In the spring of 2021, my 6 year old KitchenAid oven started acting up, and within a month had stopped working entirely. Without going into too much detail, I will say that for several months I was frustrated by repair companies that never bothered to show up, or were basically national telephone call centers for the purpose of coordinating repair service appointments for companies across Canada. I contacted firms that didn't work on newer "high end" equipment because they were too complex, or too unreliable, or didn't have a good supply of parts on hand (especially during the pandemic). After about a month of checking internet websites and repair company reviews reviews, I became increasingly disillusioned about whether there were any quality appliance repair companies out there. Eventually, I gave up all together. Since I rarely use my oven, it wasn't a big deal, but it certainly was a nuisance.
Several months later, in August of 2021, I came home one day and discovered a pool of water at the base of my Samsung fridge. The freezer is located below the fridge unit, and the water was on the top of the freezer, so it wasn't leaking out onto the kitchen floor. However, it was definitely a much greater concern than the oven situation had been.
So, back to the internet to see if I'd missed anyone in my previous attempts to uncover a fair, reasonable and local repair firm. This time, I was successful almost immediately. I was impressed with the website and community focus of the Port Coquitlam-based company Electra Fix. I called them to see if they could come over to check out my oven and fridge. The phone contact person (Troy) was very pleasant and professional. He took down all my details, and explained that they would charge a $100 site visit fee, which was comparable with other repair firms I had contacted. We arranged for a repair technician to come to the house the following Monday.
Eddie from Electro Fax showed up at the appointed time, and went right to work. He identified the likely culprit on the stove as a damaged digital control board. He checked the unit out, and tried a couple of quick fixes. Unfortunately, he was unable to salvage the board, and advised that it would have to be replaced if I wanted to use the oven. I told him to proceed with securing the new board, as the repair would have to be done sooner or later.
With the oven issue out of the way, Eddie next looked at the bigger problem - the leaking Samsung fridge. He quickly identified a concern with the chiller located behind the rear fridge panel. Water in the chiller was freezing, and then spilling over the chiller tube, eventually ending up at the bottom of the fridge. He cleaned the unit, and did some minor repairs to a couple of small cracks in the panel where the water appeared to be leaking into the fridge. He determined that the thermostat was working properly, and suggested that I give things a few days to see if the leak had been brought under control. If the leak resumed, he would try to resolve the matter when he came back the next week to install the new control board for the oven.
The fridge was initially okay. Unfortunately, after 2 or 3 days, it began to leak once again. When Eddie returned the next week to replace the oven control board, he took another look at the chiller, and applied heavy duty electrical tape to the problematic cracks. He wasn't sure this would work, and thought the unit might need to be replaced. I was impressed when he didn't charge anything for the second visit, and was pleased with the gradual, step-by-step approach he took to address the leak!
Unfortunately, since that time, the leak has re-emerged. I contacted Electra Fix today (24 September 2021) in order to schedule another on-site session. The dispatcher I talked to (Emanuel) will get back to me once he has contacted Eddie, and has verified the availability of the replacement part.
Now, I realize that the strategy taken to address the oven and fridge problems may seem somewhat complex. In point of fact, I believe that Eddie and Electro Fix have been completely straight up with me in the way they have approached the matter. To date, I have only paid for the initial home visit and the replacement of the digital board for the oven. In both instances (fridge and oven), Electra Fix has tried to come up with low cost repair responses, only reverting to more expensive part replacement solutions when it became evident that the initial repair techniques weren't going to work. Eddie has been extremely professional throughout, and has never tried to pressure me into accepting an expensive solution that I don't require. I also like the fact that Electra Fix seems to maintain a fairly large parts inventory, which is often a sticking point with many repair companies these days.
So to sum things up, I believe that there are probably a number of good appliance repair firms in the Lower Mainland. The problem is finding the right fit!! For what it's worth, my experience with Electra Fix has been positive from the moment I first contacted Troy the dispatcher in August. They've kept their end of the bargain throughout, and I believe they have provided excellent value for the money.
Joe M 24 Sept 2021
