For the past week, we all have been experiencing extremely cold temperatures outside. In our case, the frigid temperatures were happening inside our home also.
One week ago, our furnace started acting funny, so I called WNG.(Friday) They sent out a technition, who immediately condemned the furnace. He said it could be putting carbon monoxide into the house. Needless to say, I was relieved that professionals were now on the job. Because it was so cold, we agreed that we needed someone to come right away to discuss our options. I was told that someone would call to set up an appointment, and that he would bring us some space heaters, since I had absolutely no heat in the house. I was told to turn on my oven to warm up the place.(an impossible task for a tri-level house) I waited by the phone all day for that call, but when my husband got home around 5 pm, there was still no call. Then at 6:30pm, a man arrives, saying he had a 6:30 appointment. News to me.
We went over our options, and chose a new furnace. Now the good news. They couldn't install the new furnace until Monday afternoon. They would call before they came. We spent 3 days in sub freezing weather, with no heat. There were no space heaters offered.
Early Monday morning, I received a call saying that the installers were on their way, (they were actually already in the driveway)I wasn't expecting anyone until that afternoon, so I wasn't even up or dressed yet. Since I was freezing, I overlooked their unannounced arrival.
The 2 servicemen worked all day (Monday) to install the new furnace, and finally we had heat again. For less than 24 hours. The next afternoon (Tuesday) when I got home from running errands, the house was again very cold. I called WNG after I realized it wasn't going to start up on it's own.
Another service person finally showed up around 9:30pm. He was unable to find the trouble, but said he needed to order some new parts. We're in the cold again. Still no space heaters were offered. Early Wednesday morning , a call to say the parts wouldn't be in until Thursday afternoon.
Needless to say, by this time my discomfort and frustration had reached monumental proportions. I think I mentioned something about my attorney at this point. Two hours later, 10am, I get a call from the General manager, saying he will personally come with new parts that morning or early afternoon. Ok, I'm starting to calm down a little finally.
By 6pm, I have called back several times to find out what was happening, and was told that they had been jumping through hoops all day to get the needed parts. Through all this, I was having difficulty understanding why a "brand new furnace" needed new parts already.
Finally, after 7pm, the general manager finally arrives and tries to locate the problem. He replaces the parts that the first tech. said needed replacing, but the furnace still wouldn't work. I again mentioned that I found it hard to believe that a new furnace would need to be fixed less than 24 hours after installation. I thought that when you buy a new product, you should have a reasonable expectation that it would work for more that a few hours. He said, "you didn't buy the $27,000 Boeing furnace. Why would you expect a $4200 one to actually WORK?"
Well, excuse me, but to us, $4,200 is a great deal of money, and the cost shouldn't determine whether or not it works! He did ultimately figure out the problem, and we actually had heat by 10pm Wednesday night.
On a final note, it was finally determined that no new parts were even needed, because the whole fiasco was due to the installers incorrectly setting up the condensation removal system. Somebody needs to go back to installation school.
I have to say that this past week has been one of the worst in my memory. I have a medical condition that has been greatly exaserbated by the cold frigid conditions that I have had to live with.
I know that WNG did not cause the weather to become so cold, nor did they cause my furnace to choose this particular bad time to go out. What they did do, was fail to follow through with their promises, and leave me feeling like I will never want to recommend their services to anyone else. I'm not saying that any one person was actually rude to my face, but feeling condescended to is almost as bad.
Is this any way to run a company?
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