A & E Factory Service

unknown

They had to remove all of the components and parts from the old cabinet and reinstall everything. They arrived right on time and were finished when they said they would be.  Great job.

My experience with A&E Factory service was the worst experience with a service provider I've ever had, bar none.  In fact, it was so bad I purchased this subscription to Angie's list so I could avoid a repeat of the frustration and cost of a horrible provider in the future.  Had I seen the reviews on Angie's List first, I never would have engaged A&E in the first place.
Background:

• - My dishwasher stopped draining
• - I called Lowes for a referral to have it fixed.  I do not have an extended warranty but assumed whomever Lowes used for warranty service calls would be fine.  BIG MISTAKE!
• - Made appointment.  Had to wait to following week until someone could come out.
• - Repairman arrived on time and was friendly. I had gotten reminder call the night before.  (So far so good.)
• - Repairman looked up error code, agreed drain function was the problem (easy to see since there was standing water in the bottom of the dishwasher and it wouldn't run through a whole cycle.  Investigated hoses, decided a new pump was necessary and ordered it to be installed a week later.   Paid for labor and prepaid for part. (Seemed reasonable.)
• - 2nd repairman arrives a week later to install the pump.  Puts it in, runs dishwasher about 2 minutes, declares it fixed and leaves. Before that cycle was over, it was apparent the problem hadn't been solved. 
• - Called for another appointment which again wasn't available for several days.
• - First repairman returned.  Exclaimed about the bad job the previous guy had done, then realized that he, himself (the first repairman) had made a bad diagnosis and decided a different pump was the problem. He was very apologetic.  I was patient, I know mistakes happen.  Inconvenient but not a big deal.  THEN THE BIGGER PROBLEMS BEGIN.
• - He created a return slip for the original unnecessary part to refund me around $95.
• - He then attempted to order the other kind of pump, which would actually require replacing much of the motor.  I prepaid a little over $300 for that new pump and made an follow up appointment for the following week.  He put in a rush order supposedly.

- A week later I hadn't received my part or a reminder call for my appointment.  I called the 800 number thinking maybe because the part was so big, that they had it shipped to their office.  Noooo...  the order was hung up in their system.  Once again they put a rush on it, but because it was going to take two repairmen and a couple of hours, they couldn't make me an appointment for more that a week later.
- I talked to the local manager to say I wanted a very experienced Samsung repair person since so far, I had not had good luck.  He assured my that would be the case.
- Finally the big part arrives and one repairman shows up.  He is shocked to learn what kind of part needs to be installed and realized he had only been scheduled for a short visit!!  After hearing my story about how long I had been without a working dishwasher, he was able to work with their office to get a second guy out and extend the appointment.  And get a Samsung expert.  
- Expert arrives, looks at problem. Says I didn't need any parts to begin with and shows me the cherry pit that was stuck in the dishwasher.  He says the first repairman should have been able to diagnose that problem and remove the cherry pit.
- At this point my dishwasher has been completely disassembled and it laying on the floor. They suggest putting the new motor in anyway since they assumed I had an extended warranty.  I explained that I did not and didn't want to pay more than $300 for a part I didn't need, not to mention the ethics of doing so.  The expert left and the other guy put my dishwasher back together.  He ran it a few minutes and it drained fine.  Gave me a return slip for the motor. Then he packed up to leave.
- I decided to do a load of dishes.  As soon as I opened the dishwasher and pulled the drawer out, the dishwasher tipped forward and would not stay in place.  I hurried to my door and was able to flag down the guy before he left.  He came back in and discovered the brackets that hold the dishwasher to the counter had broken.  So he ordered those parts and once again arranged for someone to come back a week later.  Sooo... the adventure continues...
- After running the full load of dishes I found a screw on the bottom of the dishwasher and the dishes had not gotten clean!  I called the service number AGAIN!  Stated forcefully I wanted an expert to come fix the problem ASAP.  Well, of course, they couldn't get someone ASAP and bundled the fix to occur with the bracket appointment.  So after more than a month I am STILL washing my dishes by hand.
- Finally the next appointment occurs.  This guy was surprised he needed to do more than put on new brackets.  He investigates and tells me a part had been put in upside down when the last repairman put the dishwasher back together and they had forgotten to put in the screw.  Ughh!  He puts it in correctly and tries the dishwasher then leaves.
- I load and try the dishwasher again.  Now the upper shelf dishes don't get clean and I hear a thunking sound.  I am SOOO frustrated I have vowed to never let anyone from A&E through the door again.  I ask my husband if he can do anything.  He takes a look and discovers A&E had broken a plastic piece that held  the tube to send water to the top of the dishwasher.  I really, really don't want A&E to come back again.  My husband does a make do repair and my dishes on the top get clean again.
- BUT now my dishes don't get dry like they used to.  Obviously A&E had broken something else.  At this point I just want to buy a new dishwasher.
- THEN the adventure begins to try and get my money back for the parts that were returned.  What a nightmare.  I spent hours on the phone to be disconnected, have to explain the situation over and over again, and getting not very far.  Finally after getting very upset, I got a partial refund.  
- Once again I play phone tag and escalate the issue.  I only got the rest of my money back weeks later after offering to have an attorney get involved and telling them I was going to post my experience to every review site I could find and report them to what ever consumer agency I could find.
- And to this day, I suspect they overcharged me on labor since there never should have been a need for a return visit after the very first visit when they should have found the cherry pit.
In the end I would NEVER EVER consider using or recommending A&E services.  Nor will I buy my next dishwasher from Lowes since they sent me to A&E.  Nor will I buy a Samsung since apparently they aren't easy to repair.  This all occurred on a dishwasher only 3 years old.  WHAT A CIRCUS.

