Hi, my name is Renae and I'm an appliance repair tech.

About a week ago, somebody in one of my lives asked me what can the customer do to make life easier for both the appliance repair tech and the customer? Here are my recommendations.

Number one, have your breakers labeled accurately. A lot of repairs require us to turn the power off to your appliance and some appliances are hardwired in, which means they can't be unplugged. The other day, I spent half an hour in a customer's house, turning breakers on and off because they didn't know which one went to the dishwasher. It's not actually your appliance tech's responsibility to know which breaker goes where. So make sure your breakers are labeled, accurately, before you call for service.

Number two, make sure your house number is very easily visible from the street. It can be extra frustrating for everybody involved if I can't find your house because I can't see your house number. Make it big, make it bold, and make it easy to see from the street.

And finally, number three, be home. I know that it sucks having to wait around for your appliance tech, but if we get to your house and you're not there and we have to wait around for you to show up, that makes us late for our other appointments and just imagine if the person before you did that to you and we relate for yours. If you're not able to be home during the window that we give you, just make sure that somebody else can be, as long as they're over the age of 18.

So those are the big three and if you can help us with those, we can better help you with your appliance.