It can sometimes be hard to find a competent repair technician that will charge a fair price when you need your appliance serviced. Here are our suggestions to help you get the service you need and the professionalism you deserve.

Generally speaking, if you are certain the problem lies in the appliance itself and not in any connections to your home, you should call an appliance service technician and not an electrician, plumber or gas fitter.

Although a plumber, electrician, etc. may hookup various appliance, they may not be familiar with the actual internal workings of the appliances themselves. Modern appliances can be complicated especially with the electronics now in use in many of the home appliances on the market today.

With this in mind, I suggest your first choice should be to call a factory authorized service depot. Over time design flaws my become apparent and fixes made available, the factory agent will be best apprised of their availability. Also, if you think you're being treated unfairly you can contact the manufacturer. The manufacturer will know unreasonable charges and will usually be willing to mediate a dispute you may have with one of their factory agents.

The manufacturer will also have some clout with a factory service agent should they feel the servicer is not treating 'their' customer (you) fairly. You are still the manufacturer's customer until you purchase a different brand of appliance, that's the last thing they want. But don't expect a manufacturer to bend over backwards to fix a problem you may have if you aren't even willing to have one of their agents perform the work.

Often there will be several factory service depots in your area to choose from. If the appliance was sold with factory warranty, you can call any authorized service depot to perform warranty (and out of warranty) repairs.

Next, ask your friends or family whom they'd call. If they can't tell you who to call, they can probably tell you whom not to.

Alternately, you could call a local dealer and ask for their recommendation. They sell lots of appliances and know who they trust to do their service work for them. If you do use their recommendation, they may also be willing to assist should you have a dispute. They will probably be willing to hear both sides of the story and help find a resolution.

If all else fails, try looking in the Yellow Pages under "Appliances, Major, Sales and Service" or just "Appliances, Major, Service".

Don't necessarily look for the biggest ad but try to find a company that does factory authorized service for a number of brands. These companies will likely have the resources and infrastructure necessary to provide competent service for you too.

Also, have a look at 'How to find a good appliance repairman' from The Old House Web site.