•  

I hired them because my oven was flashing, like the gas was not being properly regulated. The gas explodes in the oven. Not debris on the oven burning. A strong natural gas smell. I was charged 142.00 for this scraping of debris. The next time I preheat my oven, the entire 3000 square feet of my two story home fills with gas. I'm told it will be 10 days before the next svc appt. I say I want a refund so I can hire someone to come out sooner. That's when then run around begins...

unknown

Awful awful and then again awful! He RUSHED RUSHED RUSHED through everything! Kept his head barried into that laptop! Fixed the dryer only after I told him how... And never did fix the washer and I still had to pay him for it! He FAILED at the diagnostic of what was wrong and it was SOOOOOOOO simple! Shame on A & E Factory Services! DO NOT call them for anything!

We called Whirlpool after two Center Point Energy technicians could not fix the machine.  We knew we would have to pay for the service. Whirlpool scheduled us with A and E. After going on Angie's list and reading the terrible reviews I was almost afraid to let the tech. in the door! He proved to be very professional, on time and fixed the problem in an hour's time.
Even though it was expensive it was worth it and we are glad Whirlpool sent him out.
I think the latest computerized appliances are getting more and more difficult to service these days.

Responsiveness = F
One day, our dryer went out.  The motor would not turn.  We called our home warranty service company on Monday and they immediately referred us to A & E Factory Services.  I called the 800 number to schedule, and their first available slot is not until Thursday of the following week.  That is almost 2 weeks out that we would not have a dryer.  I thought they must be really good if they are THAT busy.
Punctuality=F
The day before the service, I got an call from them saying that their service person will come between 8 AM and 12 PM.  I figure a 4-hour service window is acceptable.  Around 11 AM, I got an message saying they are running behind schedule, and they will be at my place a little after noon.  I thought that was fine, I understand people run behind schedule all the time.  2 PM comes around, nobody shows up.  I called them back and the lady says that the service person will come no later than 3 PM.  Fine, I figure I already took most of the day off anyway.  3 PM comes around, nobody shows up.  Finally at 3:30 PM the guy called and said that he's about 5 minutes away, and finally arrived shortly after the called.  So that means they are over 3 and a half hour past their 4 hour window!
Quality=D
I showed him the dryer and explained that the dryer seemed to want to start but doesn't look like the motor is turning.  He opened up the dryer and the motor and saw that something seems to have jammed the motor.  Turns out that it might have been bird that had made its way into the dryer from the vent.  He looks disgusted and almost didn't want to dislodge the dead bird.  I understand the reaction as I would have reacted the same way -- that's why I hire professionals!
Profesionalism=D
After waiting for the whole day, it took him probably 15 minutes to open the dryer, half-heartedly remove the obstacle that jammed the motor, and closed it back up.  Never minding the lint and dirt that was around the motor, he closed up to test if the motor would turn over.  It does -- so I guess that's where his job ends.  He took my credit card, swiped it, and then told me that he was not able to give me a receipt because his printer was broken.  He said that it would be e-mailed (or regular mail, I don't remember) to me, but I have not received anything, even after one week has passed.  Granted that my card was charged correctly (which was in correct deductible amount from my home warranty company), I would have been happier if I would have been given a receipt for the service that was performed.  What happened to the good old-fashioned carbon paper receipt?
