Appliance Repair Inc

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/09) */
We were out for an In Warranty service visit from Electrolux because a refrigerator had flooded a home. Upon arrival the refrigerator was sitting out in the middle of the kitchen. The water was shut off and disconnected. Our technician connected...

the waterline just for the diagnosis. Then shut the water line back off and disconnected it again from the refrigerator. Parts were ordered.
Upon arrival to install parts the water line was still disconnected and shut off. Our technician installed the warranty parts. Connected water line and tested. Then shut water back off and removed line again.
The technician did talk to the father in-law explaining to get a new waterline, longer then what they had and a new shut off. The father in-law said he would go to a hardware store and get the right stuff.
The homeowner turned on his own water shut off and flooded his own house. We never initially disconnected his waterline and never connected it up for him at the end. That is a homeowners responsibility or a plumbers. The only connecting we did was for testing the unit. We always then shut water back off and disconnected.
The homeowner can have any opinion he wants but we were never contracted to hookup a waterline. We were never paid to hookup a waterline. We also went above and beyond by telling him to get a better waterline and shut off when he does hook it up. We were contracted and paid to install warranty parts and that's exactly what we did. If he and his father in-law had a miscommunication that has nothing to do with us. Possibly he should be home during service visits because there was no mixed communication, our technician could have not been more clear.
The only damage and leaks were caused by the home owner.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
While I respect the response the facts are incorrect. The water line was connected when their technician showed up but the water itself was turned off. Their technician disconnected the water line.
Their technician reconnected the water line after he replaced the parts but never did he write that fact down, he just pushed the fridge back agains the wall. After talking to othe repair companies they all seemed to indicate that a standard industry practice would be to tag a water line or write on an invoice that the water was disconnected or shut off. The fridge was not in the middle of the kitchen. Based on the configuration of the kitchen and the island it was no more than 1 foot out from its original spot.
The company also states that connecting a water line is a plumbers job, however they had no problem advising on the type or water line or the length of said line. After having two plumbers out they both stated the advice from the company was not the best advice either.
As for mixed communications, the technician never wrote anything down nor did he communicate with his own company. When I called them to schedule someone to come out b/c we had water leak issues they didn't even know that their tech had not reconnected the water. I would be extremely surprised if per the response from the company "We always shut water back off and disconnected" is an actual practice or just an excuse in this case.
Bottom line if your going to remove a water line and then push an appliance back in place you should 1) write that down on the invoice or some tag (per at least two other repair companies and plumbers as standard practice) and 2) communicate with your own company (when we called their own company had no idea).
This is an issue of false information: a) the water line was connected when the repair guy showed up in the first place, he disconnected it and b) careless execution by failure to make clear a material fact (Water line was not connected).
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/09/18) */
We do disagree with the customers response because the waterline was disconnected and the refrigerator was pulled out. It may be industry standard to record a disconnected waterline or say it's shut off if your a plumber except for the fact that we were not their for the waterline. We always left the waterline exactly the way we found it. Disconnected and shut off. We were contracted by a warranty company to repair a warranty issue on the refrigerator which we did. We are an appliance repair company and we repaired the appliance. The customer or plumber, contractor did have the waterline off on our first visit. He said industry standard would be to say water is shut off or disconnected when he knew 100% that water was shut off. He himself turned it on and flooded his kitchen We are sorry if he thought we would install or hookup his waterline but this was not the reason we were in his home and never was our responsibility. It is not our responsibility to put in writing for something that was not part of our repair. Because his father in law was in the home and talking to our technician, our tech did say he did not like the waterline or shut off that was in place. The father in law did say he would go out and get replacement line and shut off. Never was there any confusion that we were handling the connecting of this waterline that we did not even feel was a good one. The customer himself states that we were wrong saying that the waterline and shut off was bad, so he is acknowledging that we did not agree with what was in place. If a plumber is happy with the stuff he has in place that's fine but has nothing to do with him flooding his own floor. We have nothing else to offer this customer. The work we were contracted for has been completed.