Bray and Scarff

We should have looked at the reviews first! We shopped for a new dishwasher and found the best deal to be at Bray and Scarff in Rockville MD. The installer came out and told us that we needed a plumber. The installer was rude and dismissive which is why we we decided to have our plumber do the install. Although we measured the old dishwasher and bought the same size, the fit is tight and the dishwasher as installed is "skewed" to the left, leaving the door hard to open since the door rubs against the wall. We called Bray and Scarff. They said that since the dishwasher had been installed, we could not have them reinstall it even though we had paid Bray and Scarff an installation fee. They refuse to speak with us at all. Run, do not walk from Bray and Scarff.

We purchased our Whirlpool washer from Bray & Scarff with a 5-year warranty. DO NOT PURCHASE A WARRANTY FROM B&S!! The warranty is worthless. Our washer stopped working on February 5 and since it was still under the B&S warranty, called them for the repair. The earliest appointment was March 3 almost a month later. They then had to order a part based on the failure code displayed. B&S does not keep parts in inventory, so that took several weeks. They returned on March 22. But they still could not fix the machine. Another part of the washer had to be ordered. It takes a long time to order parts because they can't order from Whirlpool or Amazon (I found the part online there). They have to order parts from their warranty company. They returned again on April 11 to install the second replacement part. The washer still does not work!! We've been without our washing machine for over two months. Don't purchase a Bray & Scarff warranty on their appliances. They take too long to order parts and to make an appointment to attempt a repair.

Bought a 10k fridge and paid to have people come measure etc. During the install my floor and baseboard and bottom of her fridge were damaged. The ice machine is still not working. The installers said a tech had to come out (had to wait 3 weeks for that) and now the tech is here and says it’s the installers problem bc they never connected the water line. I insisted he try to fix it and he did. Sadly he had no idea what he was doing and caused a flood in my kitchen causing water damage to the basement. I will never ever use this company again (and actually cancelled 15k of appliances as a result). Will try the Home Depot Expo center which has a wider selection and more affordable products. Their install fees are considerable cheaper as well. Bray and scarf is the ultimate rip off. Also FYI if you have an issue pack you patience. You have to wait for your representative to help (not anyone in the store can help). Very disappointed with the service and still don’t have a functional fridge almost a month after delivery. And I spent all day doing laundry and cleaning up the flood the tech caused.

Based on our experience we highly recommend Nick Botkin, sales professional, & Greg Childress-manager, at Bray & Scarff ChevyChase. I have disabling medical conditions that make it challenging to buy new appliances & require much more than usual time & effort for store personnel to accommodate my disability. We live in VA & before going to the Chevy Chase Bray & Scarff, had visited many appliance stores where we too often were treated as requiring too much trouble & time--too many sales people & even managers clearly were more interested in quick easy sales rather than accommodating me. So we were delighted when we ended up at Chevy Chase Bray & Scarff & met Nick Botkin. Nick & Greg did a superb job of accommodating me with a positive attitude. It became obvious that Nick Botkin is a top notch professional dedicated to excellence in customer service & committed to spending the time to meet a customer's needs--no high pressure, quick sale tactics or attitude! Nick's knowledge of various brands & technical details is superb, & that is a great help in deciding between specific brands & models. Thank you Nick & Greg for your dedication to superb customer service!

The dishwasher went out on Christmas Eve and it took them forever to get it fixed. It had just been bought a few months prior and it has gone out twice. I would never use this provider again.

I was so annoyed by them even several months later. I would never use them. The price was reasonable. They incorrectly wired the oven and it caught on fire and then they blamed the wiring problem on us but there was nothing wrong with the wiring if they knew how to properly install it and they did not stand behind their work. They abandoned us basically. I don't even know how they are in business. I think they are in business because they lock out and most of the time they don't get into trouble. These people can't handle trouble.

I worked with Bray and Scarff to repair a two year refrigerator for two months. I gave up and purchased a new refrigerator out of desperation. Bray and Scarff weren't not able to repair - ordered wrong part twice, installed a defective part.

