Ross Bickle

Review of Eastern Marketing

Beware of unnecessary charges!!

Beware of unnecessary charges!!
I was put in contact with Eastern Marketing because I needed service with my Aga Cooker. Upon requesting service I was informed that I would have to wait for 11 days, until the service manager could accompany the service technician because he was not familiar with the Aga Cooker. The issue with the cooker was there appeared to be a problem with the burner. I reported that the flame was too orange and was appeared to be burning wildly, as I could see the flames reflection bouncing off the kitchen floor, something that I had never seen before. I scheduled the appointment for the afternoon between 2pm and 5pm. At 9:30 am I received a phone call informing me that the service team was at my house, and wanted to know how soon I could be at the house. I informed them that someone would be home between 2pm and 5pm, as scheduled. I was not about to run out of work and race home for them, as I work 45 minutes away from the house. The caller said she would call the service guys back. I never heard anymore till a little after 2pm (the scheduled time), they called and said they were on their way to the house and would be there in 10 minutes. I had arranged for someone to be home to let them in, but I still wanted to speak in person to the service tech in person, so I left work and headed home. I was ten minutes from my house when they called me to tell me they had left and that I needed to order parts. He claimed I needed a thermocouple, a sight glass and a seal. So they were there less than 30 minutes, charged me $150 for the visit and never addressed the reason for the visit. I asked if they actually did a visual inspection of the burner assembly to verify that the burner was in operating condition so that they would be prepared when they returned. They did not.

Several days go by and I receive a call from the parts department, to go over the required parts and confirm that I wanted to order them. He told me that it was $300 for the parts, so I asked for a price breakdown. $175 for the thermocouple, $85 for the sight glass and $40 for the gasket. I thought the prices were outrageous and said I would look for parts elsewhere. I then called Aga/Marvel directly and ordered the parts for $82! Ordered them on a Thursday, got them on Monday.

I had little confidence that service tech (and his manager) knew what they were doing, so before I call the Eastern Marketing Service tech to install these items I decided to disassemble the burner unit myself to see what the condition of the unit was. I noticed that the pilot light, thermocouple and burner where covered in carbon, soot and a little rust on the burner. I used a soft brass wire brush to clean them, vacuumed and blew out the dust and reassembled the unit. The pilot light lit right away and the burner was burning clean as it was supposed to.

Had the service tech opened and inspected the unit, they would have been able to remedy the problem on the first visit. I did not need a new thermocouple, I will agree the sight glass and seal were cracked. In total I needed $30 in parts, not $300 and the unit could have been serviced in one visit. Instead they charged $150 for less than 30 minutes and incorrectly diagnosed the problem and had I not opened the unit myself they would have charged me an additional $300 in parts, plus $30 per 15 minutes and who knows how long they would have stayed to install a thermocouple . I contacted them, and was told by the customer service rep that they informed management about my concerns, but I have never heard from them.

Basically if the service guys had opened, removed and inspected the burner, correctly identified the issue, I would be OK with the service charge, but instead they tried to charge me needlessly. Who knows how many people allow Eastern Marketing into their home and take advantage of them.