Monday, January 25, 2010

This city is funny

I love the sort of city Victoria is, with its Mom-and-Pop businesses. I decided not to bother dealing with KitchenAid for fixing my mixer, because I knew I would have to pay for shipping the appliance and then for the repair on top of that, since the warranty has expired. So, I decided to track down a local small appliance repair shop.

Unfortunately, the place that all my initial research pointed to -- the awesomely-1950s-named "ABC Electric" -- has recently closed down. (One of the repair guys I talked to today was mourning the loss of ABC Electric. Apparently, they were going to fix his shaver for him but then they closed.)

So, I decided to take a shot in the dark: I picked a place that said it repaired restaurant and bakery equipment, hoping that they'd at least be able to give me a lead. In classic Victoria style, the place I found was called Mark's, and I talked to Mark himself on the phone. Mark told me that he dealt with commercial equipment and charged accordingly, and that he's been sending most mixers (including commercial ones) to an appliance place called Derek's. I phoned Derek's and spoke with Derek himself. Derek said he now sends all his KA mixers to a repair guy named Tommy, who operates out of a shop in his garage, over by the navy base. I've now talked to Tommy, who has set up an appointment for us to drop off the mixer at his place on Saturday morning, on our way out to the grocery store nearby.

I love this city: all of the region's mixers are serviced by a man named Tommy who operates out of his home and only takes cash or cheques. But he's trusted by all the repair guys in town, won't over-charge me, is really friendly, and was able to make a pretty safe guess about what went wrong in the mixer and what it will cost to repair.

I think I like this way of doing business.

2 comments:

The Blog Fodder said...

I'm the same with computers. Find a small shop with a good rep and get to know the people.
Hope your handy dandy kitchen aid is back healthy soon.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

I thought you would approve, Uncle Al.