How can I find a good & reliable cooker repair person?

cashferret

My oven has just half-cooked my dinner in the normal time. This happened a few months ago and turned out to be a blown heating element. I'm not able to do that kind of repair work myself and called a repair company to do it. I don't want them back again because they were so unreliable about turning up and they spun the work over three days (one to come and look at it, one to fail to get the part in time and another to finally fit the part).

I can't see online any sort of trades organisation for appliance repair guys that might give me confidence in choosing a new one. Does anyone have any advice on how I can choose? My friends didn't have any personal recommendations last time.

cashferret

One thing I've wondered about is online review sites but I don't know how reliable these are - presumably it would be very easy for the companies themselves to pretend to be customers and sing their own praises. Are there any sites that get around this problem?

ormus

no, and dont trust any of em that say they do.
its a lottery, just like the yellow pages.

ask around, family, work friends and neighbours etc...

cashferret

Just had the idea to phone the shop where I bought the cooker and they have a company who do all their servicing. The shop has a good reputation (longstanding family business) so I trust their recommendation. Just phoned the service company and they already have the parts for my oven in their van since they're the local Baumatic reps and have to carry it all; plus they're going to phone later to give me a two-hour window when they'll come and fix the oven this afternoon. So much better already than the other guys who messed me about.

So I think that's a good strategy: see if you can find a local appliance shop with a good rep, and then ask them to recommend someone.