This is a complaint against the General Electric Company for refusing to honor their stated warranty on a dishwasher installed in September 2007. Briefly, the new General Electric dishwasher we purchased has a stainless steel tub. Shortly (i.e. 2 weeks) after installation a number of small, pinhead-sized pits in the surface of the stainless tub were noticed due to rust rings forming around them. The area covered by these pits continues to spread. We now regularly scrub the rust off to avert possible health hazards associated with rust particulates clinging to “clean” dishes and silverware.

A GE service technician confirmed this was not normal and that there was a defect. He put us in touch with Consumer Relations who told us the warranty does not apply for defects like this. We subsequently sent a letter to GE. The only response to this letter was to have someone in their Consumer Relations department call and reiterate that they would not honor the warranty.

Interestingly, this person in Customer Relations, after hearing a description of the defect, agreed something was wrong and that this was not normal; but asserted that GE will not honor their stated warranty in this instance. In speaking with this GE representative, I pointed out the following:

· If this is truly a stainless steel tub how can it rust? Assuming GE is not defrauding the public with their claim that this dishwasher is equipped with a stainless steel (i.e. will not rust) tub, then the alternate explanation for the pitting and resulting rust on this brand new dishwasher is that there was a fault in the manufacturing process causing this defect.

· I also observed that the GE Warranty clearly states that “Any part of the dishwasher which fails due to a defect in materials or workmanship... GE will provide, free of charge, all labor and in-home service to replace the defective part.” There are no stated exclusions for defects caused by pitted surfaces in the stainless steel tub or for the resulting unhealthy rust build-up.

GE’s service technician, mentioned above, along with their Customer Relations representative, agreed that the new GE dishwasher we purchased is defective. This defect clearly and substantially reduces the expected useful life of this appliance. I am asking your assistance in contacting the General Electric Company on our behalf and persuading it to honor their stated warranty.