After an extended vacation, we returned home to find our house at a frigid 6 degrees C. Being late in the evening, and being extremely jet lagged, we fiddled with the furnace for a few minutes, to find that, while it would run briefly, we were getting little to no airflow, and, after about 5 minutes, the fan and furnace would stop.
We decided to call for assistance, and contacted the emergency line with Clearview. We were told that all their service crews were busy, but we would get a call back the next morning at 8AM.
The call came at 9am the next morning, and we were told that the technician was currently on a service call, but we were "next on the list to be seen."
The service tech called after 3pm, as best I can remember at this time, and said he was "half an hour" away. Which was fine. While we have a clear area around our furnace, there were a few things in the way, so I began clearing those items away.
That was when I noticed my air filter, and I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I cleaned it. So I pulled the air filter out. Within a few minutes, the furnace started and was running smoothly.
To ensure that my theory was correct, I called the tech (who was still on his way) and told him the brand name, the style of furnace, and described what I had just discovered to him. He said, "that sounds weird," and went on to vaguely mention something about a limit switch.
Based on that, I wasn't sure that the filter was actually the real cause of the problem, so I felt it was appropriate for him to come by and have a look anyway.
The tech showed up, looked at the furnace, did a quick inspection of the duct work, and then we proceeded upstairs to discuss the situation.
The problem was, in fact, the air filter. The tech then spent about 30 minutes in a sales pitch, explaining the benefits of duct cleaning and some kind of electric filter which uses 24V to generate a static charge to pull dust and dirt out of the air, quoting me a price over $1200 for that work, plus over $180 for a "tune-up" and "safety inspection", and those prices only applied if I signed up for a planned service membership of $120/year.
I elected not to proceed with any of that service at the time, as we had heat already, and also we were in no position to make a large financial decision given the level of jet lag we were experiencing.
The tech charged us the basic service charge of $99.00.
Since then, I have researched duct cleaning, and every reputable source I have seen (including Mike Holmes, the EPA, and the CMHC) indicates that duct cleaning is only necessary in a few specific cases, and in all other instances, it is a waste of money. These organizations also strongly recommend against disinfectant being used in the ductwork, which is something the Clearview tech indicated was part of the service.
I am disappointed by the service I received. First, with the timeliness of the emergency call. I realize that the temperatures were very cold, and that all the various companies were extremely busy, however it seems a little strange that it took from about 10:30pm to 4:00pm the next day to receive a call from the tech when we were "next on the list". Secondly, we were told that our problem was precisely what I had asked the tech over the phone ten minutes earlier. More to the point, the tech verified that the furnace was, in fact, running (which it had been since before he arrived) and mentioned that if the temperature limit switch had burned out, the furnace would have shut down and we would not have been able to restart it.
This isn't even about the money, as we were informed, upfront, that there was a minimum charge of $100 if the technician paid us a visit. I do not have a problem paying for services rendered. I feel, however, that the technician didn't do enough to verify that a service visit was needed in the first place. Logically, if pulling and cleaning the filter resolved the problem, and if the furnace was running smoothly, then clearly the limit switch hadn't burned out. Five seconds on the phone would have verified that.
For example:
Tech: When did you last clean or replace the filter?
Me: Oh! I don't remember!
Tech: Pull the filter out and clean it. If the furnace runs fine without the filter in it, then your problem is a dirty filter causing the heated air to circulate inside the furnace, causing a dangerous rise in the furnace's internal temperature. There's a safety limit switch that will trip and shut the furnace down in that situation. If that is your problem, pulling and cleaning the filter will solve it, and you don't need to pay for emergency service. If that doesn't solve your problem, call me back and I'll come by.
The other issue is the tech's quoted solution wouldn't have fixed my problem, as no matter what kind of air filter one has, clean ducts or not, a clogged air filter will still result in the furnace shutting down as the limit switch trips out, so purchasing the proposed solution would have meant that I would still need to do what I should have done in the first place - ensured my filter was clean.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $100.00
- Company Response
Steve, let me start by saying that I'm sorry about the service you feel you've received Steve, feel free to give us a call in the office with your invoice number - It's rather unfortunate that you opted to go online instead of attempting to have the situation resolved, which I have no doubt we could have. As far as your disappointment in the "response time", that the phonecall was allegedly 9:00 instead of 8:00 (our call log says it was closer to the 8:30 mark, we're all human, in a light-speed paced office mistakes can be made and I apologize for that; but I digress.) with the extreme volume of emergency calls we've gotten our technicians have been spread more than thin, nevertheless looking into the situation we kept the promise that was made - that you would have the next available technician, which you did. I do apologize if there was any misunderstanding in the explaination of our scheduling, but I'm sure you can understand that it is difficult to estimate or guess the amount of time a tech will take on his job - we stay there until the job is done (I'm sure you wouldn't want us to leave your job part way through because the next customer was impatient, right?) - which is exactly what happened. On to the topics of basic maintenance, duct cleaning, and phone repairs. No, we are not in the business of teaching customers how to repair, test and diagnose furnaces no matter how small the issue may seem, this is our technician's livelyhood! When is the last time you had a licensed mechanic teach you how to change your oil, as easy as it may be? If Free Advice is what you were looking for, the internet is a great resource for that - full service plumbing companies are not, although we do like to keep our customers as informed about their appliances as possible.
Part of the reason is that this is our technician's livelyhood we're talking about, the other reason being not everyone's furnace or hot water tank is the same. We need to be on site to SEE what the situation is. Not only do we not reccomend any business that wants to keep its doors open having their would-be customers doing the work they're called out for, we do not condone advising non-licensed on how to alter, diagnose or repair gas appliances. This is a liability as much as it's an ethics issue. Our technicians go to school to become professionals in what they do - they do it so that they can become TRAINED in their field, something that a five minute phone call cannot accomplish, regardless of the technician's ability.
The topic of duct cleaning and sanitizing is debatable at best, but I certainly don't want our readers to thing that it's an open and shut case. There are as many professional opinions as there are professionals, but the fact of the matter is that if the ducts aren't cleaned, it's circulating through your home. Any idea how many POUNDS of skin a person loses every year? 40. As in Forty Pounds of skin (per human, not just per household) EVERY year. While some people may choose to believe that they do not need to have it done to save a few dollars, make no mistake that having your ducts cleaned and sanitized yearly is critical. Not only that, but make sure that the company that does it is going to do a good job - I agree with you, in that, the $120 special and $42 per vent deal is probably not going to do much other than shuffle the dust around, but the procedures we use are the most thorough and advanced technicques and technology that are on the market today. Not only that, but we guarantee our duct cleaning and sanitizing for MULTIPLE years, not just per annum.
Not every situation is as black and white as one would think, and it is truly situational. When a furnace filter is changed regularly and hasn't had a chance to build up all that dust and grime in your ducts, sure, perhaps not everyone requires it every year. In this case, where the furnace had been so covered in dust and soot that it triggered the furnace's safety features because of a clogged filter, do you think that filter is still doing it's job and removing the dust as opposed to being circulated through your furnace, ducts and lungs? Even with a new filter, the dust that is built up has the potential to clog that filter at an increased rate, not to mention making the furnace work harder than it has to, going into the coldest season of the year.
I want to be clear, I apologize for any inconvenience that you've received due to our high amount of emergency calls. Had you brought this up to our office, we certainly would have been able to resolve this and may be able to yet.
It is worth noting, finally, that not every recommendation is a life or death fix that MUST be done - they are simply reccomendations, for present or future consideration - this is not an uncommon practice, but I apologize if you perceived it to be pressure sales - not our intent in the least.