Customer Reviews

GE 27956FE1 Dect 6.0 Photo Phone with Photo CID

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

I purchased the GE PhotoPhone Model number 27956FE1 as a Christmas gift for my mother in December of 2008. The phone worked fine for a couple of months then during a visit with my mother I noticed that the phone display presented just a white screen. I called the number in the Users Guide. I was told to unplug the phone from the power outlet, unplug the phone from the phone line, remove the battery from the handset, and leave the phone unplugged for 10 minutes. I followed the instructions and that appeared to resolve the problem.
But then in April I found the same thing had happened to the phone. I tried the same procedure and this time it didn't work. I packed the phone up, got on the Internet and downloaded a pdf copy of the phone guide and returned the phone to the address in the guide paying the shipping charge of $11.52. After about 3 weeks we receive a notice there is a package that has been returned from Thompson. We go to the post office and find that the package had been returned because the address was incorrect. In fact we are told that the address was changed over a year ago. We are charged $10.66 for the returned package.
I then call the customer service number and complain about the fact that the address the documentation tells me to send the phone to is not in fact the correct address. I was interested in either getting my postage back or having them send me a replacement phone without my having to resend the old phone.
I talked to a help desk person who basically told me that she didn't believe me when I said that I had gotten the wrong address from documentation I had downloaded from the Internet. She told me that the Warranty did not include shipping and that basically I would have to incur additional shipping cost to have the phone serviced. So I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor tells me that the Users Guide says that I need to call their 800 number to obtain Warranty service and if I had done that they would have told me the new address where I should send the phone. I point out that I already called the 800 number and at any rate in the second paragraph it says, "For instructions on how to obtain a replacement unit, refer to the warranty included in this guide or call customer service". Then I refer him to the warranty which is where it tells you to send the unit to the wrong address. All he kept saying was that the Warranty did not include shipping and that I should have called the 800 number. I asked him if I could speak with his supervisor and he said there was none and referred me to an address where I could send a written complaint. So I send a letter to the address provide and they send me a generic response that makes it clear they never read the letter. Bottom line, if you want to buy a product that doesn't work from a company that isn't interest in providing any service for it by all means purchase one of these phones. As for me, I think I'll keep my distance from anything with the Thompson or GE logo on it. Good luck.

Phone works just fine. The screen, however, stopped working and just stays bright white. I liked it when it worked. It cost too much to break this soon. I have emailed GE's tech support but not heard back.

I was so wowed by the look I picked it up off the shelf and bought it. My first disappointment was discovering it had no speakerphone. My biggest disappointment is the photo errors mentioned in other reviews. I'm a well-experienced computer builder/trainer and even with my background there is no discernible pattern to why some pictures work fine and others don't -- even within the same batch. The PhotoFrame sits on a shelf in the living room and at night, watching TV, the error message sporadically flashes with an all-white background. Very very disappointing. If I hadn't tossed the box I'd return it.

Just not a lot of good things to say about this phone. The phone looks great but when it comes down to funcationality, it leaves a lot to be desired. Lot of random static, buttons are hard to work (too recessed) and the phone lcd interface is poorly designed.

I was a little nervous purchasing this product based on the negative reviews, but I've been pleasantly surprised since getting my photo phone last week. It is solidly built and looks quite nice hanging on my wall. I've found the programming features of the frame to be both easy and intuitive.

I've had no problem with static on phone calls and only a few minor hiccups uploading photos. There were a couple of images that refused to load, but I noticed that they could not be view by my computer's photo editing program either, so I can't really fault this product. I would say that the quality of the photo frame is not quite as good as other digital frames I've seen, but reasonable given what I paid.

My only substantial complaints are with the phone itself. I find the LCD display hard to read due to poor contrast and a thick plastic window. I'm not crazy about the flush buttons and I find the usage a bit unintuitive. Also, programming the phone is kind of a hassle, but not really out of line with other cordless phones I've used.

So while this is neither the best phone on the market, nor is it a top of the line digital frame, it's a fun, good-looking product that is well worth the price and delivers what it promises. I'd recommend it.

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Added Jan 2010: Frame died after 9 months. Screen just went white. Buyer beware.

