Ripped off by repairman - question about what I can do?

W

wylie

We had a dishwasher not draining in a property recently. We tried the fixes according to the internet, and it did work, but kept happening. I called the company whose dishwasher it was, and they gave me the name of the service company.

They came out and told me the repairs would involve replacing two components, and possibly a third, but the third would not be known until after the first two went in. Cost in total $560 :eek:.

I told him I could buy a new one for $530 and paid the $110 for the call out fee. A few days later I received an invoice for a further $44 for the "service" portion of the callout. I questioned this, and was told that as they hadn't told me about this portion of the call out they would waive it.

I didn't want to dump the dishwasher so I sold it for $1 on eBay (couldn't list there for free - minimum price $1). Man who bought it was a repairman, and he knew what I'd been quoted to fix it. He got back to me to tell me it took him 20 minutes and a $35 part to fix it, and that if I wanted him to put that in writing he was happy to do so.

I wrote to the service company asking them for the $530 it cost me to purchase a new dishwasher, less the $155 I was prepared to have paid for the call out and easy fix on the one I sold for $1.

I've not heard back, and for the sake of $375 I won't bother to take it further, but I do want to put up an honest review so others are not ripped off. I also will be writing to the maker of the machine so that they know that the repairman they referred me to tried to rip me off (but I will word it carefully so I'm not accusing them of ripping me off deliberately - though I'm sure Blind Freddy will be able to add 1 and 1 together and understand what I'm saying).

I don't for a minute believe the quote to have been honest. Three things to be repaired costing $560 seems a straight out money grab. I'm confident he would have told me he replaced all three items, but in reality would have used the $35 part and either pocketed the excess himself as a nice little bonus for being deceitful, or handed it to the company. Were they complicit? Was he just clueless?

Anyway, my question is whether or not I can get into any sort of legal trouble for putting my story on the "reviews" page. There are other bad reviews there, so I'm not the first. I'm guessing I cannot go so far as suggesting I was to be ripped off on purpose (as I have no proof).

I'm not really trying to get my money back (though it was worth a try) but more wanting to warn others, make the repair company know I'm not stupid, and make the dishwasher company know this has happened in case they want to rethink sending customers to this rip-off merchant.
 
The short answer is that there is always the tiny chance that a bad review might draw some legal attention, and then a tiny chance on top of that again that something would actually come out it.

Practically speaking, there would be quite a few hurdles for a claimant trying to chase a defamation case for something like that. And that's even if they had a good case, which they don't.
 
That said, I had my property manager call me up earlier in the year after receiving a letter of demand from a lawyer claiming defamation. Apparently my PM had some pretty awful and abusive service from a plumber and put up a bad review on google.

She was freaking out a little because she couldn't delete it immediately like the letter was seeking. Luckily for her I knew of the law firm that was acting for the guy and they weren't really defamation specialists by any measure. I told her just to tell them she was willing to withdraw the statement and try to delete the review and that they would probably leave it at that.

Letter of demand might cost you $300, but to instruct counsel to commence proceedings I imagine its at least $10,000 in trust up front.
 
Thanks that bum (nice name by the way :D).

Do you think I'm just better to write to the maker of the dishwasher who put me onto the repair company and make sure they know what happened?

Should I simply make it a telephone call to the maker so there is nothing in writing, or is it just as bad? (They might record their calls - Have I watched too many movies?) I just want them to know they are referring people to a dodgy repair company (but I'm happy not to use the word "dodgy").

I suppose it could have been a case of one dodge repairman, but if that was the case, the company would have replied to my letter, if they cared about their chap ripping people off. Not hearing makes me think the company is complicit with ripping me off.

I don't want to do something that gives me short term satisfaction, only to find myself in trouble.
 
wylie said:
Do you think I'm just better to write to the maker of the dishwasher who put me onto the repair company and make sure they know what happened?

Should I simply make it a telephone call to the maker so there is nothing in writing, or is it just as bad?
Click to expand...

I think you'd be fine doing whatever it is you want to do - considering the truth is on your side.

Ha I don't always say that either - its the fact you have the truth and also you have some independent evidence corroborating the truth.
 
devank said:
What's the point in having a "reviews" page if you can't add a bad review?!
Click to expand...

Tell that to all the people on Trip Advisor who wrote bad reviews about hotels and subsequently got sued, even when the reviews were proved to be truthful. Honestly what is this world coming to? I won't write a bad review other than directly to the company now. At least then you can't be accused of defamation, as the only audience is the company themselves.
 
If what you say in your review is completely the truth, then you will have little to worry about.

I would even call the company to tell them you are going to give them a truthful account of your experience on their review page, and see what they say.

That's be fun.
 
BayView said:
If what you say in your review is completely the truth, then you will have little to worry about.
.
Click to expand...

I agree with this- but you may be well advised not to claim a quote was dishonest. Simply point to the facts and let the reader draw what conclusions they will.
 
Rather than make accusations I would be acting "a little dumb" and be prepared to remove it if requested. I am no legal expert but if you simply say how you feel then I reckon you should be able to do that.

I would say "Gee, I got that wrong, I was quoted $560 by the repairman so I bought a new one, the guy who bought the old one fixed it for $35.

Now I am really unhappy because I trusted that repairman and I spent all that money when I could have just got it fixed, I don't think he gave me very good advice."

I think anyone reading the review will be drawing their own conclusions from a post like that and should you be requested to remove it just do so.

