APPLIANCE DOCTORS

First of all the guy was very late, he answered personal phone calls, didn't complete the work correctly and had to come back. He did in the end get everything working good, but it was just a stressful situation.

The first repair was to remedy water on the floor around the washer. We contacted Appliance Doctors on 9/8/2009, and they came on 9/10/2009. They diagnosed a problem with the transmission, which was still on warranty. We paid $168.50 on 10/1/09 for labor to install a new transmission. During this repair they got grease on an area rug in the room, and took $30 off their bill (it would have been $198.50) in compensation, but why they didn't move the rug in the first place is beyond us. We continued to get water on the floor after this. On 10/5/2009 they came and diagnosed a problem with a roller on an idler pulley. On 10/10/2009 we paid $147.16 parts and labor for that repair. We continued to get water on the floor after this. The technician then took the washer to their shop to let it run where they could watch it and see why it leaked. They did provide a loaner during this time, which was nice. They brought the washer back after about a week or 10 days, and did not charge us at that time. They indicated that there had been some problem with the splash ring, which they had fixed. It looked like that solved the problem, as we had no more water on the floor. All of this work was done by a technician who we will call "Technician A." We have to wonder about the necessity of the two earlier repairs, costing us $315.66. We are mentioning this repair because we found out, during our ongoing attempts to fix the mess Appliance Doctors left on the second repair (described below), that they had glued the spash ring to the top of the tub, making it much more costly and time consuming to work on the machine. The technician from the company we are working with now to finally get the washer working tells us that there is never any reason to glue down the splash ring. The ring must now be replaced. We are hoping that the tub is not damaged. The second repair, which is essentially ongoing to this day with the new repair service, began on 9/22/2010 when we contacted Appliance Doctors because the washer was failing to spin, leaving the tub full of water. On 9/24 a different technician (Technician B) came out and diagnosed a worn drive belt. On 9/29/2010 he returned and replaced the belt, for which we paid $104.63 parts and labor. The washer worked for a time, but on 11/29/2010 we had to call them again because it had again stopped spinning. Technician B returned on 11/30/2010 and diagnosed a bad idler pulley that he apparently overlooked in September, as well as the need for a brake pad kit. He had us order the brake pad kit, and told us to call in for a new appointment when it came in. We paid $81.10 parts and labor for installing the pulley and brake pad kit on 12/20/10. The brake pad kit from the manufacturer cost us $32.07. The washer continued to fail to spin. This visit on 12/20/2010 deserves additional comment. We were told that Technician B would not be available to come to our home when the brake pad kit came in because he had other repair jobs, and we scheduled a different technician to come out. At the scheduled day and time, nobody showed up. We called Appliance Doctors, and they sent Technician B out, even though he was supposedly not in town that day. When he arrived Technician B informed us that our old friend Techincian A was supposed to have come to install the brake kit, but hadn't because "he didn't want to." Remember that this is the fellow who glued parts of our washer together to stop the leak the year before. The washer continued to fail to spin. After Christmas Technician B returned, and this time diagnosed a bad timer (to which the large knob that selects the wash cycle is attached). He told us he would order the timer, and call us to schedule that repair. We waited and waited. After the first of the year we called thAppliance Doctors and spoke with the person who schedules the technicians. She said she would investigate. Not hearing from her for a couple of days we called back, and she said that Technician B would have to talk to us, and that she knew nothing about it. Soon Technician B called and said that he had forgotten to order the part. He was finally able to come to install the timer on 1/21/2011. We paid $104.02 for the part. Out of embarassment they did not charge labor for that visit. Around 2/21/2011 the washer again stopped spinning. Fed up with Appliance Doctors, we called another repair service. On 2/25/2011 a technician from this service came out, and diagnosed a faulty transmission within minutes. He ordered a new transmission (still on warranty) and came back on 3/4/2011 to install it. It was then that he found that the spash ring had been glued to the top of the tub, and informed us that it, along with some support structures that probably cracked because of the failing transmission, would have to be replaced. He will have to bring a second technician with him to work on the tub and splash ring, adding to our labor expense. Over the course of course of 17 months we have been without the use of our washer for approximately three months. During this time we have had the additional expense of doing our wash at a laundromat. Also, as mentioned earlier, we are not convinced that ANY of the repairs we have paid for, other than the inappropriate glueing of the splash ring to the tub, had anything to do with the problems we were having.