Smith Brothers Appliance Repair reviews and complaints

I am very disappointed with the level of service received by Smith Brothers. Our refrigerator failed last week, a repairman came over on 3-5-2010, replaced the capacitor and the relay switch which cost us $240.72. Five hours later, the refrigerator failed again. I called Smith Bros. on two more occasions asking to speak with the repairman and discuss a resolution. I was told that a call-out was made and that we should be receiving a call back and that there was nothing more that could be done. Nobody ever contacted us. We were forced to purchase a new refrigerator to keep all our food from spoiling (and to prevent the $45 a day cost for dry ice) and are out the $240.72 paid to Smith Bros. in addition to the cost of a new refrigerator.

I called to let this company know I had an oven with a temperature problem. The man on the phone said that the appointment charge is $20 just to come diagnose the problem, and then parts/labor are added on. Okay! Sounds fine. Let's schedule! He says that the man who will be doing the job will call. I wait and get the call. The repairman, called "JERRY" says the appointment charge will be $60 just to come diagnose the problem...WAIT a second! I told him that his company had quoted $20. He then says "well, how about $40?" FINE...sheesh. It's amazing what you'll agree to when you have a broken appliance 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. So Jerry shows up, 30 minutes earlier than he had scheduled. Not good, I say, as I need to pick up a child from school. He says he cannot wait. (I should have sent him home!) So, someone had to be at the house for this guy while I was gone. Upon coming home, Jerry charges me $45 for the inspection...YES, $45. The price got higher! Just for inspecting and doing NO work! He also gave me a quote for how much the job would be, around $520. HOWEVER that is IF he can get the parts. So I agree to have him acquire the parts and he says to call and schedule with his company. I called the next day and left 2 messages. Then I called the following day to hear that "Jerry" had called in sick, but "yes, he got your message and he'll call you!" Then I called the next day. And the next. I kept getting the runaround. HERE IS THE GOOD PART! After a week, my friend suggested another company. Boy am I glad! The man from THAT company not only called me back, but had my oven fixed within 3 days for $350 and I had Thanksgiving dinner with a working oven. (apparently the part was very easy to acquire) Oh, and by the way, Thanksgiving was last week, and Jerry still hasn't gotten back to me...

Don't ever, UNDER any circumstances, use these guys. They were the WORST provider I have EVER tried to use. The repairman who came to fix my dryer did NOT know what he was doing. The first time he came, he couldn't figure out what was wrong at all. The second time (I only went back because they already had my diagnostic money), he said it was a problem with my timer, but it would work on one setting while he ordered a new timer that would cost over $200. While waiting, it didn't work on that setting either. I called the company and requested another repairman, and was told I could not have one because I had already given this one the diagnostic $$$, which is irrelevant since the check was made out to Smith Brothers. They requested one more chance, to which I agreed. Of course this time (just like the first two, he did not show up on time and I had to call the company to figure out where he was). The third time was strike three. I told the company not to send him at all, that he was no longer welcome. I subsequently had the dryer fixed by another provider who was fine, where the issue turned out to be related to coils - it had nothing to do with the timer. I called back Smith Brothers and requested a refund of my initial diagnostic, which is reasonable since the guy was terrible and never on time, misdiagnosed my problem, and I was refused another repairman. Of course they refused. I have left messages for the owner, Jim Smith, and of course he won't call back.

In short, these guys are terrible. Do not EVER use them unless you want to be ripped off.

1. WHY I'LL NEVER USE SMITH BROS AGAIN: Ever since they worked on my fridge, it has reeked of grease solvent, a stench that I can't eliminate after using numerous methods. I had never experienced an odor before Smith Brothers worked on it, but it's been there ever since. When I called them to request that someone come back to see what's wrong, they basically told me that it wasn't their problem and to go POUND SAND.

Maybe, as they claim, they aren't at fault (yeah, right), but if this is their idea of customer service, I don't think that they'll be in business much longer.

2. The repairman spent 15 minutes here. He popped out a circuit board and popped in another one. Labor charge: $150! Their advertisement states that they don't charge a traveling fee, so this guy makes more per hour than my attorney.

3. They advertise a $20 discount if they're late. Even with a 3 hour window, the repairman was late; I didn't get the discount.