Jimmy Z Appliance Services

My Samsung refridgerator was overfreezing, with sheets of ice everywhere. They came to look at it, told me the main control panel was burned out and would need to be replaced to the tune of about $375. They charged $93 for the evaluation visit, and would apply that to any repair they did. When I called the office to schedule the repair, Nikki tried to talk me out of it, said Samsung parts are hard to get, take a long tiime to get, etc. However, a new fridge at that level would cost me over $1000, so eventually I decided to bite the bullet. By the way, I checked with Lowe's later, who sells a lot of Samsung, and they said they had no problems with delays.

It took them over 2 weeks to get the part and come to replace it. It didn't work, so they came to see why and this time they said they installed the wrong part. They said an additional repair was needed but they didn't know what it was and would contact Samsung. The fridge still had the same problem when they left. The third time they came out and this time said it was a sensor, and that theyd call in a day or so to come out again. They never did call. I had beenn living without a refridgerator for over a month, so I called them and cancelled the repair, and ended up buying a new refridgerator. Then they charged my credit card for $422, an unauthorized charge, never told me they were going to charge me. I called them to ask them why and so far am getting a run around. The first time I called I said I would be contacting my credit card company to let them know it was an unauthorised charge, and Nikki was very snippy, saying angrily to me not to do that, perhaps it was a mistaken charge and she would call me back.

When she hadn't called me by 4 days, I called her, got a pleasant sounding associate who said Nikki wasn't there but would call me back. Two days later, she hadn't called, I called her back, she said she was very busy and could she call me back, and promised to call the next morning. Needless to say she hasn't.

The ice machine and fridge had stopped working (would not drop ice). The technician came out from Jimmy Z's. He looked at the ice maker (didn't touch it at all), pulled the fridge away from the wall, unplugged it to look at the compressor in the back, and then told me that the ice machine is not repairable, and I will need to buy a whole new one. I asked him if he didn't want to try and look at it a little closer because maybe something came loose or something happened to it. He said, "Once they stop, they are done. They won't start again; it will cost more to fix a part than to buy the whole new ice machine ($220 for the part). He would need $150 up front to buy the ice new machine since they don't stock them. So, I wrote them a check. They called the next day to schedule his return. Later that night, I heard the familiar sound of ice falling into the now empty ice tray in the freezer.

I went down to look and the ice holder was half way full. It had probably been running for many hours, and I had just happened to be close enough with no other sounds to hear it drop. The next day I called Jimmy Z and told them that my ice machine was making ice again, and I would not need the new ice machine or a return visit from the technician. The person who answered the phone said that they would mail me back the money minus the $87 fee for the technician coming to the house (approximately $56 after taxes) on next Tuesday. A few minutes later, I was called by a very rude woman named Nikki, who told me that they would not be mailing me back any money, and I still owe them for the rest of the ice machine.

I calmly told her that the ice machine was working fine, and that her technician had simply made a mistake. No hard feeling about the $87; I was willing to pay for the visit, but I simply didn't need a new ice machine. I didn't want to pay for one. She told me I was still on the hook for the full cost of the ice machine and that she would not send any money back. She also said, "You don't know if that ice machine will be working tomorrow morning, so you need a new one anyway." I said that was crazy since I also didn't know if the ice machine would be working for the next five years.

She said, "You are being ridiculous, and I can't talk to you anymore. I will have the owner call you." He never did, and I have never received my money back from them. I have called back twice more, but the woman (Nikki) simply hangs up on me when she finds out it is me. I had no luck in speaking with the owner, so I don't know if he knows how they are doing business. I would never use this service again, and I would caution others not to either.

Had a leaky refrigerator. Tech came out next day, though 4 hours late without notice. Put in a new defrost timer, great. Then oops, 2 days later we realize that the ice cubes never froze, the milk smells funny, the thing wasn't cold at all, had to throw out everything. Tech came out again, and said the first tech simply didn't "attach" the piece correctly. Fixed it, but next day the same old leak came back again.

Called them next day at 10am, they said they'd call back, never heard back. I called 5 hours later that day, and I got a snippy rep on the phone, "I said I'd call you back." Whole day came and went, nothing from them. Need to be on it again, and I predict it will be a fight to get my $300 back, they seem non-apologetic so far. Steer clear! Besides the major inconvenience of late and non-appearing techs, we lost $ groceries, not to mention lost work time because I had to stay home and pump for our baby, since all his milk was lost (he's on a milk-only diet).

We had an intermittent "tE" code on our LG WM2455HW front-loading washer, which stopped the wash cycle (after which you could often/typically restart), and called service. When the service man arrived, I told him we had an intermittent tE code and the washer would stop, and that I thought it might be the thermistor. He immediately informed me that "these washers don't have a thermistor, they are all solid state now." My wife witnessed this rebuff by him. Although he brought a small briefcase (tools?) into our house, he then proceeded to press the keys to reset the computer (or so he said--I couldn't see exactly what he was pressing), then informed us that the main control board was shot, and that we'd have to replace it.

He then said that usually when a repair cost less than 1/2 the cost of a new machine, they would advise their client to repair, if more, replace the machine. And he said this repair would cost $290 for the board plus $170 for the labor coming to just under $500, about 1/2 the cost of a new machine (he recommended GE). He did not have a repair part and left within 10 minutes of arriving, collecting payment in full so he could pick the board up at his warehouse.

I didn't like the way he told me I was wrong about the thermistor and then concluded it was a control board without any obvious signs that I could see. From my knowledge of various electrical, electronic/mechanical devices, an intermittent failure (working most of the time) didn't seem like a likely control board error (all other functions worked perfectly! So, I decided to see what I could find inside the washer. Removing the top cover, I immediately saw the wiring diagram-- and sure enough, clear as could be, the "thermistor", with blue and white wires traveling to a thermistor located on the heating unit below the washer drum. I found a loose connector, pinched it with long nose pliers, reassembled everything, and the washer has worked perfectly ever since. No new parts at all, and certainly not a $500 repair instantly diagnosed.

The company agreed to no charge and said they will return my check. I am simply concerned that this could be an easy scam for the appliance repair shop: diagnose a main control board failure, replace with a different board and take the old board (mine still looks brand new) to the next customer in line. I wonder how often this happens. Clearly, the repairman had not properly diagnosed a main control board failure, but would have charged me $500 and not really fixing the real problem, a loose connector. I would love to know whether a company like this really orders as many "main control boards" as they "replace" or invoice consumers for.