The hardest part of appliance repair...

[schaffersapplian]

In todays appliance repair service, ive found that the hardest thing to deal w/ is telling the owner of a 2 year old amana bottom-mount ref that their compressor is shot and the manufacture's warr. is expired, or that their "just out of warr." center seal on their maytag (SAV,MAV,CAV,PAV,LAT,ect...) needs to be replaced.  I HATE these companys who dont evauate or test their products before they go on the market. And I always feel bad when i give a $300 estimate on a 2 or 3 year old machine.  I think that this is the hardest part of the buisness to deal with.

[whirlpooltech]

Then to make things harder them same people don't want to pay you because it only took you ten minutes to tell them it was not worth repairing.

[JWWebster]

A cheapskate wants a cheap appliance and wants a cheap repair.
Me myself and I always ask what kind of machine it is. Then in my mind I visually go over what goes wrong with these machines. I say to myself: SELF do you want to waste time and energy pizsing off these folks by taking their money when I KNOW they have a schitty appliance and I 9 out of 10 times have an idea what is wrong?

[theoldstoveguy]

Best way to explain to them is your fee is exactly as a doctor would charge them. We tell them what is wrong for the basic fee. We charge for our knowledge. Also I learned a long time ago. We DON'T design them,We DON'T build them but we try to repair them.Think about it,if the engineer made a perfect machine,he would be unemployed. Thus he can always improve on the design & have a job for life!

[Icehouse]

What happen? when I worked for Amana in the late sixties early seventies they had the best guarantee in the business. Five years on everything.

[JWWebster]

Icehouse welcome to the forum. My old mentor Mr Fred was a RSES member. He and myself enjoyed many a day working on ice machines, window units, and whatever else came into the shop. He was an employee of Alabama power company in the 40's. It was a pleasure to be associated with this very knowledgable man. If you know half as much as he knew then you will indeed be a very much appreciated addition to our little web page. Welcome!!

[Icehouse]

I started in service 1968. Grew up with a "Master Electrician" (Grandfather), "Master Boilerman" (Father), "Master Plumber" (uncle) and listen and learned.
I also attended and still attend any and all clinics, trade shows, amd the like as well as RSES. I am also a technical reviewer for "Delmar" publishers.
NYC Licensed Operating Engineer 1968. Dut the best education is here on these forums. 

[Penguin45]

Ey oop,
Welcome to AJ's nuthouse.....

Csutomers, not product, is always the problem. We are cursed in the UK with ever cheaper, nastier machines of all sorts. I have little sympathy with the "budget" customers these days - they know they're buying cheap, yet they expect cheap service. Problem is, you can buy a washer for £180 over here (if you really want to!) - it still has a £100 computer board and a £90 motor. All these cheap machines are one step away from landfill.....

So, no "free call-out" under any circumstances, I'll give you a diagnosis on the phone, but, if you want me, you pay.......

I struggle to keep up with my work load, so I'm obviously doing something right!

Penguin45.