A&E Factory Service

Stay away. I was forced to receive «service» from A&E Factory Service on a one year old Bosch dishwasher by the company who bought my extended service contract («Warrantech») from the internet retailer, («Goedeker’s») who sold it to me. First visit, could not fix it or even identify that a problem existed. The problem continued to occur. Second visit, the tech called me 10 minutes before the FOUR HOUR WINDOW was over to tell me he was on the way over. That didn’t work for my schedule, so I had to reschedule for 3 weeks later. Next «second» visit, the tech arrives and still can’t figure out what’s wrong, so he calls some kind of corporate home office service line and puts them on speaker phone. The service tech on site has such broken English that he can’t clearly communicate with the tech on the call, and I need to step in to interpret, because the two of them are clearly not understanding one another. With no known resolution, the tech is told to order a replacement controller board. He gives me another 4-​hour-​window appointment for 2.5 weeks later. The replacement part arrives by UPS. On the day of the fourth appointment, no one shows up. I call, and they tell me that I MUST HAVE THE DATE WRONG, because my appointment is in their system for the following Monday! Trouble is I’m looking right at the appointment that the tech printed out on his service receipt when he visited me last time. So now I’m pretty upset, because I keep going out of my way to be at home for these idiots, and they keep wasting my time. Everyone is «just doing their jobs». Right. Got it. I work. I don’t begrudge anyone gainful employment. So now I’m talking to the manager, and she keeps telling me that my appointment is for Monday, and there is no way to change that. No matter that I am holding a receipt with the next appointment PRINTED ON IT by THEIR computer system — and it does NOT say Monday. She tells me i can send an email to complain if I want, but there is no other recourse I have. No other manager I can speak with. No way to get a tech out on the day they committed to appear and complete the repair. And, she keeps reminding me to «be professional» because I’m upset. I call Warrantech, the people who hire A&E, to let them know how horrible A&E is. They are accommodating, but also cannot help me get an appointment for the scheduled day. He tries to confirm that the MONDAY A&E appointment is even still good, (as if that helps — I’m home TODAY). The A&E system is down and he can’t connect. The Warrantech guy tells me he will begin the process of completely replacing the dishwasher with a new one. Fine with me, but this is just crazy in my opinion. I went out of my way to make it possible for these people to honor their service contract, and the best they can do is keep me from doing my own frigging job for at least one more day. And, hey, who even knows if a new dishwasher won’t need service.
Lessons learned: Stay away from all of these companies. Don’t buy appliances online. Don’t buy extended service contracts.

Dishwasher broke in October 2015. Today is February 2016. There have been 5 repair visits, and the dishwasher is still broken. The repair techs have no idea how to fix this thing. Today would’ve been the 6^th visit, but they were no shows since they rescheduled without telling me. Great because it only takes weeks to schedule each appointment, and someone has to give up their day to be at home. The warranty company (Warrantech) uses A&E, so what choice do I have. If you have a choice, avoid A&E.

I wish we had read these reviews before agreeing to let these people step foot into our house. From mid-​diagnosing the problem with our refrigerator, to upselling us on «repairs» that were not only unncessary but which completely failed to resolve our issues, to failing to honor our requests for follow-​up visits to address the repairs that didn’t work, to trying to charge us more for these additional «inspections» — we will be reporting these fraudsters to the Better Business Bureau and recommend anyone thinking of working with them to avoid them at all costs. Buyer beware!!!

I needed them to come out for a service call under my warranty. Two weeks later they send out a technician who denied there’s anything wrong with the water heater. two weeks later with the water heater is still not working and us having to check every piece of our system figured out that the problem is the water heater. called again and scheduled an appointment set up an appointment 10 days later and never showed up. Call and they said They don’t know what happen. he said we never had an appointment but they can set me up again in another seven days with a new appointment. the worst repair company out there.

I wish I would have read the reviews before hiring this company. I figured Samsung would not recommend an unreputable firm because it would tarnish their brand. I was wrong. I won’t go into all the details, but suffice it to say, I’m out both money and time, and still no working appliance. Lesson learned. There does seem to be a disconnect between customer service, which I believe may be outsourced offshore, and the technicians who actually do the work. I found this firm to be dishonest and would not recommend. Sad.

