Service companies in the Lake Sunapee Area: beware of dealing with Todd H. Waller!

Dear fellow business owners in the Lake Sunapee Region,

Here’s our latest entry in the “customer reviews” that we fellow local businesses share with each other. Please pass along to others.

Todd H. Waller lives in Marblehead, MA and owns a summer home on Lake Sunapee in Newbury, NH, 110 Route 103A. He also owns The Merchant, a hotel in Salem, MA.

At a certain point in our dealings with Todd, despite the fact that we had already performed some work for him, we realized he was not the right customer for us, we weren’t the right company for him, and we refunded 100% of his money.

We’ve all talked about this before: what type of behavior deserves a one-star review? Rip-offs (money paid but services not rendered), unreimbursed property damage, goods or services that malfunction or aren’t done correctly – sure. Unfortunately we all know of a few businesses (not many, fortunately) in our area who do deserve one-star reviews. However…

• We were friendly, professional, and honest.
• We communicated our business practices clearly from the beginning.
• We treated him and his home respectfully.
• We gave him expert diagnostic work, feedback, and advice.
• We refunded every dollar he had paid us when it became clear we weren’t the right business for him.

He still gave us a malicious and misleading 1-star review online.

Todd contacted us for service via email. All the communications are documented in an extensive email thread which you can Download Here.

Despite a positive-seeming beginning to our business relationship, key parts of his communication with us turned out to be either misleading or false, leading to additional work on our end. And despite the fact that we clearly explained our business practices up front, he later objected to some of them and asked for us to do things differently and, as you will see below, claimed we were holding them “hostage” by not agreeing to all of his requests.

When we finally decided not to do business with him and refunded all of his money, he posted a vindictive review in two online places.

We attempted two phone calls and two emails to resolve this situation and get him to remove the reviews. He refused, so now we are reviewing him and spreading the word.

Unlike Todd’s review, ours is supported and documented 100% by the extensive email thread. We never had a phone call with Todd until after he put the reviews up, so the emails capture everything.

Screenshot of Todd’s review, taken on June 23, 2016.

Breaking down Todd’s review:

Todd: “We contacted Susan in June 2016 to repair our appliances in a summer home that needed a stove repair. Her response was quick and professional.”

Susan: Thanks.

Todd: “We provided the serial numbers for the appliances to be repaired, and they charged us to come and inspect the appliances to be repaired.”

Susan: Todd told us he had a GE Cafe range, and then gave us a model number for a GE Cafe range. We looked it up to do parts research and provide a cost estimate that he had asked for initially, before coming out for the repair.

Susan, continued: The day before the appointment, he told me for the first time that I would have to contact a property manager in order to get into the house, rather than him being there in person. I emailed him back and explained that in that situation we do ask that fees get paid upfront. Initially we invoiced him for the diagnostic fees ($140), which he paid.

Todd: “They arrived when promised, and Susan told us what was needed to repair the appliances.”

Susan: I also stated in that email exchange of July 9th that we would ask for a deposit of half of the remaining balance before special-ordering your part, and that he could pay the final half in person if he would be there when we returned. I then said that if the property manager was going to let us in again, then I’d need to invoice him for the full amount ahead of time. Todd opted for “½ and ½” which led me to believe he planned to be there when we returned to complete the repair.

Todd: “We agreed, and the parts arrived in a timely manner. Susan then said she wanted to be paid for 100% of the repair up front even though we had already paid for 2/3’s of the parts and labor to install. I asked Susan that we pay the final balance once the repair was completed. She said no because the homeowner wasn’t going to be there (just our property manager), and she would give us our money back (holding us hostage to her business practice of wanting everything up front) if we didn’t agree.”

Susan: As I’ve pointed out, I had informed Todd twice that we ask for payment before completing the job when homeowners won’t be there. His property manager only unlocked the door for us – she was not handling payment. He had not objected to our policy previously, so to claim that we were holding him “hostage” is completely unwarranted. This news was not a surprise to him.

Todd: “Because we had no other choice, we agreed to pay the full amount.”

Susan: He had an excellent choice – we had offered him a complete refund *including* the diagnostic fees if he didn’t like our policy.

