Dryer Repairman Substandard Troubleshooting?

[M.L.]

1.) Brother purchased Whirlpool Estate washer (TAWS700RQ3) and dryer (TGDX640PQ1) set for $200 on Craigslist. Seller assured him that both were in excellent condition.

2.) At home, washer worked as expected but no heat from dryer.

3.) Called gas company to check hookup. Gas tech said dryer had wrong adapter for hookup (from flex gas line to dryer gas pipe).

4.) Purchased new adapter, still no heat.

5.) Replaced solenoid coils. Still no heat.

6.) Paid appliance repairman $60 to diagnose dryer issue.

7.) Repairman said no gas was getting to dryer and would need to replace gas burner assembly. Cost would be prohibitive.

8.) Sold dryer to repairman for $20.

As repairman was moving dryer to his van I asked for the adapter that my brother had purchased. Repairman looked at it and said the adapter was suitable for a gas grill, not a dryer. Said that probably was why there was no heat. Repairman would not return the dryer since it was sold.

Shouldn't his troubleshooting have determined that the adapter was the wrong type?

Note: Brother purchased another used dryer for $125 (with 90 day warrantee) that works.

[taxed and spent]

Yes. He should have returned the $60 and the contract of sale was void due to mutual mistake. Do you YELP?

[trader_4]

I'd say yes. Whole problem could have been avoided by just buying a new flex gas line. All the ones I've seen come with the appropriate connector that screws onto the gas pipe. Or at least looking at the connector for one of the flex lines at the store and buying the same connector separately.

[sms]

I think the first mistake was paying money for a used dryer.

On Freecycle, free dryers come up all the time. Generally what happens is a washing machine breaks and the person buys a new washer/dryer and then has a working dryer to get rid of. Since used appliances don't sell for much anyway, they just want to get rid of the dryer.

I got a used dryer that way. I had my pick of several. The one I got had a little issue with a flaky control panel that a can of contact cleaner fixed (a common problem with this model, Kenmore Elite He4, with advice on the web on how to correct it).

[todd3620]

Here are some comments about your situation:

1. Buying appliances on Craigslist is fraught with peril. Almost all sellers lie to you. Getting the appliance home and finding it doesn't work is common.

1. It is somewhat unethical for a servicer to buy an appliance from a someone who calls for service. That is a conflict of interest.

2. Someone who buys a dryer on Craigslist will also choose a servicer poorly. You could have had a better outcome if you had chosen a better servicer and were willing to pay normal prices for the service call.

[trader_4]

I think the repair guy should have caught it. But it's questionable that the sale is then invalidated. You'd have to convince a court that the repair guy actually committed fraud, ie that he knew the real problem, purposely mislead the seller, etc. A "mistake" isn't enough. I could sell someone a Picasso at a garage sale, not realizing what it was. I can't later figure it out, claim "mistake" and undo the sale.

[Ed Pawlowski]

He is a thief taking advantage of brother. Make sure everyone knows about him.

[taxed and spent]

Mutuality of mistake is one reason a contract is voidable. Do some research.

[clare]

Mistake was not calling serviceman in the first place and have HIM install the PROPER adapter. When your brother installed the wrong adapter, was the serviceman made aware that your brother had done the initial installation and had installed the adapter???

Sure, the serviceman took advantage of your brother after the fact and should have returned the drier, replaced the adapter with the right one, and charged the appropriate amount for the service call and repair instead of peing a prick about it.

[trader_4]

I think you should do some research. You're the one claiming the contract is null and void. I said that it's questionable that the sale is invalidated. You could try your "mutual mistake" argument in court. But here are the hurdles you'd have to overcome:

take.html

"The mistake must have a material effect on performance - The mistake must significantly change what you have to do under the contract, almost to the point where it's an entirely different agreement. An example of this would be contracting to clean someone's pool, then discovering that the pool wat er has produced toxic levels of chlorine over time. As a result, you canno t clean the pool without first decontaminating it. "

In this case, the contract is easily performed, the guy paid for the dryer and he keeps it.

"You cannot use a Mutual Mistake defense if you assume the risk of the mist ake - If you knew there was a strong chance or probability of mistake at th e time the contract was signed, you may have assumed the risk of that mista ke. You therefore cannot use a Mutual Mistake defense. "

In this case, neither party knew 100% for sure what was wrong with the dryer.