I would certainly be sending an email to the company along these lines as it explains your disappointment in their service people without being aggressive.
 
Last edited:
Unfortunately it was your choice not to get another quote, so I don't believe you can hold them accountable.

I assume you were informed of a callout fee, for which you agreed. Then they just informed you of their cost to effect repairs.

It does seem odd to me that if as you say, it only required a $35 part, then they would of had a lot of room to discount and still make a profit. Why didn't they?

In all fairness I don't think you were accounting for time, and who's to say the purchaser if telling the truth didn't just get lucky fixing the problem with the single part.
 
don't bother servicing consumer items, they are consumable and not worth call outs to fix. the item value is given as $500, probably $400 on special with a warranty and credit card points and sparkly new, all thrown in. the call out fee is fixed and the item is broken so will obviously cost some parts, usually these start at $100. risk, time etc, not worth it.

did your internet search not pick up on this simple repair out of interest?

a shame you sank the 100 bucks into it tho
 
cu@thetop said:
I agree with this- but you may be well advised not to claim a quote was dishonest. Simply point to the facts and let the reader draw what conclusions they will.
Click to expand...

Macca said:
I would say "Gee, I got that wrong, I was quoted $560 by the repairman so I bought a new one, the guy who bought the old one fixed it for $35.

Now I am really unhappy because I trusted that repairman and I spent all that money when I could have just got it fixed, I don't think he gave me very good advice."

I think anyone reading the review will be drawing their own conclusions from a post like that and should you be requested to remove it just do so.

I like these ideas. I don't want to accuse the company or the repairman of being dishonest but I believe I've been "done". If the repairman thought it needed three expensive parts and it didn't then I reckon the company would have got back to me. Perhaps it is something they promote with their repairmen... an easy way to fleece the gullible.

I would certainly be sending an email to the company along these lines as it explains your disappointment in their service people without being aggressive.
Click to expand...

I wrote to the company, not aggressive, just stating what happened and asking for the cost of the new dishwasher that I didn't need to buy, less the full cost of the repair that was done by the lucky chap who bought it from me for $1. This would have cost me $155 all up had the serviceman been honest. The honest repairman I sold it to is happy to give me something in writing. I've already given him a repair job, so not only is an honest man, but he will get business from that honesty. Completely opposite the recommended repair company. If the first repairman was trying to fleece me without the sanction of the company, I'm sure they would have replied to me, but nothing, so I can only assume they are complicit. Their reviews are bad, bad and worse.

Ausprop said:
don't bother servicing consumer items, they are consumable and not worth call outs to fix. the item value is given as $500, probably $400 on special with a warranty and credit card points and sparkly new, all thrown in. the call out fee is fixed and the item is broken so will obviously cost some parts, usually these start at $100. risk, time etc, not worth it.

did your internet search not pick up on this simple repair out of interest?

a shame you sank the 100 bucks into it tho
Click to expand...

Our internet search did pick up on the simple repair, which worked twice but it kept happening. There was a $35 part that needed replacing in order for the water to be pumped out.

The dishwasher that was in the kitchen we removed cost me $120 to be told the part was no longer available, then we ditched the whole kitchen (not planned initially) and then the dishwasher (almost new) we put in had this fault. So I'm down considerably more than $100.

It isn't the money so much as not wanting them to get away with fleecing me or anyone else. I will be at the minimum letting the manufacturer of the dishwasher know that the service company tried this on.
 
Our 7 years old washing machine stooped working. I was ready to throw it out but I thought "What the heck.. I'll open up before throwing out“. Interestingly it was blocked by kids's tiny socks. Took it out and it is still going strong.
 
Last edited:
devank said:
Our 7 years old washing machine stooped working. I was ready to throw it out but I thought "What the heck.. I'll open up before throwing out“. Interestingly I was blocked by kids's tiny socks. Took it out and it is still going strong.
Click to expand...

yeh I was about to dump a machine and took it out the back yard, pulled all the bits out and cleaned the filters and span it out another 18 months. the circuit board finally lost its mind and I have heard that is curtains so that was the end of that
 
Truth is a defence. See https://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/defamation.html and http://www.lawhandbook.org.au/handbook/ch24s02s03.php.
Just state the facts and you should be okay.

See also The Australian Consumer Law at http://www.consumerlaw.gov.au/content/Content.aspx?doc=fact_sheets/your_home.htm There’s a few other pages. At this link see the heading
Quality goods and services
All products must be safe, durable, free from defects, fit for purpose, acceptable in appearance, match its description and match any sample or demonstration model.
Services performed in your home must be delivered with care and skill.

It seems to me that there is a persuasive argument that the services were not delivered with care or skill. It could reasonably be said that the repair was not of a high standard as it cost ten times that of the ultimate repair. As such, remedies appear to exist under ACL, which is similar in all parts of Australia.

ACL appears to apply to businesses, and should apply to your circumstances.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Replacing Leaking Shower Piping In Rental
Replies
4
Views
2K
Rhinsor
R
M
Rip out floating floor and relay it again?
Replies
7
Views
3K
robboat
R
L
Want to install Solar - where do I start?
2 3
Replies
51
Views
8K
HiEquity
H
N
Development with Neighbour - Bad idea ?
Replies
8
Views
3K
mflying
M
W
Interesting reason for dishwasher and air-con to stop working?
Replies
9
Views
2K
Angel
A
Back
Top