Customer tried to repair Direct Drive before calling Me out

[Wedgeman55]

• Don't you just love when a customer attempts to repair a machine before you get there?

Get a call to go fix a Direct Drive whirlpool about 5 months ago.   Upon arriving and walking in the back door,  the man tells me it should be easy for me to find the problem as he already has the machine apart.   Whoooo Boy,  another do it your self project gone bad.     I get to the machine, this genius had taken apart the backsplash,  had all of the switches, timer out.   Had the water valve out,   Back of machine was pried because he didn't know to take off the cabinet.   Tried prying the top,  it was all chipped.   He said the machine wouldn't run at all.   I checked and found the timer's internal push pull switch was bad,  and all the machine needed was a timer.    He bragged he knew where all the screws and parts went.    I said "Good,   I'll get you a timer but I want you to put machine back together before I come back or it will cost you a helluva lot more."    I ordered timer, and when I came back he had it back together,  All I had to do was straighten and repair back,  and install the timer.    I told him Never, ever take any appliance apart like that again. It is much easier to diagnose when machine is together.   
 
Just last week on July 3rd,  get a call from him his icemaker wasn't working.    First thing he tells me is that I shouldn't worry,  He was not going to touch it.   Went there and changed valve.  He learned his lesson well........................Time for a nice, chocolate iced cinnimon roll from my favorite doughnut shop.   

[AJ]

Happens every now and then to me too.

[AJ]

Just going on a call for a Frigidaire front load washer.
The guys said his pump needs to be cleaned out.

He got some of the coins out, but can't get them all out of that black hose thing, this should be fun.

[theoldstoveguy]

I will never forget my Mom and Dad's neighbor (real cheap) called about a dryer "no heat" Went over there and he had it in 50 pieces. Reassembled the dryer and reset the circuit breaker and charged him for 45 minutes of work. He never touched another appliance again.

[JWWebster]

My brother brought me his machine late yesterday. Timer out motor out. I am loading the video as we speak. 22 minutes long. Might take all day to get er did. LOL

[haroldsappliance]

Takes longer to reassemble than it does to repair in most cases. You have to charge extra.

[AJ]

I got kind of got lucky on the front loader this morning.
Customer had pulled the washer out and taken the back off, but had it back on and the washer back in place when I got there.
It was one of them frigidaire front loaders that don't have a access panel in the front near the floor so you have to remove the top and the front of the washer to access the pump, or at least that is the way I do them.

[haroldsappliance]

I got kind of got lucky on the front loader this morning.
Customer had pulled the washer out and taken the back off, but had it back on and the washer back in place when I got there.
It was one of them frigidaire front loaders that don't have a access panel in the front near the floor so you have to remove the top and the front of the washer to access the pump, or at least that is the way I do them.

Talk about a pain in the 455. 

[Wedgeman55]

     Frigidare - depending on model I do from the back.   but the edges are sharp,  and I usually end up slicing up my forearms on the metal working on the pump.   I've had a few customers that try to work on them themselves,  but have a real tough time getting the boot back on.    You guys are right, though,  you have to charge extra if it is already taken apart.   
 
     I do a lot of commercial laundry equipment (Wascomat, Huebsch, Continental, etc.)  and I get to a machine that they've (customers)  been trying to fix for weeks,  then they call for help.    - Walk in,  it was a 100lb Huebsch commercial washer.   As I walk in,  she tells me she hopes I don't charge too much because they don't have much money.   (They own a Hotel.......right   Should have walked out right then.  )    The lady told me her cousin was an electrician and tried to fix it,  and handed me the timer in a bag.   Burnt and In pieces.    I had a bad feeling, and should have just walked right out.   But Noooooooo,   I go in.    I look inside machine,  there were 60 wires just hanging there.   She Said timer exploded.   What a mess.   Her cousin didn't know how to wire it and gave up.   I call up parts distributor,  and found a new timer for that machine 525 dollars.  No Schematic,  so I'm thinking I have to call factory to get diagram,  repair burn't wires,  rewire and who knows what else they screwed up.   Give her estimate,  3-4 hours,  plus timer at the least.     Then,  She hands me a piece of paper from some internet sight that rebuilds timers and says I can get the timer alot cheaper there.    I calmly packed up my tools,  and meter,  and told her to find another repair man.   Morale------Sometimes it's better to just walk away and head to the next job.   No matter what,  they were cheap and didn't want to pay to have the machine repaired properly.  Some customers are better as ex-customers.   That machine new was around 25,000 dollars.     

[tgoods]

I find direct drives with the back off all the time.  No biggie, it doesn't take long to put it back together. 
The worst was a stack Frigidaire washer/dryer.  The tenant decided he was going to help me fix the dryer by trying to separate it from the washer.  It took me 2 minutes to replace the bad door switch and an hour and a half to put it back together.  Then I got to explain to the landlord why the bill was so high.

[AJ]

The lady told me her cousin was an electrician and tried to fix it,

 


Someone relative is always a electrician or better yet a engineer.


I had to fix a refrigerator one time for a guy that was a retired engineer.
When I got there he had some theory as to why it was not cooling correctly.


I don't remember just what his theory was, but he was wrong.
The evaporator fan stopped running and needed to be replaced.


So then he had to make it more complicated then it was and try to figure out why the fan had quit working and such, lol...


Just let me replace the motor and move on. After all the refrigerator is like 20 years old. You can think about why the motor quit after I leave.


When I left he was still examining the old fan motor trying to figure out why it no longer worked.