December 13, 1996

        Manager, Consumer Relations
        GE Appliances
        Appliance Park
        Louisville KY 40225

        Dear Sir/Madam: 

        I wanted to write to tell you of an incident regarding our GE LP gas range 
        (model #JGBS18GEJ6AD, serial #AF100599L).  We purchased this range from Sears 
        in March 1991 and have used it in our kitchen since it was installed.  This 
        year, we purchased a carbon monoxide (CO) detector and installed it near our 
        sleeping area.

        Since the detector was installed, it would signal an alarm upstairs whenever 
        the oven was in use for more than about 45 minutes.  We called the gas company 
        to come test all of our LP gas appliances for excessive CO leakage.  The gas 
        company repairman found that the oven was leaking about 600 ppm CO when in 
        use, a very high level.  He took apart the bottom of the oven and discovered 
        that the burner baffle had been installed upside down, impeding the burner 
        flame and causing the excess CO production.  For a service charge, he 
        reinstalled the burner and baffle correctly and the CO emission was reduced to 
        35 ppm.

        Needless to say, we are disturbed that we had unknowingly subjected ourselves 
        and children to this potentially lethal condition for over 5 years.  I am 
        afraid to think that there may be other ovens out there with the same assembly 
        problem, and someone else may not be as fortunate as we were in discovering 
        the problem.

        Even though this oven is well out of warranty, we would certainly appreciate 
        some compensation for the charge to remedy an assembly problem that we would 
        have never discovered on our own.

        Thank you,
        Bryan Cass

GE Customer Relations called me back on 24 Dec 1996. Their first question was "Was this gas co. a GE Authorized company?" Ya, most of the time when I'm dying of oxygen deprivation, I'll schedule a GE Authorized service call for next week sometime. Gee, I don't know what came over me; must have been the LACK OF OXYGEN to my BRAIN. So, they basically said "Sorry you had a problem, but the oven's out of warranty."

Am I asking for too much here? Sheesh... a $40 service call to fix a potentially lethal defect in a stove. Oh well, I'm sure if someone dies as a result of this little problem, GE will have a nice, fat lawsuit on their hands. Oh, and you're welcome GE, for the information. And by the way, the far right burner knob sticks when the oven's on too. No problem.

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