Complaints

This profile includes complaints for River City Appliance, Inc.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  River City Appliance, Inc.

  PO Box 255501 Sacramento, CA 95865-5501

  
• 

  River City Appliance, Inc.

  3108 Fulton Ave Ste A Sacramento, CA 95821-4704

  
• 

  River City Appliance, Inc.

  5650 Marconi Ave Ste 5 Carmichael, CA 95608-4467

  

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/23/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 10/7/24, River City Appliances came to service our ** refrigerators freezer section for not holding freezing temperature. The serviceman seemed inadequately prepared to diagnose the unit. I heard him on the phone telling someone that he did not have the device to check the fridge. It sounded like he needed some electronic or computerized tool for the job. He pulled the fridge away from the wall, I asked him to let me vacuum the grill. He offered to use his shop vac and he went out to his vehicle to get it. After he vacuumed, he opened the top of the fridge to briefly look. He said the compressor and other components needed to be replaced and the office will send us the estimate. The next day, we received 2 estimates from River City Appliances, one at almost $1300. I then contacted ** about the compressor and its warranty, they sent their technician 2 days later on 10/10/24. The ** technician brought along digital equipment and tools to check the refrigerator and found the compressor was working fine, it was not failing, there were no leaks and other components were also in good working condition. The ** technician recommended we keep the freezer at zero degree. He said power outage could have caused the electronics to freak out and a simple reset we could do on our own would correct that. I feel River City Appliances was either dishonest or not qualified to conclude our refrigerator needed replacement of the compressor and other components. How could a service company show up at the job without the proper tools or lack adequate knowledge to do the work? It appeared they fabricated the problems to generate extra work. I asked them to refund the diagnostic service fee of $125 and they refused. I gave River City Appliances copy of the ** technician's service receipt showing everything was 'All checked good'.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/18/2024

