Legal Question in Business Law in Oregon

I recently took my refrigerator to our local appliance repair store. It was not getting cold. This happened a few years ago and was easily fixed with a $30 part. The repairman at that time told me that if I had called a large repair shop (like Sears), they would have probably told me the compressor was bad...a $400+ fix. So my bf takes the fridge in. Before they even look at it, the repair guy is saying it's the compressor. I was skeptical. Don't have $400 to spend on it right now. I called them Tuesday and said my bf would pick it up on Friday.

I received a call back a few minutes later. The repairman said it had been "recycled, gone, not recoverable". I asked why and he said that he had called three times asking what to do with it. I had my daughter check the caller ID at home and there was one call and a message from the manager asking what we wanted to do with it. So, the repairman lied. My daughter went down to talk to them. The repairman said it had "accidentally" been recycled because he hadn't put a note on it not to take it. That was news to me. NEVER in my conversation did he say it had been done "accidentally".

My daughter spoke to the "manager" yesterday and she said she would offer me 50% off one of their used refrigerators. My daughter said the ones that were like mine (big) were around $600. So that means I'd still have to fork out $300 when I wanted to try to fix mine with a $30 part. Sounds kinda like a scam to me. I think the repairman "recycled" it because he was afraid I'd change the little part and it would be fine, i.e. NOT the compressor.


Asked on 7/18/13, 12:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Daniel Meek Daniel W. Meek

You can sue the repair shop in small claims court for destruction of your property. See http://www.osbar.org/public/legalinfo/1061_SmallClaims.htm

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Answered on 7/18/13, 4:54 pm


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