I would not use B&B again. I called them last November to order a tune-up for our furnace, since I had a coupon for $90 or so. The coupon didn't say anything about not applicable to oil furnaces, but the mechanic said he couldn't accept it since it was oil. I decided to go with them anyway since they were at my house. Their labor rates seemed a little on the high side- $110/first 30 mins, $45/15 mins, but I thought they would be in and out in about 45 minutes. None of our previous tuneups had every taken more than an hour. Boy was I wrong. It took B&B over 2 1/2 hours, and our furnace is only three years old. Not only that, but the technician tracked mud throughout our house, and had to wait for a part to be delivered (I wasn't charged for this time, other than the extra hour of leave I had to burn). They were thorough, taking all the usual measurements, but so so slow. The total bill came to $390. I just about had a heart attack.
RESPONSE FROM B & B AC & Heating Services:
In response to a recent posting by Mr. Heishman, we would like to clarify the following facts. Mr. Heishman called on November 4th for an $89.95 inspection of his oil fired furnace. The service was scheduled for November 22nd and completed the same day. Most oil furnace inspections by themselves typically average about 1-hour to1-hour and thirty minutes.
The following items were thoroughly inspected on the Armstrong model LUF80C57/72V12-1A variable-speed oil fired furnace with was manufactured November 2005, to reinsure safe and reliable operation.
Cleanliness or heat exchanger and entire venting system (Excessive soot buildup)
Cleanliness of the air filter, blower assembly and evaporator cooling assembly
Visual safety inspection of the furnace heat exchanger and combustion chamber
Oil pump operating pressure and vacuum
Oil primary control, ignition transformer and cad cell relay
Motor amp draws on the oil burner motor and blower motor assembly
Motor bearing on the oil burner motor and blower motor.
Safety limit control device
Furnace temperature rise
A fuel combustion efficiency test
Oil filter
Oil nozzle
Now after the inspection was completed the service technician had some recommendations (with additional labor material/labor charges) for the homeowner to re-insure proper operation of the furnace and improve the overall efficiency. The technician recommended the replacement of the oil filter, oil nozzle, and adding HOT FUEL OIL TREATMENT to the outdoor oil tank which disperses moisture and prevents it from mixing with the oil and fouling the ignition of the oil furnace. These additional charges are quoted on a time and material basis which was discussed with the homeowner prior to commencing the work.
Unfortunately, our technician did not have the OEM replacement oil nozzle on his service truck. So replacement nozzle was delivered to the job site which extended the actual job time but the customer was not charged for any of the delivery time. After the parts were replaced a combustion efficiency test was performed, in which burner achieved an efficiency of 81.5.
We sincerely apologize for causing any type of mess. Our technicians are issued shoe covers and disposal gloves to help prevent these problems. Sometimes the weather or the parking area is not always conducive for in home servicing and extra precautions should be practiced to help alleviate such a situation. We are homeowners ourselves and stress with our technicians to treat the home as if was your own.
After the service Mr. Heishman called with his concern over the labor charges. We agreed to make an adjustment on the labor and credit was issued on his account. A refund of $110.00 was sent to the homeowner, which reduced the customer cost to $277.37 and to the best of our knowledge we thought this matter had been settled.
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