The worst!!! Can’t waste my time further by writing the details of the service as I have wasted a ton of time trying to get them to fix an issue…

Sears Appliance Rant & Sears Service Disappointment
Da Appliance
Kenmore Elite HE washer. Sophisticated, multi-​function, beautiful paint color, top of the line. TERRIBLE MACHINE pared with TERRIBLE SERVICE. Turns its out made by Whirlpool, with shinny nobs and myriad functions that I never use. When I bought the beasty and its dryer sister, I thought its high cost & appearance meant reliability and performance. I had 5 service calls while under warranty. Time consuming, but not costly and since I extended the factory warranty at a 15% cost of the machine. Warranty has expired. New problem, it started shutting off mid-​cycle with a known error message that indicates one of the circuit boards in a small wash cycle controller has failed.
Da Service
Researched the problem –based on error message & malfunction– and diagnosed it down to the part # that was needed which I provided to their call center. Just wanted someone with the part to show up and replace it.
Called service who let me know with a drakonion tone, this would be a «pay on service delivery» transaction. OK. A&E (wonder what this stands for… but not Arts & Entertainment for SURE). Mr. Service Man, nice enough with a disarming demeanor.
Luckily, Mr. Service Man showed up, walked in with the exact part I told A&E was needed. He had to diagnose the problem himself, and proceeded to run the washer on the long cycle which didn’t last too long. Then decided that he needed to re-​test. Apparently their service calls are time based, Da Mo time, Da Mo $. Mr. Service Man takes a couple of calls on his cell phone while pacing. After 45 minutes of «testing» he announcing that he has discovered the problem, which happens to be solved by the part he has in his hands, again, which I instructed that they bring. 5 minutes of removing a panel plugging in the part and WALAAAAH, the machine has been healed by the A&E doctor.
Da Pricing
The rub: Itsa $ 50 part that A&E provided, which resulted in a $ 300.00 charge.
Da Lesson
Use a small local appliance repair company, preferably owner operated.

I was hoping to hurt this company’s reputation by posting my horrible, but true, review. Turns out after looking at their Unilocal reviews, I can’t hurt their reputation anymore than they’ve already done to themselves. Let me say this to anyone considering calling this company: If you don’t have a warranty, definitely don’t bother wasting your time with these clowns. You still have options. Do your research and find someone better. It won’t be hard. If you are like me and have a warranty, chances are you are stuck with A & E. Let me tell you now that although you spent good money on that warranty and want to take advantage of it, you may want to give serious thought about abandoning the warranty and just hire a reputable company and cut your loses. I know it sucks, but I’m wishing now that I had done just that from the beginning.
Let me tell you about my experience. I bought a Samsung dishwasher to match my new Samsung fridge. I got the extended warranty on both. Just over 1 year the dishwasher fails and flashes two lights. I google it and find that it’s an overfill error. I call BestBuy who doesn’t have record of my purchase. They said I should call Pacific Sales. I call them and get directed to A & E who will set my appointment. First available appointment is 2 weeks out! Great! Guess I’m hand washing for 2 weeks! The guy shows up and the dishwasher is no longer showing the flashing code. The tech says «Nothing I can do without the code». No, sorry Mr. Technician. You’re not getting off that easy. I tell him which lights lit and what the code was. he looks it up on his laptop and finds that the common failure parts for that code are 1. Fill valve 2. Sensor 3. Mother board. He orders the parts and schedules to come back in another 2 weeks. A box arrives in a couple days that I don’t recognize so I open it. Looks to be dishwasher parts so I put it aside for the tech. After 2 weeks, a different guy arrives to install the parts. He looks in the box and tells me that they failed to send one of the 3 parts. He makes a call and finds out that the one part was cancelled for some reason? He tries to skip out saying that he doesn’t have parts to make the repair. Oh no you don’t Mr. Technician. I insist that he install the parts he has as they are clearly unsure which of the 3 parts is really the problem and I have a 2 out of 3 chance the parts we have will fix it. He agrees to change the mother board since its easily accessible from the front. Unfortunately, it didn’t fix it. He then says that its too much work to pull the dishwasher out unless he has both parts. In fact, he said I’d have to have someone else come out and pull the dishwasher for them to work on it. What? Aren’t you an appliance repair man? How do you work on appliances unless you pull them out? Fine, I agree to pull it out and he sets another appointment for another 2 weeks out. First available BS line again. So now we’re 6 weeks into this. I pull the dishwasher out the night before the repair. The 3^rd part arrived and we’re ready for this disaster to be over. I’m at work while my wife is home doing daycare. The guy shows up, replaces the parts, and tells my wife it works fine now. I come home and run a load of dishes and it fails again exactly like it did before. I want to strangle someone now! An irate call to A & E gets me their next available appointment. Want to guess when? 2 weeks! So today I get an automated call from A & E saying the tech will be out tomorrow. An hour later my wife receives a call from Sears. Why is Sears involved with this? Turns out they are somehow connected. They tell my wife that the tech suffered a death in the family and can’t make the appointment. Now I get that this is a legitimate reason to cancel but the next available appointment is… wait for it…2 FREAKING WEEKS!!!
So now I’m 2 months into this repair. It will be 2 ½ months in until I get a guy to diagnose it again. And my best case scenario would be if it took 2 weeks to get more parts in and an appointment to make the final repair. So if you’re okay with multiple visits, inept technicians, and customer service that could care less about what you think, give A & E a call.

