Poor reliability, and slow service
Pros:
Good looking machine. When it works, it cleans the dishes well.
Cons:
It is very unreliable and potentially dangerous.
The Bottom Line:
This is a very poor unit. It is unreliable, and required service far too many times. Do not buy one
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I've now had a PDW9980SS for about 18 months. We remodeled our kitchen and installed all new stainless steel GE Profile appliances.
The dishwasher had to be repaired for a faulty control panel immediately after installation. It suffered three more failures over the past 18 months for other electronic component failures. The service people replace the same two components every time it fails, so the manufacturing quality for their circuit boards must be very poor. The last time the dishwasher failed, it melted all the internal parts, and filled the house with smoke. When I walked into the kitchen, heat and smoke were pouring out of the dishwasher. If I hadn't been home, I suspect it would have started a fire. After the dishes were clean and had been removed, it went into an uncontrolled drying cycle. This melted the trays, and a few items that had been left in the unit. I've also read on the Internet of this happening to others.
GE replaced the dishwasher this morning because of all the failures. The brand new replacement PDW9980 does not work! The panel will not respond. The installer said he could do nothing, and I should call GE again. So, I'm waiting for service again. To add insult to injury, once they replaced the dishwasher, the extended service contract that I paid for was canceled. This means another $91.00 for a new one on the replacement machine. Considering the poor reliability, I will have to buy a new contract.
Each service call is about a week of waiting for a tech to determine that it needs a circuit board, then about 2 weeks waiting for parts. I've done dishes by hand more in the past 18 months with this dishwasher than I did in 28 years of owning other brands.
My advice would be STAY AWAY! BUY SOMETHING ELSE! If you really want the GE unit, buy a long service contract. You will probably need it.
Update 01-02-2008: The repairman just left after an attempt at repairing the replacement dishwasher. After putting in the parts, it still does not work. The panel does nothing, and the washer will not run at all. He gave me the number for customer service, and told me to call them tomorrow. Including the replacement, this is the sixth repair in 18 months. The seventh will be scheduled tomorrow, and I get another few weeks of doing dishes by hand.
On the bright side, GE called me and told me that they would transfer the existing service agreement to the new dishwasher. It appears the people are trying to do the right things, but the product is very poor.
Update 01-07-2008: I called GE Customer Relations on 1/3/2008, and was told someone would call me back in a few hours. No one did. I called back again this morning, and GE has decided to replace the dishwasher again. Hopefully, the third time will be the charm. Tomorrow marks one full month without a working dishwasher, so if the third one works, it will be a welcome improvement.
If you buy one of these dishwashers, you could be having some of this fun also.
Rainbow Appliance
