Thursday the 13th

It just seems like a good day to bitch so here is a little saga of trying to get a TV repaired.

Ace Electronics Repair, Inc.
6360 SE Foster Road
Portland, OR 97206
503-772-9761

The saga begins;

During the week of 7 February 2006 I started to try to make arrangements to get our 27” Phillips TV repaired. When the TV is turned on it shuts itself off within seconds.

I finally located Ace Electronics via the Yellow Pages and in conversation with the person who answered the phone, I felt that he knew what the problem was and could fix it. I explained that I was not in any condition to deliver the TV and what prompted my call was that they advertised pick-up & delivery.

I was told that there would be a $30.00 pick-up & delivery charge and that the cost of repairs could run between $96.00 & $120.00 and that the work was guaranteed. I agreed to the terms and then I was told that they would like about a three-hour window to arrange for the pick-up and someone would call approximately one hour before pick-up. The arranged pick-up time was set for Friday 11 Feb 2006, between 3 & 5 PM. (Scheduled by Bill Canfield)

At 5PM on that Friday when no-one had yet called or showed up I called and was told that due to the high winds the trailer they used to pick-up the TVs was not safe. I was also told, “someone should have called”. We re-scheduled for Monday PM.

On Monday, 13 February 2006, at approximately 5PM, “Jerry Cork” came and picked-up the TV.

One week later I called to check on the progress of the repair and I gave the person who answered the ticket # (9764) and I was asked for our phone number and someone would call within the hour. No-one ever called.

During the next two weeks my wife called several times with the same results. “Please leave your phone number and someone will call you back.” No-one ever called.

On 8 March 2006 I refused to accept the response that we had been getting and I demanded to know what was going on. I spoke to a “Rick” who sounded like he was in charge and he did call me back and told me that they had completed the repairs and had been trying to get a hold of us for the past week. We had never received any calls. The TV could be delivered that afternoon but I had to be prepared to have $150.00 for the repair plus the pick-up & delivery. I did not have that cash on hand so I gave him my American Express Card number.

That evening, around 5:30 PM the TV was returned and I signed the AMEX receipt.

That same evening the TV stopped working. I was where I had been a month before, a non-working TV, but $150.00 was no longer in my possession.

I called the next morning and left a few messages about how upset I was and when I finally got through and talked to “Rick” I was told that he would look into the problem by talking to the technician that repaired the set and see if a home visit could fix what was wrong. He also gave me a whole load of electronic double-speak, which said that these things don’t always work the first time. He said the technician would be calling me to see what needed to be done. I pointed out to him that my seven-year old said that they just took the TV and didn’t do anything and returned it. I have in my possession the same TV that is not operating and I am out $150.00.

Needless to say, no-one called. This was Thursday, so Friday my wife tried to get an answer and was rudely treated to the extent of having the person on the other end of the line hang-up on her.

It’s Monday 13 March 2006 as I write this and my conversation with “Rick” this morning went something like this;

“I spoke to the technician and he says the repair required is too extensive for home repair so bring the TV to the shop and it will be repaired.”

“Warranties do not include pick-up and delivery charges”

“I don’t have any means of picking-up the TV in the near future.”

I was not even given the option of paying for pick-up but the conversation ended when he hung up on me.

I have in my possession the same TV that is not operating and I am out $150.00.


UP-DATE-Thursday, March 16, 2006
· On Monday, 13 March 2006, I made arrangements to have the TV picked-up on Tuesday and I was then to receive a phone call with an estimate of the repairs.
· On schedule, on Tuesday, the TV was picked-up.
· Yesterday, Wednesday, I got a phone call with an estimate of the repairs and I was told the replacement part would take about three days to get. When I asked if it looked like anything had been done on the TV to repair it I was told that there was no evidence of any work and the part that needed replacing had certainly not been recently replaced.