Nine months ago I replaced my 60s era oil boiler with a new high efficiency gas boiler. The installation turned into a complete nightmare with the 2 day install turning into 5 days plus 3 weeks to sort all the lingering problems but I've gotten over it. Around 11 last night I head downstairs and the house is freezing. I head into the cellar of my 140 year old farmhouse stooped in half getting draped in cobwebs. After 2 stretch breaks for my back and about 45 minutes of resetting and googling the mysterious error 6A I give up and call the 24/7 emergency hotline of the company who installed it. A tech showed up promptly and was very polite. First thing he says once he sees the boiler, "Never seen one of these boilers before." Turns out the boiler is so new to the market he, and all the other techs, have never repaired any before.
While he is working on the boiler with me helpfully watching over his shoulder I receive a text from my wife; her and our 5 month old daughter are starting to feel cold in bed. Fortunately it is about 35F outside so the house isn't cooling too fast. I pass this onto the tech and he grabs me a couple space heaters off of his truck. Along with the space heaters I also get the news, he thinks it is the flame sensor that is bad. Of course he has no parts for my boiler on his truck and doesn't know where they would keep the parts for my boiler at the shop. He can't do anything else for me but I'll live through the night. He tells me he will leave a note but to also call in the morning so someone can grab the part and fix my boiler. I will have heat tomorrow night.
I should preface this next part by saying I know 2 other people with this same boiler and it is the boiler the company is now pushing. This company is also the main heating and oil company in the area and is part of the same company that owns all (by all I mean around 90% of the gas stations) in 3 counties. This is not some mom and pop operation.
Morning comes around and I give the company a call. The tech left a note and the gentleman on the phone lets me know they can order the part on Monday. I ask if there is no way to get the part sooner and am given a dismissive response of, "Your free to find someone else who would have the part." I hang up and call my father-in-law. Being a rural area everyone knows everyone and he gives me the name and number of a manager who might be able to help. I get a hold of the manager who gives me a little more detail. They don't keep any parts for the boiler I have on hand. I was a bit taken a back and asked, "Are you seriously telling me that you have no spare parts or an extra boiler in stock that can be used to fix the boiler you sold me 9 months ago and are selling to everyone who asked for a new gas boiler?" Turns out the answer is yep.
It is mind boggling that a company would sell a product and then claim to be able to service them without training any techs on it and not carry a single part. They did lend me a couple more space heaters as if that would help. My house is a big old farmhouse, part of the reason I replaced the old boiler was because of how hard it is to heat the damn thing when it gets really cold. Guess what the temperature is suppose to get down to the next few days while I wait for a part. I have closed all the doors and am heating my bedroom, nursery, and the room the guinea pigs are in. Luckily the three are connected and it is livable in there. I bundled up the baby and sent her to my parents who live in an old, tiny farmhouse with wood heat, that house gets hot. The rest of the house is at about 52F and falling. I am hoping that none of the pipes freeze over the next few days. How inappropriate would it be to get the number for the guy who owns the company from my mom (everyone knows everyone) and tell him to fix my god damn heat?
As a side note in the past 6 months I have had a kid, had to buy a new car (wife had a car accident), and replace the dishwasher, refrigerator, dryer, and washer all of which were too old to get parts for. Some please tell me there is some normalcy in my future.
Submitted December 07, 2014 at 01:00AM by AsusFarstrider http://ift.tt/1yWJGRy offmychest
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