Home > Consumer Reviews > GE 29868GE1 Digital Answering Machine

I have found products made by GE to be the most reliable products I own, and I have never yet encountered a problem with any of them (they seem to last forever!). This compact, fully digital answering machine has no tapes to get tangled up in it but rather records messages on a digital microchip (recording time is 20 minutes; most other digital models only give you 14 minutes). This answering machine is a great and [inexpensive]alternative to voice mail provided by your telephone company: even though I have Caller ID, I still like this machine's call screening speaker which let's ME decide whether I want to pick up a call or not (something voice mail can't do!). Furthermore, the machine (like voice mail) features a Voice Time/Day Stamp which tells you when each message was received. You are alerted to new messages by a large red blinking indicator light right .. in the center of the machine. There is also a "no-worry" 9V Battery Back-up built in so that messages won't be lost during a power outage (especially nice if you live in California right now--but not to pick on the West Coast States: it happens here in Chicago, too!). Of course, as with most modern answering machines, this one has a remote access function that let's you access ALL the functions of the machine (play/erase, turn machine on/off, change the greeting & more). This little machine also gives you the choice of playing ALL messages back or to skip the old ones and listen only to your new messages; then it allows you to selectively erase messages you don't want to keep. Finally, there are the usual adjustments you can make to the number of rings before the machine picks up a call, the length you want to allow for incoming messages, volume adjustment, and it lets you select your own 3-digit Security Code for remote access. For those of you who want to have things matching in your home or office: the color of Model #2-9868 is white with 3 big blue buttons for playback/erase in the center and 3 smaller white buttons on each side to activate the other functions (there are 11 function button in all). These buttons are laid out intelligently, and the machine is real easy to set up (it actually has voice instructions to help with the set-up!). Seems GE thought of all you could possibly expect from an answering machine and has made it easy to use -- it's a lot of machine for the price !

Unfortunately I have purchased not one but TWO of these machines for two different lines a few months apart. As other reviewers state, after a few months of use both have had the problem of the machine showing the messages are full (flashing "F")when there are no messages randomly on different occasions. Then you can't use any of the functions, you have to unplug it and hope it does not happen for a while (which it always does). Customer support is no existent, and they refuse to help me and just play dumb when you call saying they never heard of it. After this I would stay away from any GE Electronics all together!

I bought the machine on 6/22 .... today's 7/6! I liked it up until a few days ago. It was my first digital answering machine ..... and I LOVED being able to delete just one message at a time instead of having to delete them all. Well -- the machine is now displaying the letter "F" for FULL even though it holds ZERO messages. Worst part: it won't accept any new messages .... and is therefore COMPLETELY USELESS as an answering machine!!

I read the user guide that comes with the product and there is no information in there (nor on the web) on how to address this problem. In addition, I have found that it is just about IMPOSSIBLE to get "customer service" or any help whatsoever (either via the web, or by phone) from "Thompson Multimedia" .... the company that makes "GE" branded consumer electronics, including this answering machine. THAT makes it highly UNlikely that I'll buy another one of THEIR products again. I hope they saved alot of money on their 1-800-voice-jail system, because they just lost future sales (from me an perhaps others) over it.

Well gotta go now .... off to the store to replace this 2-week-old broken down piece of junk with another machine (from another manufacturer of course). Hopefully, I'll have better luck this time. Bye!

The unit may be attractive, and have nice features, but that can't compensate for the atrocious sound quality that makes it practically useless.

Voices are harsh, garbled, fuzzy and have an unnatural electronic tone. Also, if the speaker does not speak in a consistently load and clear tone, the sound just drops out completely (you don't even get the pause, so its almost impossible to guess what is being said). I have lots of messages to call at, say, 25149.

I have also experienced the problem, noted by another reviewer, of the unit erroneously indicating memory full and refusing to function.

I long for my old Panasonic tape-based answering machine, which preceded this one. Are all digital machines this bad, or is this GE model particularly egregious?

I'll be throwing this unit out shortly...and kicking myself for not returning it when I could.

All the functions on this machine work well. It's as easy to set up as any other machine. The only BIG drawback is the sound quality. Incoming is okay but not great. It's impossible to leave a good outgoing message that doesn't sound like you're in a tunnel. I bought it for a retail business and it just doesn't sound professional at all.

I'm tossing it out and buying another...