Here's the website to show your support of HVAC trade

ALH_4

I must have seriously missed the message. In the second statement she tells people to get three estimates and get references. Sounds like decent advice to me. We have all seen work from the less-than-quality contractors. Many have complained about it on this site. I'm not particularly impressed with her extremely vague attempt at statistics.

Telling people to call the utility company, who sells fuel, to assess whether or not you need a new heating appliance is bad advice. It sounds to me as if this Ruth Spencer needs some education in the heating industry.

It is important to remember to attack the lie rather than the liar. Otherwise heating contractors could get a worse reputation than if it was left alone. It would be a shame for Ruth to appear the level-headed one.

John R. Hall

Please link up to it

The website where HVAC professionals and sympathizers can go to and voice their displeasure is now up and running at www.shameonwdiv.com. All you need to do is visit it and hopefully, put a link to it at your own websites. There is very little effort involved and the benefits are an apology and retraction from Ruth Spencer. In which case, the website will be taken down. I am now the official "messenger" so please don't shoot me!

The more hits and links -- the BETTER! Thanks.

ALH_4

Backlash

Have I missed something? She certainly gave some bad advice and maligned heating professionals. I don't mean to minimize the damage this type of report can do to the public image of the profession, but this is a lot of effort to devote to one ignorant reporter. Is she worth it? Do people actually take her advice?

I guess I missed some of the previous discussion. Has she refused to apologize and retract the statement?

John R. Hall

Andrew

Yes, she is worth it, people take her advice, and no, she hasn't apologized or retracted. This is one way the HVAC trade can draw a line in the sand.

Anna Conda

I was as offended as everybody else... but I think all this knee-jerk vehemence is just going to be seen as proving her case for her. People are just going to look at it and think "Well, she must be right, otherwise why would they be kicking up such a fuss?"

Paul Fredricks_3

Well there's a catch 22. The alternative is to be quite and let them beieve what they want, which is usually what they read or what they've been told.

Not saying I know the answer, but silence can't be it.

Anna Conda

There's *been* a response: Comments to their forum, phone calls to their offices, calls to their competition and newspapers... A kick-em-down website is going over the top, from "justified offense" to "gee, these guys are crazy." The very best revenge is the knowledge that, the next time anyone at their station has trouble with their HVAC, they aren't going to find a single contractor willing to help

Steamhead (in transit)

The best defense of our industry

is a good offense, and we need to keep on the offensive!

"Steamhead"

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jackchips_2

Having just

gone through an extremely offensive and personal attack by our local paper I was advised by our Town's attorney that the best defense was silence.

It worked. Hard, you bet but the issue has not been in the paper for weeks.

Jack

John R. Hall

Then just click

Everybody reacts differently to this type of negative publicity. I understand that and respect that. The whole idea is to force the TV station into doing the right thing. Sure, it may be a small blip on the media landscape but it is still important to many people who defend what they do for a living and the integrity of the trade. You can remain totally silent and just click. Or better yet you can add this website to the links on your website. Websites of supporters are being added so who knows, maybe your own site will get a few extra clicks because of this.

Thanks.

www.shameonwdiv.com

(Over 300 hits in 4-1/2 hours -- not bad but could be better.)

Mark Hunt

Her first article


was bad advice........her second article was a lie.

If you repeat a lie often enough............

While this woman has every right to publish an "opinion", people with an opposing view have the same right to challenge it. When an "opinion" is publisehd as a "truth" and it is not the "truth", then I believe people have an OBLIGATION to challenge the liar and put things right.

That old saying, "Who will guard the guards?" comes to mind.

For those folks that feel this has been blown out of proportion, fine, excercise your constitutional right to not get involved.

Others will see it differently and act accordingly.

She has been caught red-handed in an "un-truth".

Options are:

1) Ignore it

2) Challenge it

Mark H

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Mark Hunt

Her point


about HVAC scams:

January 10, 2007

"Attorneys general nationwide say furnace repair fraud is a top consumer scam. Yes, most heating and cooling companies are reputable, but some are not. Before you have work done, get referrals and then three written estimates from different companies."

No such statistic exists

She HAD to know this. If she didn't, then she just made it up.

I see she is quick to advise "getting three estimates"....Try THAT with a utility.

Perhaps the reason that so many people think contractors are crooks is because assertions like these have never been challenged? We just ignore it knowing that not ALL contractors are crooks and the people that think that way are just mistaken.

How does the "mistake" ever get corrected if it is ignored?

I suppose an arguement could also be made here for journalistic integrity. If a person is going to write a regular column for a news paper, I would expect that the person should have done some basic research before he/she writes something.

IMO, it sounds as though this woman has a bone to pick with professional contractors. Perhaps she had a bad experience or what she THOUGHT was a bad experience like maybe being told by a real pro that she needed to replace her screwed up heating system. We will probably never know what motivated her to write this stuff. I can't believe that her first article just popped into her head one morning.

I read her latest bit of sage advice like this:

"Attorney's General across the country agree that HVAC contractors are crooks so..........call three crooks for estimates and be sure to ask each crook for referrences of other people they have ripped off. Pick the least crooked of the crooks."

At some point, SOMETHING has to be worth getting upset about. SOMETHING has to be worth fighting for. This particular woman and this particular paper may not be much in the "big picture" but that does not make the offense any less offensive. To me anyway.

John Hall is a true defender of OUR industry. He has more dedication to our industry than many of the PHVAC pros I meet on a routine basis. He could easily have just fluffed this off since the woman wrote about PHVAC contractors(which John is not) AND the woman is technically a colleague.

I do not want to fight with the folks here about this and neither does John. As I said earlier, if a person sees no big deal with this, fine, pass on it. Funny thing though. If this truly is a case of no importance, why comment at all? Doesn't matter what she said, doesn't matter what John says.

Sorry for the long post but I, for one, am tired of the "scam busters" and "consumer protectors" that continuosly spout garbage. Some of the junk they spew will get someone killed someday, probably already has. When that happens, who will get the blame? NOT the "super-hero" behind the typewriter, I can guarantee that. Nope, it will be the least crooked of the crooks and THAT person will become the face of the PHVAC industry.

Thanks for reading this far! You have my permission to take tomorrow off WITH pay.

Mark H

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ALH_4

getting upset

Point taken.

I am just concerned that to much reaction is as bad as no reaction at all. But who am I to say what is too much reaction?

I will be quiet on this issue now. ;-)

ScottMP

Hey Mark

Maybe she was dating a HVAC contractor and he dumped her ??

Could have happened. Maybe thats her bone to pick.

Scott

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