ComplaintsforBell's Appliance, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  10/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had the same exact service completed June 29,2023 as October 17, 2023. I was charged again on 10/17/23 again and I called and spoke with a manager by the name of ***** and she stated I was not allowed a refund for 10/17/23 service due to policy. I stated my concerns of my dishwasher had not been ran since last tech came out in June and she continued telling me there is nothing she can do. I asked to speak with someone higher than her and she stated she is the highest. I asked for the owner of the company information and she stated she was not providing it to me. I expressed that is not good customer service and I will have to search it on my own. Im finding *********************** as President and a *************************-Service Mgmt with no contact information. So I decided to start with BBB to express this company is ripping off customers for an issue that the first tech should have taken care of. If one wire loss, check all to make sure they are all secure!

  

  Business response

  10/17/2023

  Thank you for reaching out to us. We understand the frustration of appliances breaking or not working properly, but as discussed earlier today our policy is 90-day warranty for parts and labor from service date which you are out of that time frame. We understand the situation is similar however if the technician did not fix the unit accurately when testing at the end of the service call that took place on 6/29/2023, they would have noticed any failure and corrected it at that time. Again, we understand this can be frustrating, which is why we have the 90-day period for any repairs performed in case a situation was to re-occur with an appliance. This is all stated in the terms and conditions that is sent out with every scheduled appointment. Please see the attached information that can also be found on our website and is sent to you via text/email with each appointment.

• Initial Complaint

  12/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Terrible excuse for a business I had called ****** warranty because my top load washer, purchased in March of 2022, sounded like it was coming apart. It was like the gears were not engaged and were slipping. The agitator was not working as it had been. They scheduled me with Bell’s Appliance out of Jacksonville NC. On 10-25-22 their technician came out and seemed very professional, polite, and knowledgeable. I had made a recording of the horrible sound it was making while agitating. He immediately knew it was the clutch slipping. He said it was a common problem with this model and he had replaced many. On 11-3-22 he came out and replaced the clutch. He said it was fixed. He ran an agitation cycle with nothing in it and it didn’t make the clattering. I reiterated that the sound was only with something in it. He said it would be the same. I used it the first time on 11-6-22. It was worse than it was in the beginning. The clattering was very loud and easily recorded. I called them on 11-7-22 and told the woman who answered that it was worse than before the "repair" and that I could send her a recording. I emailed the recording to them. By 11-10-22 I still had not heard from them, so I called back. This time the woman was rude. She said they had already invoiced the warranty company and could not do anything. I asked her if they had listened to my recording. She said, “oh yea they listened to it and it sounded like it should”. I know they did not listen to it and hoped I would just go away. I said “so you’re telling me it should sound worse than before the repair was made?” She said again “it sounded like it should sound”. I wish I could attach the recording of the washer sounding like it is coming apart. I called ****** and they just set me up with another appliance repair company. The warranty company should be reimbursed, and I should be reimbursed for the 10 hours I took off work to meet their technician.

  

  Business response

  12/05/2022

  Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us in regard to your dissatisfaction of services provided by our company. I was able to review the original video you had provided to us of the failures/noises that were occurring. Comparing it to your secondary video that you sent in after repairs had been completed, it was reviewed by the technician and service manager. While listening to the second recording you sent, they used their best determination from that video as at the time of service/repair completion there were no additional noises or failures occurring. Any time a customer believes that the failure may replicate itself with a normal load of items in the washer, it is always best if the customer can have items available to be put into the machine for further testing to confirm no issues are reoccurring. From what was heard on the video, it did appear to be within normal limits and a potential intermittent issue. We are unsure of the load size you had in the unit at the time of that recording, however due to not hearing anything out of specs, we advised that it would be best to request a secondary opinion from ******, this is also to protect you in any case that it was intermittent and not detectable, ****** would not cover any charges for re-diagnostics and you would be held liable for those fees. 

  I do understand the importance of working, this is why we do our best with scheduling on our side. When ****** schedules a repair, they provide a large 8-4-time window. We then reach out after receiving the work order request to confirm the date and an 8-1- or 12-6-time frame to alleviate the need to take an entire day off of work. This is also followed up by a message being sent the morning over for a narrowed down 2-hour time frame, with the technician calling prior to arrival to the home.

  We recommend reviewing this item provided by ***** on their site for the normal clunk or clunking noise that can be heard. If you are to go to their site, product info, the article is labeled as: Sounds: Clunk or Clunking Noise During Spin. https://youtu.be/TJGIOU5tCPc

  We understand the frustration you may be experiencing at this time, however due to the regulations and specs, it did appear that your unit was working properly from the last recording.

