HOw im going to pay for my autopilot this fall (HVAC story)

[Catigale]

Had to convince Admiral to stump up $500-1000 for autopilot for cruising next year...wanted to do it this fall as my big project.

Our furnace goes out last weekend - we have a backup which brings the house up to about 60F...ok for sleeping, cold for living, but we deal.

HVAC guy comes...$90 to get him in the door for diagnosis...they have no parts...he returns and replaces the ignitor (which I told him was replaced by me last year)....

"sometimes these things glow but dont pass enough current to open valve"

(I measure resistance and new/old are same...I keep my mouth shut)

One hour later (5 minute job)....bill is $270.

Furnace doesnt light....Hello???????

Goes back down for an hour- "you need a new main Circuit board". $480 for part, 3 hours to put in, $910 total. Part not in stock, come back tomorrow....

What about the $270...."we recommend you replace the ignitor with the circuit board"

Catigale does his best Donald Trump...."You're fired"

Hop online....Main circuit board is $250 retail, online for $180. I call a contractor friend who gets it for $120 for me - inviting them to our house for Thanksgiving last week pays off. I get it locally pick it up that afternoon.

I install in 15 minutes (5 wires on screws, 5 plug connectors, three screws to hold board in.)

Voila - heat for the house!!

I call and get my $90 bucks back...I keep my new ignitor too....

I convince Admiral Ive earned an autopilot...

Peace and Nirvana....

[Sjack]

You got to love it when being a "Manly-Man" work out. For every one story I have like yours, I've got two that went the other way.

I live for small personal victories. Congrats on yours! I think I will raise a beer to you this weekend.

[Catigale]

The scariest part of this was my contractor buddy told me this company had the best reputation in town....gulp......

[richandlori]

The scariest part of this was my contractor buddy told me this company had the best reputation in town....gulp......

One of the other companies would have broken something in the process! So you did get off good!

You did earn that autopiot, so is it going to be a Sport pilot + or that other type with the big attachment on the wheel?

[Gerald Gordon]

Sounds like a case of self reliance under sail...sort of!

[Frank C]

HVAC guy comes...$90 to get him in the door for diagnosis...they have no parts...he returns and replaces the ignitor (which I told him was replaced by me last year)....

... Catigale does his best Donald Trump...."You're fired".... I call and get my $90 bucks back...I keep my new ignitor too....

I convince Admiral Ive earned an autopilot... Peace and Nirvana

Hmmmm ... lemme see here, is this macro or micro-economics???
In my "most liberal" (aka "least conservative") tone, I must ask;

... have you not DENIED $1,000+ employment to a well-trained
(& surely well-intentioned) USA unionized HVAC-er ????

OR alternatively;
... did you contribute that same $1,000 to the longer-term employment
and (horrors) PROFIT of the marine electronics industry?

Careful Stephen, your answer may align you with Sam Walton,
and other capitalistic evil-mongers!

(Raymarine, of course, will OFF-SHORE those wages to the UK~!)

[Catigale]

OK- Ill play Rich....

LIberal dogma does require I pay a fair wage for services/goods...

Bottom line is, if they had marked up even 2x and brought the part and charged the same labour rate, and fixed my problem in even two visits, I would have written the check and felt good about it.

I guess I got tweaked by the fact that they wanted me to pay 3x on a part that they were going to get from the same place I was getting it...

...and of course, the diagnosis process left something to be desired...

...not to add gas to the fire but I lleft out the usual stuff about scheduling the visit, not showing up or calling, and of course this went down with me out of town and the Admiral home with the kids...

Good tweak on the autopilot....do I have any chance of getting anything US or EU built or are they all made by 5 year old kids in Butuland???

Catigale - "pinko liberal Nazi Capitalist....

[Frank C]

You surely needn't justify your approach to DIY a furnace in cold weather. My rednecked-baseball cap has 'bacca-juice" where I'da saluted that HVAC shill right offen' ma prop'ty!

TWEAK!!

Just observing that the semi-constant supply of discretionary funds is best stretched til it covers most of the needs of one's hearth ... however many corners need stretching.

If that multi-talented (infernal) cartoonist ever published a "redneck" in 80x80, I'da posted it under my name, at left! ...
Wait, check that ... I'da posted it "right" under my name!

[Jeff S]

HVAC guy comes...$90 to get him in the door for diagnosis...they have no parts...he returns and replaces the ignitor (which I told him was replaced by me last year)....

... Catigale does his best Donald Trump...."You're fired".... I call and get my $90 bucks back...I keep my new ignitor too....

