Post by mach on Sept 14, 2018 22:46:26 GMT
Owen D Young www.ge.com/about-us/leadership/profiles/owen-d-young was elected president of GE and then chairman of the board in 1922. He retired in 1939 but then returned as chairman in 1942. The following observations are taken from review of his papers contained in the Schenectady Archives labeled Owen D Young papers Jan 1 1939 - Jan 1 1945 file 13-9 Schenectady Museum of Science.
The file contains correspondence, primarily from customers unhappy with service of their GE refrigerators, clipping from newspapers on competitor announcements, market trends, and sulphur dioxide accidents(2). The sulphur dioxide clippings indicate some level of concern regarding the continued use of the refrigerant.
Also of interest were the letters from everyday people asking for help getting service issues resolved.
Young apparently took customer service very seriously and responded to each letter looking to offer help. The quote above is found in the GE newsletter where they published customer letter highlights (the published letters are interesting reading themselves...see below). In his private correspondence, 2 letters were particularly interesting in that they were requesting assistance in acquiring a refrigerator during World War II and highlighted the difficulty in doing so.
One of the letters in 1943 appears to be from a personal connection and Mr Young directed them to where they could receive assistance in the form of a B7 unit available for purchase as a replacement unit. In the end, the letter writer found another solution and did not follow through on the purchase. The other was from a Mr KcKinney of the American Consulate in Canada seeking to purchase a mechanical refrigerator under foreign service exceptions in 1945. Notably, Young still responded although at the time he was retired from his post.
Lastly, letter gold found under "His Wife Tampered". I'm assuming this was a 31 or 32 unit. Any idea what the benefit of the pushing the buttons are apart is?
The file contains correspondence, primarily from customers unhappy with service of their GE refrigerators, clipping from newspapers on competitor announcements, market trends, and sulphur dioxide accidents(2). The sulphur dioxide clippings indicate some level of concern regarding the continued use of the refrigerant.
Also of interest were the letters from everyday people asking for help getting service issues resolved.
Young apparently took customer service very seriously and responded to each letter looking to offer help. The quote above is found in the GE newsletter where they published customer letter highlights (the published letters are interesting reading themselves...see below). In his private correspondence, 2 letters were particularly interesting in that they were requesting assistance in acquiring a refrigerator during World War II and highlighted the difficulty in doing so.
One of the letters in 1943 appears to be from a personal connection and Mr Young directed them to where they could receive assistance in the form of a B7 unit available for purchase as a replacement unit. In the end, the letter writer found another solution and did not follow through on the purchase. The other was from a Mr KcKinney of the American Consulate in Canada seeking to purchase a mechanical refrigerator under foreign service exceptions in 1945. Notably, Young still responded although at the time he was retired from his post.
Lastly, letter gold found under "His Wife Tampered". I'm assuming this was a 31 or 32 unit. Any idea what the benefit of the pushing the buttons are apart is?