Todd: “They came to repair the appliance and discovered that the parts were wrong because the serial number of the appliance was different than what they were provided (even though they had come to inspect and verify the appliance in person).”

Susan: As I stated near the beginning: he gave us a valid number for a GE Cafe range. The range in the Newbury home was a GE Cafe range. He seemed reasonably intelligent in our communications, so it did not occur to us to double check the model number. In 20 years of serving thousands of customers, no one has ever done this before. Model numbers are not glaringly obvious – you have to hunt for them and we had no reason to do so. This was Todd’s error.

Todd: “Susan informed us that they couldn’t repair the appliance and she would refund our money (leaving us 1 week to resolve the issue and after wasting 2 weeks of time on the wrong parts).”

Susan: We reserve the right to refuse to work for a customer who reveals himself to be difficult, misleading, and manipulative. As soon as we decided this, we immediately refunded every dollar that he had paid us, despite the fact that he came away with two professional diagnoses and a correct model number for the range, so he could easily pursue the repair with someone else.

Susan, continued: As to the “wasting 2 weeks of time” – the board they needed was on backorder during this whole time and could not have been acquired and installed that week anyway. The only time that was wasted was ours.

Todd: “We asked if she would order the correct parts and repair it (since at that time she still possessed $400 of the $500 total toward the repair). She declined to do the repair altogether.”

Susan: The parts were still on backorder when he asked this, with no known availability date. We had already initiated the refund (which we told him in the July 17th email, several days before he posted this review), so did not in fact “possess” any of his money. And again, we reserve the right to decline to work for a customer at our discretion. Fortunately, in 20 years, we’ve had very few customers that we’ve refused.
***
There ya go! Fortunately we don’t have to post these things too often, but it’s nice to have a way to share this info with each other.

Here’s to giving quality goods and services in the Lake Sunapee Region to the many folks who are great to work for. See y’all around.
***

The PDF of the complete emails with Todd: Download here.

Text transcripts below:

***

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 9:10 AM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

I have a GE Cafe Microwave and GE Cafe Gas range both with control panel blackouts at our house in Newbury. The range electronic pilot and oven light are working-just the panel is out. The microwave panel, lights, vent button are all out.

Power, fuses (internal and at the box) are fine, so they may both need new control panels. Can you give me a rough estimate on the parts and labor if this is indeed the case?

Thanks very much-Todd
781-760-3000

***

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 9:19 AM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Hi Todd,

We’d be happy to get you more information on this, but we’ll need more info on the appliances and your location.

Please give me the street address of your home and for each appliance the complete model number and approximate age.

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-5515

***

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 9:27 AM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi-

CVM2072SMSS and CGS985SETSS
they are approx 4 years old.

110 Route 103A, Newbury NH.

Thanks

***

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 10:03 AM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Okay – we’ll do some research on these and get back to you later today with some info for you.

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-5515

***

On Jun 2, 2016, at 12:26 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Hi Todd,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Using the model numbers you gave me, here are the approximate costs for replacing the control boards:

Microwave: $650-700
Range: around $550

Note: we don’t usually work on microwaves because the repair costs are so high compared to replacement.

If you were interested in having one or both repaired, we would first do a diagnosis to determine for sure what’s going on and then give you a firm quote. Our service call fees are explained here: http://www.applianceguru.com/the-appliance-guru-service-call-fees/

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-5515

***

On Jun 4, 2016 at 10:02 AM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Susan-­I think maybe the best bet would be to have you take a look. Can you look at both this week?
Thanks very much!

Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 5, 2016, at 2:39 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Sure, if you are interested in doing one or both of those repairs, we can schedule a service call.

What’s your availability during the week? We’re probably looking at Tuesday or Wednesday to be able to get down there. Did you have any questions about our service call fees?

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290­-5515

***
On Jun 5, 2016 at 3:54 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Susan,

Let’s look at both-­the second appliance is discounted correct? Tuesday or Wednesday would be fine-­Thanks.

***

On Jun 6, 2016, at 3:47 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

The diagnostic fee is $95 for the first appliance and usually $45 for the second, assuming no difficult access issues.

