What to Expect When a Sears Houston Appliance Technician Visits Your Home

By Lyle Weischwill | Oct. 10, 2023 7:09 am PST

So you have an appointment scheduled to have a Sears Technician visit your home to repair an appliance, but you’re wondering what’s going to happen. This article gives you a good idea of what to expect when you schedule a service call with Houston Appliance Repair.

What to Expect Before the Houston Appliance Repair Technician Arrives

The technician will call you the morning of your appointment and give you an estimated time of arrival – a 2 to 3 hour window when he or she expects to visit your home. If the tech needs to change that estimate, you’ll get a follow-up call.

You’ll also get a call or text when the technician is on the way directly to your home as the next service call. Travel time to your home may take 15 to 30 minutes depending on distance and traffic. The technician will typically estimate the travel time to your home.

Here are some preparations you can make before your service call to make sure the visit goes smoothly:

  • Find the owner’s manual for your appliance and review manufacturer warranty provisions to see if any parts or repair labor are covered. Most manufacturer warranties cover parts and labor for 1 year, but some parts such as compressors for refrigerators may be covered for 5 years. Be ready to ask your technician about warranty coverage if your owner’s manual indicates that a failure should be covered.
  • Make sure that the phone number that Houston Appliance Repair has is correct.
  • Be ready to answer the phone or texts the day of your service appointment.
  • Clear any clutter near the appliance.
  • Make sure your children and pets aren’t underfoot or near any potential danger when the technician arrives to begin work.

What Happens When the Technician Arrives at Your Home

When the Houston Appliance Repair Technician arrives, he or she will put on shoe covers to protect your floors, carpets and rugs.

As the tech enters your home, he or she will ask you questions about the appliance failure and discuss the repair process and diagnostic fee for the service call. The technician will typically follow these steps to prepare for the diagnosis and repair of the appliance:

  1. Check and verify the model number and serial number of the appliance. A Houston Appliance Repair Technician won’t proceed with a repair if the model and serial number plate or sticker on the appliance is missing or illegible. The tech needs those number to determine the date of manufacture of the appliance for warranty provisions and to order the correct replacement parts if needed.
  2. The technician will lay down a protective mat in front of the appliance and verify the failure that you described.
  3. If the symptom involves the appliance not powering up, the tech will check the house circuit breaker for the appliance outlet and measure electrical voltage at the outlet for the appliance. If the outlet isn’t working, the technician will advise you of the electrical issue. If possible the technician will verify that the appliance works by connecting it to a working power source.

Image of a Houston Sears Tech performing appliance repair

How a Houston Repair Technician Diagnoses and Repairs Your Appliance

Once the Houston Appliance Repair Technician verifies that the appliance is getting power and sees the failure symptoms that you’ve described, the tech will begin following a proven, standard procedure for diagnosing and repairing the appliance.

Analyzing Appliance Error Codes

Many appliances use electronic circuit boards that display error codes when the control detects problems in the functional components. When the appliance has a control that displays error codes, the Houston Sears Technician will typically place the appliance in the diagnostic mode to analyze error codes. Our Appliance error code charts show the fault codes on common appliances.

Using the diagnostic test mode may also help the Houston Technician diagnose an appliance failure.

Checking Appliance Components and Wiring

Even if the technician finds the cause of an appliance failure by using error codes and/or the diagnostic test mode, the tech will typically need to disassemble the appliance and physically check the failed component and its wiring.

Sometimes, reconnecting loose wiring or replacing failed wiring will fix the appliance. In some situations, replacing a blown fuse or bad safety switch will repair the failure.

When the technician finds that a failed component is causing the appliance problem, the technician will check the truck stock for the repair part needed to fix your appliance. Houston Repair Technicians stock hundreds of common repair parts to fix many appliance failures right away.

Providing an Estimate for the Appliance Repair

When the technician completes the diagnosis and determines repair parts needed, you’ll receive a specific and firm estimate from the tech to complete the repair. The diagnostic fee is factored into the estimate.

At this point, you’ll need to decide whether you want the Houston Repair Technician to complete the repair or you want to decline the repair and just pay the diagnostic fee.

When you give the technician the approval to proceed with the repair, the tech will fix your appliance and collect the fee estimated for the repair. If the technician doesn’t have the repair part in truck stock, the tech will need to schedule a follow-up visit to install the part once it arrives. You won’t pay extra for the follow-up visit to install the needed part.

The technician will clean the repair area and leave your home in its original condition or better.

What Happens When I Decline an Appliance Repair?

If you decline a repair once you get a diagnosis and estimate, you’ll owe the technician the diagnostic trip fee.

That’s not the end of the story when you use a Houston Repair Technician from Sears. Our technician will offer you additional options and incentive to help you replace an appliance that is too expensive or impractical to repair.

Image of Sears upgrade page As part of the discussion of your options for replacing your appliance, the technician will direct you to our Sears.com Upgrade page to easily select a replacement product and get help with financing.

We’ve consolidated all help, special financing offers and savings into one location on our Upgrade page to make it convenient for you to replace your appliance now. No hassles and no waiting. You can easily order your new home appliance right away.

Efficient and durable appliances help make a house a home. Whether you just need a new refrigerator or you’re buying a whole set of upgraded products, Sears carries a wide selection of home appliances from top brands like Kenmore, Frigidaire, GE, Samsung and LG.

No matter what you need, Sears in Houston has the products and series you need to help manage your home. We offer you all the resources to help make your home life easier.

Most Recent Articles