Anyway, to go back to the professionalism -- remember how he just dislodged the bird and closed up?  While it was probably not part of the job description, I would have appreciated a little bit more cleanliness and profesionalism if he had cleaned out the dirt or at least ensured that he has removed all of the bird remains.  Sure enough, a week later, I noticed some flies were in my house.  I thought they had gone in through the garage door as we came in, but then I noticed a large number of them were coming from the laundry room.  When I went in, there must have been over 20 flies in the laundry room.  Thinking back, I'm pretty sure that he may not have gotten all of the dead bird carcass inside the motor which would drew the flies to come in from the vent.
So now, I have to get another service company to come and clean up the dryer!  What a hassle!  I would have been a happy customer despite their poor responsiveness and punctuality if they had just done the job right the first time.  Now I have to share my unpleasant experience with other people so they know what to expect if they do decide to go with A & E Factory Services.

Worst repair experience ever. The first A & E technician who evaluated the situation mistakenly scheduled the repair for March 6th?which would have left us with no refrigerator for an entire month. He also neglected to inform us that the part he ordered would be shipped directly to our house, and that we were supposed to call A & E to confirm its arrival. When the technician did not show up on February 6th(the date we thought the appointment was scheduled for), A & E's customer service was not helpful. They would not admit that a mistake had been made on their end, and all they could do for us was to schedule another appointment on February 13th. So we waited this additional week without a refrigerator. On the 13th, a technician arrived and installed the compressor?but several hours later the unit was still not cooling. I called A & E, who once again were not helpful and offered to set up another appointment in another week after the technician who performed the work did not return our calls. We went almost three weeks without a refrigerator because of this experience. Wound up calling ApplianceSmart, where the refrigerator was purchased, and they gave us wonderful repair service, still covered under the warranty.

I contacted the home warranty company and A&E Repair Service in October 2012.  As of January 2013 (and at least 6 service calls later), my dishwasher is still leaking.  Initially, the tech thought my seals should be replaced.  He replaced them and the dishwasher was still leaking. After another scheduled appointment, A&E replaced the inside tub of the dishwasher...still leaking.  They pulled the dishwasher unit completely out from under the counter and did something with the plumbing behind the unit...still leaking.  At this point I contacted the home warranty company to discuss my frustration.  They said to call A&E and request a 'Senior Technician".  I did and the next appointment, the same tech (who had been out previously) arrived. Then they determined that is must be the inside door that was causing the leak. (Everything else had been replaced at this point.)  They ordered the door part.  The wrong door unit arrived. This happened three more times before someone in the authorization department of our home warranty company determined that the door unit we needed was no longer available.  The home warranty company then authorized the purchase of a new dishwasher.  The new dishwasher is on back-order.  Ugh...

