my count, she references herself  as "I" or "me" 5 times, and GE Appliances "we" or"us" 4 times. She references me ("you") ...3 times.

At this point, I am awaiting GE Appliance's response. I don't think Alison really understands the math of what she offered. $8.25 hasn't even covered the cost of her time to the company to manage the issue so far. Plus, an inadequate response by GE Appliance to this issue is not going to be productive for the company in the long run.

However, I'm generally a positive guy. I believe that people and companies can do the right thing.

Stay tuned. I'll let you know what happens here.