Terrible response time, service and phone response bordered on creepy. Took two weeks to get an appt from when our dishwasher first stopped working (via Warrantech, also very unprofessional and difficult to work with). Tech who came out could not repair it, said he would be back in two days, never showed.

I scheduled an appliance repair appointment for my washing machine and dryer the last couple weeks in July 2015: First repair service contractor, «Eric» visited my home repairing both machines and left twenty minutes after arriving stating both machines are working well; TWENTY minutes later, I had to call the contractor because the washing machine’s power control was disconnected-​he returned connecting the washing machine BUT, the machine shorts and ceases operating!!! The dryer doesn’t dry well despite, having the dryer vent cleaned and the contractor stated the dryer is drying well~REALLY? The washing machine’s power cuts out so, I have no choice but, calling for another repair!
Three weeks later. .. I’m sick and tired limping this washing machine not operating well: The washing machine shorts out so, I call making ANOTHER appointment BUT, I had to wait a week and a half for the scheduled appointment: Another contractor returns fiddling, creating a paper trail for five minutes then, begins removing the screws from the washing machine control head, opens it up, plugs something inside the machine, closes the head control unit, turns on the machine, states it’s repaired, and leaves within five minutes!
TEN MINUTES later after the SECOND contractor leaves. .. The washing machine’s power control doesn’t turn on-IT’S DEAD!!! GRRRR!!! I call the contractor’s cellphone number-​he doesn’t answer his phone and you can’t leave a message SO, I call A & E complaining the washing machine is inoperable AFTER the contractor stated it was repaired!!! REALLY??? Hah! I have proof the washing machine is inoperable!
I called several times on 8÷11÷2015 requesting A & E have «Ben» return repairing the washing machine BUT, NO RESPONSE from Ben OR from A & E! I called on 8/12/2015-I’m on the phone for a total of an hour arguing my point the washing machine is inoperable and I should NOT be charged for the service call BECAUSE the washing machine wasn’t repaired!!! My phone call was transferred to Jeff; I requested the next contractor bring a power supply control unit BUT, Jeff stated that’s NOT how he handles «business!»
After haggling with Jeff, he FINALLY sets an appointment for August 14, 2015 between 1 – 5 PM. .. Jeff, «the logistics manager» for A & E who scheduled an appointment for 8÷14÷2015 («Remember me, Shirley?,» he said bearing a very snotty attitude!) called LESS than an hour later, stating he cancelled the appointment!!! WHY? Some LAME excuse which was absolutely inept!!! «Okay, Shirley-​I canceled the appointment!» It’s NOT OKAY, Jeff!!!
I contacted my appliance insurance provider stating that A & E has been giving me the run-​around so, my insurance provider lodged a complaint against A & E AND AFTER arguing, debates, rebuttals, I finally have a scheduled appointment for this coming Monday, August 17, 2015 due to my appliance insurance provider representatives, Ms. Megan and Ms. Claudia called JEFF demanding I have an escalated service due to failure repairing the washing machine! We shall see if the next contractor will repair the machine with utmost competency!

