My husband didn’t believe me when I told him that repair guys/handymen and other trades people appear to try and play me.  He has since changed his mind.  Let me give you two examples from the last year.  I have more examples but you would get bored.

Case 1:  Maytag repair man

When our Maytag stove was just over 1 year old (it had a one year warranty), the oven died.  It was a gas stove, so I assumed it was the igniter.  It made sense.  This was a two oven stove and the upper oven was fine.  I called the store where we purchased the piece of crap and they said that they would sent a repair person.  The repair person was 2 hours late.  Typical.  He looked at the igniter and I could see that the insulation around the wires was blackened.  But then he decided to check out the control panel – he did some tests and said that the problem was the control panel – the whole circuit board thingy needed replacing and he said it was going to be very expensive.  He said that he had just replaced another one a few days earlier and we were looking at $500 or $600 just for the part.  Maybe more!  Holy Crap!  After repair guy left, I fumed for a bit and then called the customer service number that was in my Maytag manual.  I ranted and raved and they passed me to a few people (Maytag does not exist anymore by the way) until finally I spoke to a really nice guy who understood my frustration, considering the stove was basically 1 year and 1 week old.  So he said that they would look up the price of the panel and credit me half the cost of the part – they would send to credit to the store here in town.  This is where it gets interesting.  2 Weeks later.  No call from the repair guy or the store.  So I call the store.  The part was in.  The repair guy failed to call me.  And he wan’t there.  So I had to speak to a manager who said that yes, I did have a credit for $100.  Interesting.  I was supposed to get half the cost of the part.  Well yes.  The part was only $200.  Curious.  So we set a date and time for the repair guy to come out.

The guy showed up and  was surly.  We were chatting.  And interestingly, I watched him replace the igniter…and then install the new control panel.  I explained that I had called the company and they had given me the credit.  He muttered that when that happens, he needs to send the defective part back to Winnipeg before he can get paid for the new part.  You see, it turns out that he does not work for the store where I purchased the stove.  They call him in for repairs.  He orders the parts himself.  And he bills the client.  See how that works?  He tells me the part is $600.  He orders the part for $200 and bills me $600.  I never know the difference.  Fact is, it was the igniter that was the problem.  Not the control panel.  Which is why he had to replace both when he came to do the repairs.

If I hadn’t called the company…if I hadn’t made a fuss and got the credit on the part, I would have never known the difference.  Quite the scam. 

Case 2:  Our old dryer started making strange sounds.  I picked a repair guy at random from the phone book.  The guy shows up and I get the creep vibe right away.  But I ignore the vibe.  The guy takes the dryer apart and vacuums everthing and shows me where the drum was rubbing on something.  He flips some felt that was folded and voila!  No more funny sound.  But then he says that there is a part missing in the doohicky-thingy that is really important – they must have forgotten to put it in, in the factory.  Fine.  Go ahead and order it, I said.  As we are leaving, a repair guy that works for Sears, who has been installing a dishwasher (correctly this time because the first dudes screwed up) and an ice-maker for us, arrives.  I see a look pass between creepy guy and my good repair guy.  After creepy guy leaves, I said “what was that?”

It turns out that creepy guy used to work with my guy and he had been fired for incompetence.  When I explained about the supposed “missing part”, my guy told me that that part wasn’t even installed in my dryer model.  More than likely, he would have installed a nut or washer or something and then charged me for another call and a useless part.  Thank goodness some repair guys are ethical. 

These incidents, plus a few more involving fence installers, moving guys and car repair guys, have convinced my husband that, yes, indeed, I do appear to get played or taken advantage of…almost.  Fact is, in most cases, I have foiled the buggers.  Paranoia is a good thing.

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