Kwai Hing's Industrial Area

One of the biggest adjustments about living in HK has been dealing with home repairs. For some reason it seems much more difficult to find spare or replacement parts to appliances and plumbing. Recently the switch on our fridge door burnt out, but our search for a replacement switch at a number of 五金鋪 ("Five Gold Store" aka hardware store) turned up nothing.

The switch that turns the fridge light on mysteriously burnt out (Photo: CathC)

When I called Whirlpool's Service Center about the problem, they said we could call technician to fix the problem or just buy the switch and fix the problem ourselves. to see what the options were. Initially getting the technician to fix the problem seemed to be a good solution it was so difficult to get the part ourselves. But after hearing the service call (excluding the cost of the part) would cost 420 HKD alone, we decided it'd be worth the time and effort to trek out to Kwai Hing, New Territories to pick up the replacement part ourselves.

The trip to Kwai Hing took a little over an hour traveling from the Tseung Kwan O Line to Kwun Tong Line and finally to the Tseun Wan Line. It was pretty easy to find the Whirlpool Service Center, just walk up to the end of Kung Yip Street to get to the Wilson Logistics Center where the Service Center is located. The only sketchy part was taking the worn looking elevator to the 14/F where the Service Center is located.

After showing the service rep the serial number for the door switch, he was quick to find the spare part. The replacement switch cost 190 HKD. So considering the cost of the technician`s service call it was definitely worth the time and effort out to pick up the spare part (The round-trip MTR fare for the both of us cost around 40 HKD).

Today`s trip out to Kwai Hing made us wish a Home Depot or Lowes would open up in HK. These stores are nearly open all the time and would make home repairs so much easier. The Whirlpool Service Center is only opened between 8:30 to 5:30 on Weekdays and 8:30 to 12:30 pm on Saturdays.