Russell Bell: 'There is a certain inevitability that a holiday will bring appliance trouble'

It was very pleasing to be told that ARC would be the ones to deliver and install the new fridge once it arrived. Photo / 123rf

OPINION

Back in 2017 I wrote about how the awesome crew at Appliance Repair Care ('ARC') had saved our lives when a functional, yet crucial, appliance bit the dust – on New Year's Eve.

Some call it Murphy's Law and some call it the fate of modern white and greyware, but the timing of some appliance failures is almost akin a bad joke. There is a certain inevitability that a holiday or long weekend will bring electrical device trouble with it.

In this case, rather than a holiday break, my nervousness about our fridge was less about the strange noises it was making but more about being without one should the Greek named pathogen of Chinese origin turn up in our region.

A period of lockdown without a fridge was nothing short of scary – you need to know that there are businesses out there who can say "we got this".

And this is something that the team at ARC are excellent at. A quick phone call to a calm and informed operator put me very much at ease. In no time we secured a visit from a technician and another call (picked up by Njela the owner) secured a loan fridge to get us through the uncertain period of assessment, diagnosis and required action.

While I view all businesses as 'essential', in the case of those attributed that status by the authorities, Appliance Repair Care bring exceptional customer service which is above and beyond. And that is a great comfort in the uncertain times we are in.

We have all had examples where appliances and tools either don't perform or fail spectacularly; so it is great to know that there are experts who react really quickly to help when major and material appliances start their journey to the Great Beyond.

And like in 2017 when our washing machine also died (when both owners Pahia and Njela delivered a temporary machine themselves (in person)), this time a crisis was again averted, and expectations were more than exceeded.

The diagnosis for our (now former) fridge was terminal unfortunately. This made it the third major appliance to have issues in six months and required a trip to Harvey Norman to find a replacement.

So, it was very pleasing to be told that ARC would be the ones to deliver and install the new fridge once it arrived, as they also did with a dishwasher.

And a comment regarding availability of stock – which is something being attributed to a different kind of "viral load" – if you find yourself in our situation be sure to enquire about the availability of stock and the lead time for delivery.

We ended up going with a different brand than planned due to an extremely long lead time for our preferred option – thanks to the enquiries by the helpful team at Harvey Norman.

So, after a short wait, ARC's team delivered the new model and took away our old one with a friendly team and the minimum of fuss which impressed Mrs Bell.

It goes without saying that Appliance Repair Care is a phone number that I have memorised for all the right reasons. It's also appropriate to give them a shout out for the numerous and clever community initiatives that they also undertake via their smart Social Media strategy.

But more so it is their approach to customer service which stands out – from cell phones to fridges and from washing machines to coffee makers they really have it covered.