FRED APPLIANCE

Fred Appliance (Fred) was sent by my home warranty provider (Home Warranty of America) and not a contractor I had researched on my own. I NEVER participate in these reviews but felt obligated to steer anyone away from this contractor who may be considering using him. First, having used HWA home service before, providers contact you within a few hours of your request for service to arrange an appointment. I did not hear from contractor all day having called early that morning. When I did call him late in the day, he answered on a speaker phone & said he was in his car. Since I could not hear him on his phone, I asked him to return my call as soon as he reached his destination. Several hours passed with no return call before I had to call him again. He was not available for a few days and was unable to make an appointment for a specific time. Contractor arrived on the day of our appointment several hours passed the agreed upon time. Due to his late arrival, I could only speak with him for a few minutes. He wasn't the most personable guy but I remained open minded. I explained that I had to run and requested he give my wife a detailed explanation of what work was needed and how long it would take. He informs her that a "service valve" needed replacing and it would take up to ten days to receive and install. Fast forward to 9 and then 10 days later. I attempted to contact Fred but was unable to leave a message because his voicemail was full. After several unsuccessful attempts to reach contractor, I contacted warranty company who were also unable to reach him. I received a return call a few hours later from warranty company stating they had emailed him and that he called them and told him to inform me that he would call me as soon as possible. This was midday and I never received a call. I attempted to reach contractor by phone for 2 more days and finally received a text message back that he would call me that night. Again, no call. Next day, called again, left a message and again I got a text back saying he was still waiting for my part and he did not have an exact date that it would be shipped. I asked contractor to call me to discuss this which he never did. Although he texted me and said that I would have to pay him $330 more than the original agreement. Since this service (and parts) call was covered under my HWA warranty and I had made the standard $100 co-pay, I challenged his new charges and after several back& forth text messages where I informed him that I would be contacting the warranty company to register a complaint, he texted back that he had "made an error" and that I was in fact correct. All of this dialog was conducted by text message and despite several requests for a phone call, I never received one. A few more days passed, (1) day short of 3 weeks from the initial appointment, to my surprise, I reached Fred in person on the phone. At this time, he said that he had NO target date for delivery of my part and was unable to provide a window of when the work would be completed. I requested the company name & number and told him if he was too busy that I could follow up and track down my part shipment. He said that he did not have that information handy and could not tell me when he could follow up. At this point I informed him that I would be recontacting HWA and requesting a new provider. I hate to start over but I have gone nearly a month without a freezer and ice maker. All of the above is an assessment of the the contractor's reliability or lack thereof and his ability to communicate with a customer. He could be the greatest repairman around or the worst...I have no idea. When it comes to getting a problem solved this guy plainly SUCKS! I cannot be more clear on what a pain in the a** this guy was to deal with. The few times I could get a hold of him, his condescending and couldn't care less attitude was irritating to say the least. Through other internet sites, it appears this guy had a shop at one time that is now closed. He now uses a P.O. Box as an address which is a major red flag. Customer beware!