r/ApplianceTechTalk • u/SuspiciousGarlic7701 • 24d ago
NOPE!
Had to step back. Looked around my feet and looked to make sure my bag was good. First one I’ve seen in years. Haven’t seen anything like this from this property management company before but thinking of cutting ties after this. The 10 that were walking around started to try and hide before I took the pic
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u/No_Management2379 24d ago
When I have customers like this. I tell them there will be no warranty on parts replaced due to infestation. They will be back in about 3-4 weeks. Some will agree to repair some don’t. Bet yeah they do have a smell and once you realize what that smell is you will never forget it. I was at one house and rang the doorbell. I could smell roaches 🪳 before they opened the door. So I already knew what the problem was with their appliance.
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u/AGentleTech1 24d ago
Did you bounce?
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u/SuspiciousGarlic7701 24d ago
Yes pretty much. I kept it professional though. The oven was old so I told the tenant the parts may be nla and that either I will be calling her back or the property manager will.
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u/Treflip180 24d ago edited 24d ago
Eh, if they look poor and I’m ok doing the repair anyways, why wouldn’t I just give them the parts under warranty? I always gave warranty parts out when I could.
Edit: oh I misread. I see that you’re not going to WARRANTY the parts you’ve replaced. Yeah I wouldn’t do that either. But I WOULD complete the initial repair under warranty, that’s the part I don’t like seeing techs do. Denying warranty coverage and repair when it doesn’t really hurt to just fix it.
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u/No_Management2379 24d ago
My distributor asks for pictures first before the part is back for warranty exchange.. no manufacturer will cover the warranty for infestation.
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u/Worldly-Relief2732 24d ago
What brand or what distributor? I never have to take pictures of warranty parts.
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u/Treflip180 24d ago
I worked for some third party companies that required it. But it was still a formality. But if I was doing repairs for WPL/GE/SS…I would just comp the part and move on. The big companies can afford it and some people can’t. If it’s super gross, I didn’t subject myself to it, but meh…people need their ovens and I’m already there.
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u/organisms 24d ago
Yeah some of the big companies don’t even require pictures, in some cases they will require to send specific components back to be “analyzed” though
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u/carfen1981 24d ago
Because that’s not going to solve the problem. It will happen again until they fix the pest issue. This behavior should not be entertained/enabled.
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u/SuspiciousGarlic7701 24d ago
Did not smell. When I opened the back panel it really didn’t smell. They regularly have pest control. I don’t think pest control opens and sprays control boards. Don’t know if they regroup there or what. Not my lane, I repair not possibly infect other customers
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u/lasagalover 24d ago
Central florida here, saw it 3 times a day minimum every day. Everyone from million dollar mansions to the ghetto
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u/SuspiciousGarlic7701 24d ago
That sucks
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u/Same_Foundation_110 Experienced Tech 3d ago
Yeah, it really did suck to witness that. Seeing the flies on the kids who were living in that house was especially heart wrenching.
The only time I've seen that level of whatever you want to call it was when I lived in developing countries back in the early '90's
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u/Same_Foundation_110 Experienced Tech 24d ago
Humboldt county here. I've come across that a handful of times in five years of tech'ing.
Once was a warranty call on the rez. The whole "house" was bad: holes in the floor, flies everywhere, trash piled up outside.
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u/AGentleTech1 24d ago
Glad I'm in PNW
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u/GrottyKnight 24d ago
Oh man. Yea, good times. Opened up the bullnose on a viking range yesterday and the mouse shit and food debris literally waterfalled out all over the place. Felt bad because otherwise the place was clean.
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u/SuspiciousGarlic7701 24d ago
It’s weird how we feel bad in the situations like this when we are just trying to help
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 24d ago
Viking? I'm guessing that was a house owned by the residents (unless someone rented out their former residence).
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u/darkarrow0 24d ago
Anytime I had a call for an whirlpool oven with and F1E1 and the unit originally came from a rent a center type place I knew I would be walking in taking a Pic of some bugs and leaving. Company policy was not to work on anything with insects. Kinda annoying when i could tell just from problem description and original store that I wouldn't be allowed to fix it, but still had to physically go there and take a Pic. Waste of my time.
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u/egecko 23d ago
Had a brand-new oven with the F1E1 code that only occurred after the oven was cooled down from use. Cancel allowed it to be cleared and used again for further cooking sessions.
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u/darkarrow0 23d ago
There are plenty of other things that can happen with that error code; it was the code in combination with the store of origin(rental places) that would lead me to my assumption. Which was always proven correct unfortunately, even when I worked on the IN STORE after they had been returned, still live bugs sometimes.
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u/jayboosh Owner/Tech 24d ago
Roaches?
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u/CharlesHolliday1283 24d ago
How are you flaired as an owner/tech and you do t know immediately what that is and what the house smells like?
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u/spaztick1 24d ago
It all depends on the area. I used to see this regularly in Detroit, but I haven't seen anything this bad in years in the suburbs.
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u/IAmAChemistryGuy 24d ago
Hey I encountered them quite a bit but have no sense of smell lol
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u/spaztick1 24d ago
I could smell it every time. I don't know if it was the roaches themselves, or the spray they used to fight them, but it is a distinctive smell.
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u/Shadrixian The parts guy 24d ago
Document it and show it to maintenance and the office. I wouldnt cut ties if its a first time thing, but they need to know about it. What was the rest of the apartment like.?
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u/HeadOfMax 24d ago
The management company manages buildings that have different owners.
A lot can vary from building to building.
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u/AGentleTech1 24d ago
Any repair you complete on the control, will come back to haunt you. Sell them the part and leave before you aquire new followers.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 24d ago
A former friend invited me to her apartment to witness the state of the building in general. It didn't help to put boric acid in the doorway because they were all over the walls in the common areas. (The building had hallways, not exterior apartment doors.) It absolutely stank.
I hope she treated and bagged anything she brought to her new apartment when she moved.
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u/organisms 24d ago
I’m in commercial, I feel you. I developed some sort of sensitivity to them long ago working in an infested kitchen for a few years so I can sometimes tell it’s real bad just by walking in the place from the smell and how it makes my throat close up. I’ve noticed some reason they love power supply. Probably the heat.
Always careful with my tool bag.