ComplaintsforPriority Appliance Service Ltd.

• Initial Complaint

  19/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On July 13, the technician T first came, and said he would replace the inverter board when he came next time. On July 28, T came with his partner B, and they checked the refrigerator again; it took 2 hours. T changed his previous judgement. He said it was the fan’s problem that caused the continual beeping. After T came on Aug. 15, he said the beeping would stop the next day, but the refrigerator was still not getting better so far. When I contacted T on Aug. 17 about the continual beeping problem, T told me to press the max freezing button. That didn’t work. It has been more than 1 month since the Priority Appliance Service worked on the beeping problem. Still the beeping problem was not solved. I've paid $1188.4 dollars for the repair (which is very expensive), but the Priority still couldn't tell me what caused the beeping problem. When I asked T how he would solve the problem on Aug. 18, he told me to contact the main office. If T couldn't fix the refrigerator's beeping problem, he should have told me the facts immediately. The beeping has significantly affected my life in a negative way. I had to get up and press the alarm off button for many nights. I had to see my family doctor. The beeping is getting more frequent. On Aug. 19, the manager told me that he would send T back to do the repair, and I still needed to pay for the labor. In fact, T had told me to contact the main office because the situation is "highly abnormal" to T. When I asked the manager what the cause of the refrigerator beeping problem was, the manager told they needed to contact ****** to do more research, after doing repair for more than one month. When I asked if he could share the temperature data T collected from my refrigerator, the manager said he didn't have it. Only T has it. Before Aug. 19, I asked T to send me the data twice. No response. I request the Priority Appliance Service to return the money I paid ($1188.40).

  

  Business response

  26/08/2022

  The customer called into our office stating that her ****** fridge was making a very loud buzzing noise every 10 to 20 minutes, the fridge was beeping and the control panel indicated that the fridge was not properly cooling.  The customers fridge is approximately 10 years old and when our technician arrived he found that both compartments in the fridge were not as cool / cold as they should be.  Technician also found that only one pass on the evaporator was frosted indicating a sealed system leak.  Technician had to reschedule the appointment to be able to perform the necessary sealed system work.  Technician returned and performed sealed system work.  During visit Technician found that condenser fan was spinning at approx 950 rpm, according to manufacturer should be 1400 rpm.  Technician believed that this was the reason for the buzzing noise the customer indicated.  The replacement condenser fan was ordered.  Technician placed temp loggers into the customer compartments to monitor while we waited on condenser fan to arrive.  Customer was informed that part was not directly available and had to be ordered in, explained that we would call to book a return appointment once it arrived.  An appointment was scheduled to retrieve the loggers prior to part coming in, found that fridge was cooling, but wasn't as cool as it should be.  Tech asked customer to monitor while we still waited on the part.  We scheduled a return visit once the part had come in and installed the condenser fan motor.  Tech found that fan was spinning at ~1,400 RPM.  Customer did not indicate that there had been any problems during the time between visits.  Our job was closed at this point, considered completed.  Two days after the job was closed the customer called in stating that the fridge was beeping again.  Customer confirmed that the freezer was freezing and that the fridge was cooling.  Asked customer to set fridge to "Max Cool" and to call back if problem returned.
  
  Customer sent text messages to the technician asking for a return visit, technician stated that he hadn't seen where this model would be properly cooling but have a high temp alarm.  Tech indicated that he would research with manufacturer.  Customer called into our office very upset and irate demanding that we immediately provide her with the temperature logs that the technician had taken earlier in the month.  These logs were with the technician that was out on other repair jobs.  Informed customer that we did not have them in the office and would need to get them from technician.  Customer would not give up on getting the logs right away. I let customer know I would request from Tech but may not get them until the end of the day or on the following business day.  Customer was not happy with this and we went in circles for 15 minutes while the customer demanded we get her the logs immediately.  Customer began getting very upset, but wasn't demanding that we return immediately, she was demanding that we send her the log files.  The customer was aware that we provide a labour warranty on our work which means we would have returned without billing additional labour.  I let customer know that we would research with the manufacturer and have a plan for her as soon as we had heard back from the manufacturer.  Once we heard back we attempted to reach the customer several times to book a return visit.  Customer did not answer the phone, instead sent an email stating that she is going to have another servicer return instead of us (even though we were not going to bill any additional labour) and she demanded a refund.  We have not verified that the fridge is even still beeping.  Customer is demanding a refund without allowing us to even return to verify the problem.  We are unable to provide a refund in this case as the items addressed by the technician have solved the fridge not cooling problem, which was confirmed by the customer.  Customer stated on our call that we were only there to fix the beeping, and we've had to explain that the beeping is an alarm because the fridge was not cooling.  If the fridge is still beeping we have been unable to return to verify or correct the issue, even though there is no charge for our return visit.  
  
