Pinnacle Heating And Air Conditioning Inc

It went well.

We called for several estimates from competitors to check prices on furnace replacement after having another company come out to repair our old furnace. We thought we should just start with something new rather than to continue to start out the winter without knowing if our 38 year old furnace would make it through the season. The company that did the repair gave us a ballpark estimate, but then after checking availability of furnaces, came back with a price over $4000 for what I would consider an "off-brand". Pinnacle showed up on exactly on time for the estimate appointment - if not a little early. He looked at our old system and told us he'd get back with us by the next day. Before he left, he did some "suggestive sales". He asked if we wanted a humidifier and a new thermostat. This always annoys me when I ask someone to come for one thing, but then with all the add ons I end up paying for 20 things I hadn't planned to purchase. However, to his credit, he wasn't pushy and didn't spend alot of time trying to make a hard sell. I didn't at all feel pressured. He asked us to see the oil tank and I told him we had an underground tank. He indicated that this is sometimes problematic because the underground tanks do not have a shut off valve. He left and provided the estimate to us as promised. The estimate came in for significantly less than that of all of the others and for a name brand furnace. We purchased a Lennox furnace and made arrangements for the install. We had already been without heat for a week so we were anxious to move forward. We were told the install would take one day. The install was scheduled for a day that we were at work, so we had a relative there for the day. The crew arrived early on Friday morning 11/30/12 , as promised, around 8 am. When we arrived home from work at 5 pm, the work was not complete and the house reeked of oil. The crew had left for the day. The old furnace was removed but the new furnace not yet installed. We were extremely disappointed by the fact the job wasn't finished on time, but it was very frustrating to find such a mess, damage, smell and know that we would be without heat for another weekend. Additionally, I would have to take off a day from work on 12/3/12 to ensure the job was finished. To access the furnace, the crew had to come through the front door, go through the basement door, down steps, through the laundry area to the furnace. We had sheets and towels in front of the washer, waiting to be laundered. No one from the crew mentioned that they were in the way. They walked over them with oily boots and the sheets were left with large oily boot prints. While our laundry was clearly in the way, they clearly made an effort to prep the carpet upstairs to avoid walking on it and could have simply asked to have someone move the laundry. It did not appear that they did anything to avoid soiling the carpet in the basement, based on the outcome, but I was not there to see what efforts they made. T The stairway is not well lit so the extent of damage to the carpet on the steps is not that noticeable. At the landing though, there was a huge U-shaped stain approximately 4 inches wide and two feet long as well as oily foot prints. The concrete floor was incredibly dirty and oily. The door frames for the front door, back door and basement were all damaged bringing in/taking out the furnaces. The smell was nearly unbearable. It honestly made us ill. Though there was no heat, you could taste the oil in the air. We called to express our displeasure and had to leave a message. We received a call back within a reasonable amount of time and were promised that someone would come out on Monday and make it right....and fix the job. They came and assessed the damage and mess and promised to clean the carpet, fix the trim and weather stripping. They claimed they did not do the damage at the back door, despite large oily human handprints all over the door which I believe was evidence that they were going in and out the door. They claimed it must have been the dog that damaged the trim on that door. I wasn't there so I can't say for certain. They indicated the oil smell was because they couldn't shut off the oil and it leaked into the house. Note that when they originally came for the estimate we discussed this. I believe since this was known in advance, they should have been prepared to take measures to avoid spillage. A worker arrived early Monday 12/3, but the supervisor who was coming to assess the damage did not arrive until significantly later. The work took the majority of the day and wasn't completed until early afternoon on Monday (original time promised was Friday). The supervisor promised to fix and paint the wood trim and clean the carpets and concrete floor. The concrete in the basement was cleaned thoroughly. The supervisor brought in a carpet cleaner to clean the basement carpet to remove what he said was soot from the old furnace (to me, based on the pattern it looks like a liquid spill, most likely oil). He applied wood filler to the woodwork and slapped on a coat of flat white paint. The stain on the carpet remains. The flat white paint does not match the glossy white paint on the trim, either in color or finish. It isn't restored to the quality that it was before they messed it up, but it is better than the damage they caused. The smell from oil remained and unfortunately was so bad that all of our laundry, linens and anything cloth in the basement picked up the smell. We have two bedrooms in the basement and anything that was not in a drawer or closet smelled. When we would leave the house, we would notice that we still all smelled the oil and realized it was coming from our clothing. It was disgusting and lasted about 3 weeks. Its finally going away....or maybe we are just getting used to it. On the second day, little prep was done of our carpet upstairs and the carpet is especially dirty where they walked through the oil while cleaning. The furnace works great. They did a nice job on installing a new thermostat. I think they did fine work on the furnace and thermostat. The price was by far the best. I understand a furnace is huge and hard to maneuver through doorways. I also understand that they could not do anything to shut off the oil. I do think they could have done more to prep for less damage and inconvenience to me. They could have used moving blankets to wrap around the furnace. They could have removed the hand rail from the wall to make it easier and avoid banging up the walls. They could have done more to make it right. The damage is not corrected and the cost of replacing the carpet and sheets as well as the cost of losing a day of work because of the tardiness in completing the work, exceed the cost of the furnace.