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The issue is with the Repair and Service Center.  BOTTOM LINE: MY WASHER HAS BEEN BROKEN FOR SIX WEEKS!  SIX. 
I would describe the service as ranging from INCREDIBLY RUDE to MERELY INEFFECTUAL. 
I wouldn't be writing this if the technicians had at least been nice.  The first guy they sent out spoke so rudely to me that I Iiterally took a step back -- I was physically taken aback by his conduct!  Needless to say, he didn't fix the washer.  Apparently he was reprimanded based on my complaints, which I was told "did not go well".  Seriously?  I don't think he was either Bray or Scarff so why he wasn't  fired I have no idea.  It's not like he was repairman extraordinaire either.  MY WASHING MACHINE IS STILL BROKEN. Reading the other comments I note that I am not the only one who has encountered surly technicians.  I suppose I can take some comfort that it's not something I did wrong.  But it's cold comfort when my WASHING MACHINE IS STILL BROKEN. 
This is not some rare, foreign washing machine either, it's a WHIRLPOOL.  Why on earth it has taken these people SIX WEEKS to figure out the problem, I have no idea.  Twice they have said it needed a new part, which invariably takes 10 days to arrive.  When I questioned why it took so long, I was told "sorry, that's the contract with your company".  MY COMPANY?!?  The only company I know about is BRAY AND SCARFF.  I bought the machine from B&S and they are the only ones I have dealt with.  Later someone admitted that the company that owns the extended service contract second guesses the B&S technicians and causes extra delay with their own evaluation of the product.  
Another fun trick.  Their stated hours are 8-5.  So I called at 4:50 and was put on hold.  At promptly 5:00 I was disconnected.  When I called back I got a recording "our offices hours...."  Brilliant.  Put a customer on hold for TEN MINUTES and then hang up.  I suppose that's one way of making a problem go away! 
Do not be fooled by the ritzy address in Bethesda or the high end prices.  This is a low end, low quality company.  Stay away.  Did I mention MY WASHING MACHINE HAS BEEN BROKEN FOR SIX WEEKS?!?

I purchased a dryer. The price seemed reasonable but during purchase, all sorts of fees were added to my purchase ( to include a fee for adding a power cord,  a delivery fee, an installation fee and a couple of other fees which I did not understand and were dropped when I questioned them.  I was also told I could get a rebate for the delivery fee. Upon delivery, the workmen decided that a space they had to pass through was too tight, so they left the dryer in my garage. When my husband returned home we were able to get the dryer through the space without moving the piece of furniture that they claimed was in the way. My husband installed the dryer and I was able to get a refund for the "installation fee" by calling my salesman. I got the impression by the salesman's response that this sort of thing happens frequently. The delivery fee rebate has been rejected because a part of the rebate form has missing information. This information is in the section labelled "To be completed by store." The rebate has fine print on the bottom that says "Missing information voids offer."

The burner's computer chip would short out (a design flaw in this range), so a call would be made to B&S's service department to schedule a tech to come out to fix.  Scheduling someone to come out sometimes became a problem.  Once no one showed up the day we were told they would and records showed no record that I had made the call.  I even had to call the sales guy who sold us all of the appliances for help.  He couldn't get anyone to "help/care" either.  And unfortunately, once techs were sent out, every single one had no idea what was wrong, let alone how to fix it.  We kept telling them that the chip and/or burner unit needed to be replaced and to just order the part, since the range was under warranty.  all we got was a blank stare back and no action was taken, as then another tech, someone who knew more, would then be scheduled to come out to look at the range.  After the 3rd time they were out in about a 6-month time period they replaced the range with another one, but the problem still was there (as I said, a design flaw), and of course within months the burner blew again.  Since no one at B&S seemed to care, or know what to do or how to do it, we decided to find a service center that knew what they were doing, even though it meant we had to pay since, as they told us, they may not be able to do warranty work from someone else (huh?).  As it turns out logic won out, but we still bought a service warranty agreement with this other place to cover the range since we knew that circuit and/or burner would blow, which it has.  New place is A&E Factory Service  (which I will review).

A disaster, the WORST customer service I have ever encountered.  Contractors ran late, so the unit was installed about 4 months after delivery.  Unit was DOA - totally non-functional.  B&S sent service technician who had NO IDEA what to do with the item and gouged adjacent cabinet putting it back in place.  B&S sent a second service techincian.  Equally incapable, but did no further damage.  B&S could not repair the item and would not replace since it was more than 3 months after delivery, even though it was brand new and had never worked.  After many calls, and no responses they finally offered to send yet another technician.  I could not see the point so I called U-Line.  Tthey recommended someone else.  That company was was clearly an expert on these items, assessed the situation using a touch screen the B&S people didin't seem to know existed and got U-Line to send a new one.  I canceled $7,200 of pending orders with Bray&Scarf and wouldn't touch them with tongs again.

