OCAP's full name is Orange County Appliance Parts Supply.
How much money you spend, is not nearly important as how you spend it.
Spending wisely to me, means getting value.
That value might be the quality of an item, an experience, or in bringing happiness to others - whatever it is - I look for value, and I hate to waste money - one of the things that attracted me to Yelp in the first place!
It's also a reason why I'm an avid DIY'er. If you've been to my house, or other properties I own, you'll see the sweat equity - it enables me to have some cool toys!
Chris D. you can stop reading here! Actually, I wasn't very handy when I first bought my house - It developed watching contractors and servicemen, seeing what they were doing, and thinking "I could have done that". I still have hope for Chris!
Many appliance parts are easily replaceable - plenty DIY diagnosis and "how to" info is easily available online. It's not always the answer, but I've repaired my dryer, furnace, pool heater, garbage disposal, dishwasher, and now my refrigerator.
As the owner of an appliance - I have deemed myself "Authorized Personnel" - I'm also authorized to take a sledge hammer or sawz-all to the item if I want to - so don't tell me I'm not authorized to look behind some sort of panel!
In this case, my Kenmore garage full refrigerator (no freezer) started freezing things - no matter what the temperature controller was set at - it just kept running - colder and colder. After an unplug - shutdown and defrost had no effect, it had to be the temperature control.
Kenmore repair service centers did not have the part but could ship it in a few business days. I wanted to take care of this right away - Yelp searching produced OCAP Supply. Didn't have the part in stock, but would have it the next day - asked them if they knew anywhere that might have it for immediate pick up, they gave me a number to another supplier - always appreciated. The other supplier did not have it in stock - so I ordered from OCAP.
As promised it was in the next day - they left a message in the afternoon that it was ready. The part was an exact match of what I took out of my refrigerator - it was simply plugging in a few wires, snapping the part into place, and couple of screws.
Done - works perfectly - plenty of room for the jello shot trays at Super Bowl!
OCAP is in an industrial area, and is a pro shop style place - small retail area, most of the items are from the parts counter staffed by several guys. I overheard them giving advice to another DIY'er about how to install his part. I experienced friendly service on the phone and in the shop. Other positives: open till 5:30 weekdays - was able to make it after work - and open on Saturday.
Reading through the other reviews it seems that my good experience is the norm.
Cost for the part I needed was $40 - comparable to what I could find elsewhere online, but no shipping and handling. This local company has been in business since 1965!
With the average service call costing 75 - 125 dollars, and hourly service work about the same - it's easy to to see how many people (like me) have saved money.
A great resource to have available, I'm sure (unfortunately) I'll be back someday!! read more