Ballard Natural Gas Service Inc

They totally botched the heat pump, installing it incorrectly, sloppily. They had to come out about 25 times before they finally got it in right, but there are still flaws in the protective cover on the outside of the house...there is a big gap at the top. They also failed to fully insulate the outside unit, leaving the bottom 6 inches uninsulated. These guys had to come out so many times, it is totally ridiculous. Amateurs. They have a shisty sales guy who is all about the sales, but doesn't know much about the systems, so you have to wait for the expert installer, who doesn't actually install anything, just makes the plans, but isn't present when the amateur workers come out to do the installation. So basically you got three plus men who aren't too good at communicating with each other, and you have to wait for each of them to come out. The people who do the installations don't actually seem to know how to install the units. They put several extra holes in our walls that we have to deal with patching, sanding, repainting, and their prices are high. I would NOT recommend these people with their screwed up system for handling customers and using amateurs to install this complicated machinery. They also did not do a good job cleaning up the messes they made, leaving it for us to clean up after them. Now we have to have them out AGAIN to properly insulate the unit and fix the gap in the line cover, which runs the entire front of our house.

They were super prompt! They were here the same day, and they were pretty professional. It was a good experience!

They were at the job on time, and completed on time. This is more work I have had them do. My experience with them in the past is why I chose them to do this job, and I will use them again when I have the other fireplace insert replaced. These folks are very pleasant to work with.

I decided to go with BNG because of their community service record and the professionalism of their salesman despite the fact that their price was a bit higher than another bid. They were to install a gas insert into my existing fireplace without any alterations to the mantel and original facade - the house has been in my family for over 30 years and it is sentimental. They showed up promptly the morning the work was scheduled and were expected to be done by the end of the day. Confident that they would do good work I left them unattended for a few hours. I returned to a house full of brick dust, bricks falling out of my mantel and several sloppy holes had been cut into the outside of my house and brick work. They hadn't even bothered to mask anything or shut doors before cutting into the bricks! There was red dust covering antique furniture and artwork, my home office, upholstered and leather furniture.....it was horrifying and unbelievable. I called the manager who assured me that they would "get the highest rated cleaning service on Angie's list" right over to clean my entire house and did I have any special requests. I requested that they get a green cleaning service that used non-toxic chemicals. At this point their worker took off very quickly and I waited. I had to call a day later because I hadn't heard from them. They said "the cleaning service had my number wrong and they would have them call me that day". I managed to get that scheduled but they sent a very inexpensive pair of undocumented workers NOT "the best rated service on Angie's List. They did do a nice job cleaning but used conventional cleaning products that I don't usually allow in my home. The next part of this drama was the mason who came to give an estimate on repairing the damage. He said he'd "never seen a worse hack-job" and made me aware of the holes that had been left unsealed on the outside of my home. This was a full week after BNG had started work. There was a hole into our crawl space that was large enough for rodents to enter. I requested that BNG come out and fill the hole; I was told, "no, we may just have to open it up again later and rodents don't seek shelter this time of year." What did happen is that yellow jackets made a nest in my wall and they had to send an exterminator out a week later. They did pay for a mason to fix the brick work on the inside of the house and while it is not the original which I was fond of it is very nice. The rest of the work is sloppy. I have pictures I could attach but I can't figure out how to do this in this form. One more thing that I thought was very shabby of BNG is once the mason was done I had to wait another 10 days for them to hook up the fireplace as they were "now very busy installing air conditioners due to the weather". I am used to (and expect) much more respectful treatment when spending thousands of dollars on a service. I had to fight constantly to get my property respected with these people and wouldn't let them near my home again.

They did everything perfect! I am quite the perfectionist and I don't give out good reports often, but this company did not skip a beat. I wished Angie's List would let me give them an A+.

Prompt-but arrived in street clothes.

The technician forgot to turn the gas on before leaving, but they were very responsive when I called, and quickly set me up with a technician to talk me through turning the gas on and getting the furnace working again.

