Vent: A customer in Phoenix insisted I was wrong about his fridge compressor until I showed him the meter reading.

He kept saying, "It's just the fan, I watched a video," while I had my Fluke meter on the compressor terminals showing an open circuit. I finally had to pull the whole unit out to prove the sealed system was shot. How do you guys handle customers who are absolutely convinced they know the diagnosis from online videos?

2 comments

2 Comments

amymiller3d ago

Oh man, the "I watched a video" thing. My buddy had a guy swear his AC just needed a new capacitor. He had the old one in his hand, bought online. My friend put the meter on it and it tested fine, but the homeowner just kept pointing at the video on his phone. He finally had to start it up with the bad capacitor the guy brought, let it fail, and then put the good one in to prove the real problem was a burnt wire.

wells.parker3d ago

Classic case of YouTube university gone wrong. People see one video and think they've got the whole trade figured out. It's like watching a cooking show and thinking you're a chef, but your kitchen's on fire. That homeowner wasted money on a part he didn't need and still had to pay for the real fix. Sometimes you just gotta let them see it fail to believe it.