BOB WALLACE APPLIANCE

late delivery

Both technicians were professional and polite. First one came to try and repair, but had to order replacement parts (range was c.1990). The second technician came when promised and installed the proper parts, unfortunately, because range was old, the markings were 90 degrees off from "normal" and didn't match up with writing around knobs (off, med, high, etc). Very expensive repair for something not comesmetically appealing for selling a house. Hubby had to come up with another plan and buy materials to get the knobs to line up correctly (but at least Bob Wallace got the broken stems repaired so we could turn it on without pliers! and pass reinspection)!

unknown

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They did a wonderful job and it works now. This was completed on the first trip out.

Suffice it to say, it angered me that the price quote was just plain wrong and misleading.

They usually fix it right the first time. If they don't they will come back. One time they did damage something but they paid for the damage.

They did a great job and the price was reasonable.

This will be lengthy for the benefit of other owners of similar dishwashers. Ours is KitchenAid Model KUDI01ILBL6. There is a summary at the end if you want to cut to the bottom line.
When we pushed the control buttons on the front of the dishwasher, the green lights blinked rather than staying on and the machine would not start. Dishwasher is a 2004 model installed that year. No previous problems. Cycled the circuit breaker. The machine started then stopped. Called Bob Wallace Appliance Service on Monday 8/15/11. They said someone would arrive the next morning. Nathan Kennedy arrived as scheduled Tuesday morning. We had the breaker off when he arrived. Turned the breaker on and the dishwasher started and operated normally. Nathan stayed for several minutes and it just kept running. He noted on work order and quot;Unable to verify the complaint at this timeand quot; and left. Great guy. More about Nathan later. Thirty minutes later, the dishwasher stopped mid-cycle. Cycled the breaker. Lights blinked when pushed. Wouldn't start. Called Bob Wallace and asked if Nathan could return. He returned in the afternoon and verified the problem. His troubleshooting pointed to the main circuit board. He said continuing power fluctuations from grid damage during our Spring tornadoes had damaged several appliance circuit boards. His parts dept. said they had to order the part with delivery in 7 - 10 days. In all fairness, I don't remember if they said calendar or business days. Called to follow up on Wednesday, 8/24, and was told the part had arrived that day. The earliest someone could install it would be Friday, 8/26. I asked to have Nathan come back and after checking, then rearranging, his schedule, they said Nathan could be here the next morning. He arrived as scheduled and installed the new circuit board. Turned the breaker on. Same problem. Blinking lights. Wouldn't start. Nathan called KitchenAid technical support, described the problem and actions already taken. Tech Support said it was the User Interface a.k.a. the control panel where the buttons and lights are located. Not in stock at Bob Wallace. Ordered with delivery in 7 - 10 days. Re-installed the original circuit board. Meanwhile my credit card was charged for the original service call and the circuit board. We went out of town the next week and stayed until Labor day. We called on Wednesday, 9/7 to follow up. Part had just arrived that day. Don't have any reason to doubt that parts arrived exactly the day we called, twice. Nathan was scheduled for Friday morning, 9/09, and arrived as scheduled. Opened the box, pulled out the control panel and, while it was the same dimensions as ours, it was completely different in appearance and location of lights and controls. Nathan called another parts distributor in town who confirmed the part number Nathan had was the right one listed. Nathan called someone at either another distributor or KitchenAid (I think it was KitchenAid) and was able to connect with someone to whom he described in detail the appearance of our control panel. The person on the other end of the call was able to identify the correct panel and ship it for Monday delivery. Nathan called Monday, 9/13 to say the part was in and he would be here Tuesday morning, 9/13. He arrived as scheduled, installed the control panel. Dishwasher works as before. Nathan left a work order form indicating we would receive a $40.00 credit to our card. That was two days ago. We expect to see that credit in a few days.
Summary:
Original call 8/15/2011. Problem solved 9/13/2011. Give them back a few days for Labor Day. Technician Nathan Kennedy was prompt, courteous, well-spoken, and went the extra mile to solve our problem. The root cause of the delay was inadequate supply chain management by Bob Wallace management resulting in delays in availability of required parts. An additional contributor was improper part number listing by KitchenAid. You can only manage and control what you measure. Company management measure the things that are important to them. Bob Wallace management certainly measures their monthly costs in detail listed in dozens of line items; sales by product line and salesperson; number of people on the payroll; and numbers and types of vehicles. They measure those things because the care about them. They do not appear to have either established levels of vendor performance that will support customer needs or set up metrics to measure and improve vendor performance or the overall performance of their service business. Today is 9/15/2011. I have not heard from anyone at Bob Wallace to follow up on my satisfaction with their service. All this means Bob Wallace management does not care enough about their service business to measure and manage it to meet customer requirements or to promptly seek customer feedback. No appliance company can carry in inventory every part for every product line, but through aggressive supply chain management, they can work with their suppliers to find ways to meet customer requirements if they care about their service business. Nathan gets an A for professionalism. Bob Wallace management gets and F. I averaged that to a C. Maybe this level of service is standard in the appliance business. Maybe we are the exception. Everyone who has been in the service business for any length of time had, at some time, an experience with a customer where absolutely everything went wrong in spite of their best efforts. Don't know, but we will try someone else next time. It should be noted Bob Wallace offers a 90 day warranty on parts and labor. We were charged for only one service call.

It was under warranty so the price was good. It is an appliance store and they seem to do good follow up.They called ahead.

Terrible.

We've bought all of our major appliances from Bob Wallace and have viewed them as a reputable company over the years. When our 3 year old refrigerator suddenly quit working, we called them for service. It quit over the weekend, and we called first thing Monday morning and got an appointment for that afternoon. The service man called when he was on his way and arrived as scheduled. After examining the fridge, he found the problem in a matter of minutes. I tried asking him why that part would go bad and he didn't answer me. I'm not a repair person, but I am an engineer, so of course I'm interested in things like that. After paying the bill ($120 for service call, plus $35 part), I asked him when it would be ok to restock the refrigerator. He was halfway to the door! He didn't even turn around to answer my question! This was the rudest repair man that has ever come to my home, and not the typical Bob Wallace service that we would expect.