Repair Service Suspended: An appliance repair service...

Repair Service Suspended: An appliance repair service in Santa Ana has been suspended for violations found during an undercover investigation, a state agency said Thursday.

Louie Melendrez, doing business as L&R; Appliance Service in Santa Ana, had his state registration suspended for 60 days after two incidents in which he did not repair appliances properly, the Department of Consumer Affairs said. Melendrez could not be reached for comment.

In one case, the state said, Melendrez charged $88.79 to replace the entire door latch of a dishwasher that only needed a single tab realignment. The dishwasher had been deliberately disabled by undercover inspectors so that they could see how Melendrez handled the repair.

In the second incident, Melendrez was asked to repair a microwave oven with a faulty fuse. He discovered the fault but used the wrong fuse as a replacement, and he did not mention that he had done so.

In the order suspending his registration, Melendrez is required to place a sign at his business alerting the public that his firm “has been prohibited from performing repairs on appliances for 60 days . . . as a penalty for violation of the Electronic and Appliance Repair Dealer Registration law.”