venting !!

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ChrisK

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2009
Messages
1,376
Location
Ottawa, Canada
excuse my ramblings... Need to vent!!!
My mom is 88 and lives far away. She finally decided to downsize and move to an apartment, so a few months ago, my siblings and I all flew in for a week, helped her move, cleaned out the house and got it up for sale. It was getting chilly, so we put the heat on in the house, and found it didn't work. After several opinions, thanks to our RE agent (we all live out of town except for mom) we decided to replace the furnace (it's actually a boiler). $6500 later, boiler was replaced. Yet the next time the Real Estate (RE) agent went into the house, it was cold. So I called the company, they went there twice more to fix it. Each time the heat came up while they were there, but soon thereafter, the boiler failed again. Then the company told us they determined the problem was the steam vents and they all had to be replaced.. and .. they wouldn't address the issue for us any further unless we had this work done!! Imagine!! THEY put in the brand new boiler, never got it working consistently, and now they wouldn't service it unless we paid another $550 for them to do more work. I was pretty pissed off, but I spoke calmly to them, and asked why they were so sure it was the steam vents. Long story short.. I gave the go for them to do the work last week. Now we're getting close to closing, and everyone wants to close and get this over with before end of year. Time is tight. I get a note from the RE agent this evening saying that the buyers were there today for an appraisal, and the furnace wasn't working... again... and now this issue will hold up the closing.

I'm so angry I can hardly speak. I called the boiler company twice this evening.. they say they offer 24 hour service.. and that the technician is going to call me back tonight... but now it's 9:00pm and still no call. Tomorrow I'm going to contact them first thing and insist that they figure out and fix the issue with no further charges by the end of this week or I will file a complaint with the BBB.

But all I really want is for them to fix this issue so we can close on the house. I don't want to file a complaint, I don't want the extra hassles. I already have too much on my plate to prepare for closing. And now, with their awful track record, I have no faith in their ability to get this system working consistently. We've already spent too much money to go elsewhere.. I mean.. they put in the system and it's under warantee with them.. so I think we have no choice but to keep after these guys.
 
Yikes, did you try looking them up with the BBB and see if they are even accredited business with them? And if so, if there are any complaints already filed against them? Hates to say it, but sounds like this company isn't very trustworthy and I'd file a complaint once the house is sold anyway. Are you guys even sure they are doing the work they are charging you for?
 
yes.. they are BBB accredited and have an a+ rating. That's why I thought I'd file a complaint with the BBB. There have been complaints against them during the past few years, but all were resolved so they maintained their A+ rating.

We are sure they're doing the work, because our RE agent has to go to the house to let them in, and she's been staying there with them while they work, and verifying that the heat goes on before they all leave.

I don't know if they're trying to take us for a ride or not. I think they're just incompetent but are approaching their customer with an attitude as if they are experts while clearly they are not.

So frustrating. Especially from so far away.

Thanks for your reply!
 
Ugh, contractors. Sounds like my friend's HVAC technicians (the worse crooks ever, as A/C is the easiest thing to sabotage). They need to receive a lawyers letter. Try to keep all correspondence written . I made myself present for all work, asked questions as to what they were doing, and had a hidden camera recording them. It didn't go to court, but I was confidently able to question re. the contradictions in their statements.
 
Just an update.. the boiler company went back to the house again, and they had to replace another part.. apparently something else that's not the boiler but that the boiler uses to function. This finally did the trick.. AND the company decided not to charge us for it. So in the end, they made things right.. I would say that we probably didn't have to spend the 550 to replace the steam vents, since that didn't solve the problem.. but then they replaced the bladder at not cost, and that DID solve the problem.. so at this point I'm not going to bother with it anymore. I'm just glad it's fixed and that the company did their best in the end to respond to my frustrations. Phew! Thanks all for your support!
 
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