How to avoid appliance repair rip-offs
Getting an appliance repaired is a leap of faith. Unless you’re a technician, you don’t have a clue what’s wrong with your fridge or washing machine or whether a repairer has used the right parts or actually replaced the parts they are charging you for.
Listen to the latest Consumerwatch topic below, then read more in the blog.
Hence appliance repair rip-offs are rife.
It’s been quite a while since we’ve featured an appliance repair case on Consumerwatch - listeners who’ve been tuned in for a while will remember the infamous Gumtree Gang which was very active in the early 2000s - they were the dodgiest of the lot and I exposed them relentlessly for years in print and on radio.
I haven’t had a complaint for ages so they either cleaned up their act - doubtful - or closed up shop.
Today’s case involves the Singhs, an elderly couple who live in a flat on Durban’s Berea. When a warning light on their upright freezer came on, they turned to the classifieds section of their local community newspaper and spotted an ad placed by a company by the name of AAA Repairs and made the call.
The Singhs almost R3000 spend
A technician duly arrived at the flat and said two sensors had to be replaced at a cost of R1200. They later discovered that a local spares shop sells those sensors for R200 each.
A few days later, the freezer wasn’t freezing its contents properly.
So they called back AAA Repairs - which uses the name Cooltech Repairs, of Moore Road, on its invoice - and were told the freezer needed a new PC board. Cost: R1700.
They paid up, but another few days later, the freezer still wasn't working properly, after a total spend of R2900.
At that point - January 17- Cooltech took the freezer to its workshop.
It had been there for more than three weeks, despite the pleas of the couple and a friend for its return, when I was asked to intervene.
It was returned to the Singhs on February 6, about three hours after I spoke to Christine, the woman who answers Cooltech’s phone.
It appeared to be working, but I wanted an independent third party to check out what had been done.
A Durban appliance repairer with more than 20 years’ experience kindly agreed to do the inspection, free of charge.
As he’s got more work than he can handle, he asked not to be named.
Here’s what he found: the two replacement sensors weren’t compatible with the plugs in the freezer, so much so that one sensor had disconnected and the internal fan had been bypassed so it no longer de-activates when the door is opened, as intended, he said.
But the biggest problem was a shocker.
The original PC board was removed, and left with the Singhs, as the Consumer Protection Act requires.
PC boards are dated by the manufacturer. The freezer’s original one which the Cooltech technician removed was dated 2000.
The one it was replaced with was dated May 30, 2001.
In other words, the Singhs were charged R1700 for a 17-year-old part which had come out of another appliance
Our technician predicted that given the mechanical issues, the freezer would break down again fairly soon.
It’s been a little more than two weeks, and for now, it’s still working.
But the Singhs paid almost R3000 for a 17-year-old part, a bypassed fan and two R200 sensors, badly installed.
When I put that to Christine, she didn’t deny the fact that the PC board was very old but argued that it was a working part and was totally unapologetic.
The point is the Singhs weren’t told it was not a new part and they were charged a new part price for it.
The sensors have been discontinued, she said, so the technician had to make a plan to fit them to the freezer.
Our technician said the solution was to buy new plugs compatible with the current sensors, rather than trying to make them try to fix the existing plugs.
Asked about a refund - allowing the Singhs to get the job done properly - Christine said if the fridge wasn’t working two months from now they’d refund half of what they’d paid.
Not an appropriate response, in my view, so I’ve urged the Singhs to lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman for Consumer Goods and Services and they intend to do so.
What to do
The CPA states that repairers must give any parts removed from an appliance or car to the consumer. Always make sure that happens.
When you need a repairer, ask for recommendations; don’t just go on the advert. Most people are on Whatsapp groups with our neighbours, our school community, our friends - ask them who they recommend. Word of mouth has never been easier.
It’s a bad idea to dab your appliance’s main parts with a tiny spot of nail varnish in an obscure place so that you can tell if it has been replaced as a technician claims, or not. That’s how we caught out the Gumtree Gang in a Carte Blanche exposé all those years ago.