Our washer broke on thanksgiving day. We had a mountain of stuff to wash for the coming week. I made various calls to people on Friday after thanksgiving. They were either booked or took the long weekend off. Even the guy who calls himself emergency appliance repair was booked until next mid week. I was able to schedule A&E service through online scheduling for Saturday morning. They came and replaced a nonfunctioning part, half an hour, done and out of here. We are back to normalcy (i.e., a washing and folding couple).

Our Whirlpool refrigerator broke after just 5 months of use. No other refrigerator we have ever owned has been a problem, still no big deal. We called Whirlpool they sent A&E services to come out and take a look at the problem, here is when the problem started. The first time they came out they were slated to come out between 8-12. Took off a half day of work, no one showed up, no call. I called A&E, they put me on hold and told me that they would see where the technician was. Long story short, he showed up three hours late. When he arrived, he was rude, short, and barely seemed to know how to service the fridge. He told us that it was the board that was broke and it needed to be replaced. So he ordered one and said he would be back out. We rescheduled and the same thing happened again! Took a half day off, waited, waited, nothing. Called, asked to talk to a manager, I was put on on hold once and was hung up on! Called again was put on hold for 10 minutes! Called a third time and they insisted I be put on hold again. This is the worst service I have ever experienced in my entire life.

Samsung front-load washer broke out of warranty and Samsung referred me to A&E Factory Service.  After a mixup in appointment scheduling (A&E said Samsung was supposed to schedule the actual appointment, but Samsung hadn't told me anything about it; would have been nice to get a confirmation call from A&E) the technician arrived near the beginning of his window, having already called ahead to ensure I would be available. A&E had already sent some parts via UPS which turned out to be the right ones, so an hour and a half later everything was done and the washer worked.  Besides the appointment scheduling thing, everything went smoothly.

Purchased a Whirlpool washing machine from Lowes,  3 months later it broke....  These guys are the warranty service provider for Whirlpool.  Funny.. Lowes forgot to explain that the service provider was owned by a competitor(Sears).  Took these guys 5 days to show up from when I placed the call.  Tech arrived and had no idea what was wrong spent an hour on the phone with tech support, said it was a bad main board and ordered it for next day delivery but scheduled his return for 4 days later.  Tech explained that they had to few guys to keep up with all the calls and that standard operating procedure was 7-10 days for repairs (Lowes never explained this!). Took off work for Tech's return.  After waiting 3 hours without a call, I called them to find out that the printed schedule that Perry gave me was "wrong"... the service was "really" scheduled for Monday.  Turns out the board wasn't the problem and the tech thought he had the board that was the issue...but his board was bad too!!!! 

Was able to work with Lowes Management to replace entire unit...

He came, he checked and he left.

It was wonderful. They did an excellent job. The serviceman explained everything really well. I was extremely happy with the service. He fixed it right on the spot.

The wrong part was consistently ordered and re-ordered. Numerous trips were required before dishwasher was fixed. Each trip involved my taking off work and staying home. The technicians seemed to operate by ordering a part and then seeing if that fixed the problem. The incorrect color for the part was sent three times before we decided we would just take the color sent to get the job finished. A terrible experience as not only did I miss work I was also without a dishwasher for about 6 weeks.

