Tolson Appliance Center

Scheduled an appointment for my Viking range. Had to wait two weeks for the one guy who works on Viking. Appointment range of 1-4 pm, took the day off work, and they no-show. When I call they say they have no record of my appointment.

Have used Tolson for over forty years. Have bought several new appliance from them in that time. Highly recommend them to all comers.

In January of this year our Bosch dishwasher broke. Bosch, the company, recommended I use Tolson's as a certified brand servicer or what have you. Big mistake. The service person came in and assessed my washer to have a broken motor that needed replaced. Five months and $500 later my washer broke again, this time continuing to cycle with the water never heating. I did my research and informed Tolson's that is was likely a broken computer board. They made no effort to pre-order a board before the repair visit (not a necessity, but would have been nice considering I was almost certain of what the problem was, based on what I read on Bosch torubleshooting websites. Once again the same Tolson's service person came, and after chatting about himself for 30 minutes decided that the problem with my machine was that it was dirty. He charged me $150 for this revelation, plus an extra $15 for marked-up dishwasher cleaning tabs I specifically told him I did not want to purchase (I didn't have a choice, he said). He left saying I should call him if the problem is not resolved -- call him asap -- and he will get right back to my home to remedy the situation. An hour after he left, with the washer still spouting cold water and seemingly stalled mid-cycle, I called Tolson's to have the service man come back, hopefully that afternoon or if not, the next day. I would have even taken the next day. But no. I called every four days or so trying to get ahold of the service guy, with various managerial staff respectfully listening to my complaints and request for a revisit but failing to make any move towards a solution. TWO WEEKS later the service person finally returned my call, said it was probably a broken computer board (like I told them initially) and asked if he wanted me to order the part, which would then taken another 1-2 weeks to arrive and be installed. By that time I had worked with another appliance repair company in my town that ordered and installed the new computer board within three days (they ordered the piece and brought it with them!). Anyway, here are some other negative points about my experience with Tolson's: -long waiting time between requesting service, acknowledgement of request, service call/assessment, and repair (expect to wait a month or more for the whole process; this is going off working with them in both January and June of 2012)-service person WAY too much of a Chatty Cathy to be charing THAT much per hour; his over-friendliness was uncomfortable and he could not seem to focus on the task at hand (wanted to talk about life, learning, love, travel, etc.)-charged us an $8 mileage fee because gas expensive, despite the actual mileage being under $2 (2.7 miles at .$55/mile is $1.485); I can understand charging for special travel arrangements but they are stationed in my hometown. If they need to surcharge they should at least make the cost reasonable close to what it would be Furthermore, according to my newly hired appliance repair person:-we were overcharged by at least $200 for our initial work (the motor replacement)-often times when there is a motor problem it's jammed, not broken (the service person did not attempt to remove debris, just replaced unit)

I would rate them highly. I would use them again in the future.

RESULT: They sat on the unit for 2 full weeks while my email and phone inquiries for status on the work went unanswered. Did not respect my time and didn't have the basic courtesy to keep me apprised of delays. ACTION: Exasperated, I finally gave up and realized they were never going to inspect the unit and picked up (with a $45 refund, of course). FINDINGS: (1) No apology from service manager for 2-weeks of inconvenience and complete lack of action in scheduling work. No desire to right the situation. (2) Employed 2 HVAC techs - insufficient given searing triple-digit temps and flood of refrigeration calls. Also, helps when 1 of the 2 techs on staff isn't cut loose on vacation! (3) No desire to perform the work because it apparently wasn't profitable to do so. Would have appreciated this candor up-front! Do yourself a favor and think long and hard before looking to Tolsons to service your appliances. This mom and pop has some glaring and obvious deficiencies related to staffing resources, work scheduling, customer service and all critical follow-up.

I was so impressed that Tolsons didn't try to tell me it was a more expensive fix or try to sell me a new one. I would absolutely use them again.