The damage: * The gross cost of the job was $15,530 / less a $1000 rebate / for a net cost of $14,530. Kudos: * BNGS succeeded in making it a bit less painful to spend that much money. * The BNGS technicians who installed the furnace and the heat pump were pros. * The entire job was finished in two consecutive days. * The electrical subcontractor ("As You wish Electric") who installed the heat pump wiring was a pro . * The guy who cleaned the ducts, went above and beyond the call of duty...Thanks Sean. * BNGS was recommended by a friend of mine who had a gas furnace and a heat pump installed by them. * I would hire "Ballard Natural Gas Service" again and will recommend them when the opportunity arises. * Since the installation, I've had "As You Wish Electric" do more work for me. Minor nitpicks: * They forgot to install a new robber vent on the furnace. I went down to BNGS, picked up a new vent, cut the heat duct to the correct size, and installed it myself. * The owner didn't know how to work the newly installed, top-of-the-line thermostat. I can't remember if he offered to send someone by to explain how to work it. However, I lied to him when I told him that my wife and I would read the owner's manual and figure it out ourselves. When he left, I handed the owner's manual to my wife because she's much better at those things than I am.

I scheduled a routine annual furnace check. The technician discovered that the heat exchangers need to be replaced. I was asked to pay half in advance. And, I also paid for next year's check-up to insure that I would get the same price as this year and to be considered a valued customer. The technician showed up to replace the heat exchangers with the wrong part. It took half a day to take the furnace apart and the re-assemble it. I was told that I would receive a call when the right part was in stock. I did not receive a call and had to call to reschedule. The technician showed up with the right part and made the repair. Only recently have I discovered that the electronic air filter has not work this entire season. It was dirty and needed to be cleaned when the technician was here. Now, after most of the heating system is over, it is spotless. I plan to call the company to see if they will send someone to do the repair without charge. I would not use this company again if I had not already paid for another year's routine check.

Perfect from start to finish. Levi was extremely professional and knowledgable. I am so happy that I found Ballard Natural Gas, and that someone is going to call and remind me next year re the service!

These guys are really top notch operators. I will bring them back to install new fireplace inserts, soon. They started on time, and finished on time. Very personable sales team and installers. I highly recommend them.

It was a little more complicate than I thought at first, but they did really well. They were really helpful and even helped us put our range in place. They went above and beyond.

Estimate was provided in a timely manner.

First of all, I have been using the services of Ballard Natural Gas since I first bought my house about twenty years ago. I call them every year around the month of October for maintenance of the heater and I have never had any complains about their service, prices or their personnel. During their last service a couple of months ago, the technician warned me that the old furnace was not going to last much longer. He actually explained the problem in detail. In spite of the warning, I tried to make it through this winter and that was my mistake. The heater finally gave up and I immediately called them, even though it was already way past business hours. I left a message and I got a call back immediately and explained the situation. The next day, their consultant visited me and explained very clearly and gave me printed material of the different choices. Once I made my choice, the technician came over and installed the new equipment later that day. The following day, the consultant came over to make sure that I was satisfied with the equipment and the work done. I have to mention that aside from installing the heater, they did something else. It was a "return air intake" that goes through the wall where the heater is to the other side of the wall in order to suck up the cold air in that space. The basement is much warmer now and I appreciate very much that they did this. Finally, all I have left to say is that I was very satisfied with the service that this company has provided to our family through the years and especially, their prompt, reasonably priced, and well done job on this occasion.