Telephone operators at the Bray and Scarff service center are often offhand. It is very difficult to speak to a service manager "out to lunch" "on phone" etc and the managers do not return calls. The technicians did not appear to be well trained in the latest Bosch technology. We were informed that the reason that the ice maker was not working could not be the pump because water was flowing, but it turns out that there are two pumps, one for ice making and one for water.  One technician supposed that the previous technician must have reinstalled the old part he had replaced etc.

We were completely renovating our kitchen the end of last year and we contracted with Bray and Scarf to provide and install all new GE Monogram appliances.  We were pleased with the price but it went all down hill form there.  We had the appliances first installed in December of 2013.  The built in refrigerator was installed crooked and one of the drawers didn't work properly.  In addition, one of the lights on our overhead range vent was loose and dangling.  To sum things up the final repair wasn't done until mid April (four months after the original install).  
Bray and Scarf originally sent someone out in early January 2014 to take pictures and survey the problems with the install.  He agreed that all items needed repair and assured us he would document everything and make sure the parts were ordered.  After I didn't hear anything from Bray and Scarf for over two weeks I called and the person I spoke with didn't know anything about someone coming to our home in early January to inspect the problems and there was no record of his visit and no parts had been ordered.  So, we had to have another person out in late January to look at the issues.  That technician also agreed that all items needed fixing and said he would arrange to have the parts ordered.  I called repeatedly for four weeks and was told each time that the parts were on order but had not yet arrived.  Then I was told they had to be reordered because they couldn't find the original order in their system.  Finally, I was told all the parts arrived so I scheduled an appointment to have them installed.  I took part of the day off to meet the technician but when he arrived he told me he had the parts but he was in service and we had to call install to have the parts installed?  So he dropped the fridge parts off (they didn't have the vent parts) and I had to schedule another appointment to have the parts installed.  The installer came out and was able to correct all the issues on the fridge without having to use any of the new parts, which is a very good thing because Bray and Scarf had ordered all of the wrong parts.  
So now we were left with the issue with the vent.  The installer who fixed the fridge looked at the vent again and told us he would arrange to have the parts ordered and their service department would have to come out to install.  I arranged for the service department to come out and install the part.  Unfortunately when the service person arrived they didn't have the part and the old me the service department had to visit out home first before they could order a part and that the install department couldn't do that?  So they had to finally order the parts and make another trip to our home to do the last of the repairs.  
This has been one of the most frustrating customer service experiences I have ever had.  I really feel sorry for Bray and Scarf's sales people.  They were good to deal with but they were just as frustrated as I was.  Every time I would call them for help resolving an issue they were given the run around by their own service and install departments.  And the whole service vs install department issue was a complete joke, they acted like they were completely different companies and kept pointing the finger at each other.  And many of the technicians from Bray and Scarf that visited my home said they were frustrated with their company and that they ran into problems like mine all the time?
Needles to say I will never be using Bray and Scarf ever again...

Oven broke (smell of rubber, turned itself off), called Bray and Scarff, took them two weeks to get someone out here.  They won't even take a request for a particular time or window of time and won't tell you until the night before what their 4 hour window is, so every single time we had an appointment with them we had to take a day off from work on a day's notice..  
After two weeks, when the guy came (and he was surly) he said we needed a new part (took 5 minutes max).  A WEEK LATER they called to tell us what the part would cost and told us they had not ordered it because we had to pay for it first.  This despite the fact that we had told them on the first visit that we would authorize whatever cost they wanted.  Even if they have this policy for their protection as they told me, why did it take a week to even call back?
Three weeks after they ordered the part we had not heard from them. I called, they said they would do a status check. THey called back and said oh yes it is in. They scheduled the guy to come back. He came back with the part. Surly again. And talking on his bluetooth phone as he walked through my front door.  When he put the new part in he discovered that was not the only problem, we needed a new motherboard. He managed to get that new part in a day and come back - surly again.  He put in the new motherboard, the oven now works but makes weird noises that it did not make before. He also did not clean up after himself at all.  
In total it was 6 weeks or more from the time we called.  We had to take days off from work, with little notice.  They were unresponsive and the repairman surly. We will never use them again.

poorly see above

The sales person was knowledgable and all was good until The unnecessary charges for extras to install cooktop.