I convince Admiral Ive earned an autopilot... Peace and Nirvana

Hmmmm ... lemme see here, is this macro or micro-economics???
In my "most liberal" (aka "least conservative") tone, I must ask;

... have you not DENIED $1,000+ employment to a well-trained
(& surely well-intentioned) USA unionized HVAC-er ????

OR alternatively;
... did you contribute that same $1,000 to the longer-term employment
and (horrors) PROFIT of the marine electronics industry?

Careful Stephen, your answer may align you with Sam Walton,
and other capitalistic evil-mongers!

(Raymarine, of course, will OFF-SHORE those wages to the UK~!)

Efficient distribution of resources. The rest will sort itself out. The Union guy will have to offer better services at a better price or go the way of the Dodo.

Since this is Off topic...did anyone notice that the poor petroleum industry is recording record profits? I am ready to unplug from the matrix- Biodiesel here I come- Tom how is the waste vegetable oil processing going?

Jeff S

[Frank C]

. . . Call me socialist in this case, but there is a real need to regulate this industry, .... so much corruption controlling the supply and demand.

It causes my conservative torso heartburn to admit that maybe Me Mine is right. I think that I heard Exxon's quarterly announcement was the single largest profit report - EVER - in the history of that exchange.

hull, it's so aggregious that even Bill O'Reilly and Fox News Channel are after 'em (the oilers).
Conservative heresy! (kinda like the Pope sleepin' w/the devil)

[Scott]

Me mine wrote

News Channel Broadcast of the unscrupulous little devils known as Heating and Air Conditioning Contractors.

This outlines the dangers of stereotyping.

My brother changed careers at age 40. Put himself through 3 years of HVAC school. He then worked for another contractor to build his practical knowledge (plus experience is required to be "new freon" qualified). I must admit that the fellow he worked for was honor challenged but i think you find that in every industry.

To make a short story longer my brother is the most honest person I've ever met. He has the same business philosophy as I do, I would rather lose money to the point of going under rather than compromise my integrity

[Jeff S]

...I must admit that the fellow he worked for was honor challenged but i think you find that in every industry.

I agree, but it does seem to be more prevalent in some industries. My only experience with AC I bought an air conditioning unit 2 years ago that replaced one that was about 10 years old and had worked hard (Yuma, AZ). 2 years later it broke- it was under warranty, it cost me $500 for labor for the warranty work. I feel the warranty work shouldn't cost-it doesn't for a vehicle. It was 2 hours to replace the whole thing with 1 guy. When it broke it was the compressor inside the unit- it took about 2 hours. $250 an hour- I know they got some type of training, but that is ridiculous. My only other alternative was to go with another company who would not honor the warranty (did not sell that POS brand) and it would cost even more overall. We complained- they said take it or leave it. I felt like they sold me a piece of garbage unit under "warranty" and then milked me after the fact. What good is a warranty if it cost 1/3 the price of the whole unit to get "warranty" work done? Oh well- I did fix my own refrigerator and save a few hundred dollars.

Episode 2- 200k mile Ford truck hesitating on acceleration- 2 trips to the dealer- they said it was fixed both times- not even close. Charged me ~$400. I did get a new oil leak out of it that I also had to fix. I fixed the problem myself at home by shotgun changing several parts for a few hundred dollars.

I often feel ripped off by companies/people like that. An honest, reliable, fair priced service person is worth their weight in gold and I would go out of my way to do business with them.


On a sidenote- I would never have purchased that model/brand A/C unit in the first place. I was in Iraq, it was summer in Yuma and my wife was pregnant- she was desperate and she bought the first one they were selling. I don't blame her, but now I feel they really took advantage of that.
Jeff S

[wtelliott]

Catigale

Good for you. I had a somewhat similar situation with the furmace in my son's home that he had just purchased. The furnace was new, never operated. The weather started cooling down while I was taping his drywall so we turned up the thermostat...NOTHING. Called the HVAC installer (non union) and he sent a guy over. At first he told the daughter-in-law who was home at the time that it was just a fuse, after returning from the shop where he consulted with his boss, he then claimed that the circuit board was smoked. A friend of mine and I had looked at the furnace when it first happened and since it was a new installation, figured we would let the installer correct the problem under warrantee. We had looked at the board and there were no signs of damage so I called the contractor and told him that I wanted to see the old and supposedly damaged part. He refused. I then told him that either he write off the whole repair or furnish me with the old part and if he refused, we would let a judge decide if he should get paid. Well, he cursed me out over the phone for butting in to something that was none of my business. I just told him that his messing with my son WAS my business. We never heard from him again.
By the way, I don't recall reading that Catagale's HVAC company was a union outfit, or did I miss that part??
More people should be standing up to underhanded business dealings. Once again, congratulations.