A Star Appliance Service Co

The evening before this service call, I was baking, heard a fizz and watched the baking element burn out in my oven. I had the opportunity to research this issue the evening before and found a replacement part for about $30. I also saw that there was a how to repair video. I decided not to wait for the part and my husband to get this done so I called several places I round online (all before joining Angie's List). One got no answer. Another wanted $65 for the service call, another only $45 as well but said it could be more than the element so I thought that was the precursor to "it's going to be a big deal". I opted for these guys, gal answered was nice and professional, they were really close by, coming out same day, window of 12-2 for arrival, and the $45 service call went toward repair of which i was anticipating to be about $100 based on my research. The gal called back, said the guy has a 12N call, it'll be 1-2pm. Great!!! She called to let me know, gave me only a 1 hr window - awesome. The guy arrives on time, promtly at 1pm - add points. He parks in my driveway - deduct points. He is dressed in such a way that my assistant who opened the door had know way of knowing that he was the repair guy - deduct points. Understand, I'm fine w/jeans, even a t-shirt but having a logo or patch printed or monogrammed for a shirt, hat, jacket or something is cheap. It lets me know you are who I think you are and lends credibility. Unfortunately, he reeks of smoke as well, more points deducted - sorry. The estimate takes all of 5 minutes which doesn't surprise me, it was fairly self evident. Then I get the proposed cost of $224.00. $80 for the element and $140 for the labor. NO WAY. I felt ripped off. I was left with the feeling that he never intended to actually do the repair just collect my service call money. Hindsight being 20/20, how could you have a 1hr appt window and get the repair done too? I bought this element online for a little over $50 and paid about $60 to include expedited shipping. I also paid more than other sites based on the return policy and the fact that this site have videos and support. We flipped off the power, unscrewed 2 screws, popped off 2 clips and in under 15minutes of "labor" I had a working oven again.

We called A Star Services to fix our leaky washer. The woman at the answering service was friendly and polite, scheduling a quick appointment for the following day. Sergey, the repairman, called to see if he could come an hour earlier than scheduled, and he was prompt and corteous. After spending less than five minutes with the washing machine, he determined that the problem was a hose that had disintegrated at the base of the unit, which had to be replaced. He had to order the part, but was able to obain it, then returned to install it two days after the initial encounter, which took less than 15 minutes. This service cost $176, but that's not too bad, given the price of a new washer. However, two days after this repair, the washer started leaking again. We called A Star back, and they promptly sent out a different repairman who determined that yet another hose was disintegrated due to age and use. He stated that he would have to order this other hose and would be back in a few days to replace the bad one for another $154. None of this would have been necessary had the first repairman checked all the hoses and replaced all the ones that needed replacing at the time of the first repair. I mean, all the hoses are the same age, and thus, one would expect them all to be in equal states of disintegration, right? When we called to speak with a manager regarding this issue, it took a few hours for one to be located and call us back, and they were unwilling to give any kind of discount for the labor to replace the second hose because it was "a different problem." No, it's the same problem, just a different hose. We're going with someone else more thorough to replace the hose and to see if there might be some other issue that was missed by A Star.