A customer in Springfield argued with me for 20 minutes that his fridge was fine, it was just the 'season'

I was on a service call for a fridge not cooling right. The guy, maybe in his 60s, met me at the door and before I could even get my tools he said, 'You know, it's just the humid season. They all run warm this time of year.' I found the evaporator fan motor was completely seized. When I showed him, he just shook his head and said, 'Nope, put it back. I've had this unit for 15 years and it knows the seasons.' He refused the repair, paid the trip fee, and sent me away. It stuck with me because I've never had someone so sure of a wrong idea that they wouldn't even look at the broken part in my hand. Has anyone else had a customer fight a diagnosis with something that made no sense at all?

3 comments

3 Comments

mitchell.logan2mo ago

My buddy had a guy insist his silent doorbell was just being polite.

the_jake2mo ago

Read a story once about a guy who was sure his car's check engine light was just a friendly reminder to change the oil soon, not an actual problem. Some people build these whole worlds in their heads where facts don't matter. That fridge guy believing it 'knows the seasons' is the same kind of thing, a total logic shutdown. It's wild how a person can look at a broken part in your hand and just deny it exists. Makes you wonder what else they explain away like that in their daily life.

elizabethwhite2mo ago

How do you even start to get through to someone like that? In my experience, you have to connect the problem to something they already believe. With the seasons guy, maybe I'd have said, "You're right, it does work harder in summer, but this fan is like a blocked artery, it can't move the cool air at all." Sometimes framing it as the part failing to do its job for the season helps. You still won't win them all, but it can turn a hard no into a maybe.

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