Abby's Heating & AC

text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">I am the owner of Abby's Heating, I am writing today to answer the complaint of [redacted].
Mrs [redacted] contacted us to make a service call because of a noisy furnace on January 2nd of 2015.
The technicion oiled the bearings and adjusted the position of the motor to quiet the noise but in order to repair the problem fully he would have to replace the bearings and new bearing are not available.  This furnace, a Williamson brand unit was more than thirty years old and the manufacturer was out of business.  I sent out my estimator to give Mrs [redacted] an estimate for a new furnace.  My estimator interviewed Mrs [redacted] and determined that she would probably qualify for a program though Focus on Energy that would give her $700 towards a new furnace.  Mrs [redacted] also wanted a quote on a new air conditioner and a water heater.  A sixteen seer a/c matched to the furnace would give her a reward though the Focus program of $1000 total for a matched system capable of 16 seer and 95% efficiency.  Researching all the available products that would work takes time for the estimator in the office, it is not a number that we just pull out of a hat.  My estimator was in contact with Mrs [redacted] for about two weeks.  He visited Mrs [redacted]'s property for at least two hours of time to set up her rebate and discuss her options.  Once we had her qualified for the $700 rebate she let us know that she had some bills to take care of and would get back to us in a couple of weeks to set up the installation.  During a period of a few weeks my estimator called Mrs [redacted] and left messages and did not get a call back, when he finally was able to reach her she told him that she had decided to go another direction.  My estimator probably had at least 3 to 4 hours spent on researching for the estimate she requested and filling out the paperwork and filing for the rebate she received.  Sometimes we have customers use our estimates to get lower prices out of our competion.  We did all the work and they just show the numbers for an estimate to a competitor and of course when its slow, normal markups get thrown out the window to secure a job.  This last January it was unusually slow in the heating business all over the area. I am not surprized that someone would beat us out on an estimate when its slow, we keep our prices the same all year no matter if we are busy or not.  Normally we are lower than most of our competitors.  Because of the time involved I told my estimator to send her a bill.  I expected him to send a bill for the service call which had not been billed.  I think he went a bit over the top but I know he was upset by her lack of consideration for his time and effort.  If she had said to us that she had a lower price and could we sharpen our pencils I would not be upset but after putting in the time that we gave her and getting her such a large savings we expected a little consideration.  By the way, we have been told by a Focus on Energy represenative that only 11% of the contractors in the state use their services and we are one of the top contractors in this area.  We are qualified as a trade ally with their program so that means we take the rebate off the price of the goods sold and Focus on Energy pays us the rebate usually within about six to eight weeks. In summary, I would still like to see payment for our service call, invoice #7116, but am willing to waive the bill for our paperwork.
Sincerly, [redacted], Owner, Abby's Heating.

Abby' Heating & AC LLC installed a new furnace last October. The furnace stopped running exactly one year later. Abby's refused to repair it under the warranty. The owner was very rude and condescending.

Review: I had Abby's Heating and Cooling come over when my furnace got loud, they came and looked at it and told me there was nothing they could do. They recommended I replace it and scheduled a free consultation. They came a few days later and I got an estimate, at that time they had me fill out an application for a rewards program. The man said he would send it in for me. After a few financial hurdles we got estimates from a few other companies as well. After a few months had passed and we were financially able to replace the furnace we ended up going with another company. A man from Abbey's called to see if we were still interested and we told him we had gone with someone else. The next day I received a bill in the mail for $126.00, They were now suddenly charging me $63.00 for the first visit which took place months ago and a $63.00 fee for the reward application. This is not an ethical way to conduct business. If they were going to charge me for these services they should have made it clear and billed me at the time of the service. They never mentioned that I would be charged for either of these things. It wasn't until I went with another company that they decided to bill me.Desired Settlement: I would like them to remove all charges.

Business

Response:

I am the owner of Abby's Heating, I am writing today to answer the complaint of [redacted].