ITW-FEG Hobart Services

Our Hobart dish machine pump started leaking. No big deal we have replaced pumps on other machines before, usually $200-300 or so. Not with Hobart, it is $1100 because you have to buy the whole motor and pump assembly. So we get the part and install it, it immediately starts to overheat and smell like it's burning. We call a professional technician in to verify that we didn't hook it up wrong or something, he verifies that everything is fine with the installation and it was a bad motor. There are only 2 wires to hook up so it's hard to imagine how we could have hooked it up wrong, but wanted to make sure. We call Hobart and they send out another part. We hook that one up and it works fine. The next day we get a call that it isn't working. We trouble shoot and learn that it is working intermittently and appears to be a different problem, but still due to a faulty part. We call the professionals in again and he verifies that this motor has a different issue with the start capacitor switch, but it is still a part problem and not related to installation or a problem with the machine. We call to report the issue to Hobart and they determine that there is no possible way they could ever have 2 bad parts, so they refuse to send another one. By now the Kitchen operations are being severely affected for several weeks and the Manager makes the decision to replace the machine because we can't wait any longer. I continue to try and get Hobart to either send us another part or refund our money and they absolutely refuse to do so. The only possible solution they offer is for us to agree to pay their service department to come out and reinstall the machine so they can verify that it is working properly. At this point I do not want to invest any more money in it since we already paid to replace it and I have already paid for technicians to diagnose the problem. We have verified that the machine is not the problem, but they don't trust the diagnosis because it isn't one of their technicians. Unfortunately, after all of the phone conversations I have had with multiple people with no acceptable response I have decided to eliminate Hobart equipment from our operations and deal with other vendors, we get much better service from other vendors. I guess they really needed my $1100 badly and were willing to lose a customer over it.

Review: A Hobart service technician either lied about the repairs that had to be done on a Hobart mixer in order to overcharge us or was not a qualified technician. He gave us an estimate at around $4,000.00 stating it needed a new motor and switch. At that time, I gave him a check for his service call for which I stopped payment after having someone else come in and repair it stating it only needed a switch which only cost $350.00 with repairs and service charge. The Hobart company was trying to overchargefor repairs that did not need to be done and is now threating to send us to a collection agency. I have contacted the company several times about this matter with no results. I have asked to talk to a manager and have been hung up on numerous times. At this point, I feel that the debt owned to the company should not be paid seeing that they were fraudulent in trying to charge for repairs that were not necessary.Desired Settlement: We would like to have the company stop harassing us and demanding a debt that was based on fraudulent charges.

Business

Response:

June 18, 2014Hobart Service dispatched a fully trained and competent technician to the customer's place of business on 2/21/14. The technician spent approximately 1 hour on site trouble shooting the Hobart dough mixer. At this point the technician made a recommendation that the customer consider replacing the motor and the control switch assembly. The customer was given a "ballpark" estimate of $4,000 for a complete repair that would restore the machine to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) condition.In most equipment repair situations there are usually a variety of different options that could be implemented to restore the equipment to operating condition. As a manufacturer of the equipment Hobart must always recommend the option that restores the equipment as close to OEM condition as possible.In this specific case there was no fraudulent activity whatsoever. The customer was informed of our rates and we provided the service requested. It was the customer's choice to have the machine repaired by another servicer who apparently did not perform the repair we recommended and only time will tell if this was a good decision for the customer.| would be willing to discuss the situation at any time with the customer. I can be reached at [redacted].Sincerely,Stephen *. B[redacted] Hobart Service

Consumer

Response:

From: Revdex.com of Metro Washington DC <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 9:08 AM

Subject: Fwd: You have a new message from the Revdex.com of Metro Washington DC & Eastern Pennsylvania in regards to your complaint #[redacted].

To: [redacted]>

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: [redacted] <[redacted]>

Date: Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 9:01 AM

Subject: Re: You have a new message from the Revdex.com of Metro Washington DC & Eastern Pennsylvania in regards to your complaint #[redacted].

To: [email protected]

Dear [redacted], Attached is the service order receipt from Hobart that you requested along with the work order receipt from the company we used to fix the mixer and the collections letter. As seen on the Hobart receipt, it states that the motor and switch both need replacing in order to fix the machine. It was never stated by the technician that the machine would work with just a switch replacement. It states on the receipt it needs motor and switch with ballpark estimate of $4,000.00 and that was what was told by the technician to us. If we were told it could be fixed with only the switch we would have gone through with the repair for that switch. He states that a complete repair would cost $4,000.00 but why would you replace something that does not need to be fix. The machine is now working fine with the switch replacement at a cost of $477.63, if the motor had a problem the machine would not be running properly now. For this reason, we feel the company was falsely trying to charge us for work that was not needed. They state that they ALWAYS recommend the option that restores the equipment to OEM condition but again our machine is working as close to OEM without the new motor and the cost of an additional charge for this motor. For this reason, again we feel that the company was trying to charge for repairs that were not needed and feel that there was fraudulent activity with this company. It is a great concern that by them saying they ALWAYS recommend options to restore equipment back to OEM gives them the statement that if its a little old lets just replace parts that are not needed, not what truly needs fixing. If we would not have gotten a second opinion, we would have spent a large some of money that was not necessary. If this is how the company works, how many more business's have put out more money that was not necessary? For this reason, again, we feel that fraudulent activity did occur with our service call and do not feel that we should have to pay for this bill. Thank you for your help in this matter. If you have any further questions. please feel free to contact me. Looking forward to hearing back on this matter. Tony M[redacted]