Home-Tech — Local services in San Carlos Park

My built in ice maker in the door of my 4 year old Kitchen Aid refrigerator kept freezing up. I discovered that a "snap in" frame around the ice bucket had broken and was obviously allowing warm air into the ice bucket area.

I also have a KitchenAid dishwasher that the spring on the soap dispenser door broke so it would not lock the soap pod in.

A Home-Tech technician came out on June 4th to assess the needed repairs and charged me $179 to diagnose the ice maker and an additional $45 to diagnose the broken spring on the dishwasher soap dispenser door. The next day, I received this estimate for the repairs by email. Here is the exact email...

"Below is the pricing for the parts the technician indicated are needed to repair your dishwasher and refrigerator. I’ve also included pricing for our Service Agreement Program, along with the savings it would provide on these repairs.

Refrigerator: $ 1852.63 Parts needed for the refrigerator repair: User interface board, fresh food door assembly, ice room door assembly, flapper assembly Dishwasher: $ 379.40 Part needed for dishwasher repair: Soap Dispenser assembly."

Needless to say...I said NO WAY!!!

So then they sent me this email...

"Good afternoon,

I spoke with the Service Manager regarding the parts needed for your refrigerator and dishwasher repairs.

For the refrigerator, the total cost of the necessary parts is approximately $1,400, and labor is about $450, as it’s roughly a 2-hour job. However, the Service Manager advised that instead of replacing the trim, we have the option to glue it, which would eliminate the need to replace both the user interface board and the fresh food door assembly. If we proceed with that solution, it would reduce the total cost of the repair to approximately $500–$600.

As for the dishwasher, if you would like both repairs completed during the same service visit, the cost for that repair would be approximately $222.00."

So...I agreed to the ice maker repair but declined the dishwasher repair. So they ordered the refrigerator parts.

Fast forward to about a week later...The parts arrived and another technician to my house. He first said that the broken "snap in" trim part failed to be ordered by home office. He called them and came back and said this part is not available to be ordered individually and that the service manager said you had to replace the entire door to get that "SNAP IN" part thus the $1,800 quote. And he told me that in reference to gluing it...I COULD DO IT BUT HE WAS NOT GOING TO GLUE IT ACCEPT LIABILITY FOR IT. I asked him why I got the email above that said it could be glued. He could not give me a good answer. I told him that I did not want this company to continue doing work for me and that I wanted him to pack up and leave. He was a very nice young man so I was nice to him. He seem empathetic to my situation.

So...I just called another company to schedule a quote. I just paid another $105.00 for a different appliance company to put me on their schedule to come and assess my repairs and have to wait five days before they can get to me. I only went with Home-Tech because they were the first company that could get to me quickly as I wanted my ice maker fixed badly.

Lesson learned...the company that is the fastest...is NOT the best and most reliable. I will never recommend their services and in fact, as a business professional that networks on a daily basis with other entrepreneurs that pass referrals, I WILL TELL MY STORY OFTEN!

UPDATE AS OF August 11th, 2025...This company had the nerve to send me an invoice for a $50 parts restocking fee. I have no intentions of paying it. Hope they will sue me and perhaps I will get my $224.00 back that they charged me in "diagnostic" fees which was for...

*3/23/17 Another great Home-Tech experience, thanks to Michael B (#869), who was efficient, helpful, and personable when replacing a part in my old icemaker. I don't know how Home-Tech manages to hire such great people ALL the time, but keep up the good work. Just wish H-T would expand into Georgia and/or Illinois! I love giving my business to an employee-owned company. Plus, my family in those places deserve the great service and comfort of a Home-Tech contract for their homes too. Thanks Mike, for a great job!!

*9/26/16 Wow! Home Tech always delivers great service but Alfy (#859) is the best so far! Since I accidentally missed my yearly A/C check-up last year, he had his work cut out for him today. He was awesome - cleaned 2 years of gunk from my drain & the roof-top unit, and was smiling & cheerful the whole time. He did so much more than just take a look & routinely clean my unit. If anyone owns a home and doesn't avail themselves of Home Tech's annual service contract, you are missing out on a great bargain. More importantly, you will have wonderful peace of mind. And when a technician DOES come - whether for a routine or a not-so-routine reason, you will bless the day you spent the $$ to do it. Great service, reasonable price, wonderful peeps, and - an employee-owned company!

*3/11/16 - Another day, another issues solved! This time, Cannon was the tech who came in and fixed my broken icemaker in just a few minutes. It is sooooo comforting to know that HomeTech's awesome service people spring into action - competently, politely, and quickly - whenever I need them. Get yourself a contract and put your mind at ease!

**2016 - I love Home-Tech, and their people are a big reason why! Omar (#844) did NOT have an easy task in my aging townhouse, with both a garbage disposal that had died, and a water heater that (unbeknownst to me!) was on its last legs. What probably appeared to be a fairly easy and quick job turned into a pair of long, and not easy, tasks. I know all too well how hard it sometimes is to fit modern conveniences into little old-fashioned spaces, but Omar was up to the job and "worked around" as needed. I now have a new garbage disposal and am soon to be the proud owner of a new water heater. I appreciate his patient answers to my questions, and the extra time he took to be certain he was on the right track with a somewhat unfamiliar situation. I am deeply appreciative, and if I needed a reminder of WHY I renew my contract each year, I certainly had it today. Thank you, Home-Tech, for providing a dependable service that we many times THINK we don't need - until we DO. :) *PS - Water heater now replaced by another wonderful Home-Tech service person - sorry I didn't...

Home-Tech and more specifically Margo Mcqueen are a true lifesaver!!!

Let me preface this by saying, at the time I am writing this review, I am not a Home-Tech customer (renter). However, my mom recently found herself in a situation several months back, and thankfully Margo saved the day.

My mother recently renovated her kitchen and in doing so she purchased all new appliances (with extended warranties). Yet, out of the blue, her new refrigerator still managed to stop working. Knowing she had purchased the pricy extended warranty, she elected to call on the company who solicited her the extended warranty. Only to be informed that they were unavailable to service the fridge until the following week. Resulting in a major loss of the contents in the fridge. Not once did they offer to replace the fridge (temporarily) or provide any form of troubleshooting in hopes of alleviating the issue.

Thankfully I had met Margo through a fellow coworker, and remembered she worked at Home-Tech, so I decided to reach out directly to see if there might be another option to help with my mother's situation. Margo spoke directly with my mom (who was not a customer of Home-Tech) to offer some troubleshooting tips to try and fix the problem. She helped guide her through the ways Home -Tech differs from that of a warranty company, in that they are local, have an abundance of qualified techs readily available for situations like these, but most importantly (in my opinion) they offer temporary appliance replacement in the event the appliance requires further repairs. Margo also explained how the Home-Tech tier system works in the event she would like to become a customer in the near future.

Let me tell you, when I say my mom was reluctant to speak with someone other than her appliance warranty company, that's an understatement. However, following her call with Margo, she seemed to be at peace with the situation. Margo was able to explain why it could take other companies up to a week to service the appliances, how most of these warranty companies are extremely short staffed following the pandemic, and they certainly don't disclose that information at the time of purchasing the warranty.

We are incredibly thankful for the over-the-top service Margo provided, and as a Ft. Myers resident born and raised, I feel very proud to have a local company like Home-Tech who values customer service and their employees.

Thank you, Home-Tech, and thank...