Rant

Mark Hunt

Sorry for your experience.

Not unlike the times that I have scheduled appointments with customers and driven 45 minutes to an hour away only to find that they are not home. That week of vacation slipped their mind. (The tip off was the weeks worth of newspapers and mail stuffed in the mail box.Seems they forgot to tell those folks as well) I guess we live only to serve. No phone call, no apology....just my tough luck I guess.(Don't worry...I charged the next customer double to make up for it........if you believe that I have some beach front property in Kansas I'd LOVE to sell you)

Get to my appointment to find a graduation party in full swing. "Sorry.....I completely forgot!! Can we do this next week?" "No problem.....just give me a call". Meanwhile, MY kids didn't get to go to the "fun ride park" cuz Daddy had an appointment. On a Saturday as requested by the customer.

If I make an appointment sir, I do everything in my power to make it. If I am going to be late....I call. If I am caught up and can't make it...I call.

I can count on one finger the number of times that courtesy has been extended to me.

My point is, if you tell someone that you will be at point "A" at a certain time.....BE THERE! Gonna' be late?? CALL! Something comes up that makes it impossible???? CALL!!

I am sorry that you had a bad experience with your "Wall" contractor. (Edit: You said their FAP ad is gone..so....NOT a Wall contractor)

I wish I could make it all go away.



Mark H



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Marc Stober

Rant

Ok. I posted for some advice here a couple weeks ago, got some nice response (thanks) and advice to "call a pro".

So what I happens? I do call a pro, arrange with my boss to "work from home" (which he thankfully tolerates for these situations but I can't abuse it). The guy promised to call me the night before, but didn't, so I call him, and he does show up, gives me a little advice, measures the radiators and says he'll call me that evening. That was a couple weeks ago and I'm still waiting, even after calling him twice (about a week ago he said he was in the truck and would call me that evening).

Meanwhile, he is no longer listed on the Find A Pro section of the site! I figure either:
- My system is so bad that I scared him out of the heating business.
or My system is pretty good and he won't make enough money on it.

Is this reasonable? What is most annoying is that I basically took time off work, whereas driving around to give estimates is, even if not billable, part of his job. And if he'd billed me for an hour to do a full evaluation, or told me he was too busy, or that he doesn't think the boiler needs to be replace and I should just call the oil company to tune it up, that would be fine.

Anyhow, my next steps based on what he said are:
- To address the smoking boiler, call the oil company to do a cleaning. While the previous owner swore they'd been done every year, neither the guy I had here, the tags on the boiler, or the oil company's records when I called them said so.
- To address uneven heat, try replacing the radiator valves with VariValves as a DIY project which he recommended. (He didn't neccessarily think I needed a new boiler.) If this doesn't solve the problem find a different pro!

I know this rant doesn't apply to everyone. I did exchange some nice e-mails with another company listed on this site that I think works more on the "wet" side of things, and who I may very well call if I still have issues after the oil company has been out here.

But if you are still wondering why HO's end up at the big orange box, honestly I'd rather spend a weekend with a wrench than spend my own workweek trying to track down someone who will actually do the job.

Thanks for listening.

Mark_46

Marc, Rant #2 : o )

You've touched on several key points.

I, like many many homeowners, have experienced the same treatment countless times. I consider it rude, frustrating and disingenuous.

I have also held for a long time that craftsmanship is almost completely dead in this country. It's sad to say, a well informed HO (of course with tools and skills) can often do a better job. I do my own work where ever possible. I find it very hard to pay someone to do a lesser job.

I also believe that the state of customer service and quality of work within the many home improvement/trades has given rise to the DIY revolution. We see this in 2 primary arenas, 1) big box home supply centers and 2) countless DIY television shows or magazines.

I have observed that a contractor/tradesman may be knowledgeable about their line of work and is focused on that end of the business. But on the administrative side of the business there are major shortcomings. In all fairness, its hard to be all things. This has to be a MAJOR challenge for a small business. But I feel (in an ideal world) there should be designers/engineers doing the design. Quality craftsman doing the work and project managers/administartive/customer reps handling the customer, scheduling and coordination, etc.

