Shelly Appliance Repairs in Kensington Johannesburg

We suspect that Shelly Appliance Repairs in Kensington Johannesburg tried to sell our old oven seal back to us as new.

Moses and colleague of his from the above mentioned company, came to our house on Friday 26 January around 2pm to look at our oven. We have been informed by previous technicians that the thermostat was the problem and had to be replaced along with the oven seal. Due to finances being a bit tight, we decided it would be best to replace the thermostat first.

Struggling to find parts for the whirlpool oven, we were later referred to a guy named Moses. The person who referred him to us had no idea where he was based or for who he worked. Which is rather surprising when a company doesn't know who their supplier is.

Anyway, my mom started to WhatsApp Moses and after messages back and forth, Moses and a colleague came on Friday 26 January. He told us that it was not the thermostat but the cooling fan. He said that the oven should work even without a cooling fan. However, it doesn't. He also said that the seal needs to be replaced and if that is done the oven will work. The seal was also not that damaged. It broke at the bottom of the oven and the oven worked fine despite that. Only the heating gave problems and that was when we were then told by technicians it was the thermostat.

Moses and his colleague, whose name we unfortunately did not get, took the seal and left.

The other guy returned close to 7pm with what appeared to be a new seal. And a shocking invoice from Moses was send to my mom via WhatsApp. R2185.20. The seal R1535.20 and R650 for the callout fee.

Upon closer inspection of the new seal, I noticed it was glued together at the same place our old seal was broken. It also showed sign of heat exposure as the one side looked white inside the folds. It was clearly not a new seal. I asked where was the old seal and the guy said it is at the workshop. Something just didn't feel right.

We tried to negotiate some payment with Moses over the phone. In the end the guy left and returned a few minutes later and took the seal back because they didn't accept that payment being split.

We arranged with Moses that we will pay the callout fee but the old seal must be returned to us. All this happened on Friday evening. At this point it was probably after 7pm.

Moses agreed and informed my mom that the old seal will be returned on Monday 29 January. Today is 30 January and no seal. Unfortunately, we know that we probably should have withhold all payment until the old seal is returned, thus, we now have no leverage.

Our concern is that 1. We suspect they tried to sell our old seal as new 2. No seal has been returned 3. Upon looking at review on Google, it came to light that another person in July 2023 had a problem with an appliance. They had to pay a deposit, but only received empty promises.

We also looked at other WhatsApp messages from Moses to my mom giving a quote on a seal of R910. So we are not certain where the sudden odd R1500 came from.

A word of caution for people who wish to use Shelly Appliance Repairs in Kensington Johannesburg. Should anything change, this review will be updated accordingly.