Customer told me my $95 diagnostic fee was a scam, then paid $400 for a part swap that didn't fix it

Lisa Murray · 2026-10-12T20:55:05.284143+00:00

Had a lady in Des Moines call me out to look at her fridge two weeks ago, and before I even pulled the panel she made sure to tell me that my $95 diagnostic fee was a rip off and that her nephew could look at it for free. I shrugged it off, spent 40 minutes testing the compressor start relay and the thermistors, and told her the control board was shot at around $400 plus labor. She told me no thanks, called some guy off a Facebook group, and he swapped the board for $400 cash. Fridge still wouldn't cool right, so he came back, swapped the relay too, charged her another $150, and it still sat at 55 degrees. She called me back yesterday asking if my original $95 still counted toward the repair, and I had to explain that diagnosing someone else's mess is a whole new visit. I get that folks are tight on money, but this idea that the fix is always the cheap part is what keeps me running back to the same houses twice. How do you all handle it when a customer second guesses the diagnosis before you've even finished testing?

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Customer told me my $95 diagnostic fee was a scam, then paid $400 for a part swap that didn't fix it | Appliance Repairers - HW Forums