SAN DIEGO APPLIANCE REPAIR

I booked an 8-10 AM Appointment and they called at 10 to say the tech would not be making it because he was caught up at another appointment. (The girl who I booked the appointment with said I was his first appointment.) We rescheduled for 3-5. At 5:10 I called to see if he was going to show up. The girl that answered the phone put me on hold because she was going to call the tech to see where he was. I was on hold for 15 minutes and decided to hang up and call back. She then picked up the phone again and put me on hold. After being disconnected, she called me back to tell me the technician was held up at another appointment and wouldn't be making it to my house today. When I asked if I could get a discount on the call out fee of $59 for my waiting around my house for 4 hours she said "no, but we could discount the labor rate 10%". I asked what the labor rate was and she said it is different for each job. (Meaning, they will likely mark up the labor rate 15% and then give me a 10% discount.) UGGGGGHHHHH! DO NOT USE THEM.

This company is actually an aggregator of services based in Los Angeles, so everyone they use in San Diego is a subcontractor. Slava arrived half an hour before the time window and set right to work, emptying the freezer of my 12-year-old Maytag refrigerator, whose lower compartment had become warm. Then he removed the back wall using a drill, unplugged the icemaker, and showed me a grille filled with ice. This is what happens, he said, when the automatic defrost device (some sort of sensor) dies. He asked if I had a hair dryer to help melt the ice in the grille. I supplied one and he spent 40 minutes melting all the ice. When it began to drip onto the floor, I gave him some kitchen towels to use to soak it up. He finally asked if I had a large bath towel. I supplied it, and he spread it on the floor in front of the fridge (which he had pulled out a bit to unplug). Then he asked if I had a pair of scissors, and I supplied that; he used it to strip the wires on the new sensor device (which he had to go out to his truck to get). He installed the device, although he seemed uncertain about just where to plug it in (it didn't seem to me that he plugged it in where the old one had been plugged in), put the ice maker back in (it also plugged in behind the back panel), and put the back panel back in. He had a lot of trouble figuring out how the shelves went back together; I helped him by suggesting the bold move of completely turning one of them around 360 degrees, which worked. Then he plugged the fridge in and it went back on. Cold air was coming into the lower compartment, and he said it would take about 24 hours to stop dripping and get really cold again. It is now six days later and still appears to be working, although I've had to run the temperature control for the lower compartment up to the highest level. He said that I had a 90-day warranty and gave me an invoice from "Ameripro Services, Inc." He had wanted $289, but agreed to give me two discounts I found on the SD Appliance Repair web site: 10 % on labor (on $145.95) and a $20 "manager's special" on the whole job, so he rounded off and gave me $35. The job thus cost $264.70, because the part he'd had to go to his truck to get cost $140 plus tax ($10.85). This all computes, but I did not like the fact that he needed to borrow tools (I offered him a wire stripper when I saw what he was doing with the scissors, and he declined), was unconcerned about the dripping water (which might have ruined a different flooring), and arrived early without calling. Not yet sure it's really fixed, either. Has 90 day warranty on parts, 30 days on labor, but he did not sign the invoice or have me sign in any of the places (authorization to proceed, work completed to my satisfaction). I think $140 is way too much for what is basically a temperature sensor. He was out the door in 45 minutes--wish I made $200 an hour, but that's plumbing, I guess. All just suspicious, not wrong. Oh, he left his phone and had to come back to get it.

They were rude on the phone, abrupt and a negative attitude. They were rude to the rental occupants. But most offensive was the fact that they attempted to convince us to repair the dryer by saying it would cost us at least $700-800 to buy a new one. The estimate they provided was about $300 and represents about 75% of what it would cost us to replace the dryer. The person who made the service call was the business owner, Sam. We were never able to get a last name. Not only would we not recommend this company, we would advise anyone to avoid using them period.