Bizpals having your appliances repaired

Category Appliance Repairs

Having Your Appliances Repaired

Having Your Appliances Repaired

Nothing is more frustrating than having a household appliance that you depend on break down two weeks after the warranty expires! Suddenly you're faced with the prospect of cooking a holiday dinner for twenty-plus family members without your range. Or even more annoying, your refrigerator is out of action and you're using coolers full of ice from the store to keep the milk from spoiling. So what do you do? Should you repair—or replace? Before you being your search on BizPals to find a contractor referral near you, check out our suggestions to help you decide if:

1. your broken appliance can be serviced by the manufacturer,
2. you will need to find your own technician to repair your applicance, or
3. it might be best to replace your broken appliance with a new unit.

Warranty

The first step is to check the date on your warranty. Maybe you actually bought the appliance a month later than you thought, and the warranty is still current. Next, check exactly what the warranty covers. Not all warranties cover both parts and labor. Also, are there fees, such as so-called “processing fees,” that are mentioned in the warranty that you'll be required to pay? Will you be able to take your broken appliance to a factory-authorized repair shop, or will a service professional from the shop come to your home for the repair?
Be aware that if you're required to ship your broken appliance to a remote location, many warranties don't cover those shipping costs. If faced with the prospect of a large bill for shipping a heavy item halfway across the country, you may decide that even if your warranty hasn't expired, it might cost you less to call a local contractor to make the necessary repairs.

Repair or Replace?

When considering whether or not it's worth having your appliance repaired, it's worth checking the Consumer Reports Appliance Ratings for the ratings/reviews on your appliance (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/index.htm ). If it seems that your appliance might break down again in the future, that might well influence your decision. If you find that it's prone to breaking down, you should definitely consider replacing it rather than paying for the first of many repairs. Also, Consumer Reports recommends that you shouldn't undertake any single repair that will cost more than half the price of a new, replacement item. In general, if your appliance is more than 8 years old, Consumer Reports recommends replacement over repair.

Making the Call

Before you call for repair service, write down the brand, model and serial number of the appliance and have them ready for when the customer service representative asks for the information. Not sure where to call? You can find a useful list of manufacturers' customer service phone numbers on the website of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers at http://www.aham.org/consumer/ht/d/Brands/pid/1077.

Evaluating a Service Provider

If you make an appointment with a local appliance repair service provider, you may be given a window of time for the service call rather than a specific time. Ask the contractor if they can call you on your cell phone 15 minutes before the estimated time of arrival (in case you need to run an errand beforehand). When making the appointment, ask if there is a flat rate to diagnose the problem with your appliance. You will still have to pay for parts and labor, but will avoid potentially costly "hourly" charges for the diagnosis.
If the repair technician doesn't have the parts needed for the repair and has to make a second visit, is there an additional fee? When you're evaluating the service provider, feel free to ask questions to make sure that all charges and fees are clearly outlined to you. A good service professional will be more than happy to answer your questions. Here are a some other questions to keep in mind when talking with the repair technician:

• Did the service provider arrive on time, or within the agreed-on window of time?
• Was the problem with your appliance explained to you in a clear manner?
• Did the service provider let you know in advance if an expensive replacement part was needed to fix your appliance?
• If any clean-up was needed after the call, did the service provider do this to your satisfaction?

Now that you've decided to repair/replace your broken appliance, let BizPals help you find the best service provider for your needs.