"Wait a month to repair the air conditioner"... why is this

<Anchor>

The heat wave this summer started early and continues.

Even if the air conditioner breaks down in such a hot and humid time, it would be a huge inconvenience. In fact, there are many cases where you have to wait for more than a month due to the recent surge in requests for air conditioner repair.

Let's talk about why this situation happened after watching reporter Jae Hee-won's report.

<Reporter>

Song Dong-geun, who lives in Seoul, can't turn on the air conditioner in his living room these days.

When it broke down ten days ago and I applied for after-sales service, I got a reply that I had to wait a month for the repairman to come.

[Song Dong-geun / Junghwa-dong, Seoul: It's so hot right now, living without air conditioning doesn't make sense.

(The window-type air conditioner was brought and installed in a hurry.]

Another informant living in Busan was also struggling through tropical nights because he could not fix the air conditioner.

[Busan Gangseo-gu residents: (in the past) it takes about a week to call for repairs

, and at the latest, even during peak season, it comes at that time, but (reservation available date) is August 11th.]

There were many reports.

Let's make an air conditioner repair reservation directly with your smartphone.

It says that there are no dates available for that area at all.

System air conditioners have to look into the ceiling and have a complicated structure, so the repair time is longer than regular air conditioners.

As a result, repairs began to be delayed for new apartments or new city areas with many system air conditioners installed, and it is difficult to make a reservation for even general air conditioners in a short period of time.

In addition, as a number of accidents continued to occur every year while repairing outdoor units, the safety guidelines were strengthened by the government.

[Air conditioner repairman: Because the speed becomes slower, work is delayed again in the end.

(The allotted time) was once an hour, but now it has increased from 70 minutes to 80 minutes.

(Per article) If there was one reduction per day, it would be a huge number nationwide.]

(Video coverage: Jeong Seong-hwa, Video editing: Choi Hye-young, VJ: Park Hyeon-woo)

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<Anchor>

I will share more with reporter Jae Hee-won.

[Reporter Hee-won Je: The weather has a big impact.

As the heat starts early from the end of June, the air conditioners are turned on faster and more quickly, so it is true that the number of malfunctions has been increasing.

This is because repair technicians are also subject to the 52-hour period, so midnight or holiday repairs are not legally allowed.

These things overlapped all at once, and the air conditioner repair crisis occurred.]

[Reporter Hee-won Je: It seems like it would be okay to hire a part-time job for a short time, but home appliance companies say that repairing air conditioners is not easy, even that is not easy.

As a matter of urgency, some companies even send researchers to the field to repair air conditioners, but in fact, it is not enough.

In the end, the on-site repair technicians say that we need to hire more people, but the company is running parallel to what they will do in the winter after hiring people only in the summer, and eventually the service fee will rise.

There is no clear solution right now.]

[Reporter Hee-won Je: When I tried to call a private company, I usually had to wait for a month.

Also, since work is concentrated here in the summer, the rates are relatively expensive.

So it is not easy for general consumers to use it.]

[Reporter Hee-won Je: So, home appliance companies are also guiding them to check in spring before summer comes, but we need to inform consumers a little more proactively.

Also, since consumers are also in a situation that will happen next year, turning it on and inspecting it in the spring is a realistic way to avoid this kind of repair crisis.]

(Video Edit: Choi Hye-young)