Forest Appliance Services

Forest Appliance Services runs a storefront at 260 Main St in Townsend, selling and servicing the major appliances most households only think about when one dies — washers and dryers, stoves and cooktops, refrigerators, dishwashers and ovens. What homeowners hire them for most often is speed on a broken machine. A homeowner whose dryer was screeching wrote in 2023 that one phone call had it fixed by the end of that week; another in 2024 said the technician arrived the next day inside the scheduled window and explained what had gone wrong. Two technicians, Derek and Justin, are named again and again across years of reviews for returning calls, showing up when promised and explaining the fault rather than just billing for it. On Nextdoor in 2026, neighbours in Shirley, Pepperell and Fitchburg answered "my fridge stopped working" and "who fixes a washer" threads with this shop's name, and one Townsend neighbour simply posted its phone number with a recommendation. The sales side draws the same kind of praise. Delivery crews are described removing the old machine, vacuuming the floor before setting the new one down, levelling it, testing the burners and oven, and in one case fitting a backsplash to make a tight microwave opening work. Several buyers say the price landed at or below what the big-box stores quoted for the same model, and that install and haul-away were built into it rather than added later. When a 2024 repair did not hold, the shop came back without charging a second service call and refunded the part. The complaints are worth reading before you call, and they cluster in one place: what a short visit costs. One reviewer was billed $145 for a five-minute visit, another $119 for ten minutes, and a third itemised $135 to reach a house in the same town plus $100 an hour. Two people describe being treated rudely — one on the phone in 2022, one by a technician — and a property manager said in 2021 that only after three days of back-and-forth was he told the owner would not service his rental units. A 2023 buyer was unhappy that a replacement dishwasher part was sold without the mating piece it needs, and a 2024 reviewer alleged a range hood had been resold with black silicone painted over it. They are the right call for a household that wants a local shop that both sells the machine and fixes it, and that values getting someone out fast over the lowest possible diagnostic fee. Ask for the service-call charge and hourly rate up front, and if the appliance is a rental-property unit or an LG, confirm they will take the job before booking.