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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Spares
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Hello Rob: Sounds like you’re frustrated, it’s a common thing to think and say if you get let down by someone or by a particular product and we all tend to do it at times. But with respect it’s not fair to say all engineers must be bad based on a personal experience with one, just as it isn’t logical to assume that if he’d been great it means all the other engineers are great too.
Repaircare are organising a network of engineers, passing on the jobs and running the whole thing so they are legitimate targets for fair criticism regarding their web site, how they organise the job, and their customer service standards – and especially how they handle complaints (where they had a dodgy record in the first few months as early comments show). But Repaircare engineers are a network of 500 independent engineers and many are members of respected trade organisations. The chances of getting a good or bad one should be little different to picking one yourself from an advert in that there is inevitably going to be variation of quality amongst them. Each one of these engineers (as far as I’m aware) also operate independently in their own areas and advertise locally, so anyone taking your advice is just as likely to get one of these engineers anyway except without the fixed price.
In theory the chances of getting a decent engineer using a company like Repaircare should be better than picking one yourself in as much as Repaircare should vet them and can exert some influence or even remove any if they caused regular problems. If you have issues and complaints with any engineer you have Repaircare to complain to, whereas using them independently means you can only complain to them.
I’m not trying to undermine your complaint or even endorse Repaircare, I’m just trying to look at everything from a balanced point of view.
The continuing tendency of this thread to emphasise where things have gone wrong with Repaircare suggests that the problem is with their sub-contractor vetting and overall business model (costs vs pricing)
A similar thing appears to affect CityLink couriers – they obviously get a lot of business by offering their customers low prices, but the people at the receiving end (who only pay indirectly for the service, and therefore have no sway over CityLink themselves) generally get a poorer service because of it.
Called Repaircare to repair ceramic hob.Told an engineer was calling the following Tuesday.Received a call from Appliance Repair to say they dont know why i was told Thursday and it would now be the following Tuesday. I cancelled everything i was doing for that day and rang the enginner first thing as asked.All i got was an answerphone asking to leave details and someone would ring me back.I never recieved that call and i rang 5/6 times during the day.Late afternoon i rang repaircare and asked where my engineer was only to be told he wasnt coming as he had ordered parts but hadnt bothered to tell me.I immediately cancelled my order and am awaiting a refund.I hope the refund department works better than the rest of the system.I certainly would not recommend this company.
Paul, you might want to edit your first sentence as the days don’t make sense. I think some Thursdays and Tuesdays have got mixed up. Do you mean you had a day the engineer was booked to call, but instead of coming he ordered a part but didn’t ring to let you know he wasn’t coming?
I have tried to resolve the longstanding repair of my washing machine with Repaircare by using their escalation e-mail referenced in these messages. Despite sending 2 e-mails both with the job reference in them I have not had so much as an acknowledgement. The recurring threads in these messages about lack of customer service, poor communication etc are ones I can associate with. Appreciate engineers will vary but if the contract is with Repaircare they should be doing more to resolve issues for customers. Having lodged my fault on 7/12 /09 the machine has finally been returned today 25/1/10 only to find on first attempt to run that water now pours out from the bottom – not the problem in the first place. I would steer clear of using this company and wish that I had done so.
Thanks for all the above contributions. I wont be using their service which may be of some solace to all those who are understandably very frustrated by this company.
Thank God for the internet and this blog. Having problems with our smeg dishwasher, but won’t be using these
Repaircare recognizes that due to the very nature of their fixed price repair and the high volumes of work undertaken they occasionally fail to meet their own high standards and expectations.
Unfortunately, some of these problems are out of their direct control i.e. age of appliance, obtaining certain manufacturers parts which are not available in the UK and have to be sourced from abroad. In addition to getting hold of technical information relating to the oldest or most unusual appliances.
If you have a complaint regarding your repair please email [email protected] quoting your job number and giving details of your grievance. Repaircare will respond to you within 2 working days.
I contacted repaircare three weeks ago when my oven stopped working (whirlpool). The engineer arrived on the arranged day and was told that the part had been ordered a few day previous. He took our mobile number and told us we will get a text when the part arrives. We waited another week and I contacted repaircare again to ask what the hold up was. We were told that the part had not arrived. I asked if they could chase it and was told that I should call the next day. We called again the next day and was told that the part had arrived and it was to be sent to the local enginner, this was to take TWO Days!!! (Don’t the post office do next day delivery???). This week I rang again ( I spoke to Thomas) and he agreed it should have been fixed. He actually tried to help and rang me back within 10 minutes , I was told the engineer was off until today ( thurs). I’ve rang again today and was told the part should be fixed next Tuesday that’s nearly 4 weeks since I flagged the fault. I asked if reparecare could arrange it to be fixed any earlier and was told they couldn’t. I am getting really frustrated – help!!!!!!!!
Pete, in order that we can trace your repair details please can you email your full name & address and the Repaircare Job No Prefixed By a C to [email protected] and we will look into your complaint and respond within two working days.