• Initial Complaint

  11/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Bell's was sent to me by ******** Warranty Company for my refrigerator purchased at Lowe's. The serviceman came to my house, (never touched my refrigerator) told me most likely I would receive a "pay out" because the repairs would cost too much and he was going to his car to write the report and I'd hear from the warranty company shortly. A week and a half later- I phoned ******** several times, was told they had not received the report from Bell's. I called Bell's twice-that week asking could they please send the report-I'd been without a refrigerator at that point five weeks. Later I received an email they are repairing my refrigerator-understanding it was the decision of the warranty company. Being at their liberty-I called LG and asked for them to send a rep- for a 2nd opinion-he stated the best thing for me to do was to sell the refrigerator to an appliance store for $200 and purchase a new refrigerator-these machines were produced bad by LG and were not worth repair, there was a class action law suit. I agreed and of course would not allow him to repair the refrigerator-I purchased the warranty!! After week 8 I get the call for repair from Bells they are coming to repair. The serviceman arrives with a chip on his shoulder-he states he doesn't want to be there because I've thrown him under the bus! I said, excuse me? He told me his manager told him-I said he did not know what he was doing. NOT ture. I never complained about this fellow. We had conversation and he told me it would take him about an hour to fix the unit. I went inside-within 10 min. he knocked on the door-said he would not fix it I needed to call someone else. He told his company a fabricated story. I never spoke ill towards him. I am almost 10 weeks without a refrigerator. Now the warranty company is denying the claim because he said I created a hostile environment-very untrue. I have no resolve with this company. It has been a mess and I need help. I am a professional and conduct myself accordi

  

  Business response

  11/08/2022

  Thank you for submitting your recollection of the accounts that took place. We received your work order request from your extended warranty company on 10/01/2022. We were able to send a technician out on 10/03 for the diagnostics. The technician arrived and properly diagnosed the failure to the unit as the compressor failing, with a recommendation to replace the compressor, filter drier, and recharging of the unit's refrigerant. We submitted the full diagnostics to your extended warranty company on 10/05 so they were aware of the failures found and to advise how to proceed. However, your unit does carry a 5-year parts and labor warranty with the manufacturer, LG directly. Due to that extended coverage we proceeded to order parts to try and expedite the service for you. ******** and LG both confirmed to proceed with repairs of your unit. 10/11, you called into our company and spoke to a representative and advised that our technician did not perform a proper diagnostic and that he advised you "it was too expensive to repair and was not repairable." It was not our technician that advised you of such information as we are contracted by the warranty companies to proceed as they determine, thus proceeding with the repairs. On 11/02, we came to your residence to complete the repairs of the unit, where it was advised that you had another company/technician from LG directly come out to the property and confirmed our technician's diagnostics, but that they (LG) stated you should sell the unit and have it replaced instead. That information did not come from our company, therefore, to try and ease the situation, the technician did call Techline at your property on 11/02 to try and give you peace of mind on the situation since you stated LG deemed the unit non-repairable. The Techline confirmed that no one (our company or theirs) had called in about your unit at all to deem it non-repairable. Even though our technician did have a correct diagnostic, that you had re-verified by an LG technician, you did not believe that the unit should be repaired, and if they wanted it repaired that LG should have overnighted the parts. While we do our best to keep as many parts available as possible to repair units sooner, the 12 parts that would be required to complete your repair is not feasible to keep in the vehicle of every technician. It was advised that you refused service at the time the technician was there and due to the environment, the technician followed up with his manager on how to proceed. Since you had advised you did not want the unit repaired, we did not and would not repair it due to that. Also, the threat of already contacting an attorney and denying LG themselves to repair your unit, as well as our company now. The best situation at that time was to send your request back to your extended warranty company to have it re-assigned to a company you could potentially feel more confident and comfortable with. Thus, we reached out to ******** and advised we would not be completing the repairs on your unit due to the situations listed above. They agreed and had us close out the work order with their agreement. If the warranty company is denying the claim and denying sending another company out, that would be between your company and yourself.

