I had the good fortune to call on Pablo of North County Appliance a couple of times recently. The first instance involved a problem with my refrigerator and he returned my call immediately to tell me that due to previous appointments he wouldn’t be able to get to my home until later in the afternoon. Another (much more expensive) firm was able to send someone immediately so they could give me an “estimate”. Their show-up price and bid seemed obviously excessive so I re-called Pablo while they were on site. While talking to him and getting specific cost information on the replacement parts and the time required to do the job, the man from the other firm watched uncomfortably as I repeat the conversation aloud for him to hear. In the end the other firm reduced their bid by over twenty percent and still made a tidy profit.\r
The second case was one where an appliance with a touch key-pad became locked in the “off” position. Having no small children, we had never used the lock and had been able to deal with all electronic problems for eight years by simply turning off (and then on) the power at the outside electrical panel. After trying (and failing) with this tried and true method we were ready to spend over a thousand dollars plus installation for a new unit. But I decided to try Pablo again for an opinion and he gave me an absurdly simple way to unlock the unit right over the phone! I offered him a “show up” fee for his extremely valuable assistance but he declined any compensation. I suppose you can guess who will be handling all my appliance repairs in the future.\r
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