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Day 27 - January 9
I'm getting tired of putting this off so I decide to send them an email. I know the name of the manager but I can only find a generic "info" email address on their website. I decide to look them up on Facebook, maybe they have better info there. No luck, so I write up an email and send it to the generic address and also send copies of the message to the manager and his boss through Facebook. I have included the message here:
Dear xxxxxx,
I received your notice dated Dec 27 concerning invoice 108904. Thank
you for finally contacting us to resolve this matter. We tried multiple
times to contact you by phone to resolve this matter. At first the
manager we were trying to contact was always unavailable or in a
meeting. When we finally got in contact with him by phone he was
waiting on paperwork from the technician and promised to contact us once
he had the paperwork. We never heard back from him. As it seems phone
communication is not a reliable way of contacting your company we ask
that all further communication be by email or in writing. Also since we
had such trouble expressing our concerns and providing some followup
information we decided to stop payment on the check to make sure that
you would get in touch with us.
We initially called your company because our water heater
would not stay lit. The technician arrived and spent a minute looking
things over. He said that we needed a new thermocouple. He stated that
there was a chance that the problem could be elsewhere, but in his
words, "it's always the thermocouple". He did say that
if further service was required the cost of the thermocouple would be
credited towards additional services. What he did not state is that the
further services would cost more than an entire water heater brand new.
After about 35 minutes he came up to tell us that
the thermocouple did not fix the problem. He gave us two additional
options. 1- replace the gas combo control valve which again may or may
not fix the problem and would push our bill up over $500 or buy and
install a whole new water heater at a cost of $1658.94. Neither of
those were a reasonable option since the entire water heater cost less
than $500 new. I asked him if he could pull the thermocouple and we'd
just pay for his time. He said that wasn't possible that the suppliers
wouldn't take the part back once it had been taken out of the box.
To put that in perspective lets move over to my
world. I build and maintain computers. Lets say your office computer
breaks down. It cost approximately $400 new a few years ago and a
replacement machine is about the same cost. You call me or someone like
me to come fix it. I show up and tell you that upgrading your ram will
probably fix your problem. I install a stick of ram but this doesn't
solve the problem. At this point I say, well I can't take the ram back
because it's been in your computer and the suppliers won't take it back
(not true) but I can credit the $250 bill so far towards the cost of a
new GPU which will run about $500 and may or may not fix your problem,
or I can set you up with a whole new machine for $1600. In the end you
send me away no better off than you were before with a bill for $250 in
your hand. Who in their right mind would pay that much for no result?
Why would anyone ever do business with this company again?
Here are the specific points I would like to see addressed:
1.
Our water heater is under warranty. We tried to tell you this the
following day, but as has been described there seems to be some problems
with contacting your company by phone. I called Bradford White
specifically and verified that the serial number of our water heater is
still under warranty. Model: MI40T6FBN7 Serial:xxxxxxxxx
2. I don't expect the warranty to cover labor so I
expect to pay for the time that the technician was at my house, assuming
you round my 35 minute visit up to an hour and assuming your hourly
rate is somewhere around $100 per hour I expect to pay for this portion
of the service. The technician was friendly and personable and our
displeasure with the service is not due to his behavior.
3. I contacted an associate at a local plumbing
contractor supply company that does not sell to the public. He stated
that contractors bring back thermocouples all the time. It may have
just been the technician or it may be your company policy to claim that
you can not bring it back to shift the blame to another entity, but it
is simply not true.
4. As the warranty will cover the parts I do not
expect to pay for the thermocouple. In addition if you would like to
double your money you can come get the one that your technician
installed. It is in brand new condition unless he damaged it upon
installation. You can take it back to the supply house or install it in
the home of another customer.
5. I do not expect to pay the returned check fee.
As I have described we tried multiple times to contact you to inform
you that the water heater was under warranty and we were unhappy with
the service that was provided. In the end our only recourse was to get
your attention through the payment. Had your manager returned our calls
we could have resolved this much easier and quicker.
Please send me a new invoice simply billing me for an hour of service and I will remit payment without delay.
If
your company chooses to disregard my concerns I will be forced to
involve outside parties. Better business bureau complaints are a hassle
to resolve. And since your company is both Xxxxxxx Plumbing and Xxxxxx
Plumbing you may end up with twice the paperwork. I also have a
significant following between facebook and twitter and I see that your
company is struggling to establish a social media presence. Potential
customers might be interested to hear of my experiences with your
company when they look up your facebook wall. Finally there are many
sites that review local service companies such as yours from Google
Local to Angie's List to Gephardt Approved. It doesn't take much to
steer potential customers away and tarnish a name connected to the well
known Xxxxxx name. (another well known business connected to the same family name) Hopefully it will not come to this.
Should you have further questions don't hesitate to respond to this email or by post.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Peter Johansen
As
your company website only provided the generic info@xxxxxxxx email
address I have also sent copes of this message through facebook.
Day 36 - January 18
Today we received a
letter from a collection agency. It was just a standard form
letter. Nothing special to mention. I wasn't very excited about the additional $100 collection fee, but it wasn't unexpected. At this point our bill is a little over $360.
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