Complaint Review: Crystal and Ronnie

Crystal and Ronnie are scam artists.

They posted a craigslist ad for appliance repair.  They finally came out -- 24 hours after they said they would -- late on a Friday.  The repair woman ("Crystal") claimed her company truck broke down and that is why she was late and using a beat up station wagon.

She claimed to have tried to fix what she thought was the problem -- it did not work.  She claimed to have found the problem and the part (a control board) had to be ordered.  She was convincing when she called to locate the part and get a price, $209.64.  I wrote a check to her for the cost of the part.  She promised to pick up the part on Tuesday, install Wednesday or Thursday.  We never heard from her again, but the check was cashed right before the bank closed that evening.

After one week, we emailed the company asking when they would finish the job.  They did not reply. We called the number we had talked to them on before.  It was disconnected.

A month later, the craigslist ad had a new contact number and email address.  I called the number from a different phone than my home phone and left a voicemail.  "Ronnie" immediately responded.  When I explained who I was, he said "Crystal" was no longer with the company.  He said he would check into the part and call me first thing Monday.  I never heard from him again.

It should be noted that "Crystal" is still part of the craigslist ad as recently as today.  "Ronnie" told me "Crystal" was fired almost a month ago.

We finally gave up and called Sears.  They came out the same day, found the problem and said it could not be fixed since the really cheap part (the probe plug) is discontinued.  They disabled the probe sensor.  Our oven is working again for a grand total of $129 (not including the $209.64 Crystal and Ronnie scammed from us).