  
  

  Customer response

  27/08/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The Priority Appliance Service **** about many facts, especially “no charge for return visits.”

  
  1.The Priority Appliance Service never asked to come back to examine if there was a beeping problem or not, after I informed the company that the beeping problem continued several times after Aug. 15, 2022. 
  2.On Aug. 19, 2022, the manager Jason told me on phone that they would charge me more for sending technicians back (after I paid $1188.40).
  3.On Aug. 15, 2022, I was pushed by Tim to sign on the invoice when I was unable to know if the repair job could fix the beeping problem or not. I didn’t realize there was an extremely small line of “work completed satisfactorily” when I signed it. 
  4.When I called the Priority Appliance Service on Jul. 6, 2022, I didn’t say the “control panel indicated that the fridge was not cooling properly.” I didn’t have the device to determine the temperature in the refrigerator nor the ability to know if the control panel was all right or not. I could only tell the color of lights I saw on the control panel and the sounds I heard. 
  5.The buzzing sound was caused by ice maker. I found out the ice maker had been turned on accidentally. I turned off the ice maker, and then the buzzing stopped. The condenser fan had nothing to do with the buzzing sound. This is intentional overcharging. 
  6.When the technician Tim first came on Jul. 13, 2022, he claimed that he would return with replacement parts (inverter board) to complete the repair next time. Tim offered a quote of $2242.68. However, when Tim came on Jul. 28, 2022, he didn’t bring the parts he mentioned. Tim also didn’t complete the repair; he and Brian checked the refrigerator for 2 hours. I was not informed that the original plan for the second visit was completely changed before Tim and Brian came on Jul. 28, 2022. Tim never explained why the plan was changed. He offered a new quote of $1188.40 and claimed that replacing the fan parts would fix the beeping problem. Tim indicated his labor of replacing the condenser fan motor as a solution of solving the continual beeping problem on the invoice. However, Jason claimed that repairing the fan solved the buzzing sound problem. Why do Tim and Jason have different answers?
  7.I never confirmed that the cooling problem was solved. If you are talking about the invoice I signed, I was pushed to sign it when I didn’t know if the repair would work or not. Tim didn’t improve the refrigerator’s cooling. If the cooling is normal, why is the refrigerator still beeping? Tim even couldn’t tell me what caused the beeping problem. 
  
  

  I hope BBB can provide a channel of uploading audio and video evidence. The Priority Appliance Service should provide the recording of our conversation on Aug. 19, 2022, to show what the manager Jason really said. Jason confirmed that he had a recording of our conversation on Aug. 19, 2022, during our phone call. If necessary, I can provide a video recording of our conversation on Aug. 19, 2022. I also have video recordings of the refrigerator beeping after Aug. 15, 2022. 
  On Aug. 19, 2022, I disagree that the Priority Appliance Service could send technicians back to continue the repair because:

  
  a.The Priority Appliance Service didn’t know what caused the continual beeping so far. 
  b.The Priority Appliance Service didn’t know how long it would take to fix the continual beeping problem after one month.
  c.Jason wanted additional charges for sending technicians to repair the same problem after I paid $1188.40 on Aug. 15, 2022.
  d.The technician Tim didn’t reply to my request for the temperature logs on Aug. 17, 2022. On Aug. 18, Tim couldn’t tell why the beeping continued after the repair. Tim described the beeping problem as “highly abnormal” in his years of repairing refrigerators. He didn’t provide the logs. Instead, Tim told me to contact the main office.

  That’s why I sent an email to the main office on Aug. 18, 2022. 
  Besides, on Aug. 19, 2022, the manager Jason said it's best for me to find another service several times during the phone call. 
  On Aug. 19, Jason said he would contact me with a plan later on Aug. 19 or the upcoming Monday (Aug. 22, 2022) after he reached out to the ****** company. Jason didn’t do that. On Aug. 24, 2022, Jason’s colleague attempted to call me for making a repair appointment because the Priority Appliance Service received my request for a full refund through BBB on Aug. 22, 2022. 
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** ***

  