Are you needing the diagnoses for insurance purposes, or are you potentially repairing one or both appliances?

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290­-5515

***

On Jun 6, 2016 at 5:06 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Susan-­hopefully repair.

Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 6, 2016, at 5:16 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Okay, thanks!

I can get Scott there on Wednesday sometime between 11am and 1pm, if that works for you.

If so, please give me directions to your house.

Thank you!

The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290­-5515

***

On Jun 7, 2016 at 9:42 AM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Great thanks Susan. Our address is 110 Route 103A-in Newbury New Hampshire
My cell is 781­760­3000.

Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 7, 2016 at 10:46 AM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Good!

Could you just give me some reference point to where you are along 103A?

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290­-5515

***

On Jun 7, 2016 at 12:42 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

[Google map photo]

Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 7, 2016 at 12:50 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Great-confirmed-thanks! Susan from the appliance repair company is ccd on this email: here is her phone #

tel: 603-290-5515

Susan; Joan is our property manager who will meet you there. If you can firm up the time as soon as you can, please let her know.

Thanks-Todd
781-760-3000

Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 7, 2016 at 4:54 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Hi Todd,

I didn’t realize that you wouldn’t be there yourself. We do ask for payment at the time of service, and the way we handle that when the homeowner won’t be there to meet us is to collect the service call fees ahead of time using a Square invoice that I will email to you.

I’ve spoken with Joan, and it sounds like she can coordinate with Scott to let him in, so that should work fine.

I’ll send you the Square invoice for $95 + $45 = $140. Scott will diagnose the appliances and then get back to you on what needs to be done and exactly what it would cost. If you choose to do a repair, then the service call fee would be applied towards the repair fee.

If all this is fine with you, then please pay the invoice tonight and we’ll proceed as planned!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 8, 2016 at 4:57 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Scott confirmed today that the control boards are bad. I’ll write back to you tomorrow with details and firm quotes for the repairs!

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 9, 2016 at 11:54 AM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Here are the fees for replacing the control boards in your appliances. They include all needed parts and labor, and I’ve shown the deduction of the service call fees that you’ve already paid:

Microwave: $670.98 minus $95 service call fee you’ve already paid = $575.98
Range: $574.40 minus $45 service call fee you’ve already paid = $529.40

The board for the microwave is currently out of stock with an unknown availability date. Since the cost of the repair is so high on the m/w compared to replacement, we recommend replacing it rather than doing the repair.

The board for the range is in stock and we should be able to get that on hand within a few days if you would like us to go forward with that.

Let me know if you have any questions and what you’d like to do!

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 9, 2016 at 12:24 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Susan,

I agree on the microwave. I think the $95 fee should go toward the range though.

Can the range board be ordered today if you agree?

Thanks-Todd

Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 9, 2016 at 1:23 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Sure, we can do that. So the balance you will owe for the repair on the range will be $479.40.

You have a couple of options for payment.

To special order a board like this, we ask for a deposit of half of the repair fee ($240). I can just send you another Square invoice.

If you will be at the home when we come back to do the repair, you could then pay the balance of $239.40 at that time. However, if you think you’ll be arranging for Joan to let Scott in again, then I could just invoice you for the complete repair amount now, and then you’ll be all set.

Which would you prefer?

FYI – Our parts warehouse currently shows this board in stock, so once we order it we should have it within a few days and then be able to get out for the repair shortly after that.

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 9, 2016 at 3:25 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Great-1/2 and 1/2 is good on the invoice. Let’s get it ordered asap please. Thanks!

­-Todd
Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 9, 2016 at 3:35 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Sure – just sent the invoice to you.

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 13, 2016 at 10:41 AM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Hi Todd,

We’ll have the part on hand by the end of the week, so I’d like to see if we could schedule a time for Scott to come this Friday, 6/17, to do the repair.

Will you be here or could Joan open up the place for him?

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 16, 2016 at 1:35 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Hi Todd,

We’ve arranged things with Joan for Scott to have access to your house tomorrow, and I sent you an invoice for the balance due. Please pay that by tomorrow morning. We look forward to getting your range back to its proper functioning!