A & E Factory Service was selected by our home warranty to repair our Fisher & Paykel dishwasher, which was leaking water. We have had the company out to our house a total of TEN times and the issue is still not fixed. Each time they would come out the would replace the same part, but had no insight as to why the part continued to malfunction. The professionalism left a great deal to be desired. Every time they arrived at the VERY LAST MINUTE of the 4 hour window which was given. In general it took a total of 2 weeks for the repair to be completed. Once the dishwasher was functioning, it would generally only do so for 1-3 weeks. The latest repair functioned for ONLY 2 DAYS! The technicians varied a great deal in professionalism and all lacked expertise. While there were a couple of technicians who were professional, a number of them were very unprofessional. One technician could not even speak with me without looking at my breasts (which were very covered) and a second technician spent the duration of the repair talking about how "he hated his job and was going on a job interview the next day." A third technician felt that it would be necessary to adjust our water pressure without first asking (mind you, our home is 110 years old and messing with the plumbing without even asking was not advisable and lead to an additional issue with our pressure washer in our sink). A fourth technician fixed the dishwasher and then forgot to put parts back on when reassembling the dishwasher. A fifth technician made me wait on the service line for 45 minutes to verify his work order (all other technicians did this without my assistance). Even when the additional repairs were required AS A DIRECT RESULT of poor workmanship, they refused to give us a more specific time window for follow up work. The customer service was apathetic at best. While we were not required to pay for service due to the warranty, the total cost of these repairs would have exceeded $2000.00 if we had paid in full. I believe they have some warranty for their workmanship though, which is one positive. I would NEVER use this company under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. They are way too big and have zero accountability.

The technician arrived when expected and called when he was enroute. He determined that the blower had lint packed in it making it out of balance. He showed me how to clear it myself and coded the service for the minimum charge. It was substantially lower than the minimum service call charge quoted by the appilance dealer.

The technician showed up within the scheduled time frame including a phone call an hour in advance to let me know he was coming. He was able to decipher my layman explanation of the problem. I told him he was either confirming a death sentence for the fridge or giving it life. He took things apart and had the proper tools to diagnose the problem. He also had the required part on his truck and was able to move forward with the repair immediately. While he was waiting to confirm the ice maker was working properly he also vacuumed out my coils and firmed up some other connections as a little tune up. He stayed to be sure it was working. I really liked that he had a credit card machine on his truck and was able to provide me with a printed bill and receipt.

I called A&E and was able to schedule an appointment for the next morning; there was a reminder call that evening, and the repairman, Kyle, called half an hour before he arrived to let us know he was coming. They told us there would be $65 charge for the visit, which would be applied to the bill if we did a repair, but which we'd be responsible for if no repairs were made. He disassembled the controls to try to find the source of the "PF" problem. When he reassembled the controls everything worked, so nothing was to be done there; he said there might be a loose connection, and/or there could be problems with one of two parts: a button (which could be replaced for $40, or some sort of circuit board which was considerably more expensive. He advised doing nothing, unless the problem recurred, which I agreed with. He diagnosed the door problem, and gave me an estimate on the spot. I gave him the go ahead, and he replaced the door hinges which had failed; he had the right parts in the truck. He was pleasant and courteous throughout the visit, left the stove cleaner than it was when he arrived, and cleaned up after himself.

Very prompt and professional. A&E gave us an 8 A.M-Noon window. Kyle called at 7:30 A.M, saying he'd arrive in about 30 minutes, which he did. He said the unit needed to be replaced, and provided me with an estimate for two model options. I chose the one I wanted and Kyle replaced the unit in a little under an hour. The replacement unit cost was comparable to what I had seen at a home improvement store.

The company called quickly and set up an appointment. The service person came at the appointed time and diagnosed the problem quickly and ordered the part on the spot. Another service person from the same company came the following week and installed the new part. He tested the oven to be sure it worked. They were very efficient and professional. (The oven was under warranty, but the work would have cost $165.00.)

The recall work on our dishwasher went well. The work on our washing machine took a few service calls to actually fix the problem which was unfortunate, but it is working well now.

The technician diagnosed the problem and got the microwave up and running quickly (a stuck relay; no parts necessary). He thoroughly explained the problem and let me know that if the problem continued to occur that I would probably need a new circuit board. He left a written quote for the circuit board replacement and only billed for the trip charge amount because of the short amount of time that it took to fix the problem. I thought that that was a very fair outcome. The technician was very professional and answered all of my questions. It was a very good experience overall. The only improvement I could see would be giving the customer an earlier heads-up on the day of service as to the actual time of arrival; that would have given me a more flexibility in planning my day. But, a great overall experience, I would definitely recommend this company.