  Business response

  30/08/2022

  On August 19th Priority Appliance spoke with the customer and let her know that we would get back to them early the following week "once we had heard back from the manufacturer".  We also told the customer that they would receive the log files that she was demanding no later than Monday because the technician was out on jobs already for that day.  Priority was able to send the customer the log files the same day (Friday) which was far faster than we has thought we could send them to the customer.  During the entire conversation the customer was very difficult to deal with and was getting very angry and wasn't being reasonable.  The suggestion of the customer taking her business to another servicer was offered multiple times, but it was never offered with a refund for the services already provided. In fact this was addressed on the phone call, that all of the work that was done was necessary.  The offer to find another servicer was offered because I was unsure I would want to send the same or another tech back into this customers home.  Priority confirmed with the customer that we would reach out to the manufacturer on that day (Aug 19) and would expect to hear back either late Aug 19 or on the following Monday, but customer was told that we didn't know when they would get back to us.  Priority also explained that the return visit would be contingent on the information that the manufacturer provided.  If they suggested a part needed to be replaced then our return visit would be contingent on the timeline to get that part (if we did not already have it).
  
  Once we had a plan of action we reached out to the customer to schedule a return visit, this was on the morning of the 24th.  The customer states that she didn't hear from us on the following Monday, which was a potential that was discussed in our conversation on the 19th.  The customer opened their claim on the 19th, which was the same day as the discussion.  The customer states that we called on the 24th to book an appointment because we received her request for a full refund, we had not yet even seen the complaint and logged into the system to view and reply to the complaint after her refusal to have us return.

  Priority Appliance has billed appropriately for the work that we performed.  The fridge is beeping because it is not cooling properly and we've taken the steps recommended by the manufacturer to solve the issue.  

   

  Here are the specific answers to the numbered questions in the customers email:
  1. Priority has not visited the customers home after the Aug 15 visit.  We attempted to book a return visit on Aug 24 and customer declined service.

  2. This is not entirely true. I was unable to confirm to the customer that she would not be billed for anything more going forward.  I explained that the manufacturer may require parts to be replaced and that the parts and labour to install would still be billable.

  3. The signature on the invoice does not play a role in any of our decisions on how we moved forward.  If a customer signs our invoice it does not at all mean that the service is complete.  In fact it's quite the opposite.  We provide a labour warranty which is detailed on the back of our invoice.

  4. The color of the lights and the sound was all we needed to know that the fridge wasn't properly cooling.

  5. The condenser fan was replaced because the RPM's were at 950, and should be at 1,400.  

  6. The technician provided a quote to the customer and then did additional research after leaving the customers home.  The technician placed temp loggers in the fridge to determine how well the fridge was cooling over time.  The technician also spoke with the manufacturer and based on this adjusted the course of action.  This step reduced the customers cost from our original quote (by almost 1/2)that the customer had already approved.

  7. We are not sure if the cooling problem still exists or not, we assume it does based on the customers complaint, but we have not yet returned to the customers home to verify.  The customer is more concerned with the beeping over the cooling of her fridge, however, the fridge is beeping because it is not cooling, this is why the cooling issue needs to be resolved.  It's not a beeping problem, its a cooling problem, which alerts the customer by beeping so that action can be taken. 

   

  a. The technician identified reasons why the fridge was not cooling on the first visit and ordered parts to return with.  If the non-cooling issue persists our tech would continue to work on the problem until it is resolved.

  b. The majority of the customer wait time was for parts which are delayed by the manufacturer, we have no control over the time it takes for parts to arrive.

  c. If the problem was due to the technicians workmanship we would not have charged the customer to return. This was explained to the customer, but the customer felt that because she had paid $1,188.40 she was entitled to have the rest of the work at no charge. Again, this amount was less than what was originally quoted.

  d. The technician may not have the ability to respond to text messages.  We are not even sure what the customer would do with the temp logs.  The customer was obviously upset in the messages so the technician referred the customer to call our office.

  Priority did tell the customer that she could go with another servicer, the discussions had turned hostile and accusatory and we felt that we have done nothing wrong.  The customer can always get a second opinion.
  
  Priority explained that we would need to hear back from the manufacturer before we had a plan, and we expected that it would be by Monday at the latest.  We didn't hear back from the manufacturer until the 24th and we attempted to call the customer to proceed with next steps that same day.  This is when we found out that the customer had opened a complaint and requested a full refund on the 19th.  Which means that the customer didn't even wait until Monday (Aug 22) to hear back from us with next steps.  The only promise of Monday was that the customer would receive the temp log files on Monday, but we were able to send those to the customer early on Friday Aug 19. 

