My dishwasher caught on fire, the electrical system was fried. It is a major brand eight years old. No warranty left. Fortunately the electric breaker in the basement blew, the fire was short lived and contained entirely within the dishwasher unit, no damage to the house, smoke or otherwise. An ugly smell burning plastic smell disipated immediately. We called the Fire department, and in the event the fire was already out they sent an inspector, not trucks, and he insured that there was no further danger.
At first I just chalked it up to bad luck, and was ready to pony up for a new dishwasher. Mrs. Seenidog started looking for a replacement model on the net (although we buy all our appliances from a local place). She ran accross a recall for this model issued a couple months ago, 100+ units have caught on fire becuse a bad seal leaks the “Jet Dry” liquid drip on the electrical system.
We had not got notice, but in all fairness we had just built a new home and never sent in the registration cards. Our house had burned down and we were dealing with insurance and all getting a new house built. We bought all our appliances from a local dealer, but from this brand. That would be fridge, deep freezer, stove/oven, dishwasher, microwave, washer and dryer.
Well the web site said the deal was we will fix it, (not an option anymore, it is toast, a tech sent out by the manufacturer said it was terminal.) 100 clams rebate. or three hundred rebate if we bought that brand again.
We paid 400 for the original unit. A comparable unit now costs 800-1200 clams.
My question is this: What if anything, does the company owe me? I feel they have a duty to replace a faulty unit, but the only unit available is a lot more money than I spent. I don’t want to be greedy, I just want the faulty unit which might have set my house on fire to be replaced at no cost to me. Is that too much to ask?
The company involved has promised to get back to me tomorrow with an offer.
Maybe just take a cash rebate of some kind and call it good, chalking it up to experience because I’m not sure I would want to have another of the same brand grace my kitchen again.
I have a Maytag Jetclean model 12AX7-blah blah blah, which wasn’t one of the “bad” ones recently recalled, prone to shorting out, but it’s certainly not comforting at all. Just so I understand, this fire ocurred during operation, not 6 hours later or in the middle of the night or something?
Our city or state code requires that a separate, extra breaker is installed, typically under the sink, which services the electric disposal and the diswasher. They use the old-fashioned screw in fuses and “Light switch” ON/OFF. Maybe they aren’t even on the main service breaker panel?
Well, I can always use something else to worry about.
This did occur during operation. It is a GE Profile model. Mrs. Seenidog heard a loud pop from the unit and investigated. Fortunately the electric was already off because the breaker in the basement kicked off. Nothing to do with GE. The scary part is one of the features of the GE Profile series is that you can set it to run at any time, usually Mrs Seenidog sets it to run at 2AM, so it is not competing with hot water with everyone taking showers. Thank god the poor wiring of a sixty year old house that caused the first house to burn down was controlled by modern up to code wiring that shut down this potential disaster right now.
I have no experience with dishwashers and recalls, but I have seen this same scenario with cars and recalls. IANAL and all that, but I have seen this scenario in action.
Bottom line is the DW maker is in a losing position if you were to go to court. There is a recall for the exact failure that you experienced. They know this. The bad news (if you can call it that) is that you suffered no damage to your home except for the burned DW. This does not give you much ammo in negotiations or for a suit. The thing you do have is that you had a house burn down due to an electrical issue, and this electrical failure of their product has made you jumpy.
If you have a family lawyer, you might want to consult them, and see if they are interested in writing a letter to the DW maker for you outlining your concerns.
If you are going to go the do it yourself approach emphasize the fact that you lost your last home to an electrical fire, and that this is a major concern of yours. If you don’t feel comfortable buying another model from them, tell them that. Ask for money. I doubt you will get more than $400 (original cost of the unit) but you can ask. Again if you don’t want their product again due to safety concerns, tell them this and ask for a check, not a rebate. Be calm, be nice but be forceful.
Good luck.
BTW I have a Miele dishwasher. It is few bucks more than the top of the line GE’s and it absolutely kicks ass. It is so quiet that I can’t hear it running when I am standing right in front of it. This thing is so quiet, I did not bother to install the sound deading panel at the bottom, and I still have to look at the indicator lights to know if it is running. You can have my Miele when you pry it from my cold dead hands. Here is mine
Just a wrap up on this. We settled with GE. They offered to give us one of their bottom line dishwashers, SMRP $325. Mrs. Seenidog refused (She can be a bulldog that way), saying she would lose the features she wanted. GE came back with a step up, a $450 dollar unit that is a step or two below what we had. Mrs. Seenidog further negotiated they pay for installation, and removal of the burned unit. GE came back with split the cost of installation, as long as the unit is supplied by them, and the installation is done by thier people, not our local dealer. Mrs. Seenidog accepted, so the bottom line is we are getting a $450 dollar unit installed, the old unit disposed of, and our cost will be under $60.
I would say GE did right by us, no room for a complaint as long as they come through on what they said they will do. They said it will take two weeks to set it up and they will call us to set a date. If a salesman for GE had showed up the day before the fire and offered to replace our eight year old unit with this brand new one for $60 I cannot imagine me turning it down. If it had been a new unit we would have fought a lot harder for a lot more, but we did get eight years use of the old unit. I don’t want to be greedy, just to be treated fairly, and I believe GE has met that standard.