Santa Cruz Appliance Repair — Local services in Santa Cruz

I caught them trying to scam me for a 250.00 part I did not need, l confronted them about it, didn’t receive an apology, and they still happily charged me without a discussion about what happened. Not a phone call, not an email, or even an apology.

My dryer fan broke. I was told the fan/blade and the housing unit needed to be replaced. I was told the whole job including the service call/diagnostic call would be approximately 400.00.

When the housing unit was removed I was told by the technician that a aluminum cylinder nut could not be removed and that the new part would be an additional 250.00. The aluminum nut that was stuck on the motor normally would be in the middle of the fan as that how it attaches to the motor but it broke away from the plastic molded fan and “was stuck”.

The technician called his supervisor for “advice”. His supervisor told him if it’s stuck there’s nothing they can do and I needed the whole motor replaced. I told the technician I’d help him remove the nut and we tried together for 20 minutes with no avail and he left the dryer in pieces in my bathroom and said I could contact him when I make a decision on this new part or a new dryer as the costs now exceeded 650.00.

It took me 15 easy minutes to remove the nut. 15 minutes… what made it easy is THE TECHNICIAN WAS TRYING TO UNSCREW THE NUT IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. They wanted to charge me 250.00 for a part I did not need because their technician and boss were trying to remove something the wrong way. By the way, every YouTube video out there explains you remove this fan/nut combo in the opposite direction as the fans spins in one direction and the nut/fan screws in the opposite way to prevent the nut/fan combo from coming off during use.

I wound only recommend this place to my worst enemy. I’d suggest you double check anything they want to charge you for. They legit tried to scam me and when caught became cowards and never communicated back. They just sent their tech back to finish the job 8 hours later and billed my card again, without a single word of acknowledging they were caught in trying to SCAM me.

The pictures show the broken fan and the motor that was in perfect shape except for the shiny piece of aluminum that is at the end of the motor. You can see the damage on the cylinder from vice grips trying to remove it. Again, they were trying to remove it in the WRONG direction and tried to get me for 250.00 more because of it.

EDIT FOR RESPONSE TO THE OWNER:

My “quote” changed twice within 10 minutes and for 250.00 – Your last response to my email sent after the tech left for the night discussing my displeasure was my invoice receipt – I felt bad for your tech because he gave me a sob story for minutes about you yelling at him – It wasn’t his fault you tried to upsell me for something I did not and still do not need – My dryer works perfectly with the motor you suggested I replace because your technician was unscrewing a nut in the wrong direction and thought it wouldn’t work – Were you mad at the tech because he left my dryer in pieces for hours or because during that time I fixed the motor myself with zero experience within 15 minutes and caught on to your scam? If my comments are libel then take me to court. Discovery is amazing and I look forward to showing a judge the multiple resources available online that state the motor nut is always removed in the opposite direction than what your tech was doing. I can come down to the office to explain why to save you further embarrassment but that would end the grift, right? All you had to do was reach out or reply to my email but you sent an invoice instead. All my actions across platforms occurred after the non-reply to my last email so don’t cry victim now. I wasn’t trying to upsell myself here, buddy. That was...

Several years ago, I used Trevor to replace the gasket on a freezer which was not sealing properly and was icing up. That didn't do anything to alleviate the problem and Trevor thought the door might be warped. I was out the price of the gasket and the labor (about $200 for the gasket and labor). While he was there, I asked him about fixing my Wolf stove, as the pilot light was not staying lit. He checked it out and quoted me $500 to fix it ($250 for parts and $250 for labor). After several years of not having the oven available to me, I finally decided to spend the $500 to get it fixed. I contacted Trevor and was told he does not work on my model oven/range. So, I took it upon myself to to repair the oven, even though I am NOT a Mr. Fix-it type. I called Wolf's tech support. Was told what it likely was and I bought a $15 thermocouple from Amazon. It took me about 30 minutes to install the part and I now have a working oven, years after getting erroneous information from Trevor. Trevor is personable and a nice guy, but I would not trust his judgement again. Maybe he was just learning on the job back then and he knows more now. Update 12/8/2020 in response to the owner:

1. You did not "assume it was fixed". How do I know? Well, you came back and couldn't get the gasket to seal properly, which is why you told me that the door was likely warped. That was also the day you gave me a $500 bid to fix my Wolf range's oven.
2. Industry standard? Well, when I called Wolf and spoke to the guy in parts, he told me that it was 80% possibility that it was a faulty thermocouple and an outside chance that the safety valve needed replacing (which might account for your $500 estimate, $250 parts and $250 labor). I was told to replace the thermocouple first, which is "what most experts do first" before moving on to the 10x more costly safety valve. So, I did what he told me to do and it now works like a charm.
3. I asked the parts guy at Wolf if it mattered which thermocouple I put in there and he told me no. Still, the one I bought on Amazon was from Vulcan-Hart, maker of my Wolf Range. So much for your assumption of my not getting an OEM part through Amazon. What...

The drain pump on my dishwasher went out and needed a repair. I really thought highly of this company when the technician came out, as he quickly diagnosed the issue and had a replacement pump in his truck. The whole repair was done in a couple of hours. Then a few weeks later the dishwasher wouldn't drain again. Faulty pump? Bad electrical circuit? I'm not sure but I called Santa Cruz Appliance repair who told me that the pump was outside of warranty (It worked for about 30 days) and since I was calling about 40 days after the service call, they wouldn't honor a warranty claim on labor given that their labor warranty is only 30 days. Nevermind that I received no documentation on their warranty service or the fact that I had called and left a message a week earlier to which they never responded which would have made that difference just a few days. I frankly don't believe the pump was out of warranty unless it had been in the truck for many months. I can't believe they only warranty labor for just 30 days and not at least offer some discount given I was just out of their supposed policy window by a few days. After all, it's not like I did anything wrong, this is their shoddy workmanship. I will never use this company again and would recommend that anyone reading this avoid Santa Cruz...