Able Appliance Repair

On September 21, 2018 I called Able Appliance repair to set up an appointment to fix my 2017 Samsung refrigerator’s icemaker. I had gone through Angie’s list for a repairman. Susan Cox answered the phone and I set up an appointment with her for between 9-10 on October 1. The technician, Gary Cox was a no show so I called the company and was told that my appointment was for after 12. I disputed this with her and she asked if after 12 would be ok. I told her no and set up another appointment for Friday, October 12 between 9-12. At 11 am on the 12th I called Able’s to make sure Gary would be showing up by 12. I was told he would be running late. That was ok. He arrived by 12:30. Once Gary was here he had the required part for the ice maker and I left him to take care of it. About half hour later asked me to come into the kitchen. As I was about to enter I heard a very loud buzzing from the refrigerator and asked him what that noise was. He told me it was the compressor. I said that that refrigerator had never made any noise like that at all. One of the reasons we purchased this model was because it was quiet except when the ice dumped into the tray. He continued to insist that that was a normal sound. I told him no and that it would need to be fixed. The noise was unacceptable and not the way he found it. I also immediately noticed there was a trail of water from the refrigerator to my sink. I have tile floor so I got some tea towels and paper towels to wipe it up with. There was also a puddle of water on my table. Mr. Cox made no effort to clean up any of the water. He told me that he had replaced the icemaker but in the process of removing the old icemaker he had broken off a cooling/heating element due to the amount of ice in the area. He told me the icemaker would still work just give it some time to make the ice. I told him that would be fine. He then said he would be back on Monday to replace the element. The cost of the work was 245$. I was extremely hesitant to write him a check since the work was not completed but I did. About 15 minutes after he left I had a second thought that since the work was not complete I shouldn’t pay so I called the bank and stopped payment on the check. I then called Able’s and spoke to Gary’s wife Susan and started to ask her about the broken part and she handed the phone to Gary. I asked him what exactly the part was. He told me it was a heater coil that heated up when the ice was ready to dump into the bucket. It loosened it up. I then asked him “well don’t I need that in there to make the ice so it will dump”. He told me no because the ice making unit was new and there wasn’t a calcium buildup on it yet. I then told him that the noise was unacceptable and that when he came he would have to fix that. I also told him that I stopped payment on the check and that once all repairs were completed I would let the funds go through. His response was “Wow”. Then I began to ask him when he would be at my home on Monday and he hung up. I immediately called him back, his wife answered and I told her I wanted a time when he would be coming to my home with a 2 hour window. She started to say she didn’t know but I insisted and she then asked Gary and told me Monday morning between 9 and 11. That was fine with me and the call ended. After the phone call I checked the refrigerator (not the icemaker) because I noticed there was a very odd odor coming from it. When I looked inside I noticed here was a large amount of water under the vegetable drawers that Gary had not cleaned up. I wasn’t sure what the odor was. The noise as well had now taken on various degrees of volume. I waited until my husband came home (about 15 minutes). Before he even entered the kitchen he asked me what that smell was. I told him it was coming from the fridge. When we then opened the fridge the temperature had risen. My husband then pulled the tray out of the icemaker. The icemaker that Gary had “installed” was hanging partially into the ice tray. We closed everything up and began to look for a repairman to come and give us a prognosis on the entire refrigerator. After doing some research online I determined the odor was Freon. Gary left the items he had taken out of the icemaker. After we looked at them we noticed part of the plastic on the icemaker was literally torn. The plastic was about 1/8 to ¼ inch thick and looked like he had twisted and yanked on it to get it out. We ended up unplugging the refrigerator at about 5 p.m. as the noise was continuous and the inside was now room temperature. This all happened on a Friday so I looked online to find someone for Saturday. I called a company called AAA Appliance Service and spoke to Paula. This company is opened 24 hours Monday through Saturday. I asked if a tech could come out and look at the fridge and she said probably not there wasn’t anyone in the area. I then asked her if she knew anyone who I could call to get service. She said I should try Able’s. at that point I said no they are the cause of the problem. She said she would call ken, a technician that can fix a lot of appliances that seem “unfixable”. Ken arrived around 6 p.m. that evening. He was very knowledgeable and informative. The first thing he did was remove the “new icemaker” (since it was hanging in the ice bucket). We showed him the old parts. He said that once the element had been removed it broke the seal on the refrigerator. These fridges are a sealed unit and shouldn’t be opened. He told us Gary probably didn’t defrost the unit and just moved the part up and down trying to get the ice off it and in the process snapped it off. The tear on the ice maker was caused because Gary didn’t remove the screw so he pulled on it and tore the plastic to get it out. We asked Ken about repairing the unit and he said it would be extremely costly to do. We asked him, as an expert technician, his opinion on us having it repaired (not for us to pay for it as we didn’t create this problem) and he said he wouldn’t do it. Ken gave us his card and told us we could have Gary call him. Gary called us a bit later and asked us how our refrigerator was running. I told him it wasn’t and he responded with an “I thought so. I guess I owe you a new refrigerator”. I told him yes and that I had purchased the fridge at Lowes. He said he would buy me another and he would put it on a Lowes credit card but since my card will cover an extra year warranty I purchased it and had him agree to pay for it. I got it on sale and gave him two months to pay it off, which he did. Total cost for fridge: $2,740.87. This doesn’t include the cost for the food that I lost nor the cost for a small dorm fridge to have some cold items. Extremely disappointed with this technician. I would not recommend this company and would relate my experience.

