Bay Area residents scammed by site impersonating Box Appliance repair company

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A Bay Area appliance repair company says someone is impersonating them, swindling their customers out of thousands of dollars and not actually fixing their appliances.

In November, Ben Phillips was in need of a fix before his Thanksgiving feast.

His 22-year-old Sub-Zero refrigerator had a leak.

"Get the refrigerator done and make my wife happy," said Phillips.

He had used Box Appliance back in 2019 for a repair, but this time when he called and a technician came out, not only was he upsold on replacing the compressor, but the leak remained, despite multiple visits.

"Oh she was angry," said Phillips, referring to his wife.

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And that was just the start. Phillips spent close to $4,000 attempting to fix the refrigerator.

He called Box Appliance again.

"I went back online and I go, oh there's two Box Appliances, I go, I've been taken here," said Phillips.

This time an actual Box Appliance technician came out and told Phillips his refrigerator couldn't be repaired.

"He goes, 'Yeah, we wouldn't have even started on it,' and I go, that would have saved me," said Phillips.

Box Appliance is aware that someone is pretending to be them.

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"It's really hard explaining to these customers that they were swindled, basically," said Stephanie Chapman, Box Appliance customer service manager.

It all comes down to Google search results.

"These other companies purchase domain names that are very similar to us. They use sponsored ads to move them up higher in the list of Google," explained Box Appliance president Ryan Bergo.

Customers call and the other company books the appointments.

"My technicians all show up in vans with Sub-Zero logos on them, Box Appliance," said Bergo.

But these other technicians are showing up in unmarked vehicles.

"We've seen pictures where some of these technicians actually have Box appliance on a shirt that they had made, so they're doing everything they can. Maybe they're doing some legit service work but I don't know that for sure, all I hear about is when it goes bad," Bergo continued.

Bergo and his team have attempted to get the other sites taken down.

"It's like playing whack-a-mole, we take one down and another one goes right back up," said Bergo.

Some victims have filed reports with law enforcement. The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office is one of the agencies now investigating.

"We're trying to track down who is posting these fake sites," said Brooks Jarosz, senior communications officer with Santa Clara County Sheriff's office.

"We're seeing this not only in the Bay Area but across the state," he continued.

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In the meantime, Box Appliance is warning customers to make sure they're calling the correct number on the right site, not the wrong ones.

"They would have like Box appliances with an s at the end dot co or box dash appliance," explained Chapman.

As for Ben Phillips, he's created his own temporary solution, a shower pan under the refrigerator and some paper towels to collect the water.

"So yeah, I replace that anywhere from two to three times a day. I just stuff it in there like that. And it'll be ready to be replaced tonight," Philips demonstrated.

A soggy situation leaving Phillips feeling like he got hosed.

"I can't believe I fell for it," he said.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's office says they want to hear from any other victims in their county who have been impacted. 7 On Your Side Investigates also reached out to The Bureau of Household Goods and Services. You can verify the license of any appliance repair company you're hiring on their website.

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