Originally the plan was to replace the heating elements. I just got an email saying he's not confident that's the solution and would like to send it to GE engineering. I'm not sure if that's code for 'I'm wiping my hands of this.' I'm allowing the oven to preheat usually 40-50 min. never under 30 min. He asked me again how long I was preheating. I haven't responded to his email yet. I haven't sent him any photos throughout this process.

I have a GE Cafe all gas double oven range. You could not give me another one. I has been nothing but a PITA. Nothing bakes evenly or on time. While it was still under warranty, the technician discovered it was about 25 degrees too hot in one oven. The other one was too hot too, but I don't remember how much. He adjusted both of them. They seemed to be almost ok for a while but now they are back to cooking too fast. I have all sorts of hot spots in both ovens.

I got so disgusted with GE and their laugable "service advocate," who did nothing but say "oh that is terrible," "oh, I understand," but without any resolution or attempt at resolving my problems. I finally told them I would speak ill of them every time I have a chance. I am keeping that promise.

My range is less than 18 months old and I am ready to put it on the curb!

You might want to try posting this on the Appliance forum. I used to be a regular over there when I was renovating my kitchen and I've seen this type of question asked before. Unfortunately it seems almost too common that ovens heat unevenly or don't maintain the set temperature. If you decide to post there include the year and model # - you just may find others with the same problem.

No that is not normal, how old is it? If it's under warranty, I would contact the company.

Shee, I would get rid of it as soon as possible and get another model. My Kitchen Aid dual fuel oven / range which I don't like all that much, takes 10 min or less to preheat completely. Either you have a lemon or the entire line of ovens is poorly designed. Based on the other comment about it I would definitely demand a return sooner rather than later, before the warranty runs out.

Please let me know if they take it back. I tried to get them to take mine back with absolutely no luck! I think there are serious design flaws that GE will not admit to.

Wow, definately something is wrong, an oven should never take 40-45 even 30 minutes to preheat. Image the electricity wasted.

This is why I've still got my 2003 low-end Kenmore stove. It preheats for baking in 10 minutes or less. If I'm making brownies from a mix, turn on the oven, throw a few ingredients in the bowl, stir, and the oven's ready. I don't even want to hear about convection. Never used it, and don't want to start now. I've been baking my whole life and I think chocolate chip cookies can be the acid test. I would not be happy with the results in the photo.

Misformink, I think you've endured enough with this. Are you still under warranty? I don't think I've ever had to replace an oven light in my life.

Have you tried baking without the convection setting? I have convection on my range and toaster oven, but never use it on either.

Not using convection is not the answer. Convection helps to cook more evenly and shouldn't be causing probs but rather helping to bake better and certainly on more than one rack.

Like others have said a 30 minute preheat is insane. Even with covered burners which I think GE has (not sure who invented covered burners but I think they should be shot).

Don't listen to DH. Keep being that squeaky wheel.

This is how unevenly mine cooks. I put bread on the rack and put it in the oven just to see where the hot spots were, hoping I could learn to work around them.

GE interpreted this test as "burns toast." They totally missed the point, even though I told them in very simple to understand language. The point is THE OVEN COOKS UNEVENLY. HERE'S PROOF.

Could be a fan issue, that's why I suggested baking without convection.

Do you keep a thermometer in the oven? I had to do that with my former circa 1940s stove.

By any chance have you lined the bottom of your oven with foil? That will cause uneven browning.

I have never had a 'perfect' oven... :(

I had a ge oven in my last house that actually baked things pretty well... if I was baking things in it that were finicky, I would really be aware of oven rack ht, etc and rotating in middle of baking, but for the most part I was happy with it. (and I bake quite a bit...) it preheated pretty quickly- I often would put things in just a couple of minutes after turning it on because preheating seemed like such a waste of energy, unless, again, it was something finicky. I definitely had to reduce the heat at least by 25*, sometimes more depending on what I was making, when using convection bake. (often more when baking cookies and certain cakes) gotta say I loved it's convection roast setting!

I have a gas oven here (never have had gas before) and it is fine, but not perfect! maybe takes a little longer to preheat--- I guess... can't really be sure since I don't have a digital display counting up and telling me the oven's temp!!! all ovens have a learning curve tho I think for the individual owner.

having to replace the light at all let alone 3 xs is a sign of a definite problem with that for sure.

I liked the covered burners... much easier to wipe down after the self cleaning-- or any time for that matter. ugh-- don't have that with current oven! :(

We bough them in Feb. so going on 5 months old. Bought them from local mom and pop. M&P store also service all their appliances. What to say? Fix this within the warranty period or I want a different stove? ?? Call or email? I know email gives me paper trail. I feel like you can better communicate over the phone. I should probably deal with this today.The regular mode seems to bakes worse than convection so I only used it a few times. How does that work with a new stove? Any of them would be less in cost than this one. We did get three rebates though.