   

  
  

  Customer response

  02/09/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  1.After Aug. 15, you never mentioned you wanted a return visit to examine if the beeping continued, until the call on Aug. 24. You didn’t want to do anything. When I called the office on Aug. 17, the customer representative told me to call Tim. Tim told me to call the main office on Aug. 18. On Aug. 19, when I called the office, Jason told me to find another service. Jason wanted additional charges if a technician was sent back. Don’t lie at BBB again. 
  2.On Aug. 19, Jason said he would contact the ****** company. Today is Sept. 2. Can you provide evidence for consulting the ****** company about my refrigerator’s problem? Meanwhile, it showed that you didn’t have the ability nor the techniques to do the repair. However, you overcharged your customer. And you ****. 
  3.You said the “signature on the invoice does not play a role.” What about the interest of 24% per annum? This interest rate was written on an extremely small font. In fact, you always have the right to explain. Why didn’t you mention there was a warranty on Aug. 19? You only wanted additional charges for fixing the same problem. 
  4.Does replacing the condenser fan parts fix the beeping problem? Obviously no. It didn’t help the beeping nor the cooling problem at all. This is intentional overcharging. 
  5.I requested the temperature logs from Tim on Aug. 17. No responses. The logs were made on Aug. 3. Tim, Brian, and Jason never explained to me about the temperature. I couldn’t even have a copy of the logs until Aug. 19. This is intentional hiding of important information. What conclusion did you get from the temperature data? 
  6.You said technician also spoke with the manufacturer when he got the logs. Did that fix my refrigerator’s problem? Obviously no. 
  7.I have refrigerator beeping video after Aug. 15. I told Tim the beeping continued on phone as well. You never asked for a return visit to verify if the beeping problem continued. You only wanted additional charges for fixing the same problem. 
  8.The Priority Appliance Service received my complaint from BBB on Aug. 22 and called me on Aug. 24. ****** ***** ****** ** * ****** ** ** **** * ****** **** *** * ***** ** ******** You even **** on BBB. I can’t imagine what you would do without BBB. 
  The Priority Appliance Service didn’t know what caused the beeping problem but charged customer for $1188.40. When customer raised the concern, they pushed customer to find another service, which make customer unable to trust the company. 
  I request you to stop making stories. If you did something, provide the evidence. 
  
  

  

  Business response

  02/09/2022

  I understand that the customer is looking for a refund for installed parts and service work that we've performed, however we are unable to provide the customer with a refund based on the facts that the repair work we've performed was quoted to the customer prior to performing the service, the repair ended up being less than our quoted amount by almost half. It's also important to note that the customer can mute the beeping noise at any time by pressing the mute button, something the customer is aware of.  It is not a permanent solution, but it temporarily stops the beeping.

  Here are the answers to ********'s questions:
  
  1. Upon our first visit, the customers fridge was not properly cooling, and as a result the fridge would start to beep because the inside of the fridge was not "cold enough" and it was triggering an alarm.  The customer would need to push a button on the fridge to mute the alarm for a period of time.  We understand that for the customer the most frustrating part of this was the alarm, however the issue was that the fridge was not cold enough.  Priority quoted the customer the repair cost, which was approved, and we ordered parts and scheduled a return visit.  There was an extended wait for the part from the manufacturer, which we have no control over. When the part finally arrived we returned onsite and found that the fridge started cooling better without having to exchange all of the quoted parts / labour.  We were happy to save the customer some cost. We billed the customer the lesser amount and closed the job.  The customer called back shortly there after stating that the beeping was back, we assumed that the other parts may ultimately need to be replaced, however in speaking to the customer she refused to be billed for anything further.  We explained that if the problem is due to the technicians workmanship it would be covered, however if additional repair / parts are needed the customer would be billed the labour and cost of the parts, the customer would not however be charged a Service Call Fee for the return visit.  When the beeping returned the customer text messaged the technician and the tech asked the customer to call into the office, so that a return visit could be scheduled. The customer states that we didn't want to do anything, but our actions show otherwise, we wanted to reach out to the manufacturer to verify if the additional parts needed to be exchanged or if the fact that the fridge began working properly for a short period of time changed the diagnosis.  The customer became very upset that she "may" be billed for additional work and she started making accusations about the technician and customer service team lying to her.  I let the customer know that she may be best to find another servicer to continue with the repair, the customer decided to continue to have us fix the problem.  We informed the customer that we would reach out to the manufacturer and would get back to her with our plan. We called the customer back to schedule service once hearing back from the Manufacturer.  The customer then informed us that she doesn't want us to return and that she opened a BBB complaint.

  2. Priority Appliance Service is the only Authorized service company to perform work on ****** fridges.  Being authorized gives us access to their internal technician support, manuals, schematics and other necessary technical information.  Our technicians utilize this information when completing any repair.  Many repairs can be completed solely through the technicians skills and experience, however when dealing with more complex issues, such as this, technicians will consult the manufacturer.  We did not overcharge this customer, we ended up billing the customer half of the originally quoted cost, which was approved by the customer.

