Customer Help
Frequently Asked Questions
Booking, pricing, parts, warranty and everything else people ask before and after a repair. Pick a topic, open the question, get on with your day.
Appliance-specific questions live on each repair page. Detailed conditions are in our Terms & Conditions of Service.
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What Do You Need to Know?
Booking
Booking & Appointments
Booking online is the quickest way and it saves you 10% on the Service Call Fee. You'll see live availability and can pick a time that suits. If you'd rather talk to someone, call 02 6190 0457, email enquiry@gbrs.com.au or use our contact form. What to expect before you book walks through the charges and what we need from you.
Online booking shows live availability, so it's the fastest way to find out. When we have a gap we can sometimes attend within a couple of hours of booking. Jobs with extra requirements — travel outside our normal range, or a second technician — are scheduled by our admin team instead, and they'll be in touch with the next suitable slot.
You'll get a confirmation email straight away, a reminder the day before, and a text when we're one job away so you're not waiting all morning. Once the technician is on the way you get live tracking. We also follow up about two weeks after the repair to confirm the appliance is still behaving.
Clear a path to the appliance and empty the cupboard, bench or floor around it. Leave it connected and powered where that's safe — an appliance can only be tested if it can run, so please don't uninstall or dismantle it for us. Have the make, model and any error code handy, and a description of when the fault happens. Someone over 18 needs to be there with access, and a way to pay at the end of the visit.
No — moving the appliance is our job, and we'd rather do it ourselves. Two things do need sorting before we arrive: a kick panel or cabinetry that stops the appliance being pulled out, and an appliance that has been tiled in. Wall-mounted and plinth-mounted appliances need two people to come down safely, so if nobody on site can help, a second technician attends and their time is charged as labour.
Yes, and it saves you money. Reply to your booking confirmation email with the details of the extra appliance and we'll include it with no second Service Call Fee. Each appliance has its own 2.5 hour labour cap. Please don't create a second online booking for it — that adds a Service Call Fee you don't need to pay.
Let us know as early as you can. Cancelling or rescheduling with at least a full business day's notice is free. Shorter notice attracts a labour charge that increases as the appointment gets closer, up to the full Service Call Fee and minimum labour within the last hour or once a technician is on the way. If nobody's home when we arrive we wait 15 minutes before those charges apply. The full thresholds are in our Terms & Conditions of Service.
Pricing
Pricing & Payment
With GBRS, your first visit starts at $232.50 when booked online and paid by card at the end of the visit ($250 standard). This includes the Service Call Fee and the first 30 minutes of labour. Many repairs are completed during this visit.
If your repair needs additional labour, parts or freight, these cost extra. Parts and freight are quoted for approval before ordering. If we need to return to fit a part, there’s no second Service Call Fee. Return visits start at $97.50 when paid by card ($100 standard), including the first 30 minutes of labour.
Payment is due at the end of each visit.
The Service Call Fee of $150 plus minimum labour of $100, which covers the first 30 minutes on site. Labour past that is $16.67 per 5 minutes. Book online and you save 10% on the Service Call Fee. Parts and freight are separate and always quoted before we fit anything.
No. That first 30 minutes is used for whatever the appliance needs. Where the fault is already clear and the part is on the van, we get straight on with the repair — plenty of jobs start and finish in one appointment. Where it isn't clear, the time goes into testing and diagnosis until we can say what has failed and what the repair involves. You're paying for the technician's time either way.
Yes. We aim to finish within 1.5 hours per appliance, and labour is capped at 2.5 hours per appliance no matter how long the work actually takes. The cap covers the repair rather than each visit, so a first visit and a return visit to fit parts share the same 2.5 hours.
Minimum labour of $100, covering the first 30 minutes, then $16.67 per 5 minutes. There's no second Service Call Fee on a return visit for the same repair.
Yes. Parts and freight are additional to labour, and both are quoted before anything is ordered or fitted. Nothing goes on order until you've approved it.
Payment is due at the end of each visit. Pay by card or contactless with the technician — Visa, Mastercard and Amex — which saves 2.5% on labour, or online by card, Apple Pay or PayTo through the link on your invoice. There are no payment processing fees. Bank transfer is available to approved account customers by prior arrangement.
Two on in-home work: 10% off the Service Call Fee when you book online, and 2.5% off labour when you pay in person by card at the end of the visit. They stack. Workshop repairs have their own: register your small appliance online before you arrive and you save $10 on workshop labour. Account clients in good standing have their discounts applied automatically.
