Complaint Review: Reliable Service Company

Using the Yellow Pages, we called the 800 number for 'Reliable Appliance Service Co.' to have them fix our leaking Maytag washer. It turns out this is a company in La Mesa with different names, and that it lost its BBB membership in March 2007-- we didn't know that then! To service people in San Francisco and Northern California, they call their Bay Area repairmen that we then contact by cell phone. (Their full company title includes "On Call Appliance Service.')

First Visit: "Mark', unshaven and wearing short pants, came and looked at our Maytag, and we gave him a check for $100, as after looking at the machine he decided it needed a new part, which he had to order. It took almost a month to arrive. He kept not remembering or finding our address, continually confusing '360 Chester' with '380 Chester,' and asking us each time what our correct address was.

Second and Third Visits: When the part arrived in July, he installed it, and immediately ran the washer. We gave him a check for $175. The next day the floor was covered with water again. We called him to come back. When he did, he said he needed to order the same part again (!) which also, again, took about three weeks to arrive.

Fourth Visit: This time, when he did bring it over, he had unfolded the white diagrammed instruction sheet on the dryer to look at and follow as he installed the part. I asked him if the leaks should be sealed, so he got a tube of sealing compound from his truck and brought it to the laundry room. I asked him how to use it, suspecting that you shouldn't run the washer immediately after applying it. He stood in front of me reading aloud the instructions on the tube, which stated that you should wait three days before running the washer (which, of course, he had not done on his second visit).

Three days later, water again covered the floor after our using the washer. We called Mark to tell him that we wanted our money back, since he failed to fix the washer. He finally 'agreed,' saying it would take about three weeks for us to get our money back. That was at the end of September.

I will call him tomorrow (October 24, 2007) to inform that we must have our $275 back, and that we have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which as stated above, revoked the membership of "Reliable Service Co.' in March 2007.

Do not do business with "Mark" or Reliable Appliance Service Company, or its other name Reliable Service Co. Call the regular company appliance repairman, and allways get the longest warranty you can afford.

John
San Francisco, California
U.S.A.