Checklist 

On our Ratings Tables, you will find some appliance repair services that were rated “superior” for overall quality by at least 90 percent of their surveyed customers. But there are others that received such favorable ratings from fewer than 50 percent. 

Fortunately, some of the area’s lower priced firms are among the ones that rate highest for service quality. In fact, we found that, on average, lower priced firms rate higher on service quality than their higher priced competitors. 

And price differences can be substantial. For example, we found that the price to replace the heating element on a Kenmore dishwasher ranged from $120 to $224 at different shops in the area. 

If your appliance is in warranty, of course, you will have to use a shop that is authorized to do in-warranty repairs for your make, but after the warranty is over, you can expect to be at least as satisfied with a shop that doesn’t perform warranty repairs. We have found that, on average, independent shops rate better than factory repair services (but there are some independents that score low). 

The most common complaint with appliance repair shops is about failure to get the appliance fixed right—sometimes after multiple attempts. Other common problems are missed service appointments, failure to bring the right parts, and delays ordering needed parts. 

To get good service from any firm, describe your appliance’s symptoms and its make and model number when you call for service; check on the phone how the firm charges for service calls (how much time is included in the minimum charge, how charges are figured after the minimum, etc.); and confirm this with the serviceperson when he or she arrives. After the diagnosis is complete, ask the serviceperson to give you a written estimate before proceeding with repairs and get a written invoice before paying—with an itemized list of labor and parts, the date, and the firm’s warranty. 

There are no easy rules of thumb to decide whether appliances are worth repairing. Don’t pay much attention to often-quoted average-lifespan figures. If you are happy with your appliance’s looks, size, features, and energy usage, and if it appears to be in good condition, you’re probably better off having it repaired, since there is a good chance that it will serve you for many years beyond the “average life-span.” 

Take a few steps to avoid appliance disasters. To reduce the risk of a flood, be sure your washing machine’s supply hoses are in good condition; rubber hoses should be replaced with heavy-duty steel reinforced hoses after about five years. To reduce the risk of a fire, be sure your dryer’s exhaust duct doesn’t get clogged with lint; a warning sign that there is a clog is that the dryer is not getting your clothes dry as quickly as usual. 

Introduction 

Sure, you know that your forbearers washed their clothes by hand, cooked over an open fire, would have considered the concept of a dishwasher absurd—and nonetheless got along just fine. But your expectations are beyond that. Even a single burner on your stove that won’t light is a serious annoyance; an inoperative washing machine is a disaster. 

When problems with your major appliances occur, you want solutions fast. This article will help you find them. 

We gathered data on area major appliance repair services. We surveyed consumers, counted complaints at local consumer agencies, and collected information on each firm’s prices and service charges. The firms listed on our Ratings Tables were all rated by 10 or more customers in our customer survey, and many were rated by 25, 50, or more. 

Finding High-Quality Service 

Customer Ratings 

We surveyed area CHECKBOOK and Consumer Reports subscribers and asked them to rate major appliance repair services they had recently used. Many of the firms listed on our Ratings Tables were rated “superior” overall by more than 90 percent of their surveyed customers. But some got such favorable ratings from fewer than 50 percent. Some were actually rated “inferior” overall by more than a quarter of their surveyed customers. (For more information on our customer survey and other research methods, click here.) 

We hear too many stories like the following: 

“Took six visits to fix problem.” 

“Not all technicians are of equal competence. Some are more incompetent than others.” 

“It took us four months—and numerous days off of work—to get our dishwasher fixed... We had no-shows, broken trucks, cancelled orders, wrong parts—just about everything—and [the firm] did not seem to care...” 

“When I finally cornered them after a five-week wait, they made an appointment, but then never showed up and never called.” 

“Never actually got them to come despite waiting at home three times.” 

“They arrived late, with a bad attitude, and were generally unpleasant.” 

“They just replace things even if it doesn’t need it. Then...if it doesn’t work, they start looking for [the actual] problem...after you have paid for something new you didn’t need.” 

So, there is plenty of reason to choose a firm carefully. 