I purchased a house immediately replaced the furnace and some of the ductwork, which was coated with years of soot from burning oil. The upstairs (old) vents needed to be cleaned prior to use. The quality of duct cleaning varies greatly by company, so I turned to Angie's list and found Ballard Natural Gas which was highly rated and close by. After reviewing the website, I still had questions of what exactly a service call entailed. I call and spoke to two people, who weren't particularly helpful and couldn't articulate what a tech did, other than cleaning vents and changing the furnace filter, but I scheduled anyway based on the Angie's list review. I was told that they charged according to the number of vents, so I scheduled an appointment to have three ducts and two cold-air returns cleaned. The day of my appointment, I called to inquire where they were a half an hour after the arrival time. They said they didn't have a record of the appointment and I would have to reschedule. The person on the phone was rude and accused me of making a mistake, saying, "I must have scheduled with a different company." In retrospect, maybe that was a hint I should have taken? When I scheduled the second appointment, they gave me a window in the middle of the day and said that they would call before coming so I could meet them at the house. About fifteen minutes into the time window, I called the dispatcher and she reassured me that the service tech had my number and would call. A half an hour after the time window I called the dispatcher again and she told me that the service tech had been calling me and I wasn't answering. I asked what number the tech was using and she told me a number that I didn't recognize. Turns out that although I had given them all my information they never updated the info of the house in the computer system from when they did a service call for the old owner in 2008. The dispatcher gave me the number of the service tech so I could call him. The tech said he had been at the house and left because he needed about three car lengths of parking in front of the house to park the truck, which was not available. I asked if he could use the alley, which is what I assumed would be done since it is a long way from the street to the house. He stated that the truck was so big it does not fit down alleys so I had to rescheduled and block off parking. That seems like something that I should have been told when I made the appointment in the first place... The morning of my third appointment, I blocked off parking (annoyed all my new neighbors), took off work (again!), and they called that morning to tell me the tech called in sick and I would have to reschedule. For my fourth appointment, I blocked off parking. When the tech arrived (20 minutes after the scheduled appointment time, even though I was the first stop) and looked at the street parking and said that with that amount of hose it would take to get to the house because it was so far from the street, he wouldn't be able to get good suction. He then drove the truck around through the alley (that according to the other tech it wouldn't fit into) and started cleaning. He did a good job with the three ducts that he cleaned, but questioned if I really wanted the air returns cleaned because it would be a lot of work and not 100% effective since the returns were not tightly sealed. I agreed to skip the returns, thinking that at least I would save a little money. Nope! I was still charged for the full amount because apparently they do NOT bill by the vent as I was told on the phone. Because the furnace was new, the tech also did not have to remove the compressor and clean the actual furnace, which is supposed to be part of the service call (according to the tech), nor did he change the furnace filter. He was in and out in less than two hours, not the three to four hours that I was told to expect. The tech's parting words were that I should take of the register covers (that he had just put back on) to wipe out the vents with a damp rag. I thought I was paying them to clean? Update: March 2013 I was contacted by Ballard Natural Gas. They apologized both verbally and financially, which was much appreciated.

Since I had been well pleased by the service when the company installed a replacement for my old furnace last year, I called them to service it. The consultant on the phone clearly explained the options and costs, and I signed up for a periodic-service contract. The technician who came to carry out the service arrived promptly within the service window and quickly replaced the furnace filter (part of the contract) and cleaned the unit. He mentioned that the furnace had no surge-protector. I am usually leery of such trade-up mentions from service technicians, but he explained clearly just what a surge protector could do (i.e., prevent a surge from frying the electronics which control even the simplest devices these days.) I accepted his offer to install one on the spot, and rejected with thanks an automatic shutoff for the gas service in case of earthquake, which was too pricey to accept without thorough investigation of its real-world value.

The technicians arrived promptly to perform the air duct cleaning, but had there had been a miscommunication with the office and they were unaware that they were also to clean and service the furnace. One person began prepping the home for air duct cleaning while the other person returned to the office to get additional equipment. Both workers were efficient, professional and friendly. The work did not include washing the registers as I had believed it would. After the cleaning they turned on the furnace and immediately all of the registers blew out dust and cob webs that I would have expected to be removed with the cleaning. They told me this was normal. A few weeks after the service was performed we were rearranging furniture and found that one of the air vents hidden behind a chair was no longer flush with the floor. We removed the cover to find that the duct below had been damaged. (We know this happened at the time of the air cleaning because the laminate floor had been installed shortly before and everything was flush at that time.) I contacted Ballard Natural Gas about this situation by phone and emailed the photos. The woman on the phone confirmed receiving the photos verbally and told me I should hear back from a manager ASAP. That was over 2 months ago now and I have not heard back.

