Count GE in on the “screw your customers” bandwagon. Twitter user @ShaneMorris tweeted: “My fridge has an RFID chip in the water filter, which means the generic water filter I ordered for $19 doesn’t work. My fridge will literally not dispense ice, or water. I have to pay General Electric $55 for a water filter from them.” Fortunately, there appears to be a way to hack them to work: How to Hack RWPFE Water Filters for Your GE Fridge. Hacks aside, count me out from ever buying another GE product if it includes anti-customer “features” like these. “The difference between RWPF and RPWFE is that the RPWFE has a freaking RFID chip on it,” writes Jack Busch from groovyPost. “The fridge reads the RFID chip off your filter, and if your filter is either older than 6 months or not a genuine GE RPWFE filter, it’s all ‘I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t dispense any water for you right now.’ Now, to be fair, GE does give you a bypass cartridge that lets you get unfiltered water for free (you didn’t throw that thing away, did you?). But come on…”
Jack proceeds to explain how you can pop off the filter bypass and “try taping the thing directly into your fridge where it would normally meet up when the filter is install.” If you’re able to get it in just the right spot, “you’re set for life,” says Jack. Alternatively, “you can tape it onto the front of an expired RPWFE GE water filter, install it backward, and then keep using it (again, not recommended for too much longer than six months). Or, you can tape it to the corresponding spot on a generic filter and reinstall it.”
Robin Edgar
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