Precision Seven Construction

Precision Seven Heating & Cooling was contacted by this customer's home warrantycompany for a second opinion on replacement of the primary and secondary heatexchangers in her furnaceThe labor quote they received from another area HVACcompany was around $1,and the customer thought this
was too highWe wereinformed that this repair fell under the manufacturer warranty and the manufacturerwould cover the cost of the parts and up to a maximum of hours laborHowever, and thisis an important point, the manufacturer only covers a portion of the of the hourly labor rateand NOT the Full labor cost charged by the HVAC companyTherefore, the customer isresponsible for paying the difference.I spoke to the customer BEFORE we did the repair and gave her the quote of $(afterdeducting the manufacturer's responsibility)I did NOT specify regarding the number oftechnicians that would be at her home and I did NOT specify the exact number of hours thatthe job would takeI told the customer that it could be one or two technicians and that thejob could take to hoursOur one technician logged seven (7) hours at the job site on therepair of the heat exchangers and our second technician logged hours ordering the parts& materials, picking up the parts & materials from the supply store and delivering them toour office, picking up the old heat exchangers from the customers home & delivering themback to the supply stare and filling out the manufacturer's warranty paperwork The firsttechnician also logged an additional hours for the pi& replacement of the circuitboard that was broken as he was removing or installing the heat exchangersTHECUSTOMER WAS NOT CHARGED ANYTHING FOR THE PARTS OR LABOR WITH REGARDTO THE CIRCUIT BOARD.The bottom line is this, the customer verbally agreed over the phone with me to the quotedamount of $to replace the primary and secondary heat exchangers in her furnaceWITHOUT any promises from me that she would be credited for any "labor hours notused"IF I had in fact said that, then I also would have told her that she would be billed for"additional labor hours used" over the amount quotedAnd if this were the case, and Ibilled her for the actual number of labor hours my technicians have invested in justservicing the heat exchangers in her furnace, she would OWE Precision Seven significantlymore than the $she was quotedShe was also informed payment in full would berequired to the technician upon completion of the repair.We operate a family owned and operated, Christian based company and we do NOT takeadvantage, lie to or mislead our customersBecause this customer was so upset about theamount of money she had to pay far a part under warranty (which has NOTHING to do withour company), I offered her a FREE one-year service contract as a concession because I didunderstand her frustration and was trying to be accommodatingEven after she agreed tothe price of $and the one-year service contract with me over the phone, she called thehome warranty company (or the manufacturer, I'm not sure whipossibly both) andcontinued to complain about our pricingIt is definitely not within Precision Seven'scontrol what the warranty will pay for and not pay for, but the price we quoted her for thework to be done on her furnace was WELL BELOW the industry standardI evenencouraged her to continue shopping around for a better deal if she was still not satisfiedwith our quote.She ultimately agreed to the $we quoted her and the job commenced the next morning.Upon completion of the repair (which resulted in the heat being restored to her home) ourtechnician requested payment and she refused to payThe following morning, I called herto find out what was going on and she proceeded to go on and on about only "onetechnician" being at her house when she was told two techniciansI tried to explain to herthat the number of technicians at her house is irrelevant to the quote she was given and shewas still refusing to paySo yes, I had to threaten to sue her in order to persuade her to paythe $that she agreed to pay for the services provided and completed by PrecisionSeven Heating & Cooling in repairing her furnaceOnly then did she begrudgingly pay infull.Since she refused to pay as agreed when payment was requested she nullified the freeservice contract offerFurthermore, she agreed that she was no more interested in havingour company return to her home than we were in having her as a customer.In closingI would like to mention that there seems to be some confusion on the part of thecustomer regarding what a price "quote" is versus an "estimate"A quote is just what itsays ..." I am quoting you X amount of dollars to do xyz"An "estimate" is just that ..." I amgiving you an estimated amount of Y dollars to do xyz"The final invoice amount on aquote DOES NOT CHANGE regardless of the time or materials needed to complete the job.The final invoice for an estimate can be higher 0R lower than the original estimatedepending on time and materials requiredShe was given a quote that she agreed to andtherefore she will not receive a refund because there is no amount to refund her.Sincerely,Tony D***Precision Seven Heating & CoolingCo-Owner