What's On Your Mind? Whirlpool, United Airlines, Wild Blue, GE

There's not much worse than a suddenly cold shower. Jerry, ironically of Coldwater, Mich., says that's what he got recently, when the Whirlpool Flame Lock water heater he purchased in 2007 went dead.

“I checked the water heater and it had gone out and I could not restart, Jerry told ConsumerAffairs.com. “After several hours of research and troubleshooting it appears the gas control valve/thermostat is defective. Even thou it still has almost 2 years left on parts warranty I feel the time and trouble is not worth it.”

Jerry must have missed the news, back in 2008, that Whirlpool settled a class action suit stemming from defects in the Flame Lock water heaters. Prior to that time ConsumerAffairs.com had logged well over 1,000 complaints about the appliances.

Enough, already!

Joy, of Chicago, wants United Airlines to quit sending her so many emails.

“Even though I have already purchased an upgrade to economy plus seating, United Airlines keeps sending me confirmation emails for my flight, suggesting that I purchase an upgrade to economy plus seating,” Joy said. “I should not be offered this option if I have already purchased an upgrade.”

Joy's point is not that she doesn't want to be bothered with nuisance emails. She's concerned that she, and other consumers, could end up paying for the same service twice.

“I'm certain that many consumers are being misled and accidentally being charged more than once for upgrades,” she said.

Not quite high-speed

Whether it's HughesNet or Wild Blue, many consumers think these satellite-delivered high-speed Internet services are too slow.

“I've been with WildBlue for one and a half years and have been receiving slow Internet access the entire time,” Patrick, of Burlington, Wash., told ConsumerAffairs.com. “It's slightly better than dial up. Repeated calls have yielded no improvement or anything other than a series of pre-written answers.”

Sorry, Patrick, there isn't much anyone can do to make it faster. Unfortunately, satellite-delivered Internet services has some drawbacks. Earlier this month the Rural Mobile and Broadband Alliance issued a report saying atellite technology falls far short of conventional wired and wireless alternatives, mainly due to latency, bandwidth, price, performance and service shortcomings. Unfortunately, if you live in a rural area you might not have any other alternatives.

Not a good day to start the day

It probably pays to shop carefully for a coffee maker, looking closely at how the carafe is made. Otherwise, you morning could start with a bigger jolt that you would get from caffeine.

“We recently purchased a General Electric coffee maker model 169228, said Simon, of St. Lazare, Quebec. “ This morning while pouring a cup of coffee the carafe's handle separated from the glass portion spilling scalding hotcoffee all over the counter and my feet. Had this been one minute earlier and my two school aged children might have been scalded too as they were seated at the counter eating breakfast.”

A year ago, GE recalled 900,000 coffee makers made in China and sold at Wal-Mart because they could overheat, creating a fire hazard. There was no mention of a handle coming off the carafe.