Paul Walterhoeffer was incredibly pleasant to work with.  He is knowledgeable and helpful.  I have been recommending Paul and B&S to everyone I know.

Service call was efficient and quick. The repair was under warranty/service agreement.

Sales woman efficiently took order and scheduled it for 2 days later, which was much sooner than any of the national chains could do. The delivery team showed up on time. Unfortunately, the 2-man team determined that the basement stairs would be too dangerous to attempt the removal of old machines and delivery of the new. After further examination, I agreed with them. Bray & Scarf then scheduled a 3-man delivery for the next Saturday. I received a call from the driver that Saturday, but was told there were only 2-men on the truck and said I was told it was a 3-man job. I never received a call back from any one at the company that day, which was very frustrating. I did reach my sales person, but she couldn't do anything until Monday morning. I give her and the delivery supervisor credit for calling me Monday morning, apologizing and scheduling me for the next Wednesday, at which point the delivery went very well. The three men were initially reluctant, but we made it work. I applaud them for getting into a tight spot and working on a very hot day. So, in the end, I'm quite pleased, although I was fuming mad that Saturday when no one could tell me what was going on.

 I called them out because of a clicking noise in my GE oven display panel  I described (at length) what was going on with the company with my initial call. The repairman came exactly when he was supposed to, first call of the day.  He listened for less than five minutes, didn't even pull the oven out from the wall or check heat/temperature.   Well the noise wasn't normal for that oven , at least at the volume projected.   I did feel ripped off especially since I explained what was going on with the office when making the appointment.  I explained that the oven was functioning properly but I was concerned about the excessive noise and what that could mean for the future. I bought the appliance from Bray and Scharf and felt that when an appliance is under warranty I got good service.   This one expired four months ago.   I will not be using them again for nonwarranty repairs.   There must be better service providers out there. 

After the first call for service, a repairman was sent within a couple of days. He walked in with no tools and indicated that he was sure that I needed a new computer board. He said that it would take a week to arrive and then he would be back. After waiting two weeks without hearing anything, I contacted Bray and Scarff again. They had no information, but said they would check on the status and call me back. After a few days, when I had heard nothing from them, I called them back. Same story. When I insisted that they call me back, they called me back to indicate that they still were unable to tell me the status, but that they knew the ordered part had not yet arrived. I called the warranty contractor next (I probably should have done so at the beginning). After some investigation, the warranty contractor was able to tell me that Bray and Scarff had not even ordered the part until my second call (more than two weeks after the repairman's first visit). I had to wait a full month before the part came and Bray and Scarff contacted me to set up a date for its installation. The repairman himself was pleasant and appeared to have done a good job replacing the computer board. The company should have ordered the part at once. However, I would forgive such an error had it been forthcoming and informed me honestly about the status of my repair. Unfortunately, it left me completely in the dark.

They did an average job.

When the technician first came for installation, the microwave was installed, but I was told that additional parts were needed to install the hood. When I hadn't heard back from the installation department the next day, I called the salesman back to reschedule, but there was confusion about which parts were needed, so I was told they would have to get back to me. After several days, I called again and was told that the installation manager was concerned that the hood was too large to replace an above-range microwave. Several days later (and another half-day of missing work), another technician came to measure and said that it would fit and that the first technician had no reason not to install it. He himself could not install, though, because he only was there to measure. Several more days passed with no contact, so I again had to call the salesman to schedule installation, but was told they would have to get back to me. The manager again said he thought it was too big. I measured myself and agreed, so after several more days of back and forth, we agreed on a different hood. I again had to make several more phone calls to set up a time for the installation, which finally was done by two very good technicians. Following installation, I had to call the salesman multiple times to get the appropriate amount refunded, including an amount of $150 for an electrician relating to the installation, who came out and told me that he was not needed. In all, it took 7 week from the date of purchase, through the final refund of money owed back to me. Throughout the process, I was told that I would have to be called back, and the salesman repeatedly told me that he was on "important calls" as an excuse for not returning my calls promptly. I chose this company initially because of recommendations from friends. I was surprised and very disappointed by the unbelievably bad customer service. I will never use this company again.