What's On Your Mind? GE, Burlington Coat Factory, ILD

Kathie of Cypress, Tex.,says she purchased a GE Profile Dishwasher in September 2007 and two years later she says the unit overheated.

“A repairman was sent out under our extended warranty and he changed out the board and said my extended warranty did not cover the replacement plastic parts, racks, wheels, silverware baskets,” Kathie told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I argued with them and they finally agreed to replace those parts at no cost to us.”

This week, she says, the same thing happened again.

“I had turned it on at 4 PM on the 19th,” Kathie said. “It beeped when it was finished and I didn't open it to unload it, thought I would do it in the morning. At 5:30 am I woke up to a really strong smell of burning plastic. Went out to the kitchen and the dishwasher was so hot, it was almost glowing. Racks were melted and so were glasses.”

Kathie says her issue is that no one is willing to compensate her for her losses. A bigger issue, however, is she may have a recalled dishwasher in her home. In 2007, the same year Kathie bought her model, GE recalled 2.5 million dishwashers – including the Profile model – because they were fire hazards.

Dangerous aisles

Rosalind, of North Richland Hills, Tex., said she was shopping with her three year old grandson last month at Burlington Coat Factory when a tall stack of boxes stacked in an aisle tumbled over and hit the child, requiring a trip to the emergency room.

“I have since spoken to the store reps, and a spokesperson for the store has yet to apologize or show any concern about the well being of my grandson,” Rosalind said. “His lack of concern leads me to believe this is a reflection of the entire company. He only asked me 'well, what is it that you want to resolve this issue then.'"

No company is ever going to apologize in a case like this, since anything anyone says may be used against the company in court. If Rosalind wants to recover medical costs, she should hire an attorney and sue the store.  Equally important, she should immediately stop communicating with the company and let her lawyer do the talking.

Crammed

Cindy, of Vermilion, Ohio, is a member of a very large club. She too has found monthly charges on her telephone bill for a service she never requested, all courtesy of ILD Teleservices.

“They are absolutely no help at the phone number which was provided to me by Members Edge to call and complain,” Cindy told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I keep getting sent to different phone numbers all stating the same thing and none of them can credit me with the $179.40 we have paid since supposedly signing up for their services.”

The practice of a third party adding charges to a consumer's phone bill is not new. The law allows ILD to add these charges to customers' bills, but only if they possess the following information for every charge it submits to local telephone companies:

• The name of the customer requesting the service;
• A description of the service rendered;
• The date on which the customer requested the service;
• The means by which the customer requested the service;
• The name, address and telephone number of all sales agents involved in the transaction.

Meanwhile, ILD was named as a defendant last month in a class action suit that claims it "and hundreds of third-party service providers" conspired to bill nearly one million Indiana telephone customers falsely, using "intentionally false affidavits and other documents."