The preheat beep goes off in a short amount of time, but I was told from the the appliance guy and read you should wait at least 30 min. before any 'fine baking'. I totally think it's a waste. For my old oven, I'd throw cookies in when it would beep ready, and 7 or so min. later I had cookies without ugly brown spots. You have no idea how much baking I've done in the past few months - testing. Ridiculous.

No foil in the bottom.

Haven't used a thermometer. It came with a meat thermometer that I haven't tried.

I was thinking the light was an issue just at the light that could be taken care of.

I'm frustrated. I actually think I'm a little panicked more than frustrated. We bought the SET. I originally was going to mix and match. This was a lot of money, to us, for appliances. I actually don't visually like any of the GE stoves that are free standing. The slide in model that was my second choice would have to be notched I think at the countertop and I'd have to order a filler (black) for behind it. Then the rest of the appliances will all be Cafe. When we purchased these DH said we would not be purchasing new appliances again until these died. I get it. (Our old white ones were only 6 years old.) So the idea of using this thing for years.... During review reading, I don't remember seeing anyone with this issue. The issues that were spoke of seemed minor and I thought all would be well because it was GE.

Bbstx - Yes, yours was the toast photos I remember seeing. That's terrible. :(

In general, it seems a lot of companies will 'try' and fix a problem, but everyone seems to put the breaks on after the second or third attempt. We've done our best, sorry.

If they'll give you a different stove that would be my choice. Sounds like you got a lemon. I'd do both call and email so you have that written record.

yes, absolutely call and email and record who you have spoken to, date and time, and what was said each and every phone call... (are you dealing with the store or ge??)

I never had a problem with my ge oven (wall) but did have problems with a ge dishwasher and found ge to be good to work with--- a couple of repair attempts and then replacement without any demands (other than complaints that problem wasn't fixed) from me...

Busy - I've been dealing with one of the main guys from the local Mom & Pop store. They are certified to work on all the appliances they sell.

I need to find out what sending to GE Engineering means. What I DON'T want to happen is the issue is turned over to them, I wait for a long period of time, any attempts to fix don't work, and I'm stuck with this oven.

On a happy note, I like my dishwasher a lot. The rest of the appliances work well. Hey, the microwave has convection - I'll just bake cookies in there. *rolls eyes*

Just saw some recent reviews saying the oven light burnt out. I wish people wouldn't post a review saying they had X item for a day and it 'looks great'. That isn't helpful for most items.

Since you have a local M&P shop, you have another option: making an in-person visit. While I like email because it leaves a trail and keeps a certain distance, I find phone calls can be frustrating, finding the right person, being put on hold, oh, he's out to lunch.

When you're there in person, it does intensify the need to be acknowledged and dealt with. Of course, it takes a lot of self-control on your part, because no one wants to be that person who loses it in the store and whatever moral high ground you need to maintain.

But I would maybe call and make an appointment with the person you feel is in the best position to rectify the situation to your satisfaction, meet with them, and ask them how they can resolve things for you. Just sit there until they give you the answer you need.

So glad to see you are still in your warranty period. I would tell them to take it back and get something else. The reason? Because anything they fix or replace it with now will most likely only have the remainder of the warranty period left on it (as opposed to starting the year over) and if you start having problems again in month 7 of a new oven, (which odds are you will) you are screwed. Call, email to confirm conversation, get names, document document and document. I know they aren't perfect, but the cookies still look yummy!

Linelle - Good point about stopping in for a visit. That has crossed my mind. He's usually pretty prompt with responding. I will definitely drop in for a face to face if need be. That should have been my next move, but we'll see how this conversation goes.

Lukkirish - The remaining warranty period is something else that has crossed my mind. The cookies were still pretty darn good. Here's a picture of how my test runs were coming out after the temp. adjustments were made. You can see there are still some with brown areas, but since it improved greatly I was ok with it.

After baking a few times it went back to being patchy.

Thanks Lukki.

No sooner did I hit submit earlier and my
phone rang. The conversation didn't go great. I’m glad it was over
the phone. I know he has a lot of stuff going on in his personal
life recently on top of being busy with work, however, none of that
is my fault. I won’t get into all of it. I reminded him I
didn’t make the appliances. He sounds stressed to the max. Says
he's going on vacation and I sincerely hope it does him well.