Consumer Complaints 

In addition to the results from our customer surveys, for firms that were evaluated in our last full, published article, our Ratings Tables show tallies of complaints we gathered from the Consumer Protection Division of the Illinois Office of the Attorney General for a recent two-year period and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) for a recent three-year period. 

You can check current BBB complaint information on any firm by contacting the BBB at 312-832-0500 or by visiting www.chicago.bbb.org. For firms that were evaluated in our last full, published article, you can check current ratings on our Ratings Tables in the details under the firm’s listing. Click a link to the local BBB to go directly to the BBB’s most up-to-date report on the firm. 

Warranty Repairs and Specialization 

One might expect that another indicator of good service quality would be a manufacturer’s authorization to a firm to make, and be reimbursed for, warranty repairs. But we have concluded that warranty-work authorization actually reveals little about a firm’s general capabilities: firms that perform warranty work are much less likely to perform repairs properly than firms that are not engaged in the warranty repair business. 

This is not surprising since some manufacturers make no checks on the quality of their authorized shops, and few make more than occasional cursory reviews. In addition, shops that are not authorized to do warranty work on any make generally do not sell appliances; since they must rely for their livelihood on service rather than sales, there is an especially strong incentive for repair quality. 

Another distinction that might seem to be meaningful is between specialist firms and generalist firms. Some firms work on only a handful of appliance makes. As a result, these firms can stock their trucks with a relatively large portion of the parts they might need. Furthermore, their technicians get constant practice on the specific machines they service. 

But, as with the firms that are authorized to do warranty repairs, we have found that the expected advantages of specializing in a few types of appliances aren’t actually reflected in our customer survey ratings. 

Finding a Good Price 

When you have identified firms with high-quality workmanship, you will want to consider price. Our Ratings Tables show our price index score for each firm that was evaluated in our last full, published article. To calculate these price index scores, our researchers—without revealing their affiliation with CHECKBOOK—shopped each firm for prices on four different repair jobs. The scores show how each firm’s prices compared to the average price for all surveyed firms. The scores are adjusted so that the average price index score is $100. A firm with a score of $90, for example, had prices 10 percent lower than the average. 

For firms that were evaluated in our last full, published article, in addition to the price index scores, on our Ratings Tables we have reported each firm’s “charge for service call” and indicated in parentheses whether you get a complete diagnosis or a certain amount of time for that charge. 

Most of the firms listed on our Ratings Tables charge under a “flat-rate” system after diagnosis. That means they charge for a repair job’s labor by multiplying an hourly labor charge by the amount of time allotted for that job in one of several published manuals. If the manual calls for 30 minutes to replace the heat element in an electric clothes dryer, the customer is charged for 30 minutes of labor, regardless of the amount of time it actually takes to complete the repair. The benefit to consumers under this system is that, after diagnosis, you can know exactly how much repairs will cost, regardless of how long it takes the technician to complete the job. But the downside of the flat-rate system is that you might end up paying more for labor than you would if the firm charged for time actually spent. For example, if a flat-rate manual calls for 30 minutes of labor to complete a repair and the technician finishes the job in 10 minutes, you’ll still pay for the extra 20 minutes. 

Some of the firms listed on our Ratings Tables charge on a time-and-materials basis for the work they do in your home after they exhaust the time covered by their minimum service call charge. We found rates from $48 per hour to over $120 per hour. These firms typically charge by time units—for example, units of 15 minutes or a half hour. Some of these firms round up to the next higher time unit; so a firm that charges in 15-minute time units would charge for a half hour for a 20-minute job. Others round to the nearest time unit (a firm that uses 15-minute units would charge for 15 minutes for a job that actually takes 20 minutes). 

In this industry, like so many we have studied, there is no evidence of any relationship between price and service quality. In fact, we found that firms that had below-average prices tended to have higher scores on our customer survey compared to firms that had above-average prices. 

The conclusion is clear: use our Ratings Tables to start your shopping, looking for firms that rate high on quality and low on price. 

