Earlier this month, Pearl City resident Curtis Schryer shared his story of his family's microwave oven suddenly blowing up and his efforts to find out what happened and get someone from the manufacturer to look at the damaged oven. This week, he got some good news and a check.

In June, the oven blew a hole 1 inch in diameter through the upper interior center of the microwave, Schryer said. He wrote a letter to the manufacturer, General Electric, dated July 28 but became frustrated when he was told that consumers in Hawai'i don't get the same service response as Mainland customers.

He had been expecting that someone would be dispatched to look at the oven and see if the part that went wrong could be replaced. Originally, he was told he could get some kind of rebate for the oven, which he purchased in 2001. Then he was offered a rebate certificate for $50, while the oven sat damaged in his home.

After he contacted The Advertiser, we checked on the case and talked to officials from GE who explained that shipping drove up the costs and were the reason why the warranty was rewritten for Hawai'i, Alaska and (oddly) Washington, D.C.

After the story ran Sept. 4, Schryer heard from a GE representative on the Mainland, offering a $100 coupon toward the purchase of a new microwave. But that coupon would have been worthless because it was only good for 30 days from the date of purchase, and Schryer had already bought a new microwave from Home Depot more than a month prior.

Eventually, he said GE went back to offering him a $50 rebate certificate "and they still didn't care to pick it (the broken microwave) up," Schryer said.

He then got some good news from the store where he bought both the damaged microwave and the replacement: Home Depot.

Schryer credits Kari Wallace — Home Depot district manager for Hawai'i and Guam — for helping. She called to find out more and worked with GE on his behalf.

This week, he got a check for $229.22, the replacement cost of his GE microwave from Home Depot. "I don't know that GE would have ever budged without her," he said.

A team from Servco — which handles GE accounts in Hawai'i — then made arrangements to pick up the damaged oven and send it back to GE for inspection on the Mainland.

Schryer said the people from Servco also were very helpful. "They were both flabbergasted at the damage," he said.

Schryer is still shaking his head that it took consumer activism and a newspaper article "to force a large company to just step up to a public safety issue."

But he's still waiting for an answer on what went wrong with the microwave and hopes to hear back from GE in a couple of weeks.

Where will he go for his next appliance purchase? "It's certainly going to be Home Depot," he said. "I'll have to give serious thought to GE. I guess we'll see how it goes."

Are You Buying This? is a weekly consumer column. Curious about consumer issues or have a tip to share? Reach Robbie Dingeman at 535-2429 or rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.