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 16, 2016 at 1:44 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Susan,

I think it would be more standard business practice to pay you the final balance once the oven is operational-agreed?

Thanks-­Todd
Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 16, 2016 at 2:13 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote
Jun 16 (7 days ago)

When the homeowner is there at the job, then we will collect the payment directly from them at the end of the service call. However, our standard business practice for all these years is to collect up-front from homeowners who aren’t going to be at the home.

If you’re not comfortable with this arrangement, then I’m happy to refund everything you’ve paid us, even the diagnostic fees.

Let me know what you’d like to do!

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 16, 2016 at 4:36 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Thanks for paying the invoice!

Our guarantees are described at our website: http://www.applianceguru.com/our-triple-guarantee/.

One last thing we need to know: where is the circuit breaker box? Scott will need to cut power to the range when he does the repair.

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 16, 2016 at 4:43 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Someone will be there. It’s in the lower level hallway.

Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 16, 2016 at 5:24 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Great, thanks!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Jun 17, 2016 at 1:41 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Hi Todd,

Unfortunately your range is not repaired, so we are going to refund all of the money you paid us – you should see that coming soon from Square.

The model number you gave us for your range is for a different GE Cafe range, not the one that is in your Newbury home.

The number you gave us: CGS985SETSS
The actual model number: C2S980SEM3SS

We always do parts research ahead of time, partly to ensure that we got a correct model number. Sometimes customers misread a digit. Since the number you gave us was a valid model number for a GE Cafe range, there was no reason to think we needed to question it or double check it. I assumed that you got it directly off of your range. However, the circuit boards are completely different for the two models.

The board for your particular model is currently on backorder at the parts suppliers we checked with an unknown availability.

So at this point we are just going to return the incorrect board at our expense and refund all of your money.

The net result is that at no expense to you, you at least know what the problem is and a ballpark price for the repair, if you should choose to pursue it with another repair company.

Thanks for contacting us to begin with,

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London-­Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290­-5515

***

On Jun 17, 2016 at 4:19 PM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Susan-

That’s too bad. Can you order the new part and install and just keep things as is?

Sent from my iPhone

***
On Jun 22, 2016 at 8:55 AM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Sorry for the delay in responding. Thank you for asking for us to do this repair for you, but at this point we are going to decline to do the repair on this range.

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London­-Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290­-5515

***

On Jun 22, 2016 at 9:01 AM, Todd W <toddhwaller@gmail.com> wrote:

Susan,

Please refund all monies paid to you by 5pm today.

Thank you.

Sent from my iPhone

***

On Jun 22, 2016 at 9:10 AM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

I already initiated your refunds on Saturday, when I wrote to you. My bank shows that the refund transactions were completed on Monday 6/20, so please check your cc account to make sure you received them.

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London­-Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515

***

On Wed, Jun 22, 2016 at 2:10 PM, Susan Brown <susan@applianceguru.com> wrote:

Hi Todd,

Here are copies of the invoices showing the refunds were initiated on June 17th. I hope this will make you feel confident that the money will be back in your account soon.

$240.00: https://squareup.com/receipt/preview/NZrYjTWmDawkY74a9yJaPzMF

$239.40: https://squareup.com/receipt/preview/LMC0Eyqh7ZGC4HhdOvpMexMF

$140.00: https://squareup.com/receipt/preview/BJCf7BzXLAQe4W0KAW18kzMF

We called Square to verify that everything was in process. The money was taken from our account on Monday and is on its way to your acct. You will get a notification once that transfer is complete. The Square rep told us the time it takes can vary depending on the particular financial institutions involved, but as you can see from their Support page about refunds (https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5615-refunds-frequently-asked-questions), it can take a week or more. I copied the following from that page:

How long does it take for refunds to process?

Refunds can take 9-14 business days to complete.

I hope this allays your understandable concern that we had not quickly refunded your money.

As you discussed with Scott, he will install the board that you will obtain yourself. Would you please email me the part number of that board that you ordered?

In the meantime, would you please also remove the negative reviews?

Thank you!

Susan Brown
The Appliance Guru
Expert Appliance Repair Service in the New London­-Greater Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire
www.ApplianceGuru.com
(603) 290-­5515