Dealing with the Firm You Choose 

Finding a good firm is only part of the battle. How you deal with whichever firm you choose is also important. A few guidelines may help: 

• When you call for an appointment, check the firm’s system for calculating charges. Check especially what the minimum charge covers. Also check what the firm’s policy is on travel charges if the technician has to return to the shop for parts. Firms don’t usually charge for travel time for the second visit, but you do well to get an explicit understanding with your firm. If the firm charges on a time-and-materials basis, it’s a good idea to find out how time charges are calculated—by what time unit (per 15 minutes or per 30 minutes, for example) and how much per unit. 
• Use this call also to describe as accurately as possible your appliance’s symptoms—when in the operating cycle the problem occurs, what it sounds like, etc. This description will help the firm assign the right technician to the job, put necessary parts on the truck, and schedule enough time for the job. 
• Unless you are content to stay around all day waiting, press the firm to make an appointment for a specific hour. 

You may do better on tying the firm to a time if you call back the morning the service is to occur. A morning call also lets you confirm that the firm really is planning to come and that it has the right address. 

You will improve your chances of getting an exact arrival time by suggesting that the technician start the day at your home. 

If you can’t get an exact time, you may at least want to arrange for the technician to call you a half hour or so before coming to your home. Many firms are glad to do this. 

• When the technician gets to your home, be sure things are cleared away from the appliance so that work can start at once. 
• Note what time the technician arrives. 
• Describe the appliance’s problem to the technician just as you did to the person you talked with on the phone. You might even be able to be more helpful at this point—for instance, by showing samples of clothes that have been damaged by a washing machine. 

But avoid offering your own diagnosis of your appliance’s problem unless you are sure you are right. Otherwise the firm may make the repair you request but never fix the machine. 

• After the diagnosis is complete, tell the technician you want an estimate. Ask whether you can regard the estimate as a firm quote that will not be altered even if the job takes unexpectedly long. Any firm that charges on a flat-rate basis should, of course, be willing to treat its estimate as binding, and even firms that price on a time-and-materials basis will ordinarily agree to stick to their estimates except on very unusual jobs. Before the technician begins the job, ask that the price quote be written down—perhaps on a service call ticket. 

If the estimate seems too high and you can get along without your appliance for a few days, ask the technician how long the estimate will be good and whether he or she will come back without an additional travel charge. Many firms are willing to give you a few days to think about a repair and will not charge you for travel a second time. 

If you decide you would like a chance to shop, get the technician to give you an itemized written estimate. 

Use the estimate to call a few other firms for price quotes. To check on the fairness of parts prices, simply call a parts distributor. They are listed in the Yellow Pages under each type of appliance. The repair firm’s parts prices should not be much higher than the prices the distributor would charge you to buy direct. 

• Avoid letting the technician take your appliance from your home. Virtually all repairs can be made in the home, and by keeping your appliance, you keep your leverage. 
• Ask what the warranty will be on parts and labor. 
• If you decide to go ahead with the repair, ask to have (or at least to see) any old parts that are replaced. You have a right to these parts. 
• Ask the technician to explain what he or she will be doing. Take a look now and then at what is going on, but do not tie up the technician in needless chitchat. You might be charged for the time you waste. 
• Get an itemized invoice before you pay. 

Fix It or Forget It? 

Your 10-year-old dryer isn’t working. The repair estimate is $200. Do you make the repair or throw the machine out? 

Lists are published all the time showing the lifespan of various types of major appliances, and you may have read somewhere that 14 years is typical for a dryer. You might ask yourself why you should spend $200 for four more years when you could buy a new dryer for $500. To make your decision on whether to repair any type of appliance, you do indeed have to consider how much time your investment is likely to buy you. But those published lifespan figures shouldn’t be used that way. 

First, the 14 years is an average. This means that since yours has already lasted 10 years, its odds of lasting beyond the 14-year average are improved. If you have a small household that doesn’t use its appliances heavily, you can expect a longer-than-usual lifespan for your appliances. And appliance models vary all over the map, so the lifespan for a well-built appliance with few fancy controls might be expected greatly to exceed that of its less-durable brethren. 

