Totem Appliance & Refrigeration Ltd

***Before we posted this review, we have posted it with a video of a Totem's technician KEN on Google Maps app. However, the review was still awaiting moderation. So we post the story here, with only photos. Once the original review is published we will remove this one.***

My husband called Totem to schedule a repair because one of our ovens did not heat up. At such time he paid the initial fee $159 + taxes + 2% fee, $170.29 in total but he forgot to tell me about the payment. He was told that after their technician diagnostic, we will receive quote for parts and labour as additional charge and then pay for that, which was reasonable. Then, Ken came and diagnosed the range. He did NOT quote the cost, instead, he replaced a new igniter which was a simple job. The oven worked. I was told $327 in total. As I knew there was a $159 initial fee for diagnosing, I asked Ken if his quote included the $159 fee. His answer was YES, and this was all to pay, with only 2% additional credit card charge. After I agreed, Ken said Totem's website showed INCORRECT price of $120 for the part, and should be higher. He spent time on his laptop much longer than replacing the part and said $352. With each quote, he confirmed twice that these two amounts included the $159 initial fee. Had I known that my husband paid for it up front, I would have corrected Ken immediately. When we knew Ken charged the second initial fee, we did not block the transaction. Instead, we decided to deal with customer service, as it was a simple mistake by Totem. After my husband requested the refund, we received our invoice. The part was $119.6 clearly on it. Ken charged $25 more for himself. They made up the invoice to match his overcharge as the labour of $343. We requested Totem to refund the second initial fee plus the $28.56 ($25+taxes+2%), totaling $198.85. For a business, except quality work, customer care is equally important. However, the person, who was in charge "never had a chance" to look into this matter until one week later, when we contacted him again. Never happened with a service provider! Finally the person replied that the total cost still was $529.39, including labour of $184.19. Had Ken quoted the amount of labour for replacing an igniter, I would say NO, use another oven and find another service provider with a transparent cost structure. The person was informed by Ken that he "quoted" me before repairing. Ken definitely had no idea how our surveillance system works in the house. We saved all of records from his service call as needed! We were taken for a ride for $198 just to replace a simple part.

Before I posted this review, we received refund offers from Totem. They offered a refund $24 and then changed to $66. Also mentioned warranty which was not related to the issue. Not acceptable!

Research before you book!

Do not use Totem Appliance & Refrigeration, your bill will likely be $500 over booking through through the manufacturers website; look for a flat rate charge.

If you own an LG product for example, DO NOT book through Totem, book on LGs website for their flat rate $350 fee.
Totem will charge over $800 for the same job.

Totems charges.
Freight $22.00
Dispatch Fee $159.00
Labour $525.00
GWF $110.00
Sub Total $816.00
Taxes $50.04
Total $866.04

At minimum, ask for a list of all predetermined charges, or what flat rates they will charge to know how much more it will cost to use Totem then to book a repair through your appliances manufacturer.

If we paid the $159 to Totem, then had the sense to stop dealing with them and book through LG on their offered flat rate we would still have saved money.
And it would have been Totem, now sent by LG doing the repair, for significantly less money.

Totem took over a week to diagnose an already diagnosed issue and repair our fridge.
The first charge was mandatory $159 for a tech to diagnose the issue.
The tech spent less than 3 minutes in our house agreeing our fridge wasnt working.
LG provided the parts, we were charged the shipping.
(LG used parts known to fail in their fridges, as a result a class action suit was launched. Likely why they pay for the parts when the fridge is out of warranty.

It was explained that there would be additional charges to preform the service.
It was not explained we would be flat rated off a blue book value and predetermined charges for welding and shipping totalling over $700.
The tech did the removal and install in approximately 45 minutes.

If you book LGs flat rate, you will get the same parts and oddly enough, Totem does the install. For over $500 more.
Our want to support a local business cost us over $500.

I requested a partial refund, my request was denied, Totem has taken the stance that this is acceptable business practices.

A new control board was replaced 8 months ago because the fridge was freezing the food and wasnt able to control the temperature. The technician replaced it costing me $442 and now only 8 months later its acting up again, and again another control board and a damper is needed.. cost is $500
They tell me that the part only has a 90 day warranty from the manufacturer. When speaking with her customer service, Im getting very little information on why! The ridiculous park, is the technician only visited for about five minutes, makes me wonder how we can figure it out in five minutes that its a damper on a control board! Never using them again and well never recommend them again sorry Totem - youre out!!!

LG Fridge, 1 year old. Needed a new compressor and dryer.