I do not like that the person who was going to change my oil to natural gas was upset that I pick-up the heating pumps. The installation was great. I do not think that I need to. I would not use them again in the future.

We were most impressed with the thoroughness and knowledge of the staff at Ballard Natural Gas. When we found out our furnace needed to be replaced we got several quotes and were told very different things from all of the reps. Only Ballard Natural Gas actually checked with our city to find out what the regulations were so they could give us the answers. The installation was complicated because of the configuration of pipes in our garage but they did a great job. It all went smoothly and we are very happy with our new furnace. We also appreciate that they followed up with us a couple times and have delivered the replacement filters to our house. I would definitely recommend Ballard Natural Gas.

We had just used Ballard to help fix our furnace and then decided to replace the furnace (see previous review). We received bids from other companies listed on Angie's, and Ballard was very competitive. They were efficient in the installation, even bringing space heaters to keep the house warm while it was being installed. Their pre-assessment was also much more thorough than the other company providing a bid.

We contacted three HVAC companies to look at replacing our really old gas furnace, as well as to install a new gas fireplace insert. Out of the three, two were very prompt in scheduling an appointment to review our situation. Of those two, the gentlemen from Ballard Natural Gas were by far the most thorough and professional. They were really clear on our options and their written estimate was very complete and concise. On top of all that, their price, while not the lowest, was very competitive. The installation crew was professional and knew what they were doing. They got the whole job (both furnace and fireplace insert) done in one day and left the place as clean as when they got there, if not cleaner. Overall, we've been very happy with the experience and the equipment is working just as advertised. Angie's List really helped us make the right decision.

When I woke up Saturday morning, my house was kind of cold, and I realized the furnace had quit. After checking Angie's List, I called Ballard, because they had good ratings, and were close to me. Kathleen answered the phone and was very nice. She said she could have someone come out today (Saturday). I asked whether there was a surcharge for weekend service. She said the basic charge (exclusive of further work) would be $115, which was only $20 more than the weekday charge of $95. I said that sounded fine. She said Matt would be out. Matt arrived, and when he saw a dribble of water on my basement floor, he immediately said the problem was the condensate pump, which he could replace. When I asked if there was any chance the pump could be repaired, he was a little annoyed, and said they don't do that. But then, I guess to satisfy me, he went through the motions of plugging and unplugging various connections, and checking the pump with various electrical tools, until he found a switch that he said was "intermittent". He seemed a bit stressed, and volunteered that he was having a bad day. I agreed that he should replace the pump, which he did. He charged me $125 for the visit, and $266 for the pump. When I said that Kathleen had said the charge would be $115, he insisted that $125 was the correct charge. So that's what I paid. He did give me a 10% discount on the pump for being an Angie's List customer. With tax, the total was $401.55. I realize now that he charged me tax on the full price of the pump, not the discounted price, which doesn't seem quite right. In spite of Matt's slight testiness, and the minor price discrepancies, the fact is that my furnace was promptly fixed on a Saturday, and I was grateful for that.

They are always on time and do a great job!

Ballard has been working with us a week helping to diagnose and fix a problem with our furnace. They have been extremely responsive, even on the weekend. They got it working until they could come back and fix the issue later in the week. All of their staff have been wonderful, particularly Sean and Isaac. We may eventually need a new furnace and will be calling them again!

Installer was there for about 4 hours and left the area cleaner than he found it. had to install a chimney liner for the flue, as well as a new gas furnace and coordinate with the electronic thermostat in the unit. I met them the next day on-site to inspect and pay the balance fo the bill. He then picked up the space heaters that they had lent me. Excellent experience overall.