  Customer response

  11/08/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: A good portion of the information in the report is not true. Again-I called LG myself- as a second opinion, had nothing to do with the warranty company nor Bell's Appliance Repair. The technician sent from LG did NOT report to the company he that the unit I purchased from LG was not worth repairing just as the technician from Bell's did not accurately report to his company that he actually told me these units were not worth repairing. I know nothing about LG refrigerators. After the repairman from Bell's telling me that the repairs would be too expensive to fix and I would be "paid out" by the warranty company-I opted for a second opinion and called LG. My refrigerator is only a little over two years old and cost approximately $3200 including the extended warranty, I did not expect to purchase a new refrigerator. Not to mention the warranty company replaced the ice maker several times when it was first purchased. The bottom line here is the dishonesty that has caused me to be without a refrigerator for the nine weeks and counting simply because a repairman is upset because I "threw him under the bus." Neither of the two of these fellows should be in jeopardy of loosing their jobs for being honest to clients with dysfunctional products at their expense. Had either of them not told me-I would not have known that there was a class action law suit against LG, there were 1500 of these R600's (if I'm correct on the letter) that are bad and they had no way of knowing which ones they were to recall them and  compressors were under a 10 year warranty because they've had so many problems with them. As for the mention of a lawyer-yes, I did say...maybe I should start a class action law suit-it was not like this is a clothes washer...it is an essential piece of equipment in the home. Regardless-of who is being truthful at this point-in Bell's report to you-they say their report was sent to ******** within a timely manner-again...as the customer I was told differently by ******** and by Bell's-speaking to the representative that answered the phone...after my second call she promised to escalate my request to a manager. A week and a half after the technician, my second call to Bell's-******** finally said they received the report. I have no way of knowing who is being truthful. Seemingly-Bell's has put together a seemingly great dishonest report against me that I no longer have the energy to fight. I am pleased to see this one did not include "hostile environment" in which I am grateful. At the end of the day-I am sure they were paid for a nice service call and did not complete the job because the serviceman's feelings were hurt-such ashamed we have two totally different stories as I was inside doing laundry. My last remark...why would I have called LG to send a technician for a second opinion had I not wanted the refrigerator repaired??? Of course I wouldn't let him fix it-even had he said it was worth repair...that is the reason I purchased the extended warranty. Bell's will not do any work for me or my friends, honesty goes a long way and if you can't be truthful with your words, you can't be truthful with your work. 

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

  

  Business response

  11/10/2022

  Thank you for your response, While I agree reaching out to LG was not an incorrect thing to do, they are the company that would in turn be taking care of the repairs and billing aspect. Even though you had contract with us through your extended warranty company. Your unit has an extended parts and labor warranty with LG, in which their technicians could have proceeded with the repairs themselves. As we did have to submit the information over to your extended warranty company, so they were aware of the failures. While we were not at the property the date of service to hear all sides of the conversation, it is difficult to say that the technician worded anything incorrectly. The technicians within our company try their best to explain the situations to customers and make sure they are aware of any known issues with their units. However, there is no way to say for sure how your warranty company would have opted to proceed with the repairs or not due to that is at their discretion and determination of your contract with them.

  I do agree that if your unit is part of the class action lawsuit it would be best to deal with the manufacturer directly in getting those issues resolved with them and any options that would potentially have available. I had mentioned in my previous response and agreed that it did take 1-2 business days to get the report fully sent over to your extended warranty company. Due to the R600 refrigerant used, we cannot use standard practices of brazing materials and have to use specific lokrings, they do change part numbers so to be sure we have them all it goes to a review process. We try to have that review done within 24 hours so it can be submitted and moving forward in the appropriate direction.

  We do not have any notes from the technician or other employees in regard to you being hostile, more frustrated about the situation than anything else. However, from the last visit on 11/02, there are the notes that you refused the service from the LG technician you had requested to go out for a second opinion, and it was stated that you thought the refrigerator was condemned, so our technician called the manufacturer to try and be on the same page as if it was deemed non-repairable, we are not allowed to attempt repairs. It was advised by LG's tech line: file# *************** that there had been no calls in regarding your unit by any company. It was advised you were upset during that visit. Due to the situation the technician reached out to his manager to advise of the situation, and we felt it was best for him to leave the residence. We did advise your extended warranty company that they would need to dispatch out a different company, however LG would be the ones handling the repairs, bills, etc. It would be best at this time to reach back out to them and have the technician back out that performed the second opinion to complete the repairs. 

  While again, we do understand your frustration in this matter, we were simply trying to go through proper channels to get your unit repaired. However, if any employee was to feel uncomfortable in a home, we would not force them to stay. We do not have any other technicians in your area that we would be able to send to complete these repairs, therefore reaching out to LG directly for their technician to return would be the best option.

*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. ↩