Long story short, he’s going to talk with GE
Engineering. I sent him photos. He’ll get back to me to
talk about a solution. He doesn’t believe it’s practical to just
start replacing stuff and he says GE isn’t going to replace
the stove right away. He’s going to have to jump through the GE
hoops. We talked again about the light and he’s still saying the 130
volt will fix it and it’s going to provide a bulb for me in the meantime. He
mentioned something about possibly how the switch turns on. (Side
note – he/they do plumbing and electrical work also.) I’ll have to look more, but I don’t remember
seeing the bulb issue until recent reviews.
I asked if he was going to talk with GE also about the light and he said
they were going to blame it on junk light bulbs. …I don’t even remember what
all was said after that. By that point the conversation was quite
tense. One thing’s for certain though, tonight was not the night for
me to make any strong demands. I’m going to wait and see what he comes back
with. He assures me he’s aware I’m upset, he get it’s, and there
WILL BE a solution. We purchased the appliances from this place to support
local business (again - bought our first set from them.), but also
because of their great communication and customer service from past experiences
and word of mouth. Hopefully it plays out well. I’ve spent too
much of my day allowing this topic to creep into my thoughts. I’ll
post an update!

Your merchant is caught between a rock and a hard place, I'm sure. He wants to make you happy, but he'll get no support from GE. The repairman (who came to my house so often that I thought I'd need to invite him to Christmas dinner) said that even when he sees a dud, GE won't replace it. I heard him tell the folks at GE that my oven wasn't baking right. GE customer support did nothing to correct the situation. They also said that even though the range was still in warranty, I would have to pay for the next service call.

can't you just deal with ge yourself?? sounds like it would be easier...

the last few houses we bought before this one were new so I didn't deal directly with a place of purchase, but I called the GE service # found on the warranty, etc papers... as long as you have a proof of purchase receipt, it might be easier ??? like I said, I found them to be pretty easy to deal with... don't think I'd have the patience to deal with a stressed out shop owner!! I would want more control in getting the problem resolved...

I've found GE to be easy to deal with regarding questions in the past. I don't believe I'll make greater strides than he will for this. We also choose to buy from this place because I had confidence that we would have less headaches than if we purchased from a big box store. This guy is the repairman for GE in this case. The tone last night was a new thing. I'm just going to sit right now and see what he comes back with first. I have no problem getting on the phone with GE, but I have a feeling it just may up my stress level and nothing more.

Wow, the fact that he says he'll find a solution seems like one step forward but his attitude is like two steps back. If he's the repair center for GE as well, that should end up being helpful, lets hope a vaca helps. (sounds like he needs it)

This is a little off topic, but does show the power of this board...a few years ago, we bought a Moen faucet for our kitchen that had a design flaw. I called Moen and when the parts they sent didn't work, I asked for it to be replaced. They refused and I told them that was fine, but to understand I contributed to a VERY large forum centered around home and kitchen design. It's high traffic site where people depend on product referrals all the time and I would be sure to let people know of my Moen experience every time the opportunity presented itself. I was livid and disappointed. The next day out of the blue, I got a call from some senior manager who said he had arranged for the newer model of the faucet we had to be shipped to us that day and he apologized profusively for the problems we had had. It's worked great now for 3 years.

My point is I think companies have really begun to understand just how wide the audiance is in networking forums like this one and the positive or negative way they can effect their bottom line. If or when you do need to push, you may want to try the same tactic if you're speaking to GE directly.

Update - Communications have gone much better and we're back to pleasantries. 'Guy' forwarded me GE's response to his email. GE told me to read my manual and included a pdf on baking tips as well as a baking hotline to call. He was heading on vacation and said we'd talk when he got back.

I decided to do a toast test to make a point and mine looked worse than Bbstx! I sent him the photo thinking he would send it to GE. I'm not sure if he did or not.

The Guy I've been dealing with (not GE) was out this morning and replaced both the sensor and control so I basically have a new oven. He waited a while to order the parts because he wanted to see if GE was going to issue a recall or make any changes to the parts. I asked him if GE agreed to replace the part and he said no. Mom and Pop store took care of me and GE denies responsibility.

Guy is very thorough and in-depth with explaining. So much information, I love it, but have a hard time keeping the pace sometimes. He mentioned the higher up the model line in consumer appliances the more issues there are. He says this goes for Whirlpool, etc. and went into explanation about how the older ovens cycle and how they've adjusted and made changes with newer ones. This model has been out a long time now so hopefully mine was just a lemon.

Happy to say the new 130 volt light bulb is still working. I'll be sure to mention that in my oven review when the time comes. Oh, as well as GE didn't take any responsibility to make things right.

I'm to let him know how it goes and I'm not sure what happens after this. Praying this fixed it.

Well it doesn't surprise me that GE didn't stand behind their product, no surprises there, but I'm really glad the Mom & Pop store took care of you anyways. What a mess. My GE range oven is in need of service, the oven isn't heating properly and I'm dreading it. It's a Profile and only 8 years old.

I'm glad you aren't just going to live with this/ make it work somehow. Why should you. You bought the product on good faith-they took your money- they have to give you something that works. That's all there is to it. Sorry you have to put up with the hassle of it all.

Kitty, you are absolutely right, but saying it and making a manufacturer or even a retailer live up to that agreement are two very different things. Unfortunately for the consumer, It's much easier said than done.