L0oks great only in image but not the product by any feature. And the customer service is the worst, no respect or response to customer.
It did work great for 2 months, after which the display turned white. Refering to user guide, i called the customer service, they asked me to unplug the instrument, remove battery and restart again. As it didnot work, they asked me to ship it back at the given address, i did so by paying the shipping charge of $12.62. After 3 weeks, when i called for checking status, they told me the recipt was missing, so i did fax it. Then after 2 more weeks, when i called to check status, they told they donot have a product to replace, so they would refund the amount. When i asked them about the shipping charges, they told according to terms and conditions they donot pay the shipping charges. I thought something is better than nothing, and asked them to sned the check. They told me it will take 4 more weeks to process. Now it had been now 10 weeks, still i didnot recieve either the replacement phone or the check. the customer service is the worst, when you call for the status, they don't even listen to you, they are so rude, response in her words, "we know why you are calling, your check is in process, it will take 3 weeks, wait till you recieve check. Anything else, i can help you with? bye, have a good day" does not even wait to hear our response or request or question.
I had decided to not to buy any more products with GE logo or Thomson. Who ever buys these products, GOOD LUCK...

If you don't feel bad, i would like to tell everyone reading this review something, ONLY IF YOU ARE STUPID AND READY TO INVITE TROUBLE IN YOUR LIFE, you will buy these products.

The screen goes white after a while (2 months to 2 years) and there is no way to fix it. This is simply a flawed product with a very short lifespan. Avoid.

I got this Item for $40 which was quite an awesome deal. Lot of cool features with few issues (numbers hard to dial, no speaker phone, very hard to keep or pick up receiver from Unit), but still everything was manageable. I don't believe in reading negative feedbacks so went ahead and purchased the item. Now here is my experience after that point by point:
1)Bad Quality: Few months later screen went white as mentioned in most of the reviews. Tried to fix it myself by resetting etc, nothing worked.
2) No more unit for replacement: Sent it to thomson for replacement by paying extra $14 in shipping to hear back later on from pathetic customer support that this phone is no more available. So they will refund me money.
3) Pathetic Customer care: As i got $30 credit while purchasing this item by opening a credit card, so customer care said they will refund me $10 only. LOL, I spent $14 for shipping and also returned my old hand set just to get $10 back in refund. Talked to customer care/manager 100 times and still waiting for refund.

Don't buy this item because after 30 days return policy, you are on your own, no one would replace this item and refund process is too slow.
if you don't believe on other's reviews, then go ahead and regret later on and be ready to write negative feedback after 6 months.
No company sells $150 item for $36 with out any reason :).

I agree with most of reviewers remarks regarding the functionality of the telephone. It is a great concept, however, the system leaves lots to be desired. In addition, there is poor customer service.

Purchased telephone in May of 2009, telephone screen went blank several times during my 6 months ownership before it completely went dead. Usually I would unplug the unit and repluged to get it working again. Sent telephone to Thomson as instructed on 1/2/2010, received letter 3 weeks later on 1/31/2010 indicating they were unable to make a replacement because of "insufficent inventory," and they will make a refund in 6-8 weeks on top of the 4 I have already waited, and I had 14 days in order to make a mailing address change. I called Thomson whose address is in Dalesville, Indiana and spoke to someone in the Phillipines who was absolutely no help. Asked why I needed to wait a total of 12 weeks to received a refund from the original receipt date? The gentleman indicated that the refund process had to go through numerous auditing processes before it can be issued. I made a request to speak to a supervisor, which he refused to do. Apparently this phone is so bad it is no longer being made and the customer services is as equally bad. So, I would recommend not to buy.

In theory, this is a great product. However, after several tech support calls and an email, I will be returning this phone for replacement. On both occasions, talking with Tech Support was PAINFUL. Their support is outsourced and both techs kept offering canned responses. I honestly don't think either one of them had a clue about what I was talking about. On my 2nd call, after telling the tech TEN TIMES that the problem was not my memory card (tried using multiple cards) or the photo (all photos on card were jpg), she finally said yes ma'am, I can see the problem is the phone and not your memory card and we can replace that. Here's what happens: The phone displays one of my pictures, then I get an error message stating the format (.jpg) is unsupported. I also can't get any photos to fill the screen. These are all high res jpgs taken from my canon digital camera.