Disappointing conversation with Slantfin

Patrick McGrath

Hello all:



I had put out a feeler to Slantfin regarding purchasing an Intrepid with a power gas burner and had left a message for Bob Flanagan.  Bob called me back yesterday, I told him what I wanted to accomplish, and he was quite helpful.  Bob seems to be a great guy, and he is a big fan of Steamhead, for sure!  He said that Larry was a better choice to speak with about this configuration, so he said that he would call me.



So, Larry just called.  I answered, he said "thisisLarryfromSlantfin" with his mouth right next to the receiver.  My response was, "excuse me, who from what?"  Needless to say, we stared off poorly.  Anyway, I don't think that he was given any information save for my phone number, as he steamrolled over the idea that putting a gas burner in an oil furnace would have any appreciable effect.  "Never heard of it," was his response.  He did explain the heating capacity of oil vs. gas, which was interesting, but I realized that we were speaking apples and oranges when he said that a good gas boiler would get me efficiency in the 90's.  I slowed him down, and said that my system was steam.



He backed off just a tad, rethought the situation, and still held to his guns that I should just get a gas boiler and be done with it.  We were not having successful communication, and I was just trying to get off the phone with him at that point as it was.  I thanked him for the information.



This was far from my experience with Smith, so I think that Larry just helped me make my decision.  Smith walked me through which boiler to choose and gave me a local supply house from which I could order the G-8 with the Carlin pre-installed.  They even offered to help the supply house if they had questions or problems ordering the setup.

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

Owwwch!!!

Slantfin even has photos of my Intrepid gas installs  that I sent through the New England rep manager (Jim Harding) and Bob sent me a very complementary E-mail in response.  I am guessing it was a bad day.

Patrick McGrath

probably right

Yeah, he didn't sound all that pleased to be calling in the first place.  We all have those days.



I was struggling with the Slantfin vs Smith decision anyway, so at least this helped me to arrive at one, no matter the circumstances.



I am certain that Slantfin's products are top notch, but the customer service experience just didn't match Smith's. 

ceikey

it just depends

I had the same experience with Smith a couple months ago as you did with Slant/Fin. I guess it all depends on who picks up the phone when you call at either place.

jpf321

perhaps let Bob know

Perhaps let Bob know that Larry is perhaps not the best resource for this configuration afterall.