So, two weeks after my first phone call (during which time our guests were just chilling), Jimmy showed up again, this time to replace the valve and get our system back in service.\u00a0 I didn’t bother to stand around and watch.\u00a0 It took Jimmy about 40 minutes, after which he went out to his truck to “write it up,” figuratively speaking.<\/p>\r\n
Jimmy came back and announced the total – $160 – but he couldn’t hand me an invoice because he had figured it out on his tablet.\u00a0 He told me the office would email me a copy.\u00a0 All right, fine.\u00a0 I wrote Jimmy a check for $160, happy to have at least “saved” about $240 compared to their original quote.<\/p>\r\n
But this is not quite the end of the story.\u00a0 I was curious why this service call cost more than the first one, and I got the answer when the invoice arrived a couple of days later:<\/p>\r\n
Not only did this sub-one-hour visit cost $15 more (perhaps to cover the depreciation on Jimmy’s wrench?) but it included a spurious $25 “environmental fee” — which was taxed as well.\u00a0 To be clear, this environmental fee had nothing to do with any methane gas that escaped when Jimmy replaced the valve — after all, this is North Carolina, not California.<\/p>\r\n I did a search for “HVAC environmental fee<\/a>” and learned that heating\/cooling firms will, to the annoyance of their customers, charge them an “environmental fee” whenever they have to dispose of something.\u00a0 (Or, all the time.)\u00a0 In my case, the item subject to disposal was the old valve, a block of metal that would fit in the palm of your hand.\u00a0 I could have disposed of the valve myself for less than $25 (about $25 less than $25 in fact, plus tax) but I wasn’t asked.\u00a0 That’s because the service department preferred to toss my old valve into their scrap-metal bin and inflate my bill by 20%.<\/p>\r\n The HVAC company we used obviously doesn’t read the online forum “HVAC-TALK” for heating\/cooling professionals.\u00a0 One pro on the forum summed up<\/a> their consensus attitude toward environmental fees and the like:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n … Don’t nickle and dime the customer with little fees, everybody hates that. Leave that to the cable, utility and telephone companies, everyone already hates them. Exactly.\u00a0 And while you’re at it, don’t pretend that your “service guarantee” on a repair is worth charging double what the work would cost without one, as it would have in my case.<\/p>\r\n The bottom line: I saved $240 on my repair but still wound up feeling like I was taken to the cleaners, or shall I say, the heaters.\u00a0 I can safely say that, due to their pricing practices, this company will not be among those I call if my system needs to be repaired or replaced.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For five decades of my life, I was either an engineer, learning to be one, or getting over it.\u00a0 But being an engineer did not automatically make me an expert in plumbing, electricity or residential heating and cooling — all … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/BullmanCapture.png\")
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\r\nFigure out how much you need to charge to cover all the miscellaneous BS and roll it into your flat rates.<\/em><\/p>\r\n