Repaircare are a National appliance repair company offering fixed price repairs. This review was written only several months after they began trading. Things may, or may not, be different now.
Their fixed price appliance repairs include call out, parts, labour and VAT. Repaircare are part of Connect Distribution who are the UK’s largest distributor of appliance spares and accessories.
They supply much of the independent repair trade. Their website is easy to use and features 3 simple steps to get a quote. It’s incredibly simple and well designed.
How do they do fixed repairs? What’s the Catch?
I’m naturally pretty sceptical and not easily impressed – always looking out for a catch. It shouldn’t be possible for Repaircare to be able to include the spare parts in their repair charges but they are the UK’s largest spare parts distributor so they have access to much cheaper parts than most and they obviously think they can.
Repaircare advertised fixed price repairs, but unfortunately the truth is they did not fix every appliance for the price initially quoted. They covered themselves against the more expensive repairs with a clause in their terms and conditions allowing them to charge extra.
They did claim that most repairs should be covered by the amount advertised, but after a few months (of complaints) they were forced to change their terms and conditions to remove their right to charge extra for certain parts. Offering fixed price repairs is a big ask.
But Repaircare should have access to very cheap spare parts because of their massive buying power as part of the UK’s largest spares distributor 4Ourhouse. However, they don’t employ their own engineers.
They instead use a network of independent engineers, which appears to cause some problems at times where people have complained of poor customer service.
Complaints
Repaircare have been accused of washing their hands of some complaints when (presumably) a customer and the independent engineer have been telling them different things.
However, I don’t believe they can do this because a customer’s contract is with Repaircare, and not the engineer that Repaircare subcontracted to do the repair.
It sounds like Repaircare have been frustrated by different accounts from the engineer and customer and want them to sort it out between themselves. But if a customer can’t, then Repaircare must.
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Margins must be small and this operation probably relies on economies of scale. As it is covering all of the UK they may be able to achieve the quantities of repairs necessary to be viable. However, they need most repairs to be relatively minor to balance out the expensive repairs.
If only people suspecting they have a serious fault use them, the system just won’t work. There have been a lot of complaints in the comments of this article (and elsewhere), which is disappointing.
They may have been struggling to cope with the work load at the early stages as they had promoted themselves very heavily. It’s also fair to say that appliance repairs tend to attract a lot of dissatisfied customers due to the length of time it can sometimes take to get them repaired.
Repaircare did eventually respond pro-actively to public complaints and put in place a system to allow people to complain directly to a manager. People with complaints previously felt they had no option but to complain on the Internet because they couldn’t get past the call centre staff to complain to a manager.
If you are the type of person who takes comfort in prices being fixed and inclusive, then fixed price repairs may be attractive for you. Sadly it’s become the main way large repair companies operate now.
You can end up paying a lot more than necessary if your appliance turns out not to need any parts, or only needs inexpensive parts, (most repairs).
You can save money if it needs an expensive part but if it’s quite expensive most repair companies just tell you it’s beyond economical repair. This can make it difficult to get a “win” on these schemes.
Make sure you read and understand the terms & conditions. It will probably state that if parts are “too” expensive they can say the appliance is not worth repairing, which may still cost you a fair amount of money.
Make sure you understand how much it will cost you in that scenario.
Alternatives?
Some manufacturers also offer fixed price repairs now at rates competing with Repaircare. For example Hoover / Candy, Ariston, Indesit, Hotpoint, Creda and even the obsolete Dyson washing machine have fixed price repairs. Also, AEG, Electrolux and Zanussi have relatively low and reasonable labour charges.
Only 3 months guarantee
A mere 3 months guarantee on repairs is very poor indeed. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (previously the Sale of Goods Act), any repair should last a reasonable time, as should any new parts fitted. 3 months (90 days) is nowhere near a reasonable time for almost any repair, especially if new parts are fitted. However, that’s all you get.
So you would have to pursue your claim in the small claims court or through a consumer help body if a repair by a company offering only 3 months guarantee failed after an unreasonable time outside 3 months.
I have to be honest and say that I personally would never use any repair company that only gave a 90 day guarantee, which I consider pretty disgraceful, and a very poor show of confidence in their own work – Is a 3 month guarantee on repairs reasonable?)
More appliance repairers
There are some appliance repair companies listed on site Book washing machine (or other appliance) repair page including companies offering a much more desirable 12 month guarantee on repairs.
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Booked a repair of our Miele washer, which is making nasty bearing rumbles. Charge was £129 rather than £70 – fair do’s, it’s a Miele.
The chappie turns up, says it will take two people to do the job and will have to be taken to the workshop, that the charge is too low, and went away. Still waiting a week later for an estimate of how long and how much. Not impressed so far……
Hello Tony. That’s not good. Have you tried ringing them? Please keep us informed.
Thank you thank you thank you… found this website on Google, just as I was despairing about the possible cost of calling out a repairman (or having to fork out for a new machine). But one Friday night in later, machine is fixed, by me – your new biggest fan :-)
I’m not sure that this lot are worth the hassle.
