Lock Haven Plumbing and Heating

On 2/5/14 [redacted] called for no heat with no hot water. When we have arrived  we seen that they were heating with a pellet stove found boiler firing and up to temperature but no pressure in the system. While refilling the system a leak was found on a heating line for front right bedroom in the...

soffit. Indirect water heater circulator pump had over heated and needs to be replaced, boiler feeder needs to be replaced, heat line repaired and system retested for any other issues. Homeowners said that they have been heating with the pellet stove all winter long. 2/17/14 We abandoned frozen and broken heat line in soffit for front bedroom. Connected in the bedroom baseboard enclosure will have to be matched or replaced to accommodate piping. Filled system tested found there are more frozen heat lines owner will locate other frozen area.

Complaint: [redacted]I
am rejecting this response because:
On 2/15/14, not 2/5/14, a repairman showed up and pressed the boiler reset
button. The boiler did not fire up and the repairman said he did not know what
was wrong with it because that usually works. The repairman said he was new
with this company and has not worked on oil fired units in the last 20 years.
He also stated that Lock Haven Plumbing and Heating does not work on oil fired
units and that they sublet these jobs out. Due to the lack of knowledge of the
first repairman a second repairman needed to be called to come check out the
concern.  At least 1 hour passed, with nothing being done, until the
second repairman arrived. We do not feel we should be billed for this time
frame. The second service technician, [redacted], arrived and found an issue with frozen
pipes. After discussion, we agreed to get by with partially heating the house
with the pellet stove until Monday. [redacted] was pretty convincing telling us it was
going to cost us $4000 to repair our frozen pipes and even more if they worked
Sunday at double time.  In response to the comment that we were heating
our home with a pellet stove, this is incorrect. We were heating the downstairs
family room with a pellet stove and supplementing our main source of heat, the
oil fired furnace.
When they returned on Monday, February 17th, they performed an incomplete and
unprofessional job in the front bedroom where the frozen pipe was located. We
were told that we would have to purchase and install the enclosures for the
relocated pipes. We only agreed to this job because the ridiculous $4000 repair
bill came up again and Rob stated the pipes would most likely freeze again if
they stayed located in the same spot. In twenty years of living in this house we never experienced
frozen pipes even when the basement was not heated or finished. The day ended
with a phone call telling us we now had another frozen pipe and the so called
failed circulator pump couldn't be replaced for three days due to not having
one available locally. On Wednesday, February 19, 2014, we get a call from [redacted]
telling us they were busy on another job and were not going to make it, at this
point my husband got upset and basically told him their services were no longer
needed and hung up on him.
We contacted another repair service 2/19/14. They came 2/20/14 repaired the
pipe, fired the system and it would shut off after 15-20 minutes of
running.  They then checked and replaced clogged fuel filter. The boiler
has been running fine ever since. The repairman stated that with the filter
being so severely clogged the boiler didn't fire up when it needed to, causing
the pipes to freeze. He also stated the circulator pump was fine, but
recommended installing a new pump at a later date since we told him it got extremely
hot and to also have our boiler serviced yearly including fuel filter. During
this time frame of 5 days, we had no primary source of heat and no domestic hot
water thus causing us to heat water on the stove for bathing.
We feel that Lock Haven plumbing and heating did not fulfill their service
agreement causing the frozen pipes. Now looking back on our records, this was
the second time on having a contract with them that our heating system did not
get serviced by this company. In October of 2013 we requested them to come and
service the system and were told that someone would get in contact with us to
set a date for service and this never happened. While speaking with the
secretary on 2/15/14, we were told that Rob was made aware of our need and
forgot to handle this. We purchased the PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT with
them to prevent and maintain our heating unit. We then received an invoice from
this company for services rendered and were not satisfied with what we saw. We
then requested from this company a detailed/itemized invoice breaking down the
expenses of their service but did not receive one. We called again to request a
detailed/itemized bill and this time we were told they do not itemize bills
and refused to give us one. Now, they want us to pay an
inflated bill that would not have happened if they would have complied with the
maintenance agreement.
Attached are two photos of the clogged fuel filter.
Thank You,
[redacted] & [redacted]

Review: We had an agreement with this company for yearly maintenance of hvac systems. This company did not perform maintenance on the heating system, resulting in boiler failure. The boiler failed due to clogged oil filter resulting in frozen pipes, no domestic hot water nor primary source of heat for 5 days.Desired Settlement: No charge due to their failure to properly maintain heating system per agreement.

Business

Response:

On 2/5/14 [redacted] called for no heat with no hot water. When we have arrived we seen that they were heating with a pellet stove found boiler firing and up to temperature but no pressure in the system. While refilling the system a leak was found on a heating line for front right bedroom in the soffit. Indirect water heater circulator pump had over heated and needs to be replaced, boiler feeder needs to be replaced, heat line repaired and system retested for any other issues. Homeowners said that they have been heating with the pellet stove all winter long. 2/17/14 We abandoned frozen and broken heat line in soffit for front bedroom. Connected in the bedroom baseboard enclosure will have to be matched or replaced to accommodate piping. Filled system tested found there are more frozen heat lines owner will locate other frozen area.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]