Second, many appliances are terminated simply because the owner wants different features, a new color, or a new size; doesn’t want to bother to bring the machine when moving from one house to another; or doesn’t want the machine for other reasons that have nothing to do with the durability of the machine. Some might even be terminated because other consumers misuse published lifespan figures—a self-fulfilling prophecy that sends many appliances to the junk heap prematurely. So if you are happy with your dryer, these decisions are irrelevant to you. 

Also, keep in mind that the fact that something has broken on your appliance is not a good predictor that other things will break. Things break even on new appliances. An appliance that has no visible damage and has been functioning well except for the problem prompting the repair might last many years without having other problems—and the next problem also might be able to be solved with a reasonably priced repair. Many major appliances, including relatively inexpensive models—which may have had a low price because they had few extra (and failure-prone) controls—labor on for decades. 

If you are considering replacing an appliance because you don’t want to have to deal with the harm caused by an unexpected future outage, keep in mind that the harms are generally inconveniences, not disasters. This is not like having the brakes go out on your car or the bottom fall out of your water heater, flooding your house. The most likely catastrophe that could result from an appliance breakdown is flooding that might result from failure of a shut-off valve in a clothes washer or dishwasher, and that is very unlikely. 

There are, of course, good reasons you might want to replace a broken appliance— 

• Many new appliances are designed to be more energy efficient than 14-year-old appliances were and some new appliances are designed with the specific intent of being as “green” as possible. But keep in mind that making an environmentally based decision will require you to do a little math, since some appliances, especially dryers, have not improved much in efficiency in recent decades and even clothes washers and dishwashers, which have made strides, won’t make a big difference in energy use if they do only two or three loads a week. 
• If the machine is rusted or otherwise in visibly bad shape, these visible flaws might signal other impending problems. 
• You might like the features and looks of new appliances: a new washer might operate more quietly; a new range might have sealed gas burners to keep out spills; a new refrigerator might give you more storage capacity. 

In short, you will have to do a little balancing, and in many cases the repair or replace decision is not easy. 

Getting It Done Yourself 

No matter how well you choose a repair firm and no matter how adept you are at dealing with the firm you choose, professional help costs money. Since the average appliance repair service call costs over $100 for labor alone, you can often realize significant savings by doing your own work. 

Industry estimates indicate that about 30 percent of service calls could be avoided if consumers simply would read the owner’s manual and use a little common sense. All too often the appliance is simply unplugged, a circuit breaker has tripped or a fuse has blown, or the water is cut off. But many homeowners can handle problems more complex than that. If you want to give it a try, you can find helpful “troubleshooting” charts in do-it-yourself guides, especially for dishwashers and clothes washers, the two appliances that are safest and easiest to service. You can get parts from distributors listed in the Yellow Pages. Or you can get parts and a lot of other useful information online from www.repairclinic.com. A parts distributor can also sell you repair manuals (for about $7 to $15) for most common makes and models of appliances. 

The recent increase in the number of consumers fixing their own appliances has not gone unnoticed by the major manufacturers. All of the major manufacturers now have information on their websites that will help you complete simple repairs on your own, and all allow you to download repair manuals for free. With several of the manufacturers, you can buy repair kits for the most common appliance repair jobs. These kits include the necessary parts and instructions on how to complete the work. 

You can do much of the diagnosis and repair work most homeowners are capable of with just screwdrivers, wrenches, and other common household tools, plus one somewhat specialized tool: a continuity tester. You will need this device to test whether and where an electric circuit is broken. You can buy one for under $20 from any appliance parts dealer or most hardware stores. 

Before you take on a repair, note a few important cautions. 

• Always unplug the appliance before you start working. 
• Never plug a continuity tester into a wall outlet until you have attached the test clips, and never use a continuity tester on an appliance that is plugged in. (Note also that there may be a few solid state controls on some recent-model appliances that might be damaged by your continuity tester.) 
• Always think before you touch anything. Be sure you will not become part of an electrical circuit. 
• If you do not feel comfortable with the fundamentals of electricity, leave appliance repair to the professionals.