Our microwave oven died the other day. It was the last of our GE appliances. It will not be missed.

When we first built our house, we got a deal through the builder for GE appliances, so, that is what we bought. If we had know then what we know now, we would not have purchased GE appliances.

The first item to break was the stove. The oven control quite working and the oven heating element burned up. This happened 30 days after the warranty expired. I called and complained and they sent me the parts for free.

Next, the wiring in our clothes dryer, burned up, literally. I called GE but they told me that the warranty had expired and I was out of luck. I bought some heat resistant wire and rewired it myself.

Then the ice maker on the refrigerator quit working. We discovered that the ice maker did not like getting cold so we would have to warm it up from time to time.

Then the microwave quit working. And while the warranty on parts and labor had expired, there was still a warranty on the magnetron.  I called GE and they said that the magnetron would be free but it would cost us $100 to have it replaced. After some negotiations, they agreed to test the magnetron for $25 but I would have to install the new one. And so, that is what we did.

The final death blow came the other day as I was reheating a cup of coffee. I noticed that there was smoke inside the cooking compartment and the smoke seemed to be coming from one corner.

Upon further examination, I discovered that the plastic coating had bubbled up and that the metal underneath was severely rusted. Since it would only be a matter of time before it rusted through, I declared it to be unsafe.

All of the GE appliances have now been replaced.

As the old saying goes “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”