Appliance Repairman

Please, please, please save your money and do not use this company. Just before Christmas, our Bosch dishwasher went on the blink (constantly draining and wouldn't shut off) and I called for a service call. A technician was sent to our home - the day he came, the dishwasher worked through a cycle and so he said there was nothing wrong with it, charged us $80 (the agreed upon fee) and left. Within a few days, the dishwasher started doing the same thing as before - drain cycle would run and run and never stop.

I called back and asked them to send someone again. I requested I not be charged the visit fee as we had already paid $80 for basically nothing a few days before. They said they would reduce it to $50. The repairman came, looked at my dishwasher and said, "I know exactly what it is. I just need to make an adjustment to this valve here." He then proceeded to tell me it would cost $320 to do the repair. I thought, "obviously there's more to it than just adjusting a small valve." I questioned him on the amount and whether it was worth it or not. He said my dishwasher was over a $1,000 machine and it would be worth it because this simple fix would help it last a long time yet. I reluctantly agreed - signed the invoice for a $320 repair that would supposedly fix my dishwasher. I went to the other room to let him do his work.

Less than 30 minutes later (I was shocked!) he said he was done and the dishwasher would work fine now - but I shouldn't use it for a couple of days to let the water in the pan underneath dry out, otherwise it would still continue to think it needed to run the drain cycle.

Also, in the meantime, he had written "Problem not solved - Need new valve assembly $375" on the contract I had signed previously. When I questioned him about this he said, "the problem is fixed, but if it ever happens again in the future, this is what you'll need to do." I asked him why I should pay the $320 for the 30 minutes "labour" he did (no new parts) when I might have to pay another $375 later. He assured me that it was fixed and this was only if something happened down the road in future. I didn't want to pay, but he wouldn't leave my home until I did.

We didn't use the dishwasher for a few days - just to make sure the water had dried up as he instructed. Then on Christmas Eve, we ran a cycle. The dishwasher started up and ran through part of its cycle and then stopped partway through. This had never happened before. Usually, it would run the whole cycle and just get stuck on the final drain cycle. So - not only did he not fix the problem he created another one. Later that evening, I went to my basement and noticed water on the floor. Further investigation showed that now my dishwasher was actually leaking - which it had never done before. Not only did he not fix my dishwasher, but after he 'worked' on it, it was now mysteriously leaking.

It was Christmas Eve and I was WILD. So angry - and the next day was Christmas day. We had people around and a big meal so no time to do anything about the problem. Boxing day I went online and found a great deal on a dishwasher, half price. I purchased it and installed it myself (what I should have done in the first place). Then I called the company a couple days later to complain and was told there was no one in the office who could speak to me about that, could they call me back. Two weeks later I still hadn't received a call, so I called back, asked why no one had called me and told them this whole long story again (they said they had no record of my first call). After being put on hold for a long period of time, the person came back on the phone and said that according to their records, there was no issue and I didn't qualify for any kind of refund. I wasn't even asking for all the money back, just some meaningful kind of consideration for the fact that they hadn't actually repaired anything. They offered me what they called a "$50 goodwill refund", but of course they would need me to sign a waiver before they sent it. I got the waiver in my email about a week later. Signing it would require me to not bring any kind of action against their company and also bind me to non-disclosure to any third party about my experience. So I told them to keep their $50 because I want to tell anyone who will listen never to use this company. They are deceptive and conniving and you will be better off buying a new appliance than working with these people!