Carbon Monoxide Poisoning is no Joke. Hire someone else.
On October 6, 2021, Tim from World of Comfort notified me by email explaining that there was a recall on the very expensive Triangle Tube boiler they had installed years earlier and wanted to set up a service appointment to fix it. He added that “we can also schedule your regular maintenance on the boiler as we have done for you in the past.” In fact, I had not used World of Comfort for at least six years; my regular plumber provides the required boiler maintenance. And since World of Comfort failed to warn me that the recall signalled a potential danger to my health, I postponed scheduling the recall related visit until Dec 1, 2021 — nearly two months later. But I made the mistake of letting Tim know that I had already had the boiler serviced by someone else. The bottom line is that World of Comfort never showed up and never called to let me know that they were not coming! And, when I called, I got the usual apology — that their service guy had made a mistake and gone to a different customer.
BUT THE BIGGER ISSUE IS WHAT I’VE LEARNED SINCE THEN. When I contacted Triangle Tube, I was told that, “While awaiting repair, you should have a working carbon monoxide alarm installed outside of sleeping areas in the home. If you do not have a CO detector, we will arrange for the free issue of an alarm supplied by First Alert, a leading manufacturer of CO alarms.” My bed is literally 15 feet from the defective boiler. And although there was a two month wait between the recall notice and the service date, World of Comfort never bothered to tell me that I needed a carbon monoxide alarm, let alone provide me with a free one. And, since I had no reason to keep up to date on the various risks of carbon monoxide poisoning, I had no idea that I was in danger. I now know, however, that carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that can cause brain damage, sudden illness, and death. My advice is to find someone else to do the work.
UPDATE: I have received the CO detector from Triangle Tube at no charge, and they have arranged for my usual plumber to tend to the recall issue. BTW, my plumber has a Homestars.com rating of 97%.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $20,200.00
- Company Response
*** NOTE: GAIL *******'s REVIEW DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING OF HER OR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH HER AND IS A SLANDEROUS STATEMENT. THE FOLLOWING REVEALS THE TRUTH.
In response to Ms. *******’s email and review she has put me in a position to refute her comments to defend our position and to ensure the entire situation is clearly and truthfully defined, since she chose to go public. Also, the nature of this is not about carbon monoxide poisoning. For her to imply as such is slanderous.
The following is an email that Ms. *******’s sent to me and what World of Comfort’s response is following that:
On November 29, when I still hadn’t heard back from you confirming the time and date,, I wrote to you asking for confirmation — I did that because I wanted to protect myself
from a no show situation,.I wonder if you realize how women fear hearing the doorbell ring while they’re in the shower, or still in their nightclothes. If their appointment is first thing in the morning
(as mine was), we often can’t sleep the night before — worried that we won’t be up on time, or that the guy will show up early. I literally had four hours sleep last night
worrying that I wouldn't hear my alarm. Now, I’m left to suspect that since I have not been using your services for ongoing maintenance, you gave my appointment to someone who
did.You installed this expensive boiler. The guy who did the most recent cleaning has no connection to the product or it’s recall. I will not be booking him or anyone else for
maintenance for two more years. I assume you have an ongoing relationship with Triangle Tube and since World of Comfort installed it, it is your responsibility to alert me of
the recall (which you did, thank you), and to show up at the agreed upon time to perform the service.But, to be fair, it is true that out of frustration, I hung up on you and for that I apologize. When is your guy available?
WORLD OF COMFORT’S RESPONSE:
In terms of having to confirm the appointment, let me point out her last email to me as follows:On Nov 3, 2021, at 9:29 PM, Gail ******* wrote:
Hi Tim. Yes, we received your email. The problem is that we had just had someone come to clean and repair a problem with a leak.
Dec 1 between 9 and 10 am should work to install the parts.
See you then.
Thanks and take care,
GailAs you can see, it was confirmed, by you. After I made several attempts to contact you.
I can’t speak or speculate to your fears, concerns, inability to sleep or otherwise, nor do I wish to. This is something not within our control. Further, you are well aware of who we are as we had provided you with service for several years. We have had the same technicians service your system for those many years. Further still, it was only a mistake in timing that occurred. You were in no way going to be left without service nor is this about carbon monoxide poisoning. As I was trying to tell you, the technician was to see you next that morning and that he mixed the work orders up. We have done nothing but provide you with the service that is expected, while you were our customer. It was your choice to seek another contractor after 2017, the last time we provided you with service, to service your boiler. AS I said in terms of your appointment, the technician made a mistake of going to the second call first and thought you were second. A mistake that was not malicious in any way, though you seem fit to have made it out to be that way. That being said, that in no way absolves you of your deleterious behaviour. Your tone and attitude in no way is acceptable; to be screaming at anyone especially a company that is only trying to help you that wasn’t required to do so (since you left to go somewhere else several years earlier). And to be so demanding is incomprehensible. A simple mistake was taken out of context that you blew out of proportion. I, in no way, would let anyone speak to my service personnel or my co-workers in such an egregious manner the way you did. I most certainly will not allow you to do so to myself. I will not repeat what you said to me here. With regards to a “usual apology”, first it was a mistake and I will always apologize to people for a mistake. To try to cover it up or explain it away is not how we conduct business. Second, this is the first time that one was required to make with you. Had I known that the technician made a mistake you would have been made aware. As I don’t know, what I don’t know. So your use of “usual” is not accurate, for something that only occurred this one time.
As for responsibility. No, it is not our responsibility to inform you of a recall. That is the manufacturers responsibility. As with a car, the manufacturer provides you with recalls, not the dealership that you purchased it from. I contacted you out of courtesy when I wasn’t required to. Especially considering you went to another contractor for service years ago. Further, we no longer install Triangle Tube, nor have we for quite a few years. The recall came to my attention by a customer, who politely provided me with the information and who, waited patiently until the part was available, which was entirely out of my control. Several customers were affected by this and all of them were completely understanding of the situation.
Then to provide a feeble apology to simply gain favour so that we would fix the issue and the “by-the-way” ask of when we’re going to fix the issue is insulting. To assume that we would simply be complacent and go out of our way again to assist you after how you treated me is conjecture. And even after all that, and your rudely hanging up on me, I still politely emailed you and provided you and your contractor with the information that you required and how you could get the fix, when I didn’t have to do that. We have gone above and beyond to assist you when we didn’t have to. But we believe it’s necessary to help our customers in any way, and even those who are no longer our customers, which is why I contacted you about this and why we’ve been going strong for over 50 years. In terms of having to wait so long, you can contact Triangle Tube and ask them why it took so long to send the parts. I have the emails proving the multiple times I had to request these parts from them. And yes, I had a CO detector for every customer that we were doing the recall on. And in terms of a CO detector, given that they have been around for the last several decades homeowners are well aware of their requirement. Especially since they have been all over the news, been spoken about by friends and family, being sold in stores etc. People are well informed now and have many outlets to gather information.
As such, I would have politely declined you of your asking, “when is your guy available”, and as I had already done so, suggest that you contact another contractor to assist you further. As I had provided you with the information, you can contact Triangle Tube to find who deals with their products now. In fact any contractor that you have chosen to provide you service on your boiler should be capable of doing it.
Further, in terms of the negative review on a review site that you wrote out of anger and malice and the email you sent me saying that if we can come to an agreement that the review could be removed, understand that our respect and belief in ourselves prevents me from being held hostage for a review. Clearly you did so. Clearly you have provided me with a means to ensure the truth gets spoken.