It's always something, defective GE waterheater edition, Lowes returns
#11
well, our water heater was known to be on its last legs, and it died on Wednesday. LOML was heard to comment bitterly that we wouldn't have hot water for weeks, so I hitched up my pants and said, not this time! I looked around, and I decided (possibly against my better engineering judgement) to get a GE Geospring heat pump water heater. I like the fact that it will take some of the load off of my dehumidifier.

So I get it home, hook it up, fill it with water and, of course, there is a flood coming out of the heat pump section. Took the cover off, and the anode plug was flowing water and the plug was visibly catywumpus. Even the toothless buffoon from the hills of Kentucky probably knew he was putting it together wrong. Turns out, this is a known problem with these things.

So of course Lowes wants me to go through GE to get it fixed. If it weren't for the fact that they are going to take forever to ship me a new one, I might be happier with that idea. After all, this is the company that knowingly shipped these things. It's not like installing a water heater is a cheap thing, they just didn't feel like fixing their mistake the right way.

Anyone been in a similar situation? I'm curious if I'm going to win a fight with the lowes manager to return it for refund. I need a water heater now.
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#12
I mostly shop at HD and they would take it back. I have done it several times - item is broken when I opened the box- and never had a problem. I imagine Lowes would be about the same.

Broken right out of the box is not a warranty issue. It didn't fail. The store sold you a defective item. Take it back to the store.

Twinn
Will post for food.
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#13
I see different things online about this issue. The person at lowes that answered the phone said no problem, but of course they aren't the ones that have to get it back up out of the basement

In other news, it takes just about forever to drain a 50 gallon water heater, I'm surprised at how easy it is for my kids.
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#14
No thinking necessary. Take it back to lowes and exchange it. I would have done that immediately after I found it leaking. Broken out of the box is not a warranty issue it's an issue for the retailer to deal with. They should take care of it with little hassle.
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#15
Robert Adams said:


No thinking necessary. Take it back to lowes and exchange it. I would have done that immediately after I found it leaking. Broken out of the box is not a warranty issue it's an issue for the retailer to deal with. They should take care of it with little hassle.




Absolutely
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#16
I had a regular GE water heater that leaked 2 years after I installed it.

Homey Depot made me go through GE.

GE cheerfully told me they would replace it (meaning I had to uninstall it, drag it to HD, and reinstall a new one.)

Yep, they wanted to pro-rate the warranty, meaning the new one only had to last 3 years before GE could justify walking away from a crap product.

GE apparently assumed that pisspoor quality was acceptable.

the "warranty" is as suspect as the quality.

My next WH will not come from homey depot, and will not be made by or labelled GE.
“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

- Winnie the Pooh, as relayed through Author A. A. Milne
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#17
The GE units I have had never lasted the warranty and I would load them up and swap them out as I couldn't get a full refund so a new tank was how it went. Once cycling them out I have not bought another. Kenmore has served me well in the past no idea how the new models hold up. I have 3 of the older units NIB waiting to be put into service. I see the newer units take more space and can see a few places they won't fit. I am not sure what is available out of state but I might be buying from out of state to avoid having to relocate tanks in the future
Phydeaux said "Loving your enemy and doing good for those that hurt you does not preclude killing them if they make that necessary."


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women have trouble understanding Trump's MAGA theme because they had so little involvement in making America great the first time around.

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#18
EricU said:


I see different things online about this issue. The person at lowes that answered the phone said no problem, but of course they aren't the ones that have to get it back up out of the basement

In other news, it takes just about forever to drain a 50 gallon water heater, I'm surprised at how easy it is for my kids.






Connect your air compressor up to the tank set at 40-50 psi and the water will drain quite fast.
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#19
A few months back, Lowe's delivered a new washing machine to my house that looked fine when they brought it in. When I tried to level it, I discovered that at some point, it had been dropped far enough that the undercarriage was destroyed. I would guess a height of three feet or more. I called the store and they not only delivered a replacement at no charge, they took $100 off the price for the inconvenience.

If I were you, I would ask for a price adjustment. They not only sold you a defective unit, they caused you a lot of unnecessary time and aggravation.
A retirement dedicated to fine woodworking and bad golf.
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#20
daddo said:


[blockquote]EricU said:


In other news, it takes just about forever to drain a 50 gallon water heater, I'm surprised at how easy it is for my kids.




Connect your air compressor up to the tank set at 40-50 psi and the water will drain quite fast.


[/blockquote]

Yep. I use 80psi, but ...
Economics is much harder when you use real money.
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