The Fireplace Guy LLC

I spoke with Aaron Raduechel in early December, 2011, and then sent him an email, including a clear description of the problem (direct vent gas fireplace with coaxial venting being starved of combustion air). In my email, I explained the troubleshooting performed already, and that the flame would extinguish itself unless I opened a vent to allow combustion air into the chamber from an alternate source than its intended air supply intake duct. I explained that the roof and chimney cap had recently been replaced, and I expected that the roofers had either plugged the intake duct to prevent debris from falling down it when they were replacing chimney flashing, or they replaced the flue termination cap with the wrong one, blocking the intake. I noted that the roof was very high, and I would rather pay him to get up there to find/solve the problem than to climb up there myself. I offered the use of my extension ladder if he did not have a very tall one. We scheduled a time with the tenant for him to gain access to the fireplace. She forgot about it, so he was unable to get inside the unit at that time. Technically, he only needed on the roof to solve the problem, but I can understand why he would want to take a look at the fireplace first to confirm what I had told him, so as to ensure he wasn’t wasting a trip onto the roof. When “missed appointments” like that occur, service people often don’t bother billing for them because the collection rate is so low. They are however entitled to compensation for wasting their time and mileage. That wasted trip to the townhouse is the biggest part of the reason why I paid his bill without argument. He rescheduled with the tenant for the following Friday. Upon gaining access to the fireplace itself, a reasonable amount of time after the call (~10 days), given the circumstances, Aaron told her (as reported by the tenant) that he needed to obtain the manual for the fireplace and read up on it to diagnose the problem. Note that I had included links to all manuals for the fireplace in my original email to Aaron. Approximately five (5) weeks later, without either the tenant or myself hearing from Aaron, I gave up waiting for him to solve the problem, assuming that he just didn’t know how to proceed, even though I had already told him what needed done first (inspecting the flue & cap), or that he just wasn’t into roofs (which I had said up front to refer me to someone else if he didn’t like getting on the roof). I had no doubt in my mind that he had abandoned the job, and that calling him more than a month afterward to tell him I was moving forward without him would be unnecessary, rude, and confrontational. Not doing so, however, turned out to be my own mistake, and the other part of the reason I paid his bill without argument. Aaron sent me an email about two months after the initial contact, and a few days after someone else solved the problem by replacing the flue termination cap within a couple of days of my contact, without ever gaining access to the interior of the townhouse. In his email, Aaron stated that he would like to take me up on my offer (stated in my original email) to loan him my 24 ft extension ladder, as his extension ladder was too short to reach the roof in question. I was surprised to hear from him. Since I had told Aaron in the initial email of the height of the roof and that the job was to get on it, I would have expected him to arrive with that ability in the first place. Also, if he didn’t heed my warning of the height of it on his first visit, he certainly should have seen it then, and had the ability on his second visit. Also, since the combustion process is pretty simple, and the same in all direct vent fireplaces, I wouldn’t expect him to need more than a month to read-up on it to diagnose the problem, especially when I had already told him where to look. Further, if he wasn’t going to return to that job for more than a month, I would expect him to contact me to let me know he had not abandoned it. I explained all of this to Aaron as reason for my reason for feeling responsible for not contacting him, but justified in moving on without him, when I gave up waiting for him. He understood, and also apologized for his own failure in communication. Aaron really does seem to be a fair and honest guy. He is amiable, didn’t get upset about my position regarding this job or my actions, and he took responsibility at least for his own part in failing to communicate. He came highly recommended to me by another HVAC contractor, so I suspect that he is good at what he does, although I don’t believe he did a highly competent job in this one case. Aaron billed me $95 for his time. In evaluating whether that was appropriate or not, I considered two factors: 1) Did I receive any value in the transaction? I did not. After seven weeks of waiting, I ended up climbing up there myself to confirm my diagnosis, and then getting someone to repair it. 2) Was he charging a fair amount for what he put into the job? He made two trips out there to deal with it. While I’d say he should eat the second one for not being prepared to do the job on arrival, the first trip is definitely on me. Other HVAC contractors charge about $80 to show up at your door one time. This is in the ballpark, although a little high. I’m giving it a “C” Angie’s List requires a “yes” or “no” answer for “Would you use this provider again?”… I had to answer “no” because “I don’t know” is not an option. I could well use him again. Different folks have different expectations of timeliness and focusing on a job until it is complete. I have friends who I know would “think on something” for a month before getting back to it. Knowing what to expect up front, I think I could well work with Aaron again under the right circumstances, with the proper understanding of what needed to get done and by what date. If timeliness was critical, I will probably look elsewhere. I hope this description was fair and accurate. I know that people with different priorities than my own will have vastly different valuations of this experience. That is why I posted the WHOLE story, so that people can choose for themselves, based on their own priorities, rather than mine.