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I’m Going ‘Office Space’ On My Appliances – My Bad Experience with Columbine Appliance

Well, it’s really not my appliances that have me more upset, but the company I called to repair them – Columbine Appliance. But I’m getting ahead of myself – let me rewind a little bit.

About 10 days ago, I had to appliances quit on me – the clothes washer and the dishwasher.  I clothes washer had a problem back in November that Columbine Appliance had repaired. A broken pump which cost me $225. The dishwasher was not recognizing that the door had shut and would not operate.  I called Columbine Appliance to come look at the appliances since they were one of the few places in Longmont.

They came out, charging me $69 to look at the first appliance, and $30 to look at the second.  The technician determined that the clothes washer pump, which he had replaced back in November, needed to be replaced again.  The pump would be covered under warranty, but I would still need to pay for the labor for him to install it.  He quoted me $150.  Why am I being charged for a faulty part that he installed in my washer?  Am I wrong in thinking that Columbine Appliance should charge this cost back to the manufacturer instead of me?  It is not my fault that he got a bad pump and I don’t think I should be responsible for it.  Anyways, I decided not to have him repair the washer – after the $220 I paid before and the $150 he was asking for now, I could buy a new washer.

Fast-forward to the dishwasher…

As I said above, the dishwasher wasn’t recognizing the door was shut so it would not operate.  The technician opened the door, adjusted some small black boxes around and got the washer working again.  For about 10-15 minutes of work I was charged $95 for him to fix the dishwasher.

Now, five days later, the dishwasher has quit working.  I called back Columbine Appliance today asking them about this.  I am told that if all they need to do is make another adjustment, then I won’t be charged.  However, if they need to replace something, I will be charged for parts and labor.

Now wait a minute – I just paid them the money five days ago to fix this thing.  The guy from Columbine Appliance says the technician was probably just trying to fix it for cheap to save me money.  But now if there is something wrong that requires more than that adjustment I am paying twice for them to fix the dishwasher.  Am I wrong in thinking that perhaps he incorrectly diagnosed the problem 5 days ago and I should be credited that amount?  According to Columbine Appliance I am.  Their trying to save me money now has the potential to cost me more than $200 more dollars.  

So now I’ve paid the $69 for them to tell me they installed a bad pump in my washer, and paid $95 for them to not correctly fix my dishwasher. Now that I wasted $165 with them, I feel my better option at this point is to buy a new washer and dishwasher.  But I am certain about one thing – I am never using Columbine Appliance again.