Totem sent a tech to diagnose, which was 30 minutes. They came back 3 days later with the parts and fixed the fridge - 45 minutes.

This was a warranty job. 1 technician at my house for a total of 75 minutes in total over 2 visits and I was charged $710. I questioned why the hourly rate was so ridiculously high, and was told they don't charge hourly rate but a set fee.

Company tried to fix dryer, was rude during process and could not repair properly at all.

Head Office was very efficient. Appointment was set up to my liking and Tristan the technician called the morning of the appointment to confirm the time. Tristan was super pleasant, friendly, knowledgeable, organized and helpful answering some questions I had about my refrigerator. I would definitely recommend Totem Appliance.
I was very happy with my North Vancouver Technician.

Our washing machine stopped working so I called Totem Appliance Repair to arrange an appointment. I was pleasantly surprised when I was told the repair person could come the next day. Kyle arrived at the agreed upon time and quickly determined the problem was with the pump. He replaced it and was finished in less than an hour, a very professional job

Sept 10 2020, I called them to service a bloomberg dryer in my suite. The first appointment they had was 1 week later. Technician came by and mentioned that a part needs to be ordered and replaced . I asked how long will that take he said about two weeks. The next day I received an email from Totem, that the part for my dryer has arrived . I called to schedule a call as advised in the email but they said that even though the part has arrived the technician will not be available until Oct 5th,2020 which is 18 days from his visit and 25 days from the time i called them to schedule a service call. Inspite of the fact that I was promised by the technician at the initial visit that the dryer will repaired , " as soon as the part arrives ". In summary the part was available & delivered to Totem , 1 day after it was ordered, but the Technician is the one who is not available to install the part for over 2 weeks. I have contacted several other service companies and they were all ready to send a technician in a matter of a couple of days ; which makes it clear that Totem is either understaffed or have some internal logistics issues while us customers have to pay the price of waiting as they are not able to fulfil the service in adequate time. I have contacted their office several times and 1 . Requested a sooner service Result : didnt happened and the receptionist responded when asked after numerous calls " we can't force the technician to answer his phone". 2 . To Talk to a manager (about 1 one week ago) . Result: I have never heard from a manager for over 1 week in spite of being promised that a manager will call me back in 24 to 48 hours. 3. Purchase the part so that I can arrange to have it installed sooner by another service company. Result : The receptionist responded that its not possible. 4. I have asked for a refund for the initial service call of $139.93 Result: they never answered my email or returned my call. I finally ordered the part myself and reached out to another service company. The part arrived and dryer repaired in exactly 3 business days.

I was unlucky to deal with Totem twice recently (because I was told that they are the ONLY service provider for Liebherr fridge/freezer).

For the Liebherr fridge/freezer Totem technician came to see why (after renovation) our built in unit is slightly miss aligned. He told us that a long screw used to align rear foot is broken and he needs to order the WHOLE REAR FEET UNIT from Liebherr (it was son September 11th, 2019). Part was ordered and I was told that it will take about two weeks to get it. I called them three weeks later to see when service will be provided and was told that technician sent part back "by mistake", they will order part again and will come later. Yet again, few weeks later, I called them and had technician scheduled for last week. On a day when service supposed to be provided I got a call with question when I would like to have a service!? When i told than that is supposed to be on that day I was told that they have a "glitch in their system" and that they have to reschedule it for next week (November 5th, 2019). Day before scheduled repair technician called me and told me that he ordered a "wrong part" and that I have wait more and more.

I finally got a contact for different service provider, he told me over the phone that, most likely, screw is just detached and, if I pull fridge out, I can do it myself.

Do to your self favor DONT USE THIS COMPANY

I had ice buildup on my ice machine and few dark displays on my Samsung fridge first time technician diagnose the problem and ordered the necessary parts , after 3 weeks got call from office Renuka booked appointment for parts installation ok so far so good!
Technician arrived and said that was ordered wrong parts and must reorder !
After second attempt he installed all parts and left ( without make sure if problems was solved)
Next day I’ve called back because my ice machine start leak on my floor and display problem wasn’t solved ! ( and one of the parts was broken)
Technician came back after few days tried to fix the water leak and said don’t use ice machine until tomorrow!
Right after he left I noticed that my display not working at all not and I’ve turned the ice on and nothing!!! No ice machine no display
OMG I’ve called Renuka again she sent other technician and still nothing working!!
Now after 6 months of repairs and parts still my 7000$ fridge don’t have ice machine and no display
Renuka said that they have to check with Samsung and I’m waiting for response over 3 months now
Unbelievable service