Our refrigerator stop working last week.  The motor just stop running. I looked up Yelp to find a repair man.  Found this refrigeration repair shop called Azer.  My call got answer right away.  The repairman, probably the owner, called before arriving.  It only took him a few to figure out what went wrong.  The electronic board at the front control panel stopped working.  He replaced it and left in no more than 1/2 hour.   First he asked for $350, I said it was too much.  I offered him $250. He said the part was about $150.  I tought  the labor cost was outrageous.  Then he lowered it to $295.  I counter offered him $280.  He agreed.  I should have offered him $100 for the labor because that would have been still a very good paid for 1/2 hour job.  Oh well, hope my experience serves as an exemple for any one who encounters the same situation in the future to be able to negotiate the price better than I did.

Don't be so cheap.  These people have to make a living too.

It's not 1/2 hour of work.  He had to drive to your place and drive back, unless you took your frig to his shop.  Don't be surprised when you low ball people like that your frig stops working really soon.

is your refrigarator running?

well you'd better go catch it.

Hey be nice to Suzie. Women have been easy victims of repair cost for a century. Thanks Suzie for sharing.

Hey Old Clunker Cadilac M & El Rancho Diablo out of no where!  I could have bought a steel 2X2 fridge less than 5 yr old fridge for about $300-$500.  If you didn't appreciate the info get loss, your fat A and stop calling people names.  Is what this web site for????...............I wasn't going to lower myself to your level....... I could have used more bad word than you have.......

By the way, it is from Union City to Fremont.  The drive was only about 15 minutes......How much do you get paid an hour for working for your company?

Did he give you the old part?  Seems odd that he would have the exact PCB that went in your reefer.  His cost on the part was probably $75.

Are you related to Coupon Suzie ?

Sounds like a defrost controller issue. Probably your refrigerator is a Matag one. Matags normally have that problem in defrost control unit which is behind the temperature adjusting sliders. The genuine part will be $75 and a non-genuine one costs around $45. I personally feel that the parts+labor should be close to $200.

"It only took a few for him to figure out what went wrong."  

What went wrong is that he should have agreed to a diagnosis and repair rate or charge before he performed the work.  You pay for his EXPERIENCE not just time which he obviously deployed for the repair and hey - did he happen to have the replacement board on him?  Does he live next door or materialize on your door step without travel time?  

The problem is not your negotiating skills, the problem is with his methodology.  He should have let you know a minimum service  and diagnosis charge applicable to the repair and let you decide after he made the diagnosis if you wanted to have the repair performed or not.

Thanks  Suzie for sharing. Mike M u r a bitch.

^ captain

take off ur top next time

Mike "Cadillac Mike" M. says:

Then he lowered it to $295.  I counter offered him $280. Cheap ass!   Keep your coils clean and you wouldn't have this problem....
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he right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then ur circuits won't overload from the heat

Thank you, David, Hari G, Ryan N. for your input.  Hari, it is the defrost controller board that went out.  I wouldn't know if the board was an used one, because it didn't come wrapped.   Sunny, no I didn't have a coupon, but he did say that he already gave me the $10 coupon off.........Oh well, live and learn.........

You're welcome from me too!

Some of these Whirlpool manufactured appliances have parts that have high failure rate.   You can often find a lot of info on repair on the web.  The Idler Tension Pulley went out on my Whirlpool dryer.  I was able to figure it out from some web troubleshooting pages.  Then I found several video's on U-tube showing how to replace it.  I bought the part and  had it all fixed within a few hours.  Including enjoying a delicious taco near the parts store in San Leandro.  

Of course, I am a gentleman of leisure, so YMMV.

Come fix my fridge he shows, with the part done in 1/2 hour?
Most people ask for an estimate first.  Then there is a 10 min discussion on make,  model , what is wrong, any symptoms.  Then the repair guy looks ups possible causes finds the part / parts and drives on over.  Was this the weekend?  Was this considered a rush/ emergency?  The shop has several 5 stars on yelp, one with a coupon for $15 off.  What did the bill say how the total was $350 .  Parts, labor, service fee?   The first hour is probably a standard minimum cost to cover the visit and any research.  

In the end  the bay area is an expensive place to live / work.  Auto shops charge $120-$150 an hour while it's $75 else where.  The plumbers and fridge guys need to do the same.  I think that's why our dumps are filled with TV,  microwave, washers etc the cost to fix vs new is not worth it.

Sorry Hazel. Did I miss you?  Thank you for your input also.  The repair tech did ask me on the phone what went wrong with the fridge.  He did quote me a service fee and said that the service fee will be waived if he will do the repair.
GC, Next time any appliance goes wrong.  I will seek your advice.

Dave D. Thank you for the info.  It is a nice challenge when you have the time to do the research.  How about window re placement.  Do you know what brand is of value and competative quality?  Do you know which company is reasonable? I have looked into American Vision, Milgard and California Deluxe W indows.  Still couldn't decide who to use.