Complaint Rating:

In late March 2006, I called A&E Factory Service about my 4-year-old Roper/Whirlpool refrigerator/freezer, which was no longer cooling properly (it was about 50-60 degrees in the refrigerator, and 20-30 in the freezer). The first available appt. was approx. 1 week later. The technician who came on that day said that the problem was caused by a faulty default timer, and replaced it at a charge of $210.36, as this part was no longer under warranty. I continued to have problems with it cooling properly, so I called them again and they said that the next available appt. was April 11. On April 11, another technician came and said that it was not the default timer causing the problem, but the thermostat, and replaced that part at no charge.

In early June, I once again began to have cooling problems, and this time there was frost build-up in my frost-free freezer, and the refrigerator was running constantly, never going through the defrost cycle. The next available appt. was over a week later, on June 17. On June 17 a senior technician came and said that it was the defrost timer as the first technician had said, but that the first technician had incorrectly installed the new timer. He said he fixed the timer and I should have no further problems. He also said that he was "too busy" to give me the computer receipt and printout, and that if I had any further problems to contact him on his cell phone. The refrigerator did cool better for a few days, but it still wouldn't go through the defrost cycle, and the frost continued to build up, and the motor continued running, and eventually the temperature inside the refrigerator began to go up again to almost 50 degrees. I tried contacting the sr. technician on his cell phone, but he would never answer and I had to leave several messages before he returned my calls. He said he would try to come by the next day after his shift was over, but he did not call me as he said he would, and when I called him and left him another message, he did call back on my cell (I programmed his number), but when I answered, he either hung up or we got somehow disconnected. I called him again, this time paging him, and he never called back.

So I made another appt. with A&E Factory Service, and the next available appt. wasn't for 8 more days, scheduled between 8 AM and 12 PM. I stayed home from work waiting for the repairman, but when he didn't call or arrive by 12 PM, I called customer service and was told that he was "running late" and he had two more customers to take care of before he could get to me. I asked the operator to have the technician call me with an ETA of when he would be coming, because I had to be at work in the afternoon, and I had to drive 40 miles to get there. 45 minutes passed, and I did not get a call, so I called back, and once again I was promised that I would get a call about the ETA. Another 45 minutes passed without word, and when I called a third time, around 2 PM, a routing manager told me that the technician would be there later in the afternoon. I explained that I had to be at work, and could not wait another week plus for the next available appt., which the previous customer service rep said would be July 7. This time the routing manager said he could get me an appt. between 8 AM and 5 PM today, July 1.

A customer service rep from Sears Home Repair (affiliated with A&E Factory Service) called to confirm my appt. on June 30. When I spoke to her, I asked if the technician would call before coming, and she said "maybe", which led me to believe that he would be coming with or without a prior phone call. At about 3:10 PM I checked my cell phone and realized that I had a missed call, but there was no message. I called the number back, and it turned out to be from the technician, who said that he would be right over. When he arrived nearly an hour later, he took a look at the refrigerator and said that it was indeed a problem with the default timer. He turned a switch with the screwdriver, which made the refrigerator fan stop running for the first time in over 3 weeks. Then he said that because I did not answer the phone when he first called, I was no longer in the computer system and he could not perform the repair, and he left.

Furious by this point, I called Sears Home Repair again and explained what this guy had just done, and the rep said that the guy was lying or was wrong, that I was still in the computer system, and that he would have him come back to my home. I realized at this point that when the technician had turned the switch on the defrost timer, the fan was no longer working, and the temperature in the refrigerator was beginning to rise into the 60s, and my food was in grave danger of spoiling. If he had not been able to come back, I would have lost all of my food to spoilage!

The technician called me to confirm he would be coming back, and when I asked him if he had the correct part, he said yes, no problem. Finally around 7 PM he came back. After taking out the defrost timer and going to his truck, he came back and said that he had a defrost timer, but it wasn't the right size! He still installed it, and showed me that it was indeed allowing the refrigerator fan to run again, but that he would have to order the correct part, and he could not give me an ETA on when I could expect the right part to be ready. I'm not at all convinced that when the "right part" does come in, that the problem will be fixed. I've already had the defrost timer replaced once, and it didn't fix the problem.

I have filed a complaint with the California Department of Consumer Affairs.