RUN LIKE THE WIND!
A&E is the repair service provider for Sears. In the past six weeks, they’ve come SEVEN (count ‘em…7) times to perform a WARRANTY repair that they diagnosed as a bad burner. Three burners later, more than 24 wasted hours (They’ve NEVER been here on time), several weeks of ball-​shrivelling cold showers… and A&E has still not resolved the problem.
Today’s visit (confirmed by e-​mail) was to take place between 8am — 12pm. Never showed. Agent said they’d shoe-​horn me in from 12 — 1. Didn’t happen. (As soon as I hung up, I received an e-​mail with a repair schedule from 12pm — 5pm.) Another agent promised someone would be here from 2:30 — 3:30pm. Didn’t happen. Last call… agent said she could only see that I was scheduled from 8am — 5pm… essentially calling me a liar. No record of 8 — 12. Not cool.
So…I’m burned. A&E is wholly INEPT, which doesn’t surprise me that Sears would use them after dealing with Sears’ unnavigable web of schedulers, Customer Solutions, the Hot Water Heater Department, and the Warranty people.
BOTTOM LINE: A&E and Sears WILL NOT fulfill your service expectations. Call elsewhere.
Shame on me for having any faith in the Sears reputation; they’ve screwed this pooch. And from what I can tell, everyone else has had the same experience with A&E.
4:22PM UPDATE: Service technician just phoned to let me know HE WON’T BE COMING AT ALL TODAY. I’ve wasted the ENTIRE day waiting for this. Totally jerked around.

Just thought I’d share my story about A&E Factory Service and Samsung products, for anybody who might foolishly consider purchasing something made by Samsung other than a mobile phone. Bought a washer from Samsung (who should have issued a recall for a design flaw for this model), and sure enough, the pump broke off from its mount, and dumped an inch of water on the laundry room floor. Although it was out of warranty, Samsung offered to do a one-​time fix as a courtesy. I was quite impressed, until they told me to call A&E Factory Service. While I was still on hold with Samsung, I checked A&E out on Unilocal.I have never in my life seen a more poorly rated company than A&E. Out of 163 reviews in my area, A&E has a 1 star average! I mentioned my concern to the Samsung representative, who assured me I would have a different experience with my issue. Repair date was set for Sat afternoon between 1 and 5. At 4:30 I call the repair guy, and in true A&E fashion he says «I’m really sorry, I’m behind and can’t make it today.» After getting irate with the repair guy, he agrees to rearrange his schedule and still come that afternoon. I’m starting to think it’s all good, then he asks: «do you know what’s wrong with your machine?» I say «yes, it’s the design flaw that causes the pump to shear off of its mount.» «Oh», he says, I don’t have the parts for that. Samsung should have sent you the retrofit kit.” WTF??? Are you kidding me??? And then, to really make my day, he says «oh, I don’t know if we can fix it because it’s not under warranty. Fortunately for him, he’d already driven away before he called to tell me that…
I used to be a real champion of Samsung products, but given that their subcontractor has one of the worst Unilocal ratings ever, and they do nothing about it except apologize, I’m tempted to take all of our Samsung phones that we issue to our salespeople, give them a nice spin in a Samsung washer (not ours, because as you recall I’m still waiting for it to be fixed), and replace each and every one of them with an iPhone.
So, to anyone who might be thinking of purchasing something other than a Samsung mobile phone, my suggestion is to go on Unilocal,and read a few horror stories about A&E Factory Service. You’ll keep shopping!!!

Terrible, but the only game in town. Repair people are qualified and very pleasant but they are ALWAYS late and you will spend the whole day waiting for them. Also the 800 number is somewhere else in the world and they do not speak very good English.
Ugh
Find another repair company.

If only there was a zero star. I run a construction company and these guys were terrible. Billed me for something completely wrong and then say «the proof of burden to prove them wrong» is on me?! Its just sad that they are still in business and let so many people down.

Incompetence, they strive in it. 7 weeks for a micro repair!
Had my built-​in microwave go out. It’s covered under my home warranty through Fidelity. I called to report the issue on 1/​13, they had an A&E tech out on the 16^th to look at the unit and get a quote. Had to wait until the 20^th to get approval for repair from Fidelity.
Fidelity set up the repair work order with A&E. Next visit couldn’t be scheduled until ¹⁄₂₈. OK, I still get it fixed before our Super Bowl party. I can handle that.
Tech comes back out on ¹⁄₂₈ with no knowledge of what needs repair, no parts, no tools (had to borrow my flashlight) and asked me how the thing was installed?! You’re the tech buddy, that’s your job.
Now they figure out that they need to order parts before repairing it. I pressure them to get the parts on rush. Parts came within a week, call to inform them and schedule my 3^rd appointment. They can’t come out until 2/​12, 2 weeks later. Hesitantly, I schedule the appointment and ask for a tech that knows what he is doing.
Today is ²⁄₁₂ and they showed! But, he can’t repair it because he needs an extra guy to pull the unit. For some reason the other 2 techs could not figure this out. They can’t get an extra guy today, next available appointment, March 4! 3 weeks from now!
So I have now been waiting 4 weeks for a repair, lost 3 days of work and no hope of them being completed for another 3 weeks. I have no confidence that they will be able to ever complete this repair.
I gave up, called Fidelity and had them change companies. Now working with Mars to have it repaired, try them instead. I have a tech coming out next week.
Sears should have been out of business long, long ago. Most incompetent company I have ever dealt with. I manage construction projects, deal with contractors and repair companies everyday. Never have I had a company that was so poorly managed and incapable of providing such a simple repair.

