Toolbox Appliance Repair

It’s everyone’s fear that when their major appliance starts showing signs it may be close to becoming inoperable, we begin to become increasingly concerned, unless we have the training and expertise to fix it ourselves, especially if it’s a fridge. Because their website made every claim to be a reputable company, I called Speedy Appliance Repair to help troubleshoot an intermittent “on and off” sound my brand name fridge was doing. It still worked, but I thought I would try to get it resolved before it may stop working. When I called Speedy Appliance, they were quick to respond. The tech was personable and immediately said the problem was with the evaporator fan. The part and labour were quoted to me by their office manager and although it was higher than I expected for a 13 year old fridge, I figured it was much less than having to buy a new one if it ended io eventually breaking down, and worth it if it fixed my fridge’s problem and I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. I gave a deposit via credit card and the tech said he’d come back when they had the part. I asked for an invoice and ended up not receiving it until after the part was changed and my final payment was processed. Long story short, the fan was not defective because although the new fan made the fridge run a bit quieter, it did not stop the intermittent “starting up and shutting off” sound I had originally called them about. After the “repair”, my fridge also immediately began to warm up and the water dispenser no longer worked. The tech came back two more times over the next 2 days, but didn’t know what was going on with my fridge. I continued to urge them to return to get my fridge working again because I could no longer use it to store food and after four days without a fridge and a family of 5 to feed, it was getting desperate. When had finally received the invoice after they received full payment, they had their list of terms on it and had affixed my electronic signature to it to that I had provided in their credit card machine 5 days earlier (see attachment). I was alarmed that I was never presented these terms yet Speedy Appliance Repair and they made it look like I signed to agree to them and also how strongly their terms stressed the “non-refundable” aspect of their service. There were no details regarding what warranty I had and immediately knew I was not dealing with the right company. They eventually stopped responding to me and did not follow up to offer any intent to resolve the issue, so I had to start over again with another tech from another company, who thankfully was factory certified to service the make of my fridge. This tech ran proper diagnostics, changed the right
part and quickly had my fridge back to top working order. He resolved the “on/off” sounds and the resulting cooling problem, too, all in one shot. With the failure of Speedy Appliance Repair’s ability to properly diagnose my fridge’s problem and thus changing the wrong part, I requested a refund, which they are refusing to do, so their lack of expertise and good business practises has made fixing my fridge more expensive than it needed to be. They are holding me to terms of service that were not made known to me until after they took payment. They claim I didn’t give them the chance to “finish” the repair before I called in another company, but they gave no indication they were ever coming back and insisted changing my fan stopped the noises when it actually never did, and the cooling problem was a new and unrelated issue. Thank goodness they couldn’t pump me for more money. My advice to others is to: 1. call the manufacturer of your appliance and ask for a factory certified technician in your area. You may pay a bit more for the service, but you will get exactly what you need without any hassles. 2. Research the company’s terms of service BEFORE you call them for a service call. Be wary of what they are asking you to sign, too!