Fred's Appliance — Attraction in Coeur d'Alene

Let me first start by saying the sales staff here is GREAT!!! I have purchased several appliances over the years and have always had a great experience upfront. These are the pros I have about Fred's now let me go into why I only gave them a 2 star review and why it really matters why I gave them a 2 instead of a 3 or 4. I will give dates as a reference for timeline sakes.

9/1/2024: I purchased a set of GE Profile Washer and Dryer (Brand new). I get home and get everything installed and to my surprise, the dryer barrel would not spin. After looking online, my wife and I found out that if you open the dryer door, press the start button, and manually spin the barrel to start it, it is a work around. With this being a front loader, it is an absolute nightmare to deal with but fact of the matter is right out of the gate the unit failed. (So yes its a GE unit so technically their product).

9/2/2024: I called the same sales rep the following day and let him know the exact issue and he was pleasant over the phone and said he would put in a ticket with service to get it taken care of.

9/3/2024: The day after, I contact the service tech and to my surprise, the part they ordered was a door latch for the dryer door. (A dryer latch was not the issue, the issue is the motor that spins the barrel). So I told the service tech the exact issue and the exact parts needed to get the Unit fixed and operational. After putting in the request, she tells me I needed to call them and follow up the following Friday as they don't have any way to track service tickets unless its on their desk or something to that effect. (Pro tip, you can use a calendar to put a follow up request for someone either an oldschool no S* calendar or an email calendar. Why is the burden put on me to follow up???? Where is the customer service at this point.... Let me continue)

9/20/2024: I contact them the following Friday and spoke to the same service rep. She told me they are waiting on a part and should contact you before the end of the day or sooner. She assured me they are pretty quick with call backs so you should get a call soon.

9/20/2024: End of day Friday happens....No call. 9/21/2024: End of day Saturday happens.....No call. 9/22/2024: End of day Sunday happens....No call. 9/23/2024: End of day Monday happens....No call.

9/24/2024: I call Tuesday and immediately as for a supervisor ( I hate to be that guy that instantly asks for one but for the love of everything holy at this point just help a guy out). The supervisor tells me that they have the parts, however, they will not be able to come out to fix the unit until October 16th. Towards the end of the call, the supervisor tells me "You can try to call GE and see if they can do it faster"...... WHY SHOULD I BE THE ONE TO CALL GE???? Also you can't make an exception and expedite my service before October 16th?

9/24/2024: I called GE myself and explained the issues with the unit and literally created a service ticket for me within minutes. So what does the GE customer service agent tell me that really threw me off? She literally tells me it's unusual for the customer to call for a service request like this with a brand new unit, and usually the place that sold the unit calls us to get the service set up for the customer.

So as things currently stand, I am waiting on a call to set up service from the 3rd party appliance company GE uses in my area.

I try to stay away from big box stores if possible to try and help local businesses, however, when issues like this happen and the customer service you receive is next to non-existent, no wonder people go to a Home Depot or Lowes. I always, always, always try to give the business the benefit of the doubt and factor in off days for employees, etc, but with my last experience, sadly I don't know if I will work with Fred's again.

Fred Appliance higher ups or managers if you read this, please have your service reps who are taking phone calls take that exta step to ensure the customers are being taken care of and care...

• These reviews are true! * Buyer Beware! * Below average customer service! *

My experience with Fred's was above average during and through the initial sale. They gave us a good price for a number of new appliances. Once the sale was completed, however, customer service fell apart quickly. All but one appliance was delivered on time. My salesperson at the CDA store (Ryan) then told me there were slight delays with the refrigerator we purchased; stating it should be "any day now" or "very soon" or "next week" until they received it. This occurred every week from mid-August until early-November. Most of the time Ryan would email me every week with an update that it should be arriving "soon". A few times I had to initiate contact with him to get an update. On 3-November Ryan called to tell me the fridge was received but the earliest they could deliver was one week later on 10-November because they were so busy. I accepted my fate and agreed to the delivery date. On 10-November I called Fred's mid-afternoon to ask when they were coming, only to be told that Ryan was busy and that my delivery wasn't scheduled for another week, 17-November! I decided to go into the CDA store to discuss the issue with Ryan directly. I was told that while he acknowledged he told me the delivery would be 10-November that there was some issue with their system which pushed it out a week. And that while I was never told of this additional delay, Ryan stated that he had no control over the delivery process. I raised my concerns that this was unacceptable. The manager (Jeff) came over to corroborate Ryan's statement, that there was no possible way to expedite the delivery above what their computer system displayed. I challenged this by saying "Surely you have some influence/control over your delivery and fulfillment process. Jeff (the manager) looked me straight in the eye, with conviction, and said "We have no control over what the warehouse does. They are their own animal and we work separately." At this point, I shrugged my shoulders and walked away. The company is so mismanaged, that one had has no control, visibility, or care over the other.

• If you buy an appliance from Fred's, remember that the day they give you for delivery is a suggestion, not a commitment. Because they have control as to when the appliance will be delivered to the customer....

Never have I repeatedly been so disappointed with a business. Our very first encounter with Fred's was a scheduled appointment to pick our appliances and we waited over 20 minutes past our appointment to even be acknowledged. Their scheduling for delivery was quite the opposite experience. They could not understand that the delivery had to be scheduled with the builder and attempted delivery a month prior to the date I had told them upon purchase. Again, they scheduled a delivery (only 2 weeks early now) without anyone knowing until their call with the estimated window that morning at 7:00. Eventually the appliances were delivered to the house 👍 Unfortunately, we made the mistake of purchasing a fridge from them in late August. This is ONLY because everywhere else was sold out or back ordered until late Novemeber. We were desperate, since our move in was the first week of October, so we returned to Fred's (Spokane this time)! We found a fridge and they were willing to store it until October and even have it delivered to the Coeur d'Alene location so we could easily pick it up when we were ready. October 3rd arrived and we picked the fridge up. Once we unwrapped it, we discovered a giant dent across one of the doors and all handles scraped. I called Fred's and they ordered a new door. We were prepared to wait a generous amount of time given Covid was delaying production and shipping. The door arrived and November 13th was scheduled for the repair. November 12th we received a call for rescheduling to November 18th. The repair tech saw significant damage upon arrival, something to the looks of a forklift hitting it. He kindly delayed the door replacement and ordered multiple replacement parts: hinges, seals, etc. I'll note, we greatly appreciate his honesty! By January 6th we hadn't heard anything, so I gave them a call; parts have not arrived. January 21st, I call again. The parts are in and we are scheduled for February 5th repair! And, without fail, we need to be rescheduled because the tech isn't going to be in in 3 days. We should have just placed an order elsewhere and waited until December.

UPDATE: February 5th was cancelled and March 8th was scheduled. March 8th they call at 8:45 to inform me they can not find the parts and won't be out. They'll call to reschedule when they find them or if they don't they'll...