  Subject: Response to Complaint River City Appliance, Inc.
  Dear BBB,
  Thank you for forwarding the complaint regarding the diagnosis of ****** *****' appliance. I appreciate the opportunity to address the concerns raised.
  I understand that Ms. ***** is concerned about the accuracy of the diagnosis and the associated charges. We take all customer feedback seriously and aim to provide the highest level of service.
  On 10/7/24, the customer reported that her unit was not cooling. We scheduled an appointment that same day and, upon inspection, found the temperature in the freezer to be 15 degrees. The customer mentioned that the ice maker had leaked, prompting her to turn it off. Our technician manually initiated a diagnostic test but found no error codes. Based on the symptoms observed, we suspected a leak or restriction in the sealed system. The technician explained that we would provide an estimate based on different scenarios, with the understanding that not all parts may be necessary.
  We sent two estimates to Ms. ***** on 10/7/24, outlining different possible solutions. In our communication, we made it clear that we wanted to be transparent about potential parts and costs before proceeding. The customer later called, expressing dissatisfaction with the charges and mentioning that she had received a less expensive estimate from **. As a result, she chose to proceed with **, and we closed out the job.
  On 10/8/24, Ms. ***** contacted us again, stating that the LG technician had found no issues with the unit. She requested a refund of the $125.00 service call fee. We requested the receipt from the LG technician to assess whether a refund was warranted. On 10/10/24, we received the receipt, which indicated that the LG technician had found the freezer temperature at 1.6 degrees and the refrigerator temperature at 36 degrees, both within normal ranges. The receipt also mentioned that the customer had experienced a recent power outage, which the LG technician noted as a possible contributing factor to the cooling issue.
  Its important to note that the power outage could have caused symptoms that were misinterpreted as a mechanical failure. We were unaware of this outage until reviewing the LG technician's report. Power interruptions can affect appliance performance, leading to fluctuations in temperature that may appear to be a system failure. In the absence of this information at the time of our visit, our technician proceeded with a diagnosis based on the symptoms observed, which led to the recommendation of a potential system issue.
  Given the circumstances, we stand by the accuracy of our diagnostic evaluation, which adhered to industry standards. As for the service call charge, we do not believe a refund is warranted, as the diagnosis was based on the information available at the time, and the service provided was thorough.
  I understand that this situation may have caused frustration, and I regret that Ms. ***** feels dissatisfied with our service. We value her as a customer and appreciate the opportunity to clarify the situation. Our goal is always to ensure that our customers feel heard and respected.
  If Ms. ***** has any further questions or would like to discuss this matter further, we are happy to continue the conversation. We would be happy to waive a service call fee for any future service as a good will gesture. We are committed to providing high-quality service and hope to resolve any remaining concerns.
  For any additional questions or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at [Your Contact Information].
  Sincerely,
  ***** *******
  River City Appliance, Inc.
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/19/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  About 9 months ago, I contacted this company (as I like to support local businesses) to repair my KitchenAid refrigerator. Some of the lights were out. I understood this was a common problem in my model, requiring replacement of the freezer light. It is serially linked to LED lights in the upper fridge. I am physically unable to do the work myself, so I requested a technician to come and repair this. The receptionist told me a trained technician needed to verify the problem and repair it. I wanted a better response from the receptionist. But, it's not unreasonable to have an evaluation, even though 99% of the time, it's a known problem. They sent an incompetent technician who proceeded to break a light in my upper refrigerator and said 6 lights would need replacement at a cost of hundreds of dollars. A family friend came by and looked at my fridge. He said the technician was incompetent, and he could quickly fix the damage and replace the culprit freezer light, which he said any decent technician should have understood and taken care of during the initial visit. It was considerably less expensive for this family friend to fix, though it would have been even less if he had not needed to repair the connector and replace the damaged light. Hundreds of dollars of work was clearly unnecessary, and the problem was as I suspected. I took photos to document the damage, asked the credit card company not to pay the charge, and submitted the evidence. They accepted my evidence and denied the payment. Recently, the business has been sending me a bill for the visit by the destructive and incompetent worker. The company is threatening me with collection. I feel they were out to rip off an elderly disabled widow and are still trying to take advantage of me. I feel they should at least compensate me for repairing the perfectly good light in my fridge and acknowledge their employee had no clue what he was doing. I would accept the dismissal of the charge they are billing me.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/30/2024

  Hello, on 1/8/24 ************************************ contacted our office for service for KitchenAid refrigerator. The problem was documented that she was experiencing an issue with the LED light in the freezer sections in the top portion. The side one was working. We quoted our service call fee to come out was $125.00. ************************************ agreed to the service charge fee and approved an agreed upon date. One the day of service, 1/12/24, our technician *** went out to the home. He diagnosed the appliances. The LED light needed to be replaced, we met ****************************************** son due to ***** was ill in her bed according to our technician ***. The son didn't want to wake her., *** explained what was need to the son to correct the problem and left. *** didn't collect the service call fee at the time of service. *** left the home. Our office representative ******* contacted the customer a short time later to advise the ***** of the estimate and how long it would take to get the part. ******* documented that we usually collect the service call fee at the time of service and we needed to collect, the customer (*****) stated she will have a check ready when we come back out to install the parts. The customer (*****) called back later and asking "why didn't *** call before coming? She said that that her son didn't wake her up when he was there and she is upset because she told us what the problem was and he didn't come out prepared to fix the issue" ******* advised ***** we have to diagnose the issue first because there is more than one fix for those problems. ******* advised the customer that parts are not local and would need to be ordered for an additional cost, ***** agreed to the part order. Kayress ordered parts. We updated ***** on the estimated time of arrival. When we received the parts we advised the customer that the service call fee would need to be collected before we could install the parts. On 1/23/24 the customer called in and paid with a credit card over the phone in the amount agreed upon of $125.00. We set up a return visit  on 1/25/24 for 1/26/24 between 1-5. The customer called in on 1/26/24 and canceled the appointment "stating she will be disputing the credit card fee that we charged her. She was not happy with the service our technician and had an alternate company out."