Protech Services Refrigeration & Appliance Repair

First of all, I noticed that L.J.‘s review on 1÷16÷16 refers to a review on 1÷14÷16 that isn’t here anymore! WHY? Secondly, I have a similar story.
I have 2 reviews: Our first experience, Marcus came and fixed our freezer’s ice maker within 2 days. It took him about an hour. He had to replace a main part that’s one of those all-​in-​one pieces with several parts connected. He did a great job and was neat and courteous. He charged us $ 192.45 for part and labor. Included was a $ 60 service fee just for coming to our house, not 5 minutes from his business. I thought the price was steep, especially the service charge, but I couldn’t complain about the repair and my ice maker still works well today after his work. I did not give a review after the first visit because I like to have at least 2 business dealings before I review a company, so that I can give a review that best represents how I was treated on more than one occasion (unless they are incredibly incompetent or I had a stellar experience). In this case, I am listing my first dealing to give this business a fair shake, but the 2^nd experience, listed below, was so neglectful, that it warranted a poor review.
When our oven went out a month later, I looked for an appliance repair service that would NOT charge us a service fee just to come out from MY OWN TOWN, or would wave it if we used them for the repair. Sears had a waitlist of 2 weeks and McNally’s charged a fee, just to show up, in town, no matter what. Since Marcus at Protech charged a hefty fee also, I wanted to try someone else who didn’t. We tried ACE Refrigeration and Appliance Service in town. You can read my review of Ace on their Unilocal page, but here are the highlights. After telling my husband that he didn’t charge ridiculous fees like that, only billing for actual work, and INSISTING on the phone that he knew EXACTLY what the issue was and would have the part on his truck, without checking the part number, and dismissing the details of the problem my husband was trying to tell him, he did NONE of those things. Then charged me $ 40 — FOR NOTHING! No part, no work, he didn’t even pull out the oven from the wall! Never heard from him again!
We finally got desperate and called Marcus at Protech on New Year’s Eve 12÷31÷15. He happened to be free and came right over. He pulled the oven from the wall, checked a bunch of things, and said it was the Valve and Igniter Kit, but since it was made differently on this model (standard Whirlpool in tract house), he would have to special order it and it should take about a week. He only charged for the part — $ 150, waived the service fee ($ 60), and I assume labor would be billed altogether when my oven was fixed. He promptly lost my check in the shredder and we had to write another one a couple days later. Only the 2^nd check has been cashed. TWO WEEKS went by and we had not heard ONE WORD from him. My husband and I tried calling and his phone gave a busy signal for one line and didn’t answer for another, but I was able to leave a message. His wife returned my call later that day. She said Marcus told her to return my call and that the part would be in — another week later. I asked if it got ordered back when I wrote the check or if it just got ordered today and she said she didn’t know anything, just that it would be in next week. So I made an appointment, with her, for him to come the day after the part was scheduled to come in, because I would be gone the day it was supposed to arrive. I came home, the day the part arrived, to find 2 messages from Marcus trying to come by that day to replace it. I returned his call, reminded him about the appointment I made and we agreed he would come the next day. The next day, he went to my neighbor’s house instead of mine, and since they didn’t answer, he left and didn’t bother to call me! The day after my appointment, I called to find out what happened — because my family saw him over there. He said he had gotten the address wrong and went to the wrong house. He came the following day and spent about an hour replacing the two parts. When he got it all put together and turned it on — NOTHING! Now the oven won’t even come on AT ALL! He didn’t charge me anything, but also didn’t take out the «new» faulty parts. He left with my faulty original part and said the new parts must be faulty and would call the company and have them rush out new ones. He said he would let me know when they would be in. It has now been ANOTHER 2 WEEKS since he left and I HAVE NOT GOTTEN ONE PHONE CALL or message. My husband and I have called him several times to find a busy signal every time, with no opportunity to leave a message. As you can see, it has now been almost EXACTLY 5 WEEKS since he came out the first time for this issue. I will update this review as the issue gets resolved, but for now, I am quite irritated and will be consulting for some legal action soon, as we are still out the $ 150.

Wow! The review dated 1÷14÷16 is almost identical to our experience with Marcus at Protech. First of all, I used the first two excellent reviews for this company as the reason to call this guy. Now I’m doubtful they are even legitimate customers. Marcus came out and looked at our appliance, said it was the circuit board and could «take it back to his shop to repair.» This sounded simple enough and we foolishly let him do it without asking what he’d charge to run the circuit board a couple miles down the road to «test it.» He came back a short time later, said there was nothing wrong with the board but a blown fuse. After reinstalling the board it did not fix the problem. He charged $ 154 to put a fuse on a board he said had no other problems. He said we needed a new compressor and would charge $ 600-​$ 650 MORE for this repair. We asked what he’d give us for this otherwise beautiful stainless steel, French door fridge, that we paid over $ 2,000 for — and he said $ 100. I kid you not, he said this with a straight face. We said we’d have to think about spending $ 650 more to fix it and/​or just get a new one and scrap this one. I decided to call the manufacturer and they offered a «repair warranty» for $ 389. This means they know the appliance currently isn’t working. They sent out a young tech from McNally’s who we thought can’t possibly know what he’s doing. This young guy, Lance, quickly diagnosed the problem as the circuit board wasn’t working properly (yes, the one Marcus just charged $ 154 to repair) and the switch getting power to the compressor was out. He said the compressor was fine. Long story short, the new board and starting switch was installed, the fridge fired right up (amazing how that compressor just fixed itself!) and our fridge is working flawlessly. And, we now have a one year factory warranty. Moral of the story, just call a well established business like McNally’s in the first place and skip this guy. By the way, we have left a message for Marcus to discuss a refund for the part he claimed he fixed but never got a call back. I suspect he won’t call us. Another thing to keep in mind, when we were just about to give up on our beautiful fridge and send it to the bone yard I put it on Craigslist to see what we could get for a non-​operating fridge like this. I had a half dozen people wanting to come get it for $ 200. One guy was willing to come from Reno! So if you do find yourself in this situation and don’t have the option of purchasing a repair warranty from the manufacturer, see what you can get from Craigslist. There are no doubt legitimate appliance repairmen who recognize the value in these high end appliances and are willing to give you a fair price. Don’t just give it to Lowe’s.

About three months ago the tub in my old Whirlpool washing machine wouldn’t stay level anymore and water started dripping out so I called Markus at Protech to help. He quickly told me what the problem was, replaced the part that had worn out, and saved me from having to buy a new machine. Super happy with the service!

Our Samsung front-​loading dryer’s heating element went out. After being referred to us, we called Markus Hinz at Pro Tech Refrigeration & Appliance Repair and braced for the worst. He was prompt, courteous, and really knew his stuff! He worked around our schedule, the first evening he made the diagnosis, the second evening he came back and fixed it! In addition he charged less than ½ of what we were quoted by other companies! And to think we were actually starting to shop for a new dryer! I’m so happy we were told about this company! We highly recommend Pro Tech!