Whenever something breaks in your home, finding the time and the right professional to repair it isn’t always easy.
Featured Video
That’s exactly the challenge TikToker Sam Doll (@sam_d0ll) faced when her bathroom fan stopped working—leading her to hire a professional through Jiffy, a Toronto-based home maintenance marketplace.
However, what started as a simple repair quickly turned into a frustrating ordeal. She detailed it in a viral TikTok video with over 700,600 views.
What happened?
Doll begins by explaining how the situation unfolded. After her bathroom fan broke, her cousin, who is an electrician, inspected it and told her, “This is a job for HVAC.”
With a tenant set to move in soon, Doll and her husband decided to book an HVAC specialist through Jiffy, which advertises a “seamless booking experience” and vetted professionals.
“I request a heating and cooling job,” Doll says in the video. “In the job details, I say we have a fan that won’t stop running. Our electrician said we need HVAC for that.”
Initially, everything seemed to be on track. A professional named John contacted Doll to confirm the job.
“I say, ‘Hey, John, Monday works great. Not sure what the job actually is, but my electrician said this was a job for HVAC,’” she explains. John accepted the request, and the job was scheduled.
Things go sideways
But when the worker arrived, things quickly went sideways.
“A guy that works for John shows up, looks at everything, calls me to the bathroom, and says, ‘Hey, this is a job for HVAC.’” Confused, Doll asked, “Why are you here then?” The worker responded, “I’m an electrician.”
Doll double-checked her receipts and messages, confirming she had specifically requested an HVAC specialist.
“At this point, I’m thinking, ‘This many things could not fall through the cracks on their end.’ Oh, how wrong I was,” she says.
Frustrated, she reached out to Jiffy’s customer service team, which she says could only be contacted via text.
What did customer service say?
According to Doll, Jiffy repeatedly insisted that bathroom fan repairs fall under the scope of electricians, even after she showed them her original request for HVAC.
“They said, ‘Bathroom fan repairs are not completed by HVAC pros but by electrical pros,’” Doll recounts. “Funny, because my bathroom fan repair was just not completed by an electrical pro, because I needed an HVAC pro.”
Despite sharing screenshots and explaining the situation, Doll says Jiffy refused to acknowledge the mistake and told her she was still responsible for paying the electrician’s fee.
“That is like getting in an Uber, and then being told, ‘Actually, we’re taking you in the opposite direction,’ and then being charged for it,” she says.
Doll ends the video with a warning to others.
“If you’re thinking of hiring Jiffy because it’s easy, just know that if there’s a minor mistake, this is the [expletive] they’ll hit you with,” she says. “They’ll change your job, charge you for it, and then tell you it’s your fault.”
The TikToker shares an update
In a recent video update, Doll revealed that Jiffy had reached out to her.
According to Doll, a customer service representative contacted her after she posted the video, claiming she was “spreading false information” by saying Jiffy had charged her.
Doll said Jiffy informed her they would not charge her and would also give her a $50 gift card. Additionally, the representative reportedly told her that the previous agent was only “explaining” why the misunderstanding occurred and that they never intended to charge her in the first place.
Finally, Doll questioned whether the gesture from Jiffy was genuine or simply a response to the attention her video had received.
@sam_d0ll this is highway robbery, gaslighting, manipulation, ETC LOL
♬ Refreshing and light flute, bright and fashionable jazz(1066728) – AY
Viewers react
In the comments, users shared their confusion. Others shared advice and explained the particular job further.
“Jiffy – fans do air flow, you know what else does airflow?” asked a user sarcastically. “Heating and cooling. HVAC.”
“Dispute with your bank as “service not provided” if you were already charged,” advised another.
“I love how the comments are telling you need an electrician even tho you had 2 electricians come in and say it’s hvac,” wrote a third.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sam Doll via TikTok and Instagram messages. We’ve also contacted Jiffy via email.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.