Repairs
Repairs & Diagnosis
The technician tests the appliance and works out what has failed, then explains what the repair involves and what it will cost before starting any repair work. We test the whole appliance rather than only the fault you reported, and nothing is called finished until it passes the checks for that appliance type.
Often, yes. Blocked drains, filters and hoses, door locks, elements, switches and pumps are commonly sorted on the spot, and we carry parts that are common across a lot of appliances. Where the part has to be ordered in, the visit ends with you knowing what has failed, what it will cost and when we can come back.
It happens, particularly with intermittent faults. Testing can only find what isn't working at the time, so we run the full test procedure for that appliance type, record what we find and tell you what we'd look at next. The visit is still charged, because it's the technician's time you're paying for. Anything you can give us helps — when it happens, what cycle it's on, an error code, or a short video.
We'll show you, explain it, and repair it within the same labour cap where you want us to. Finding the things you haven't noticed yet is part of testing the whole appliance rather than just the reported fault.
A few. Sealed-system refrigeration work — refrigerant, leaks and compressors — washing machine bearings, drums and tubs, work on an appliance's gas system, and other repairs that need a workshop bench. We also work on the appliance rather than the building around it, so new circuits, plumbing points, cabinetry and ductwork are someone else's trade. It usually takes a proper diagnosis to know, so book the visit as normal: if it turns out to be one of these, we charge the Service Call Fee only and don't add labour.
Parts
Parts & Return Visits
We carry parts that are common across a lot of appliances — drain pumps, capacitors, oven elements and similar — and if your appliance can be repaired with one of those, we'll do it there and then. No van can carry every part for every model, so anything specific has to be ordered in.
We identify it from the appliance itself, then quote the part and freight before anything is ordered. Once you approve it, we order through our supplier network and book a return visit to fit it. The return visit is minimum labour only, with no second Service Call Fee, and the appliance is tested again before the job is closed.
If you know exactly which part your appliance needs, tell us when you book — you can reply to your confirmation email — and we'll order it ahead of time and adjust your booking so it arrives first. If we didn't diagnose the appliance and the part turns out not to be the one, you can have it fitted anyway or return it with a 25% restocking fee. If you don't know the part, you need a diagnostic visit first; we can't diagnose an appliance before we've seen it.
We'll tell you as soon as we know. Parts get discontinued or go on long backorder, and for an older appliance that's often the point where replacing it makes more sense than waiting. We'll explain the options rather than leaving you with a dead appliance — see Appliance Replacement.
We can fit one, but it changes the cover. Parts you supply yourself, or parts sourced outside our supply chain such as second-hand or online marketplace parts, are treated as an experimental repair and aren't covered by our repair warranty. We'll tell you before going ahead. We also don't sell parts over the counter — we supply them as part of a repair we carry out.
Replacement & Reports
Replacement, Inspections & Reports
We'll give you the honest answer once it's been diagnosed, rather than before. What usually tips it is the part costing a large share of what the appliance is worth, parts no longer being made for the model, or the failure being one of the repairs that isn't practical in-home. Most faults are worth fixing, and we'll say so when they are.
Yes, and you don't start again. A replacement carries on as the same job — we already have the model, the measurements and the way it's installed — so there's no second Service Call Fee and the same labour cap carries across, for up to 3 months after our first visit. We don't sell appliances, so nothing rides on what you choose. Appliance Replacement covers the whole changeover.
Yes, for every appliance type except fridges, and the packaging from the new one goes with us too. That's part of the changeover rather than a separate disposal charge. We're not set up to transport fridges at the moment, so an old fridge we disconnect and get ready to go, but you'll need to arrange for it to be collected.
Yes. It's the same technical work as a diagnosis, written up properly afterwards — the appliance's condition, what we tested, what has failed, whether it can be repaired and what we recommend. Reports are issued within 2 weeks of the visit and there's no separate report fee. See Inspection & Reporting.
You're free to give our report to an insurer, assessor, removalist, landlord or anyone else. What we can't do is promise how they'll treat it — that decision belongs to them. Our reports are honest and unbiased and may not favour whoever commissioned them, which is exactly what makes them worth handing over.
Warranty Work
Manufacturer Warranty & Partner Work
Start with the manufacturer instead. They raise a work order and send it to a local repairer — and you're welcome to ask for GBRS. Booking and paying us directly for a repair the manufacturer would have covered means paying for something you were entitled to have done under warranty. Once the work order reaches us, we'll contact you to arrange a time.