They are absolutely horrible. Our dryer knob broke off, to turn dryer on, and we called one week ago to get it fixed, as our home insurance company gave us their name. They didn't come out on their scheduled time and made my wife miss a doctors appointment for one of my children and still no show. We have 4 children and need a dryer, not to mention they are in school. So I called and wanted to reschedule and she said all we have is 3:40-4:00. We have children. We have told them that not less than 8 times. So they came out and then left. We paid them the insurance deductible ($125). Well they forgot about us, so on Friday I called insurance, they said they had not heard from ABLE. So I called ABLE they said it was the other way around. So I got placed in the middle between two children arguing about who was correct and no one willing to fix the dryer. So I looked up part on line and it was $40 dollars for a complete set knob and switch. Figured maybe I would try to fix it myself. My wife convinced me that we had already paid them $125 and they needed to finish. So I called back this past weekend to determine what the schedule would be? She wanted to schedule at, guess what time, 3:30-5:00. So Monday night the owner calls and says he will be out there to fix the dryer between 9-10:30. Then 10:30 rolls around and guess what? No show...So I called Tuesday (which would be one week, replacing a simple on/off switch now). She asked for 3:30-5:00 even after I actually just explained we had children yet again. Then she went on to tell me that she had me confused with a Mr. Perez...Seriously? But we can not schedule you in...So the repair man shows up anyway at 11:30 and wants us to pay an additional $150 (Total $125 + $150 = $275). $275 for a knob replacement? Cost $40 online and I can understand a mark up but 3.75 x markup really? I don't mind paying for labor but to mark up a part that much??? Please do not waste your time...they are not organized and can't seem to communicate with office and repairmen. And do not call for they don't answer and it goes to a voicemail box that is full. Now we get to start over after one week...she did state we would get refunded, but I am sure that will take 6-8 weeks and I'll have to call daily to remind them...good times...

Horrible! He had to come out 7 times and never fixed the problem. I had to have someone else come out that fixed it in 1/2 hour.

I have lived in San Antonio for over 40 years, and have thus used many of the appliance repair companies to no satisfaction until I found Gary Cox and Able Appliance Repair, and unlike the other companies that were unreasonably expensive, not timely in the repairs, or just unresponsive, Gary Cox and Able Appliance Repair were exceptional. Therefore, I absolutely refer him and will keep referring him, as well as using him for my future appliance repair needs! So give Gary a call!