I have now been waiting almost a month for a supposedly minor microwave oven repair. I have paid for service I have yet to receive and parts that I finally received but can’t do anything with.

14 July: My Whirlpool microwave broke. I called the number listed by Whirlpool and was connected to A&E Factory Service. I was told that the first available appointment was 24 July.

24 July (Tech ID#0890822): Tech showed up, said he didn’t really work on microwave ovens. However, he contacted the A&E home support and was walked through a form of diagnostic review to detail the problem, which was one of three switches. Since there was supposedly no way to tell which switch was the problem, he was going to replace all three . He said he didn’t have those parts in his truck and they would have to be ordered. He then told me “the damage” was $291.00. I was stunned at the amount and said I needed to contact my husband to make sure we could do it. He said a $65.00 required trip fee I had to pay for his presence would be deducted from the final total. He then expected me to pay the remainder for the repairs... before any service had been accomplished or parts had been ordered! I was unable to reach my husband before the Tech left, so the Tech told me I owed a $65.00 trip charge and to schedule the appointment through the 1-800 number. Then he left. I basically paid him $65.00 to show up at my house, take my microwave cover off and leave.

24 July: I contacted “customer service” to schedule an appointment to fix the problem, but was told they could do nothing until the next day.

25 July: I contacted Customer Service again. I told them I had not been able to set up an appointment while the Tech was at my house and had not been able to schedule anything at all the previous day. The female I spoke with pulled up my account, said she saw the parts and was ordering them. She told me the next available appointment was 31 July. I accepted yet another date.

31 Jul (Tech ID #0803122): At 1153, a service tech showed up. I thought this was to finally fix the microwave. However, he had no parts and after I explained that he was in fact the second tech to appear at my house, he contacted his office to find out the status of the parts. After this call, he told me the parts had never been ordered. I told him the customer service person I spoke with on 25 July said she had ordered them while we were on the phone! He said he would order them immediately, but told me I had to pay a $65.00 trip charge before it would let him. I told him I had already paid one trip charge and would not pay it a second time. I had been told by the customer service rep I spoke with on 25 July, the initial $65.00 applied to any service calls made for the same problem within 30 days. He said he was unaware of that policy. After a number of calls to his office, he finally bypassed that in the computer. He then ordered the parts and told me I had to pay for them then to actual schedule the repair. I now paid an additional $106.94 for service and parts not yet received.

7 Aug: At 0935, I received a call from Ms. Morales, who told me my appointment had been canceled because I had not notified the company I had received the parts at my home. She said they were delivered on Monday--if her system told her the parts were delivered, why was I canceled for not notifying them they had arrived? I told her this was completely unsatisfactory. She suggested I contact the Rescheduling/Routing Department to see if they could schedule me in... for an appointment I supposedly already had! I contacted the 1-800 number and asked to speak with the manager. I spoke with Veronica, claiming to be management for the Call Center. I told her the problem and that I expected service today, as I had been promised. She said she couldn’t do anything about the schedule; however, she would contact the Routing Office. She did this, then told me “Sorry, the routing office says it can’t fit you in today. The soonest we can schedule a tech at your house is 11 August.” I told her that was unacceptable and that I expected service today as I had been waiting over four weeks for the repair already. She again said sorry, the best they could do was to call me if something opened up on today’s route. At that point, I explained that if a tech was not at my house and my microwave not fixed today I would be contacting the main office. She provided me with the name of the CEO, Dale Reader, and an address to which I could send the letter.