What the $119 diagnostic actually buys.
A named fault, and a fixed price against it, in writing, before any repair begins. That is the whole product. It is waived in full the moment you go ahead with the repair, so a repair costs nothing to diagnose, and if you decide against it the $119 is the only thing you pay. If we cannot find the fault, there is no charge. The $119 is charged only when no work is done: you decide against the repair, or the machine is checked and nothing is wrong. Each additional appliance looked at on the same visit is $69, waived the same way. Below is the sequence in order, so there is nothing about the afternoon you have to take on trust.
On This Page
The Whole Sequence
Seven steps, and none of them is a surprise. Every one of these is a published term rather than an intention, which is the only reason it is worth writing down.
| Step | What happens | |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | The call | You call, we hear what happened and set a time: the same day, the next day, or whichever day suits you |
| 02 | On our way | A message telling you how many minutes out we are, so nobody has to watch the street |
| 03 | Through the door | Shoe covers and floor protection before a single tool comes into the kitchen |
| 04 | The diagnosis | The series confirmed from the rating tag, the display and any codes read off, readings taken at the machine |
| 05 | The number | A fixed estimate sent to you electronically, parts listed separately from labor, no repair begun until you approve it |
| 06 | The repair | Genuine OEM parts, twelve months on parts and labor, then the rest of the appliance checked and a plain list of what is sound, what is wearing and what can wait |
| 07 | The failed part | Shown to you in person before we leave |
Before anyone arrives.
Three things decide whether this is one visit or two, and all three are free. The model and serial from the rating tag, which tells us the series and therefore which parts fit. Whatever the display is showing, written down before anything is switched off. And when it started, and how suddenly. Where the tag hides on each maker.
A photograph of the tag beats reading it out, because a single character decides which part is ordered. With it we can tell you honestly, before anyone comes, if it is a machine we cannot help.
It is also worth spending twenty minutes on the free causes first. A door not closing fully, a grille packed with dust, a setting changed less than a day ago: those are common causes, and finding them yourself keeps the $119. Five checks before you call.
The first five minutes.
You get a message telling you how many minutes out we are, so nobody has to sit watching the street. Then shoe covers and floor protection, before a single tool comes into the kitchen. Stone and hardwood do not forgive a dropped wrench, and a kitchen of this kind is usually both.
None of that is hospitality. It is the part of the job that decides whether the afternoon costs you anything beyond the repair.
What the diagnosis consists of.
The series is confirmed from the rating tag inside the cabinet, because codes, charges and intervals differ between series and a chart for the wrong one is worse than no chart. The display and any codes are read off. Readings are taken at the machine. Then the failed part is named, out loud, before a price is put against it.
A code narrows the search rather than ending it. On a Sub-Zero 600 Series (600-2) the control reports what it detected, not what failed, and a defrost code can trace back to a sensor’s mounting. What each code means.
The one line that decides the size of the afternoon is whether the fault sits inside the sealed refrigerant circuit. Everything outside it is ordinary repair; opening the circuit is regulated work, where under EPA Section 608 only a certified technician may recover and recharge refrigerant. The charge goes back to the amount on the rating tag. Which parts sit inside that circuit.
How the number is made.
One fixed number for the repair, sent to you electronically, with genuine OEM parts listed separately from labor. No repair begins until you have approved it, and the number you approve is the number on the invoice.
If the job runs to three hours instead of one, that is our cost and not your invoice. An hourly meter rewards the wrong thing: the better a technician knows these machines the fewer hours the work takes, so billing by the hour would charge you the least exactly when we are at our best.
And if a part has to be ordered, we order it and come back to fit it. A part usually reaches us within a week. Some arrive sooner, and now and then one takes longer. The day it arrives we call you, and you choose the time for the repair.
The repair itself.
Every part we supply is genuine OEM, and on Sub-Zero, Wolf, Viking and Monogram repairs made with those parts it carries twelve months on parts and labor both. If the part we fitted fails inside the year, the new part and the visit cost you nothing.
If you would rather supply a part yourself, we will fit it for the labor alone. It carries no warranty, and that labor is not refunded if the part does not fit, does not work, or fails later: we cannot stand behind a part we did not choose. That is the whole of the policy, and it is the same before the visit as after it. And what the maker’s own warranty covers by then.
Then the failed part is shown to you, in person, before we leave. The panels go back on, the grille is left clear, and the kitchen is left as it was. You should not be able to tell we were there, which is the point of the exercise.
When the answer is no.
Sometimes the repair does not make sense: the machine is too far gone, or the part it needs is no longer manufactured. When that is the case we say so plainly, you pay the $119 and nothing else, and we tell you what we would buy instead.
We do not sell refrigerators, which is the only reason that sentence is worth anything. When the honest answer is that a machine is finished, there is nothing for us to sell you in its place, so the answer costs us the job rather than earning us a bigger one. Repair or replace, in numbers.
One last practical note: after any change to a refrigeration setting, Sub-Zero asks for twenty-four hours before judging the result. If a repair or an adjustment has just been made, the machine needs a day to settle, and a verdict reached the same evening is not a verdict.
Questions
What does the $119 actually buy?
A named fault and a fixed price against it, in writing, before any repair begins. It is waived in full the moment you go ahead with the repair, so a repair costs nothing to diagnose. If you decide not to proceed, the $119 is the only thing you pay. Each additional appliance looked at on the same visit is $69, waived the same way when you go ahead with its repair.
Why can you not quote over the phone?
Because the same symptom can be anything from a sensor to a sealed-system repair, and a number given down a phone line would not mean anything. A warm compartment can be a door left ajar, a dusty coil, a thermistor, or a stopped sealed system, and only one of those four is expensive.
What should I have ready?
Three things, and they are most of the difference between one visit and two: the model and serial from the rating tag, whatever the display is showing, and when it started and how suddenly. A photograph of the tag is better than reading it out.
How long does it take?
What it takes depends entirely on the fault, which is why we would rather not put a figure on it before anyone has looked. If a part has to be ordered, it usually reaches us within a week. Some arrive sooner, and now and then one takes longer. The day it arrives we call you, and you choose the time for the repair.
Will you show me what failed?
Yes, in person, before we leave. It is a standard rather than a courtesy: you should be able to see the thing you paid to replace.
What if the repair runs longer than you expected?
That is our cost, not your invoice. The number is fixed before any repair begins and approved by you first, so a job that runs to three hours instead of one is priced the same.
Sources
- Our own published terms, which are the same ones on the pricing page and in pricing.md: the $119 visit waived on repair, flat rate rather than hourly, OEM parts quoted separately, a client’s own part fitted for labor alone without warranty, twelve months on parts and labor, the new part and the visit at no cost if a part we fitted fails within the year, and $69 for each additional appliance looked at on the same visit, waived with its repair.
- Sub-Zero Built-In (600-2) Series technical service manual: display codes reporting what the control detected rather than what failed, and the mounting of the evaporator thermistor among the first checks for a defrost code.
- Sub-Zero: the twenty-four hours to wait before judging the result of a change.
- US EPA, Section 608 of the Clean Air Act: who may handle refrigerant, and recovery rather than release.
Written from these sources and reviewed on (checked again ) by Aphelion Appliance Repair, Phoenix. This page describes what we publish as our terms; where a figure belongs to a manufacturer it is named beside it.
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