My fridge was picking up ice last December. It cost $180 to have a tech even look at the appliance. I agreed and asked if they would look at a problem with my dishwasher while they were here. Only if I paid another $180 dollars even though the technician would already be here. I bought a new dishwasher as it would have been cheaper if it needed much repair. It took almost three months before they could look at my fridge including defrosting it twice. After following their instructions the top of my fridge was completely melted and they refused to fix it or even acknowledge it was they had any fault at all. I paid $800 for their tech to come out and spend a couple of hours on my fridge. It is eight months later and the ice is building again. It was not repaired at all, it just took this long for the ice to build up again.Totem wants another $180+ dollars to even look at it and refuses to acknowledge that it is the same problem. I have never written a review before but felt this is such a brutal company, it borders on criminal. Absolutely the worst customer service. job was not done correctly, they don`t care about their customers. The lady on the phone even told me ``if I don`t like it go somewhere else``. even though they charged me for a job they didn't complete. * I would recommend anybody but this company. Absolutely terrible! If I could give 0 or negative stars I would *
- Approximate cost of services:
- $800.00
- Company Response
Original service call taken October 22, 2015. We attended the home on November 2, 2015. Customer was charged $125 plus taxes for the trip charge & diagnostics. Dishwasher invoice was created but cancelled at the customer's request. The note on the invoice shows that the customer was quoted $65.62 to look at the dishwasher during the visit for the fridge; we charge half price for the diagnostic on a second appliance. The issue that this fridge is experiencing is well known for this particular model; a model that has been very problematic for many consumers. It is a built in fridge and can be quite difficult to work on for any technician, in order to work on it we had to allow for the large ice build up to melt which can take several days. The manufacturer provides a factory kit for the issue they are experiencing; the price and availability of said part is beyond our company's control as it is preset from the factory. In this case the customer did unfortunately have to pay over $800 to service their fridge, the breakdown is as follows:
Service call & diagnostics- $125
Labour to install factory kit- $136
Parts- $528
The service was completed on December 2, 2015, which is longer than we would normally like to complete a service call; however, there were a few factors with obtaining correct parts from the factory, as well as payment card being declined which held up service a bit.
If the issue has returned then it may likely be that the same part has failed again. We warrant our labour for 30 days, the manufacturer warrants their parts for 90 days. As this has been a problematic model we suggest that the consumer contact the manufacturer for any assistance. We can definitely understand one's frustration with their product as it is a very expensive fridge to purchase; Totem does not manufacture or sell the product, we can only follow the factory's recommended repairs in a case where the design is found to have a flaw.
We have raised our call out rate for this model to $195 plus taxes now due to the amount of time we have to spend on each repair, and that the call back rate is very high based on the model's history.