A world without GE Appliances?

[DurhamAppliance]

They may be considering divesting their appliance division!

http://www.bidnessetc.com/21555-eneral-electric-company-nyse-ge-news-analysis-looks-to-divest-from-less-profitable-business/

If this really happens, this may be the avenue Haier is looking for to increase its market share.... ugh.. a Samsung built Haier/GE dual evap fridge? My service prices went up just thinking about this.

Edited April 19, 2014 by DurhamAppliance

[Thirstytech]

They've tried before but found no takers.  I do agree that a company like Haier would take a look at them.  Total turn key operation with service network already in place, a rare commodity these days. 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

It's Electrolux!!!!!  They just purchased G.E.,$3.3 bn for all that GE® imagination at work

 

Here's the news story: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29106335

Edited September 8, 2014 by Budget Appliance Repair

[DurhamAppliance]

Well, it could have been worse... Quirky, the bid site, was the lead bidder at one time! http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-14/a-quirky-bid-for-ge-s-home-appliances-in-more-ways-than-one.html

[Patricio]

Does this mean that Electrolux parts are going to become as expensive as GE or GE quality is going to become as sorry as Electrolux as if GE is not sorry enough.

[DurhamAppliance]

Maybe they will be called Gelectrolux but we probably call them Geeitsux

[Thirstytech]

Wonder if they'll keep the GE in house field service or sell it off?

[B4UTRUST]

That was a big worry from GE from what I heard, especially with those in their Louisville office. I don't see them getting rid of the field service, at least not right off the bat, though if they have areas where ELux and GE are both concentrated with multiple techs there could be layoffs. Of course by doubling their appliance market control they've effectively doubled their problems as well, so effectively double the service calls, warranty issues, etc. So depending on the increase in field problems from the acquisition the tech numbers could remain the same but I doubt it. Usual case in this situation is to reduce it to the bare number of people required to do the work then reduce that number by about a quarter to screw the people who are left, but remind them that they're still damned lucky to keep their jobs so quit your bitching. 

[Scottthewolf]

I see Electrolux laying off ALL GE Factory Service technicians and giving it all to the independent servicers. I see Sears wanting a huge share of the service. It looks like it's going to be very messy.

[DanInKansas]

The GE guys are all union, so laying them all off at once might be a red flag to the NLRB as a "refusal to bargain."  That said, when I was running E-lux warranty calls, they were paying $73 flat rate labor.  

 

So $73 per call to an independent contractor, or hourly plus pension plus health plan plus truck plus insurance plus workman's comp.... I would be shocked if E-lux didn't begin a "transition program" and encouraging current techs to take early retirement, start firing people for dress code violations, etc. 

[B4UTRUST]

But wouldn't that give ascs a stronger bargaining position to get a higher fee since we're now covering both of their problem children?

[Spannerwrench]

NO. Because if a good service provider won't do it cheap, Joe Bloe will. To them it's the bottom line dollar amount, not how good of a service the consumer gets.

[DurhamAppliance]

I understand that GE did not sell its appliance parts division. If that's true, then we have more proof there's a sucker born every minute.

[B4UTRUST]

Spanner, I saw that with LG but there's a problem with that. It ends up biting the company on the ass in the long term. Because the fuckwit ASC goes out there and screws up the job, the customer calls back to them and they get nowhere so they end up calling back to the manufacturer. Manufacturer starts trying to deal with ASC to no luck either so they end up having to dispatch out someone else, for a second payout, or a third payout. Plus additional parts, etc. Meanwhile the customer is exceedingly irate and the company has lost a customer. 

 

So I guess you can look at it as a short term profit at the cost of a long term customer relationship. But quarterly earnings reports are more important now than customer retention so fuck it? I would figure(stupidly I suppose) that being willing up front to pay a little higher cost would ensure a better quality of service for their customer which would improve their outlook on the company which would result in repeat business. Of course anymore it seems neither customers nor manufacturers want to pony up good money for good repairs. 

[PDuff]

I somewhat suspected it would have been one of the South Koreans' that would have grabbed GE's appliance division, despite earlier legal hissyfits.  I hope our friends at Appliance Park fare well during the transition.

 

I call "dibs" on the neon GE sign when Comcast yanks it from the top of 30 Rockefeller Center.  It's too big for the living room but should make one hell of a night light for the patio.

[DurhamAppliance]

Well those Korean companies are huge, bigger than GE... Especially Samsung, they didn't get that big by being stupid... 7 billion dollars and still have to go through GE for parts?