“A new study found that 86% of the appliance manufacturers surveyed keep repair manuals under wraps and do not share repair manuals with users.
That’s an egregious mistake on the part of manufacturers, too. Appliance repair manuals, like car repair manuals, are one of the five key requirements of the right to repair.
The investigation, submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by PIRG, iFixit, and Repair.org, surveyed 50 appliance makers, 37 appliance technicians, and industry experts. It also reviewed a wide range of academic research on the topic of appliance repair.
“The manufacturers that make our home appliances have an incentive to either monopolize repair or discourage it so that their customers are forced to buy new products,” said Nathan Proctor, senior director of PIRG’s Right to Repair campaign. “People are fed up. It shouldn’t be so hard to access a repair manual. We want dishwashers and refrigerators that are easy to fix and last a long time.””
Read more on this story here.
Complicating things further, even appliance repair professionals stated difficulties getting access to these manuals. Furthermore, some software used to to troubleshoot is designed exclusively by the manufacturer for which they charge a fee. Whether, anything will be done about this issue seems to be at the discretion of the FTC.
At Apple Valley Eagan Appliance we offer expert appliance repair on refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, and more. Call us at 952-953-0080 or visit our appliance repair page for more information.
