Complaint Review: Austonian Appliance - Austin Texas

On Monday, October 21, 2013, I filed a repair request with AHS (American Home Shield) and was emailed the information that AA (Austonian Appliance), Rick Garza owner, would be handling my service request. After playing phone tag for three days with Angela, the initial service call was scheduled for Monday, October 28.

Rick Garza arrived at my home on Monday, October 28, for the initial service call. He looked at my washer and determined that a hose from the pump to drain outlet had a hole and was leaking onto the floor. Contrary to their website indicating that they accept credit cards, I had to pay the service fee of $75 by check.

At this time Mr. Garza stated that AHS had 10 working days to order the parts needed for service. On Saturday, November 9, I received an email from AHS stating that the parts had been ordered and ‘are expected to be delivered to the contractor within the next 3 to 5 business days. When the part arrives, the contractor will contact you to schedule an appointment during normal business hours. If you don’t hear from the contractor within 6 business days of this email, please contact the contractor directly.’

On Tuesday, November 19, I sent an email to AA to request an installation date. This request was sent again on Wednesday and again on Thursday. My emails were never answered.

I called AA on Thursday, November 21 to complain about the lack of responsiveness from Angela and that I expected for the part to be installed on Friday, November 22. Angela returned my call and stated that the technician (Rick Garza) would be calling soon with a time frame to install the part on Friday. Mr. Garza phoned me later and stated that he would be to my home between 11am and 1pm to install the needed part.

On Friday, November 22 Mr. Garza called me at 12:00 and indicated that he was running 2-3 hours behind schedule and would call back later with a new installation time. At 3:43 Mr. Garza phoned again and stated that he would not be able to make my service call that day as he still had 3 customers in front of me. At this time I told Mr. Garza that I expected to have a service time of first thing Monday morning. He indicated that he would get me the ‘first available time’. Later that evening at 7:41pm Mr. Garza phoned and stated that my service time would be on Tuesday and the technician (Rick Garza) would call Tuesday morning with the expected time frame.

I phoned both the office number for AA and AHS to file a complaint regarding the poor service. I sent an email to Rick Garza indicating that I expected a technician at my house on Monday morning to replace the hose in the washer. My phone call and email to AA were never answered.

On Tuesday, November 26, Mr. Garza phone at 8:56am to indicate that my service time would be between 12pm and 4pm. At 1:18pm I phoned Mr. Garza about his status. He indicated that he would check the schedule. At this time I told him that he is the owner and he in charge of the schedule and that I expected him to my house before 4pm. At 2:52pm Mr. Garza phoned to state that he was headed to my location. At 3:13pm Mr. Garza arrived at my home to do the needed repair.

Mr. Garza indicated that all my problems were with AHS. I stated that I expected a refund of my service fee and he stated that would have to be refunded by AHS since I was their customer. I stated that the fee was paid to AA and that AA needed to refund the service fee.