  3. My previous point was that we will still continue to review a customer dispute even if a customer signs the bottom of our invoice.  Signing the invoice does not mean that we will not listen to a customers concern.

  4. We have not returned to the customers home in order to be able to answer this question.

  5. The temperature logs are used to verify if a customers fridge is not cooling.  If the alarm was going off, but the fridge was cold then it would have indicated a different problem. Our log files showed that the fridge was fluctuating (Fridge 30F and 40F, Freezer 15F and 40F) in temperature, it would work very hard to reach a cold temp and then continue to warm back up.  These log files are useful for the technician and can be provided to the customer upon request, however to date it's never been requested prior to this.  The log files are stored on the loggers themselves and the technician needed to connect them to his laptop to download and send to the office/customer.  There is nothing a customer can do to solve an issue with the log files. 

  6. We have not returned to the customers home in order to be able to answer this question.

  7. We believed you that the fridge had started beeping again when you called in, this is why we reached out to the manufacturer for the next steps.  Each time the fridge starts beeping it can be muted by pressing the button.  To us, the beeping was only an indication that the fridge isn't cooling again and this is where our research went.

  8. Priority Appliance wasn't aware that a complaint had been lodged when we attempted to reach out to the customer on the 24th.  We were attempting to schedule a return visit with the customer.  

  For clarity, the customer was quoted for the work, which was approved by the customer, we ordered parts and returned and we ended up billing the customer less than our quote. When the problem returned the customer refused to be billed for any additional work.  I am not sure why the customer feels that they can cancel service half way through a repair and be entitled to a full refund. We have always shown that we are willing to complete the service, however the customer opened up this complaint while we were still working on a resolution with her.

  Customer response

  11/09/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Changing a writer doesn’t change the facts, although you are better than your colleague at making stories. You **** to your customers. You did useless repair and charged extremely high price. 
  
  1.I called you because of the beeping problem. 
  2.On Jul. 13, 2022, the first quote Tim gave is $1635.90. On the same day, he changed his mind and gave the second quote of $2242.68. 
  3.On Jul. 28, 2022, when Tim came for the second time, he didn’t carry out the repair that he promised on Jul. 13. He checked the refrigerator again with the service manager Brian; it took 2 hours. He gave a new quote of $1188.40 and a new diagnosis. It’s a completely different diagnosis. 
  4.On Aug. 15, 2022, Tim came for the third time, and he told me the beeping would stop the next day. 
  5.In fact, that didn’t happen. The beeping continued on Aug. 16 and 17 and afterwards. 
  6.On Aug. 17, 2022, I called the main office. The office told me to call Tim. 
  7.On Aug. 18, 2022, Tim told me to call the main office. 
  8.On Aug. 19, 2022, the office told me to either find another service or pay more repairing the same problem. The Priority didn’t care if the repair actually worked or not. You received exactly the amount of money you wanted, and then you closed the job despite the failed repair. 
  
  *** ** * **** ********* *** ** **** **** *** ***** ****** *** *********** *********. Obviously, the Priority Appliance Service is not one of them. I’ve found another way to support my claim. I will not reply to your **** here. 
  

  Sincerely,
  
  ******** ***

  

  Business response

  12/09/2022

  There are reasonable explanations to all of your points.  I know you are saying that you called us because of a beeping problem, but the reason your fridge was beeping was due to a non-cooling issue.  The fridge beeps to indicate a problem, the problem itself isn't the beep, it's just what alerts you of the problem.

  As the technician spoke to our Service Manager and the manufacturer the technician adjusted their quote.  When returning our Service Manager attended with the technician and they determined that they were able to proceed without having to change parts that were included in the original diagnosis, which is why the quote changed.  We are happy to discuss this with you over the phone, please feel free to call into our office to discuss and we can address your concerns.

  Customer response

  20/09/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Beeping shows a non-cooling issue. However, you didn’t solve the cooling issue. That’s why the beeping continue after you charged me $1188.40 and closed the job. And that means your repair work is useless.
  
  You kept saying you needed to reach out to the ****** company. Why did you take a job that you didn’t have the ability to do? You made me believe that you could fix my refrigerator and charged me for every minute your technicians spent on the useless repair. Even after I called the main office, you still wanted to charge me more.
  
  You don’t need to respond to my BBB messages like a robot. I’ve proceeded with ******** ********** **. I believe you will have a better version of story there. You will be happy to contact ******** ********** **.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** ***

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