Would you pay this invoice ?
 

Last October , my furnace went out . I called the company I regularly use, they are usually stellar
They could not get here for 14 days, so I waited, and burned wood, and ran electric heaters. I assumed they were short staffed like everybody else at that time.
They showed up and monkeyed around for a few hours .
They suggested I needed a deep clean , and even though that was the first thing I did when it went out, along with replacing the filters, and cleaning the nozzle , I agreed to let the pros have a go at it .
2 hours later, it still will not run, then they threw the parts cannon at it, trying every different size nozzle, replacing the fuel feed line, the sensing eye, and messing around with air and fuel flows
They still could not get it to work, and could not get back out for another week . 2 guys came out this time. 2 hours later, furnace no worky .
I suggested to them, that I need heat, and lets just replace the entire gun/ burner unit (oil furnace ) and not mess around any more .
They said they wanted to try one more thing. Another week passes before they show. We are now into November, and its getting cold .
I was not home when they came this time, but my wife said they were here for another hour and a half and still could not get it to light .
Getting frustrated, I called another company , they showed up the next day , diagnosed my problem as a bad controller, installed it. $400.00 and he was gone in 2 hours. Furnace worked great the rest of the season .
Just last week, I got an invoice for $1100.00 from the first company for their diagnostic time and materials . They never sent me any type of invoice before. I remember expecting to see one but it never came
Im the kind of guy who values people in the service business , and being a wrench, I completely understand , sometimes things can be tricky to diagnose, but cmon man.
Id never hand someone a 1k dollar bill at my shop for replacing a bunch of low hanging fruit parts) and leave them with a car not running .
I feel like I should pay them for a service call or two, but none of the work they suggested repaired my furnace and it is now almost 10 months later . Still, even giving them half the invoice for a non working furnace kind of grinds my gears, but I would do it , just to keep the relationship in good standing
What do you guys think ?

They must have been doctors or lawyer...just practicing. :D

Give them a call, let them know what's going on...they may redo the invoice.

No way would I pay that invoice. I think you're being generous offering up half. I'd shoot for $250 - $300 at most.

I agree with Eric, call the owner and talk with them. It could be possible that multiple things were wrong and the board only did the trick once the other parts got replaced.

Maybe offer to pay for all the parts, since now you have new ones and pay for a small portion of labor?

Practice what you to say to them, even jot down notes. Be mindful of tone. Pick up the phone. They will say forget it.

I've been killing with kindness in similar situations and it works every time. And you feel good about it. And they do too.

Sounds like their guys need some more training and spare parts to be a go to service company. Owner needs to reflect on this one and give you a break and a promise to do better. Skills count.

No

I'd try Shauns approach at first then if needed negotiate up to paying for the parts and draw the line there. Their time was wasted due to their incompetence.

I'd take Shaun's advice and call them. It almost sounds like their bookkeeper was going through the books and found the parts and service calls hadn't been billed. Shame on them for waiting so long. They also need to up their diagnostic training/processes to get to the heart of the matter a little quicker. I would offer to pay for one service call (I'm sure they have a minimum they charge just to show up at your door) and the parts. No way am I going to pay $1100 for the service that didn't fix the problem.

Shaun nailed it.

You got this because you are in essentially the same business.

The biggest issue? IT TOOK FOREVER and then they were still wrong.

Be nice. You got this.

Please clarify: the new parts that they tried as part of the diagnosis that didn't solve the problem did they leave them installed ? Or did they swap your old parts back in when the new parts didn't fix the issue ?

If they left all the new parts installed then maybe negotiate a reduced rate based on they didn't fix the issue and its been 10 months . And tell them you will pay for one service call .

If they want to be considered for your future business they should be willing to negotiate . Remember just like you they are in business to repair equipment and in this case they didn't/couldn't .

Good post...:)

rwest and shaun's advice above and offer parts cost and maybe one trip. They could be nasty and file a mechanic's lien every two years(?) but it wouldn't go far. A judge should see your side. They jerked you around right before cold season which could have been disastrous. And social media would hurt their business. Offer to make it go away.

Good ideas. I’d pay for one trip charge/service fee, but not parts. If they baulk (sp?), tell them they can put the old parts back in.

First thing I would do is request an itemized list of charges broken down by each part and each labor visit. Otherwise they may claim its all labor or all parts....

After you get the itemized list, decide what you think is fair.

Good will to keep a good relationship with them? Why? They left you high and dry and then billed you for their incompetence. Build a good relationship with the guys who had it fixed in 2 hours.

10 months?

No.

And I'd say "after 10 months I'd assumed you were admitting you didn't really do much to warrant sending me an invoice seeing as I froze my ass off for a month and you didn't actually fix anything"

Did they spend time working on your furnace that failed? Did you call them and get them to come to your house to fix your furnace? Then you owe them some money...

Did they discuss how much per hour plus call out charge before they started work, or did you ask?

How much you pay is between you and them....

Wisest advice above, call the service manager first and have a discussion starting with his decision on this. You might find this invoice was generated outside of his department....

My guess is the work order stayed open because it was never fixed. Someone just grabbed it and made an invoice.
Call them and be nice until you are not.

Some real incompetent techs there. Oil burners are hammer-simple. I forget exactly b/c it’s been a few years since I had to dig into my one, but you either jump low voltage T1-T2 to simulate the thermostat asking for heat, or jump line voltage to L1-L2 to bypass it all and fire the gun. If those tests fire the gun, the problem is upstream (the control, a zone valve, or a thermostat . If they don’t work, the issue is in the gun… but an entirely new oil burner assembly / gun is only about $600.
I’d have a real issue with that bill.