So, you could try to make that case, but you'd have to overcome the above, prove what you're saying is indeed what happened, while the repair guy who bought the thing has his own version of what actually happened, what he actually said, etc. Good luck with that in court. And unless a court rules on it, there is no automatic reversal of the sale.

If the "mutual mistake" argument worked much, then every guy that sold a valuable item at a garage sale would be getting it back. Funny, I don't see that happening much, do you?

[taxed and spent]

I think you should do some research. You're the one claiming the contract is null and void. I said that it's questionable that the sale is invalidated. You could try your "mutual mistake" argument in court. But here are the hurdles you'd have to overcome:

"The mistake must have a material effect on performance - The mistake must significantly change what you have to do under the contract, almost to the point where it's an entirely different agreement. An example of this would be contracting to clean someone's pool, then discovering that the pool water has produced toxic levels of chlorine over time. As a result, you cannot clean the pool without first decontaminating it. "

In this case, the contract is easily performed, the guy paid for the dryer and he keeps it.

"You cannot use a Mutual Mistake defense if you assume the risk of the mistake - If you knew there was a strong chance or probability of mistake at the time the contract was signed, you may have assumed the risk of that mistake. You therefore cannot use a Mutual Mistake defense. "

In this case, neither party knew 100% for sure what was wrong with the dryer.

So, you could try to make that case, but you'd have to overcome the above, prove what you're saying is indeed what happened, while the repair guy who bought the thing has his own version of what actually happened, what he actually said, etc. Good luck with that in court. And unless a court rules on it, there is no automatic reversal of the sale.

If the "mutual mistake" argument worked much, then every guy that sold a valuable item at a garage sale would be getting it back. Funny, I don't see that happening much, do you?

-------

do more research. you are only beginning your journey.

[taxed and spent]

Or not be so stupid as to admit the adapter was likely the problem!

A dope as a repairman and a dope as a crook.

[Terry Coombs]

And sometimes you beat the shit out of a crooked repairman and take your property back - including the 60 bucks he charged you for the service call . Appears to me he took advantage of the guy , knowing what the problem was so he could in effect steal the dryer . I'd have opened a big can of whoopass on that guy .

[M.L.]

\

Thanks to all who replied. The paragraph immediately above best explains why my brother agreed to cut his losses and take it as a lesson learned. I'm not sure the repairman tried to rip him off, I just think his troubleshooting was lacking. After all, he had no idea my brother would accept $20 for the dryer, nor that I would ask for the adapter.

For that reason we won't report the episode to Yelp.

[Tekkie®]

[e-mail] posted for all of us...

+1

[micky]

Yes.

Or fraud.

I read a busy freecycle every day, and I've seen 1 or 2 dryers in 3 years but "all the time" would be a very big exaggeration here. And probably everywhere.

[M.L.]

After all was said and done, there was nothing wrong with the dryer. It simply needed a compatible gas line adapter.

FYI, he called three repair companies. Two charged $60 for troubleshooting, with the provision that the fee would be folded into any repair cost. The other charged $30 but would not fold that into the repair cost. He paid the going rate for his area.

[M.L.]

Surprisingly, the repairman emailed me asking for a good review on Yelp and Google. I informed him of my dissatisfaction with the way the adapter discovery and dryer sale was handled. Here's his email reply:

I have not yet had an opportunity to take your dryer to the junk yard and it is fully intact still on my truck. I will gladly bring it back to you so that you may reassess it your self, and get the twenty dollars.

I'm not sure whether he's offering the dryer back or if he's just offering us to test that a compatible adapter would have worked. I'm pretty certain that the dryer won't be going to a junk yard. I told him that we're done and I wouldn't be writing any reviews, positive or negative.

I'm sure there was nothing wrong with the dryer. It just needed a compatible gas line adapter.

[tony944]

After all was said and done, there was nothing wrong with the dryer. It simply needed a compatible gas line adapter.

FYI, he called three repair companies. Two charged $60 for troubleshooting, with the provision that the fee would be folded into any repair cost. The other charged $30 but would not fold that into the repair cost. He paid the going rate for his area.

That is damn god price!!!