AppliancePartsPros.com got off to a humble start in 1999 after founder, Roman Kagan, had spent several years as a sales agent in a large wholesale appliance parts company in Southern California. In sales, Kagan noticed two important things:

1. A large percentage of people buying appliance repair parts were not professional repairmen, but rather homeowners looking to save time and money by doing the job themselves.
2. There was a general unwillingness for parts companies to help with technical advice.

That sparked an idea. Start a company...

• that caters to normal folks.
• that is staffed with professionals who give excellent technical advice.
• that is driven by commitment to excellent customer service.

The company started as a two-person operation with a simple website that Kagan largely designed himself, a few telephones to answer calls, and lots of enthusiasm. The morning hours were spent taking orders and answering technical questions on phone calls that sometimes lasted more than 30 minutes. But Kagan didn’t mind, because customer service was paramount. Afternoons consisted of getting the parts from a local distributor, packing the orders, and then rushing to the UPS office to mail them before the daily cut-off time.

The business was steadily growing but was by no means large, so Kagan spent part of his time as a web designer for an aerospace company to pay the monthly bills. After the events of 9/11 in 2001, there was a huge downturn in the aerospace industry, and Kagan was left without a job. It was at that point that he put 100-percent of his effort into growing AppliancePartsPros.com with the goal to make it the top choice for customers seeking appliance parts. A re-designed website, a new office, and more employees all helped APP really take off in 2004.

Throughout the company’s successes, Kagan never lost focus of his primary objective of providing outstanding customer service, knowledgeable technical advice, and fast processing so that customers could get their repair parts quickly. This proved to be a winning formula, because soon, the company outgrew its space. So in 2009, Kagan took a risk and moved the small California-based call center to Cleveland, Tennessee, to a much larger office in a building that is nearly a century old.

Interestingly, this building once housed the Hardwick Stove Company, one of the first appliance manufacturers in the world. This same facility was later used by Magic Chef, Maytag and Whirlpool. More than 75 employees now work at the Tennessee location with most of them spending their day talking directly with customers to answer questions and to help determine the proper parts for their repair.

Today, AppliancePartsPros.com has helped nearly 3 million people repair their appliances and is a thriving business with more than $35 million in annual sales. However, Kagan isn’t resting on his laurels. Rather, he is pouring more time and resources into making the company and website even more responsive to customer needs. At AppliancePartsPros.com, know that customer service isn’t just a department. It defines who we are.