John in Toronto

Elite gets the lowest rating they wasted $577.36 trying fix my fridge before deciding it was always unrepairable. My older (no warranty) Samsung fridges freezer became warm so I called Samsung and asked what company(s) serviced their fridges and they told me Elite Appliance Repair. I called Elite and they came (quickly) on Sept 25, 2024. They said that the problem, a warm freezer, was caused by a bad main control board. They asked for an additional $509.25 for the parts and labour to repair it (in addition to the diagnosis fee). My daughter asked the technician if he was sure that the control board was the whole problem and that replacing it would really fix the fridge. He answered, Yes, that will fix it. I paid the diagnosis fee and I paid a deposit of $304.84 for the part. They returned on October 9, disassembled the fridge, and found out it was the wrong part. They reordered the part and returned on Friday, October 25, installed the part, and charged me labour and travel. The fridge was working when they left but it failed that night and I called them on Monday. They returned the next day, disassembled everything for the 4th time, and said they needed to order and replace a temperature sensor. After 10 days (on Friday, Nov 8), they returned with the part, took the fridge apart (fifth time), and then said that the right side back insulation was cracked which was both allowing cold air to escape and for condensation to form inside the appliance. In addition, an internal wire was damaged and this was also noted on the October 29 invoice). They said that the cracked insulation made the fridge UNREPAIRABLE and the fridge was now junk. This was after 44 days without a working fridge and 5 technician visits. Elite are the only people to have ever worked on the fridge (this was the first repair for the fridge). I called Elite the same day and asked to speak to a manager, assuming they would accept their employee had made a mistake and they would refund the money wasted trying to repair an unrepairable fridge. The telephone CSRs took down the information, said a no adjustment was possible, and that a manager was unavailable but one would call me. There was no callback so I called late Monday afternoon and was told that a manager would call me on Tuesday or Wednesday. There was again no callback but on Thursday morning the last repair tech, called me at a manager's request to tell me what I already had been told, the fridge was unrepairable. He avoided my question of why the tech who diagnosed it initially or why he had not seen the problem until the fifth visit. I have called again now 4 times, Nov 8, 11, 15 and 22, explained my story, and asked for a refund or a call back from a manager. The CSR always said there would be no refund and no manager was available at the time but she would pass on my concerns to the management team. As a retired small businessman I don't understand why a company will not speak to a customer and make the situation right when their employee made a mistake. After 40 years of dealing with the public, I always spoke calmly and politely to the Company's CSRs when I called, they were nice conversations actually but nothing happened. Please avoid this company for any appliance repair. I will update this review if I ever get in contact with a manager at Elite Appliance Repair. I will be calling them again and asking for a refund of my $577.36 because their initial diagnosis was wrong, the fridge was unrepairable my money was wasted as they tried to fix it. Yes, they can come and have their parts back if they are quick, its a shame to landfill new parts. I phoned Samsung to tell them what went wrong when I used their recommended repair company. Samsung said they could not do anything (they said that its an independent company) but after an internal discussion while I was on hold, they offered me 15% off the price of a new Samsung fridge if I bought it from their website. After saying I would never buy another Samsung product, I am accepting their offer, at least they have some compassion for the consumer. Fridges have become very expensive, the same model, but now with an ice maker, is $1549 plus tax. My Work Order number was 565774.