Everybody likes the GEs when they first put them in, as long as they don’t need some of the advanced features.
The main problem with that brand is that they have an unusually high failure rate about six months after they come out of warranty. Maybe 15% of the devices. Nothing to do with SmartThings, you can find the same reports on any home automation website.
They aren’t technically “defective” because they’re out of warranty. But it’s still annoying. You can find a number of reports in these forums, but only from people who’ve had the switches for two or three years. So no way to know yet whether the new Z wave plus switches suffer the same defects.
Again, this isn’t all the switches or every customer. And because the switches are so inexpensive, many people are fine with having to replace 10% of them or so two years in because they still save money on the overall project.