Your warranty claim number, any emails or messages from the manufacturer, proof of purchase, the appliance make and model, and your contact details. That's what lets us get the job moving without going back and forth. If the fault turns out not to be covered by the manufacturer, it's charged as an ordinary repair, and we'll tell you before that happens.
It varies by brand, and the distinction matters. We're authorised service agents for some brands, we carry out warranty work on others through national repair and warranty companies, and there are brands we service without any warranty arrangement at all — those are ordinary paid repairs. Which is which is set out under Brands We Repair.
Send us the work order and we'll contact the customer or tenant directly to arrange access, then report back on what we found. Organisations sending regular work can be set up as account clients, with payment by arrangement rather than at each visit. Warranty, Property & Partner Services has the detail for each type of sender.
Workshop
Small Appliances & Workshop
Yes, on the bench at our Fyshwick workshop rather than in your home. Microwaves, robot and conventional vacuums, air fryers, benchtop ovens, mixers and food processors, portable and camping fridges, fans and portable heaters — broadly, anything portable you can carry in, up to about the size of an Engel fridge. See Small Appliance Repairs.
Drop off at 24/105 Newcastle Street, Fyshwick between 8:00am and 9:00am, Monday to Friday. No appointment needed, but register online first and you save $10 on workshop labour. Payment is taken when you hand the appliance to a staff member, and it has to be handed over in person — anything left outside hasn't been accepted for repair. We contact you when it's ready to collect.
Workshop pricing is separate from in-home rates. A diagnostic or direct repair is $100 when you register online, or $110 otherwise, covering the first 30 minutes of inspection, testing and diagnosis — or a straightforward repair completed in that same bench session. A standard plug replacement is $66. Further repairs found after the diagnostic start from $100, always quoted and approved first. Parts are additional, and workshop repairs carry a 3-month warranty.
No — coffee and espresso machines are the one thing we don't take, in the workshop or in your home. We also don't take gas or fuel-burning appliances, specialist electronics or battery-cell repairs, or anything unsafe, contaminated or pest-affected.
We'll contact you when it's ready. If an appliance we've accepted and notified as ready isn't collected within a reasonable time, we handle it under the Uncollected Goods Act 1996 (ACT), including the notice, valuation and waiting periods that Act requires. Nothing is disposed of automatically or outside that process. This is separate from items left outside the workshop, which were never accepted for repair in the first place.
Service Area
Service Area & Travel
Canberra and surrounds, working out of Fyshwick. Homes within about a 30-minute drive have no travel fee. Beyond that we can travel out to about an hour, and we generally don't service locations more than 60 minutes away. There's a full list of the suburbs and towns we cover under Service Areas.
Not within about 30 minutes of Fyshwick. Between 30 and 60 minutes, travel is charged at the labour rate in 5-minute blocks for the time beyond the first 30 minutes, each way, and it doesn't count towards the labour cap. Appointments further out also take more planning, so they're scheduled by our admin team rather than through instant online booking.
After the Repair
After the Repair
Completed repairs carry a 12-month warranty on the parts and labour for that repair. It starts from the date of the final invoice and is in effect once that invoice has been paid. Workshop repairs carry a 3-month warranty instead. Full conditions and exclusions are in our Terms & Conditions of Service.
Get in touch, and the quickest way is to reply to the email your invoice came in — it carries your job number and what we did. Tell us how long the appliance lasted before the fault returned and whether it happens at a particular point in the cycle. We'll arrange a return visit to confirm the fault has returned and whether it relates to the parts or workmanship we supplied.
A new fault isn't covered by the warranty on the original repair, but there's short-term cover either side of it. Within 2 weeks of the final invoice we repair new faults for parts and labour within whatever is left of the labour cap. Between 2 and 4 weeks the cap resets and no new Service Call Fee applies. After 4 weeks it's treated as a new job.
Still Stuck?
Didn't Find Your Answer?
If your question is about a particular appliance, the repair pages go into more detail — washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, fridges and freezers, ovens, cooktops and stoves and rangehoods. Otherwise, ask us. We'd rather answer a question than have you guess.
Book a RepairGet in ContactCall 02 6190 0457 or email enquiry@gbrs.com.au. Already had us out? Reply to the email your invoice came in — it carries your job number.