What do you do when your fridge is on the fritz? Or your temp control system dies on you during the night or when your washer breaks down? Ring a professional. If you don’t have the proper skills and training, you might just end up making the whole situation worse if you attempt to fix the issue on your own. Not sure how to find a contractor or company to provide you with the commercial appliance repair assistance you need? Here are a few handy steps from OldHouse to help you through this process:
1. Start with your neighbors and friends. Ask them for the names of companies or repairmen they worked with in the past. Get the ones that left a solid impression of professionalism and results. You’ll want the same qualities in the contractor or company you’ll be hiring to take care of your repair needs and put your appliances back on its feet.
2. Take the search online. Make sure you read up on any available information on the names you got from asking people asking around. If they have sites, which is often the case for service companies, so much the better.
3. Ask about credit card payments. Some small commercial appliance repair companies might not accept credit cards. While that doesn’t undermine their service, for those who do offer credit card payments, you could take that as a sign that they’re a legitimate business. After all, credit card companies are very strict when it comes to granting a business the use of credit card processing. So use that knowledge to your advantage.
4. Price isn’t everything. Low prices might seem attractive but they could get you and your appliance in much more trouble. Instead, get quotes from several companies and repairmen. Then compare those quotes along with the services offered. Choose the one that provides you with more services at a reasonable price instead of going for a low-price service that might just barely the basics and nothing else.
5. Ask away. Before you sign up with a commercial appliance repair service, make sure you ask a lot of the necessary questions: did the company send the right repairman? Does he have insurance? How long has he worked in the business? Does he have experience in fixing the same equipment? And lastly, ask yourself: does he seem trustworthy? Trust your gut feel. Do you feel something’s out of sorts or do you feel like you’re making a good decision? Stack up that feeling with everything else. What answer did you get?
Hopefully, these five hiring steps will make it easy for you to find an honest and competent contractor to handle your appliance repairs. Good luck scouting!