Appointments were only available several days on from purchase.
Their engineer failed to turn up for the first appointment.
Second appointment he diagnosed the problem but did not have the parts
Third appointment he ‘fixed it’ but told me not to switch on for 5 hours (it’s a freezer).
When I turned on it was exhibiting the same fault as it started with.
Still waiting for their engineer to ring me to arrange a further call. I will have been 3 weeks without a freezer and taken 4 days off work. The manufacturers would have been more expensive but I suspect more responsive and effective.
Their call centre is very much ‘computer says no’ . The operators are not empowered to do anything other than call the engineer and get his answer service, as I had already done.
It seems impossible to speak to a team leader or supervisor.
Great idea poorly executed. The system is process not customer focused.
Telephone calls are expensive and there’s a lot of ‘please hold the line’.
Hello L: Thanks for your contribution. I’m not sure what you mean about only being able to make an appointment several days on, as most people would want immediate appointments or within a few days.
Not turning up is bad, though that happens a lot across many companies as engineers can get stuck on a job or have traffic problems and it’s just not possible to complete all jobs at times. A courtesy phone call is expected though.
It’s also not unusual for parts to be required and a second visit necessary – that’s very common because it’s impossible to carry all but the most common parts for the most common machines. Even the manufacturers often have to return with parts another time although I would expect the manufacturer to have more parts than anyone carrying out repairs to all makes.
Reports I’ve heard indicate manufacturer’s service is commonly poor and long waits for appointments and parts common too.
Unfortunately I have no idea how many satisfied customers there are to balance things out as most people only contribute when not happy and all businesses have things go wrong to some extent. I’m hoping these are just teething problems caused by the success of the service, which may have overloaded them with calls.
In addition to my last comment, I forgot to add that leaving the freezer unplugged for at least 5 hours is often necessary for modern frost free fridges and freezers if they have become caked in iced inside. If this is not adhered to the fault will usually reoccur.
In my experience many customers didn’t follow this instruction because it’s too inconvenient, and the fault reoccurred. I don’t know if this is the case in your situation but it is essential to allow the unit to properly defrost if advised to.
Thanks Washerhelp
Re ‘I’m not sure what you mean about only being able to make an appointment several days on, as most people would want immediate appointments or within a few days’.
I can see the ambiguity in my comment, sorry. I was trying to say that available appointments were quite a few days in the future. As you say your need is almost immediate.
We did leave the freezer nearly 8 hours before switching it on. Hey ,after two weeks with it, whats a few hours?
I have now been contacted by a senior customer service person (after I advised them I was going to give negative feedback.)
Whilst the person who rang was very pleasant, we haven’t moved on at all.
They have a process…which I know off by heart as it has been explained to me repeatedly. That process can’t be changed.
What they are missing is that a good operation always needs processes but that when the process falters, service recovery must always be the priority over process.
Many companies make mistakes, its the ones that are flexible enough to recover well from failure that typically the customer remembers and recommends.
All I want is my freezer fixed…..
Regards
Laurie
Thanks Laurie: My attititude has always been that no company is immune from cockups and things going wrong so I agree that the sign of a good company is not defined by whether things go wrong or not but how they deal with inevitable problems.
The only thing I can say in their defence at the moment is that although they’ve done half a million repairs so far they’ve only just launched the service to the public, whereas they’ve previously carried out repairs for insurance companies. I suspect they are currently experiencing a big surge in demand.
Too good to be true…………cost £120……..chap turns up within a 12hr time frame only to say he has to order a part for the cooker (should only be a couple of days hes says) ….. its now the second week (third of not having a cooker) and still no part! Call centre just says dont know when part will be in!
An update…
It’s now just under 4 weeks since I engaged (and paid) Repaircare to fix my fridge/freezer.
The engineer had to return for a 3rd visit (now 4 days off work due to an initial ‘no show’).
He said that I had a big leak in the system and that the fridge/freezer was toast.
I know nothing about refrigeration but I questioned the logic of a big leak causing the unit to fail so quickly after his previous (unsuccessful) repair when he didn’t detect a leak. Also why was the fridge section working OK?
Anyway, he reluctantly tested the system pressure and it was as he left it fully pressurised i.e. there was no leak.
He thought that it was now the compressor and he would contact Repaircare for authorisation to order a new one.
I received an email from Repaircare saying ‘I cannot see that there will be a problem at this end and this engineer will order the compressor for you and once received will contact to make another appointment for you.’
10 days on I had heard nothing so I contacted the call centre to be told that it had been referred to the Technical Section, but ‘he’ had been off for a week or so. I should be patient and they will get back to me when they have discussed it with the engineer.
Four weeks since I started and my fridge/reezer is no further on towards repair.
I’m adjusting my advice from ‘not worth the hassle’ to ‘Avoid’.
Laurie