handyman took my broken part with him without asking
gothamyte
from that Adam Westsiiiide of Gotham
Weigh-in, y'all, please:
My dishwasher was on the fritz. It's old. A handyman came by, replaced 2 parts and it's back in action. But, but, but: dude left with the broken part, without asking me if he could take it. Red flag?
I dunno how to feel about it. Feels like stealing, to me. The part he replaced was sizeable. Honestly, I'm surprised he left with it, without saying a word. I didn't anticipate that at all.
Now, in his defense: after he removed the part, it was lying on my kitchen counter for awhile. I casually took a picture of the part, because I do that now, I try to document everything, now, man. He saw me take a picture with my cell. Maybe he assumed I took a picture because I didn't want it anymore? I coulda grabbed it at anytime, it was lying idly on my kitchen counter for the taking. I didn't. Because it's my house. And I fully expected it to remain lying idly on my kitchen counter. It's weird the part's gone.
Should I say something? Should I call his company and call him out?
My dishwasher was on the fritz. It's old. A handyman came by, replaced 2 parts and it's back in action. But, but, but: dude left with the broken part, without asking me if he could take it. Red flag?
I dunno how to feel about it. Feels like stealing, to me. The part he replaced was sizeable. Honestly, I'm surprised he left with it, without saying a word. I didn't anticipate that at all.
Now, in his defense: after he removed the part, it was lying on my kitchen counter for awhile. I casually took a picture of the part, because I do that now, I try to document everything, now, man. He saw me take a picture with my cell. Maybe he assumed I took a picture because I didn't want it anymore? I coulda grabbed it at anytime, it was lying idly on my kitchen counter for the taking. I didn't. Because it's my house. And I fully expected it to remain lying idly on my kitchen counter. It's weird the part's gone.
Should I say something? Should I call his company and call him out?
14 comments
Conversely, it may not have needed repair, and he was running up costs. Maybe it was innocent, and he thought it needed changing but discovered that it was not the cause. Maybe he knew he could sell it for scrap or on ebay. My bet would be that he changed it to see if that were cause, and discovered it was not. There is a lot of appliance technicians who are just parts changers. Whether or not I made a stink would depend on the cost. For me, I would not waste the time for a couple of hundred dollars. I would also factor in his individual behavior and service before making trouble for him.
They don’t make them like they used to.
Anyway, disposal of this sizeable part would most likely cause a problem for the typical home owner. Can it be placed with household waste for pick up? Perhaps not and the garbage company may charge extra for its disposal. His general clean up and removal of the part saved the typical home owner the hassle of disposing it.
Assuming you're not robbed of you're jazz what exactly do you do with it?
If you wanted to keep the old parts, you should have told him before he left. Do you have your mechanic throw all the old parts from a brake job onto your front seat? If you have an old, leaking water heater, do you think the plumber should leave it behind after he installs a new one?
If you want to minimize repair people from replacing parts that are not really defective (scamming you), tell them before any repairs are made to leave all the old parts because you like to tinker with them later. That will deter some from replacing something that is not legitimately defective.
OP: pretty standard practice, if it was broken prob worth like 2 bucks in scrap value. sometimes with repairs you need to change parts to find the culprit through process of elimination. no reason to make a stink. as mentioned tell them next time ahead of time to leave old parts behind if youd like the old parts.
If the machine was fixed for a reasonable price, I think let this go. I stopped calling appliance repair guys because they would charge $75 for a house call only to say the appliance wasn't worth fixing. So if you got a guy that actually fixed something for less than half the cost of a new appliance, consider that a win.
It's not unreasonable to make such a request, and I would agree that asking for the parts to be left behind could decrease the liklihood of scam repairs. I don't know how widespread that problem is. Outside of auto shops, I've never encountered it nor do I know someone who has. I've heard stories of friends of friends, but reliability is highly suspect at that point.
What's another name for cuming in your wife? Loading the dishwasher.
Misterorange... 😂