BOHN HEATING & SHEET METAL

Problem was with the bill. Service tech did not inform me of the cost of the thermostat. Imagine my surprise when the invoice arrived and the part cost $204.75. The same exact part is available at Home Depot or online for between $80 and $90. A call to the owner was terribly unproductive. He blamed the Internet for ruining small businesses because I was able to do a price comparison. He freely acknowledged a 100% mark up, claiming it was absolutely required for him to stay in business. The conversation quickly became adversarial so I hung up the phone. In addition to the parts charge there was a charge for $120 for labor plus a $98 service charge for simply showing up. Now I understand that even though the job took 30 minutes, that he charged for a full hour of service. But where I come from, the service charge to show up is not charged when the cost of the job exceeds the service charge. According to the company owner the way he did it "is the way we do it around here". About 7 years ago I bought a furnace from this company. Each year I have paid for their service techs to come by for an inspecition and "tune up". After this experience I will no longer use this company.

The installation of the heater was fine; it was when it stopped working less than two years later that the problem occurred. One of Bohn's technicians looked at it, re-lit the pilot and said to call again if it went out because that would mean that it was probably a valve. I asked him if I should put a bit of willow fencing around the outside vent because maybe the wind was blowing out the pilot and he said no, that would collect gas and make it go out again. The heater did go out the next day and I called Bohn, speaking with the owner Larry. I explained the problem to him and he said he'd call Williams (the company that made the heater) and see about warranty coverage and the cost of the valve. Larry called back the next day and said that the part was not covered and that Williams had quoted him $150 plus tax and shipping. When I asked Larry about his hourly rate, he said it would be $120 an hour but that he would charge me $98 for sending the guy out. When I told him that it did not make sense to me to charge an hourly rate as well as an initial fee he actually raised his voice at me telling me that his overhead was high so he had to charge for time on the road. I asked him, "Ninety eight dollars and the guy was only here for ten minutes?" Larry said, "I guess he has to charge a minimum of a half an hour, I don't know." But, Larry is the owner of the company; he sets the policy. I told him that I'd call back after getting a few other bids. I called Williams, the manufacturer of the heater, directly and the guy who answered, Vince, went on-line while on the phone with me and found several valves for my heater, ranging from $108 to $140. Vince also told me that the fact that the technician from Bohn Heating and Sheet Metal said that if the heater went out again it was probably the valve showed that the technician did not know what he was talking about and that I should look for a new contractor. He said that the valve would be one of the least likely problems. The most likely was the pilot generator, then the thermostat wiring or the actual thermostat itself. I called a new Heating and Sheet Metal contractor, Kirk Ask who said, "It sounds like it's the pilot generator, but I won't know until I see it." Since that was exactly what Vince from the heater manufacturer said that the contractor should say, I felt confident. Kirk came out the same day, re-lit the pilot and said that the wind was blowing out the pilot and that I should put up a little fencing around it, loose enough to let the air through but not so tight as to let gasses collect. When he started to leave, I said, "Wait, I haven't paid you." "Happy New Year!" he said. "If I had done any work, that would be different, but I didn't do anything. See you!"