A couple of weeks ago, our tumble dryer broke. More specifically, the door broke- it wouldn't stay shut and we were having to hold it closed with the coolbox. Clearly a wear and tear problem- we've had the thing for nearly three years and we tumble dry everything, since we live in a flat and have no garden for outdoor drying. At first, we thought it was the latch, so I tried to sort it out myself, but something was missing and we couldn't get the latch to stay put. So we called in the repair guy to help us figure out what was the problem.
He arrives and then determines that the door frame also needs replacing- it's cracked and that's what is keeping the latch from staying in place. I was surprised by the crack- I hadn't seen it when I was trying to fix it myself, but when he showed it to me, it was something I definitely wouldn't have missed. But I figured I was being absent minded and gave him the okay to order a new door. He called a colleague about ordering the door. Firstly, he spent a good amount of time just chatting to him about their personal lives (while I was standing right there) before talking about the dryer door. Then he gave him the wrong serial number and, when I corrected him, he did not alert the guy on the phone to the change.
He said he would call when it came and he would come back when he was already in the area so I don't pay another callout charge.
All seems like okay service so far... then it all fell apart.
It was a week and a half before I heard from him... because I rang him. I called him last night to get an ETA (the hubby and I decided that, if there was still a wait, we would cancel the order and just invest in a new one, since the repair would set us back £65 anyway). The guy mumbled something about not being able to find the door, then said it arrived the other day, then again about thinking he would never find it- it wasn't until he actually said he'll check when he's in our area next that I realised he was saying that he did, in fact, have the right door. He said he'd come the next morning. I asked to clarify that the total is still £65 (since I'd have to pop out in the morning to get the cash out) and he goes "No... the callout is £50 and the door was £15, so it's £65 in total". Uuuh, I just said that.
He turns up today to fix the door.
He tells me the door was really complicated and that he wouldn't have done the job if he had known how hard it would be (uuuh... and he job would be?). Then he tells me that I lost a lot of the screws so he had to improvise in getting other screws- I lost nothing. I had planned on putting the door together myself, so I had organised every screw by order that it came out, where it goes and how. He's the one who threw everything in a bowl when he took my broken door.
I decide to go and do my work (essays and such) until I heard the tumbledryer going. I went to go check on the progress and thank him... he starts trying to teach me how to open and close the tumbledryer! Because I am so stupid that I have been slamming the door and forcing it shut without lifting the latch- it never occurred to me to lift that latch, of course! *eyeroll*
Then he started packing away and mumbled "right, money". Which I assume was his version of saying "As discussed, the total is £65 please?". I got him the money, and he reminded me again of how to open and close the tumble dryer that I have had since 2011. Even though he muttered to himself (which I heard) that it was a flimsy door- so a tumble dryer with a flimsy door that has been used several times a week for 2.5 years couldn't have cracked on its own then?
Summary: Call a guy to fix our tumble dryer door. Takes ages to order a new part, doesn't call to tell me when it came and then gives a condescending attitude when he comes to fit it.