6 replies to this topic

[kingsx]

I was just called for service for a really nice lady
who said the "heater' on her GE Dryer was replaced a few months ago, but it didn't fix the problem, and the guy hasn't been returning her phone calls. She just needs it fixed.

After making sure she gave a fair chance for the original to return, I said I'd go there asap.
I arrived later that day to find a a hateful GE Gas Dryer.
Apparently it had received a new heater recently,
and shrugged it off. A gas dryer.....
Can't say as I blame it.

What on earth could possibly have cost almost 500 dollars
within this last year,  for another company to repair?
 What repair,  pray tell could she have purchased
for eleven times the real value
of her crappy old new style GE dryer?

  Well...   last year,
a noise problem caused the rear bearing,
and the glides to be replaced for over $200.
But two or three of the glides look suspiciously worn and stretched to me, for less than a years use.
I digress, that's not the problem now.

Then,  maybe six months later,  the clothing started taking a few hours to dry, so it cost another roughly 250 for the same gentleman to change her valve coils.
When this did not work as a solution a temperature selector was also provided for the customer.

When this also failed to solve the problem,
the customer was informed that it heats now,
and he wasn't interested in coming back again.
If it still didn't work, she should 'Pray to God".

 Can you believe this?

If her preferred method of appliance repair
was to simply pray,
why did she need to spend over 400 plus tax first?
Couldn't that questionable method of mechanical repair,
 have been tried without the consultant fee?
He could have phoned in that wonderful bit of advice
for free.

Now I'm a Christian myself,
 but I pray for people not appliances.
That might be why God made appliance servicers.

If one of my customers had spent that much in a year,
I'd give them a free motor job if it was needed in the next.

Isn't that nice. the unit is fixed in the mind of the "technician"
because it  "went on"
and the extra hour of drying time now required of her busy washing schedule is the owners fault.
As we all know.
 Any slow drying dryer can fire up initially.....
We are supposed to figure out why it won't dry,
by figuring it out.

By the way it vents strongly to the outdoors.....

This  company is giving love  (for us)  a bad name!

It's not like we're getting too much.
 

[Scottthewolf]

Here's 2 of my favorite calls where a "so called" technician had already worked on the appliances before me and made me look like a hero.

I went out on a Fisher & Paykel dishdrawer that had been leaking. The link support that holds the wiring harness and the hoses up out of the way of the lid seal was broken. The previous  "so called" authorized warranty servicer for Fisher & Paykel taped up the broken link support with duct tape. Some warranty repair, huh?

The second one was on an Amana top load washer. Sears was out and replaced the drive belt with a GE washer belt.

Now, we all now that a GE washer belt won't work because it doesn't have the material to allow it to slip, because in the GE washers, the clutch does the slipping not the belt.

The Sears tech told the customer she needed to have the transmission replaced.  I go to install the correct belt and find that the water pump also needed replacing because it had leaked ontop of the motor pulley. I replaced the water pump and the drive belt and the machine worked perfect.

It made me look like a hero.

Being an ex-Sears technician,  all service mangers for Sears are obsessed in making all their techs get first time completed calls, therefore many techs try to improvise with whatever parts they have on the van, rather than ordering the right parts.  Little bit by little bit, Sears is building their own grave. I wonder how long it will take for Frigidaire and Whirlpool to wake up and smell the coffee that they need to improve their warranty rates so independently owned servicers will want to do their warranty work.

[KurtiusInterupptus]

O.k. I'll play.

So I'm at this customer's house, doing a repair on the fridge and happened to notice the clean light flashing on his KA DW. Sure enuf, 7 flashes. I ask him about it and he tells me a local guy has already looked at it and ordered a new " controller" for it. Being the inquisitive type, I asked if he minded if I took a quick peek at it. He said sure and proceeded to add that the machine had worked fine at his old house and had been removed and in storage for 6 ,months.

Hmmmm....

I go and open the door and first thing see the soap cup open, all dripping and dried runnin' down the inner door.

I return to the control panel and punch up the diagnostic function test.... You know, to clear the flashing light, so I could actually RUN the unit and stuff.....

Started up the normal cycle and listen for water...listen for water.....no water. I confirm with my trusty METER-  120vac but no flow-  then cracked the nut just a little to make sure there was pressure... bad inlet valve fer sure.

 While on the way to the truck for his valve I considered whether I should  tell Joe Customer that his local repairman( 20+ years in the business and an acquaintance of his) was either a crook or a parts changing monkey or very possibly, both , since he couldn't have made the diagnosis of a failed control without at least clearing the flashing light.

And tell him I did ,after expediting his repair(worked perfectly) and reveled in the pure joy of another jive-turkey repairman....exposed!:evil:

[BrntToast]

cheats make it tough for us honest ppl, i had a customer one time call for a friggy front load not spinning, tested machine and changed speed board

informed customer i had changed board, it had a 5 year part warranty,she had to pay the labour and service call.

customer frowned then stated they had a new speed board installed a year before by another company and had paid close to $300 for the part and labour

i explained to the customer not all servicers are authorized to do frigidaire warranty, so it is possible the last guy didn't know the board was still under warranty 

now... that is plausable deniability,but....

this was where i bit my tongue and left knowing the customer was happy with my service, i never mentioned that as far as plausable deniability goes, there aint a chance in hell that the last guy happened to have in stock a speed board that had a manufacure date stamp that was 3 years old and within weeks of the washers manufacture date, that board had never been changed!!!!!!

 

[Scottthewolf]

I have another SEARS story for you. A Sears tech was out before me on a Frigidaire built stacked laundry center, (top loading washer).  The customer gave him a good description of the problem, it will fill with water and go through the agitation, but just stops when it comes to drain and spin.  The Sears tech was out there 2 weeks ago, said it needed a timer, he ordered the timer, charged the customer $185.00 for the trip charge and the timer, timer arrives at the customer's house, first appointment that was scheduled for the tech to come out and install the timer was rescheduled because the tech was running late on his calls, the rescheduled appointment was cancelled because the tech called in sick, so the customer tells Sears to forget it and not to even come back.  Then she calls us to come and install the timer for her. I tell her she probably doesn't even need the timer, it's probably the lid lock assembly that failed. I bring the lid lock with me on the call, when I get there I test the machine in the spin cycle, sure enough it's dead, I jump the lid lock assembly out, and it goes into drain and spin. I replace the lid lock, and I tell the customer I was right, the timer wasn't even needed. The customer is so elated that I knew what was wrong with the machine before I even came out to her house, but she is so fed up with Sears that she's going to call Customer Relations and demand a FULL refund for the timer and the trip charge.

When I worked for Sears I KNOW I never guessed at what part was wrong, I took the time to diagnose the machine correctly.  Sears HAS to stop forcing so many calls on their techs and screening their technicians better than they do when the hire them.

[Scottthewolf]

Oh yeah, remember SEARS stands for Selling Everything and Repairing S%^&

[dje123]

thats why its good to train ur techs also some common sense helps too