The repair person was very nice and did what they were supposed to do. However, the company overbooks their workload and causes late appointments and delays.

I had an appointment on Tuesday for a Bosch dishwasher repair with a window of 1−5pm and no-​one called showed up. They also did not call to cancel. When I called them back to reschedule the appointment they would not prioritize me. Yuck, so much for customer service. I’m going to try National Appliance and Electric Express.

I called Samsung for warranty on my new washer. Their 3^rd party A&E service guy (aka — clown) came out and demanded a receipt to help in anyway, even though no one communicated this previously. He then left and promised to check in later in the day to see if I could find it, which he never did.
I spent over four hours looking for it. Does he think I magically created this brand-​new product in my garage? Or secretly bought a washer and dryer on the Phantom black market?
He never followed up and this was a customer service nightmare. He was then trying to charge cash to fix it the under warranty product that is less than a year on the market.
I called Lowes where I had an extra warranty and they scheduled a real company to come fix it who don’t waste your time searching for receipts. They came and fixed the issue straight away.

Had to deal with this place for a factory service related to an extended warranty. Took 3 visits and the tech breaking multiple parts to get my refrigerator fixed.
Today, I had an appointment scheduled with Sears. Little did I know that the service was also through A&E. Spent five hours waiting around my house for the service man to show up. Ironically, they call me after the 5 hour period and say ‘Oh, I was on my way, but just got a flat tire, so now we need to reschedule. Really?’ I find that ironic that you are calling for a flat tire when you are running that late…
Of course, the service tech then swears at me on the phone and then hangs up. Wonderful service!

MONDAY
Spent a month trying to work with the small, family-​owned shop that sold us the Duet Washer. Ended up making more progress with Whirlpool than them. In early July I told them to order the parts and arrange for a tech to install them. I returned from a trip 2 ½ weeks later and the retailer THEN said the parts took 4 – 6 weeks to ship. I called Whirlpool… the local retailer didn’t know there was a special repair kit for the washer that was immediately available (which I ordered myself and it showed up, via FedEx, 3 days later). The retailer then insisted they told me of the 4 – 6 week wait (funny, never mentioned in email and we had one short phone conversation).
Anyway, the local retailer found techs who wanted north of $ 600 to install the parts. So I asked Whirlpool to recommend an installer. They mentioned A&E. I figured Whirlpool wouldn’t recommend a shady organization. I called A&E and they arranged an appointment for Monday, between 1 and 5pm. They said the repair would be a flat rate of $ 129 no matter how long it took (though I don’t have this in writing).
4:15pm Monday. Window was 1pm — 5pm. I’ve called twice, and while the poor phone people are artificially cheery (Stockholm Syndrome?), still no tech.
Tech calls at 4:30 and shows up at 4:45. Says, «this is a two-​man job… man, they screwed up!» Called the office and reschedule to Wednesday morning.
WEDNESDAY
Called at 8:15 to confirm appointment for 8 – 12. Polite CSR says, «you’re on schedule for around 11am. And it’s going to cost more because there’s a second tech, but I cannot tell you how much.» So the flat rate goes out the window with a 2^nd tech. I just hope it’s not $ 800.
CONCLUSION
Two techs arrive at 10:45 (after calling to say they were on their way). Start the job. Conference call (unrelated to repair) for ten minutes. Then, from 11 to noon, one tech did 90% of the work. Job done. $ 140 with tax. I rate the calls and effort leading to the repair a D; I rate the techs and the repair an A, I rate the value for $ an A+ considering the other quotes I got exceeded $ 600. Based on the copious negative reviews, I was really apprehensive. I suppose it boils down to the individual who shows up and how competent he is.