Ars Repair & Installation

This is the first negative view I have ever written, but the way this company handled our complaint about the unqualified technician that came to service our Thermador induction cooktop was quite unbelievable and I do not want others to have a similar experience (although a couple reviews here tell me we are not the first). We had been getting system error messages on the cooktop with increasing frequency, resulting in not being able to use it for sometimes days at a time.

After walking into the kitchen and seeing the appliance was an induction cooktop, the technician told us we were probably using the wrong pots and that only cast iron could be used on induction. We've had this cooktop for 7 years and have been using the same pots specifically for induction cooktops, so the problem was not our pots! He didn't believe us, so we set a pot of water on to boil. This was our first clue that he didn't know a thing about induction cooktops. He also told us that the humming sound when the pot was boiling was a sign that the we were using the wrong pots. However, the manual and Thermador website both clearly state humming sounds are normal and to be expected. He then told us that we must not be putting on our pots in the right places on the cooktop. We have a Freedom cooktop which means the entire surface can be used in many configurations of pots and pans, so again, he didn't know what he was talking about. All this was said with doing nothing more than turning on the cooktop for the water to boil. He repeatedly told us the entire cooktop would need replacing as you could not replace parts. At this point, we knew he didn't know anything about this cooktop from what he had been saying and having not even examined it and just wanted to get him out of our house. (This is during COVID isolation when we've had no family or friends in our house, so having this technician keep on talking in our kitchen about nothing of value was unsettling).

We emailed the company the next day laying out the issues and requested a refund for sending us an unqualified and unknowledgeable technician who did absolutely nothing except wrongly blame us for the cooktop's problems. Instead of addressing our complaint, we received an email back saying the technician "found" a problem with the control panel and they were pricing a new one. Now, how he found a problem without even looking at anything is beyond me, and how he knew which control board we needed is a mystery since he asked nothing about the cooktop.

We emailed again as our concerns were ignored, and were told that their policy clearly states no refunds for service calls and were given a quote for a replacement control panel. The audacity of them to think we would welcome this technician back in our home to fix the cooktop when we were clearly telling them the technician didn't even understand the basics of an induction cooktop was astounding!

Meanwhile, we had a Thermador factory technician come in to service the cooktop, and they fixed something very minor right away, examined the cooktop for airflow and fan function to see if overheating was causing the problem, and told us the only way to know what component needed replacing is to see the error code (which ARS technician said nothing about). After the error code was displayed, it was determined that the left relay board needed replacing NOT the control panel as the ARS technician "guessed"). We will only use Thermador technicians for our kitchen appliances in the future.

My advice would be to steer clear of this company, as you don't know if you will get a technician who is knowledgeable or not, and if you get one who is not, you will be paying for nothing at best, and at worst, possibly get sucked into further charges for botched repairs. If you do choose to go with this company, I highly suggest confirming that the technician coming to your home has experience with the appliance they are coming to service.

I will say that on the surface, they seem to have great customer service. You can track the technician's progress throughout the day to have a sense of when they will arrive at your place, and emails were answered. However, since they do not take customer complaints about technicians seriously, I expect they will continue sending out unqualified technicians.