Customer Reviews

GE Digital Answering System (29888GE1)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been using this machine for a year. I originally purchased it in December 2003, but when I set it up, the phone ceased to work. My roommate and I decided that it was the ancient hardware within the apartment, so we simply didn't use an answering device. I moved in June 2004, and using the same equipment--both telephone and answering machine--it has worked almost flawlessly since it was set up. I say "almost flawlessly" because the only trouble I've had with it since moving is the timestamp. The date and time kept getting messed up, so now I simply don't set it. I believe it was our frequent power burps that messed up the timestamp, rather than the actual machine. I think the machine simply doesn't keep the time in its memory if it's momentarily without power. I haven't suffered from lost messages though, and if I was choosing between accurate timestamps but no messages, or messages with inaccurate timestamps, I prefer what it gives me--messages without accurate timestamps. My phone has caller ID which keeps the proper time, and I use that timestamp when it's important for me to know when a message was left. If that's not an option for you, choose another machine, but otherwise this one is a great low cost work horse. Clarity is acceptable. There aren't many exciting options, but it's cheap, reliable, and compact. I do use the remote access occasionally. It's possible to tweak the options pretty well, even though there aren't many options to begin with. If you want to save a message as new so the phone will continue to pick up after two rings, or your roommate will know to check the machine, you simply have to press "stop" prior to the completion of the last message. The light continues to blink and it behaves as if you'd never touched it.

I am ok with the product. The only thing I am not happy with it is that it plays the "old" messages every time after you hear the "new" messages. I only want to hear the "new" messages.

Though I knew that I purchased a cheap one, the recording time is still too short.

Simple to set up and works great and at this price better than paying for voice mail at phone company.

There is nothing special about this machine. It has worked well for us so far. The speaker is not great and the voice is sort of annoying, but it is easy to use and does what it is supposed to do. No complaints for the amount we paid.

Just your basic answering machine. Very simple and easy to use and a good value. I bought 10 recently for my employer. They last for years, there's no battery and no maintenance. Never had a failure or a DOA.

The settings are intuitive and you don't need the manual to use it. I pair them with low cost commodity cordless phones. Initial total cost is comparable to expensive phones with built-in answering machines, but answering machines last longer; cordless phones die after a few years, and models change every few months. Replacement phone batteries cost as much as a cheap phone, assuming you can even find one that fits. If you do, it has probably been on the shelf for years and is as useless as the original. The only downside is an extra wall wart and another cord to trip over.

Works quite satisfactorily -- just your good garden-variety bare-bones phone machine. Three minor quibbles: Though you don't see it turned on in the photo, the oval window in the center glows bright red when the machine is plugged in, and it's huge and even a bit glaring. Good for someone with a sight problem, no doubt, since you can see across the room whether it's a steady red or blinking on and off (to signal a message), but for the rest of us... it's obtrusive, and virtually as large as a night light. Second, the sound is -- no surprise -- only fair: better than on a cheap machine I once owned, where you could barely make out the messages... but muddy and certainly not crisp. Finally -- and this may matter to no one but me -- I don't think there's a way to turn down the speaker's sound to utter silence. (When I sleep, I like to switch off the ringer on my telephone and to turn the volume all the way down on a phone machine, so that any incoming calls won't wake me but will be recorded and waiting for me in the morning. With this machine, even when it's turned to lowest volume, I can still hear the speaker when the machine picks up a call -- my voice in greeting, the caller's voice leaving a message -- so that if I'm not sleeping soundly, it'll wake me.)

Does not have good voice quality. But, okay for the price i paid for it ($10).

I had this for a very short time and it quit working one day. Would not waste money on another.

In short, do not buy this product.

This is an answering machine that doesn't live up to it's name. I've seen it "pretend" to record numerous phone calls, then as soon as the caller hangs up, no message is there. More than half the time it will cut a caller off in mid-sentence, deciding the call is over after a random amount of time (despite being set to 4 minutes of recording time). This product is extremely unreliable.

Fie upon GE for producing (or at least putting their name on) such a shoddy product. After decades of answering machine manufacturing, GE produces this cheap unreliable half-functional machine? Unbelievable and unfortunate. And let's not even bother to discuss the muffled tin-can sounds this thing tries to pass off as voice recordings. Poor quality and low marks all around.

Try increasing the price and quality and make something that actually works reliably and produces sounds that one could recognize as human speech before slapping a "GE" label on it next time.

To reiterate: do not waste your money on this product.