Complaint Review: AAAA TEVA

I have a similar experience with AAAA TEVA to report.  I should have followed my instincts that first time I walked into the store.  The whole set-up seemed shady, and I felt uneasy from the start.  I often trust people too much and this was certainly one of those instances.  I stupidly allowed myself to be sucked in by this guy, and now I am the one with regrets.

My expensive vacuum cleaner broke down in January last year.  I took it into AAAA TEVA to see if it was worth repairing as I have had it for a number of years.  The owner/manager (not sure exactly who he is) convinced me to pay $125 to run "diagnostics" on it.  I should not have been surprised when the results (according to him) showed that it was certainly worth spending a lot of money on my appliance, and that it still had many years left in it.  So I unfortunately gave them the go-ahead to do the repairs.  A further $500, and a few weeks later, I picked up my vacuum cleaner.  They gave me a 2-year warranty (and did the hard sell on bags, fan belts and filters - another $164) and off I went.  If you are doing the math, you know that I have now spent $789!  On a vacuum cleaner!  It wasn't long before the vacuum cleaner stopped working again - same problem as before.  So back I went.  Once again several inconvenient weeks went by with no vacuum cleaner.  Then home it came.  It worked briefly, then surprise, surprise, it died again, same issue.  I forget how many times this happened.  Each time I had to schlep the thing back to the store, wait weeks without a vacuum cleaner, endure the hard sell for more accessories / other appliances, and then lug it home again. 

The latest breakdown was about 2 1/2 weeks ago.  To my surprise, the owner was far from apologetic.  Instead he said that he wasn't able to continue to make repairs.  Didn't I want to trade it in for another vacuum cleaner?  After spending $625 on repairs!  Who would do that?  I said I had spent far too much money on it to give up - he told me he had just spent $1,400 on his wife's teeth implying that that is how life goes???!!!  I told him that I wanted the vacuum repaired or my money back - not unreasonable considering the fact that the job had yet to be completed satisfactorily.  He reluctantly agreed to fix the vacuum cleaner.

I returned to the store today to pick it up, only to be confronted again by the owner.  He claimed that the vacuum was now working completely, and then launched into an attack saying that he was not going to repair my appliance again, and that clearly someone was abusing it for it to keep breaking down.  His tone was totally confrontational.  I told him that he had yet to make the repairs satisfactorily and that was what I paid him to do.  Customer Service?  What a joke.

Needless to say when I got home the vacuum cleaner still did not work.  I may return again, but the guy is so unpleasant and they are so totally useless that I am thinking this may be a pointless exercise.  I don't know how they are staying in business, but I guess there are probably many others who have been treated this way, and that they perhaps make their money in this kind of fashion.

Buyer Beware!  Avoid this dodgy set-up - it is MUCH cheaper to buy a new appliance than to get these characters started on repairs.