Leo

Number one

Number one if the system is oil and smoking get that addressed first, don't put it off. Second don't write off the oil company, there are a lot of pro's who frequent here that are from oil companies. I like to think of myself as one of them. Oil companies are no different than heating only companies, some are better than others.

Leo

Steamhead (in transit)

Where

are you located, Marc?

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ScottMP

well put Mark

How about my experience where I left my home on a Suday Morning, my only full family day, for a customer, only to listen to he and and his nieghbor make jokes about how much Plumbers charge. Just out of curiosity how much would They Charge to leave thier home on Sunday and eight a.m. ??

Or how about the Non customer who call's with no heat and is told by the installing company that they can't get to his house untill three days later ( -10 below ). I show up, find the problem, get him heat and he says " I guess I would have found that myself eventually ". Did I mention that it was 12:00 at night and I had worked fixing freeze up's all day for My Customers ? Hey maybe it was the second poster, who can do better than all of us.

Manners have disappered in todays world and I have to work Extra Hard to teach my sons what it means.

Scott

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Wayco Wayne_2

Good Rant

Manners are manners. I try to stay on top of things and a call to people when I'm running late is the least I can do. Sorry for your bad experience. Like Mark and Scott I've been on the other side of it too. I remember taking a no heat call after church and climbing up on a roof in my Sunday clothes. Most customers appreciate it when you take care of them like that. Others who dont I just dont understand. WW

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Marc Stober

Thanks. I guess it goes both ways.

Steamhead, I am still in Newton, MA.

I do have an appointment next week with a new oil company (new to me but not new to this house) to service the boiler, we'll see how that goes.

Any second opinions on the suggestion I got to replace the air vents with VariValve brand vents?

Unknown

Mark, I hear you. But, as a professional, do what it takes to deal with such situations. Call the day before to confirm the appointment. This is YOUR livelihood and YOUR life, not theirs. I always call before I leave the office, both to let them know I'm on the way so they know wondering, and also so I know they are there. Good communication solves nearly all problems.

You're the pro at this. They are muddling through their life trying to keep track of whatever it is they are up to. Do you really want to rely on them to safeguard your time?

Paul Pollets

Trip Fees!!!!

We do all of the above....Charging and collecting a trip fee ends the "no-show" problems. We tell the customer that a trip fee will be charged for the amount of $$..., and we need to have access with the owner at at time of arrival, so the work can be priced, approved, and paid for. If the customer has to leave before we finish, we get their CC #.

Our trip fees vary, according to where we travel to.

Wasted time is cost prohibitive, to say the least. As far as I know, they're not making any more of it...time that is.

Stop Whining...Start Charging!! ;-)



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Steamhead (in transit)

First check your main vents

if you haven't already, measure the length and diameter of your steam mains. We can tell you what you need.

If they were referring to the Heat-Timer Vari-Valve for radiators, this unit doesn't have an internal float that closes against water. So if the system overfills you could have problems.

Adjustable radiator vents such as the Hoffman 1A, Dole 1A or Vent-Rite #1 can work well if your main vents are sized properly and working.

"Steamhead"

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Marc Stober

Water?

Steamhead, are you saying that in a steam system (where I can see the level of water in the basement glass) the water level could rise to the point where it's coming out of the radiators upstairs?

hr

A call before you leave the shop

save a lot of wasted time and frustration. When we booked the call we told the customer we would call when the truck was headed their way. This way they knew to be available or no service call for you!

hot rod

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John@Reliable_12

Yes, that's what he...................

is saying. Was once at a house with 2' of water in basement due to a water fill valve that wasn't turned all the way off, couldn't hear water running but did it ever fill the steam system piping full. By the way all that water in basement came from a leaking second floor vent, customer was on vacation for a week.