Brinkerhoff's Appliance Brinkerhoff's Appliance repairman charged excessively for repairs to a stove fan that failed immediately claiming erroneously that a replacement part was no longer available. Bremerton WA

Rick J. from Brinkerhoff's Appliance attempted repairs to our Jenn-Air Downdraft Radiant Cooktop (Model JED8430ABD Serial #13190121ZS) fan assembly and knob on September 12, 2007. Rick J. informed us erroneously at the time of the repair that one of the parts needed to properly fix the fan was not available and no longer manufactured. He was asked 4 separate times if he could not just order the part instead of spending the time trying to repair it. He stated it was 'NA not available', 'no longer manufactured' and due to the company's poor engineering of the parts he was required to spend the extra time attempting to fix the fan knob. Because of his misinformation he spent several hours of billable time (over $120.00) trying to fix a $7.45 part (#7739P122-60). As soon as the repairman left the repairs immediately failed and the fan knob sunk 1.5 inches into the stove making it inoperable.

We called the company several times to: 1) Inform them that the repairs failed within a few minutes after the repairman left. 2) Alert them after calling the manufacture 1-800-688-1100 to the availability of the part needed that was originally requested when the service call was first made to Debbie, and that the repairmans information that a replacement part was not longer available was incorrect. See web site http://www.repairclinic.com/SmartSearch/SSPartDetail.aspx?PartID=1256863&PPStack=13 for details on the needed part. 3)That the charges were excessive and we wanted only a partial refund of the time charges.

On September 14, 2007 around 2:30pm when trying to resolve the company's mistakes and misinformation, the person who answers the business phone (Debbie) told us they will not come out to address the faulty work on the fan knob even though the repairman told my wife that he would the previous day on the phone for no charge when he returned her call about the malfunction of the part he just repaired. Debbie who answers the phone also stated that they would not give us a partial refund for the excessive time spent repairing a part when a new one could easily have been purchased for $7.45 either through the manufacture or online or at a local parts distributor store.

If Debbie who orders the part had adequately researched and acquired the necessary parts requested when we had made the original service call; and if Rick the repairman sent to our home had proper working knowledge of the required repairs that he claimed he had (stated he had made the same repairs on the same stove previously) and was willing to back up his work product, and had not falsely claimed that one of the parts needed to complete the repairs was no longer manufactured; then there would have been no need to charge us an additional 1.5 to 2 hours ($50-60.00/hr) to fix a $7.45 knob. A total of 2 hours and 50 minutes was billed (total bill includes parts, an $89 service call and 20 minutes for a dishwasher handle repair was $367.06). There would also be no need to make an additional claim for the cost of another repairman to come to our home and fix the faulty repairs made by Brinkerhoffs Appliance in order to get the fan to properly operate since the stove will have to be taken apart again to replace the broken knob.


Solutions;
1. Fix the fan properly for no additional costs with a new part that we will supply (since we already ordered it when talking to the manufacturer about availability) and refund 100.00 from the original bill for excessive time billed for repairing a $7.45 part that was erroneously claimed by the repairman as no longer being manufactured.

or

2. Refund us the amount of the bill (367.06) minus 20 minutes to repair the dishwasher handle and the cost of the new handle and fan switch. Losing the cost of the service call and time charged for erroneous stove repairs since we will have to pay another repair company to come to our home to address your faulty and erroneous workmanship to make the fan operable. Plus the cost of our lost time for researching the part needed and acquiring it and attempting to resolve this matter.

Tired of ripoff repairman
Bainbridge Island, Washington
U.S.A.