Complaint Review: Bailey's Plumbing Haeting & Cooling Inc.

In late November, when it first got really cold here, the circuit breaker for the furnace started tripping off.  We called Bailey's because they had installed the furnace, as well as having done other work in our home.  While I was at work, and my wife was home, a technician came.  He reported that he found loose wiring connections, tightened them and the problem was fixed.  It wasn't.  That night, the furnace went off again.  We called Bailey's again. 

The second technician came, examined the wiring, the furnace, and the circuit breaker and said the circuit breaker needed to be replaced; it was weak, it was old, it needed to be replaced.  One problem, the Bailey's technician said they couldn't do the work because they weren't electricians.  Bailey's recommended an electrician who came out right away and agreed to replace the circuit breaker.  While the electicians were replacing the circuit breaker, they noticed an "extra" wire that was attached to the same circuit as the furnace.  The extra wire, it turns out was one which had been installed to provide electicity to our garage through an under ground metal conduit.  Apparently, the conduit had rusted away, and the insulation had broken.  A short in the underground wire is what was causing the circuit breaker to trip, thus causing the furnace to go off.  The electrician removed the shorted wire and the problem was fixed.

We recieved a bill from Bailey's and I sent the bill back with a letter asking why they expected payment for having sent not one, but two incompetant technicians, niether of which diagnosed or fixed the problem.  Since the furnace went off after the first technician said he tightened loose wires, that obviously was not the problem.  He didn't do anything but spend time here.  The second actually looked inside the circuit breaker box, but didn't take any special notice of the extra wire connected to the furnace circuit.  I explained to Bailey's that it would have been better to have them say they didn't know what the problem was, but that it was probably electrical, and since they weren't electricians, there was nothing they could do.  But they didn't do that.  They just returned to the office and turned in the time they spent here and we got a bill for their time.  I don't mind paying by the hour if work is being done, I just don't think I should have to pay to train Bailey's employees to trouble shoot a problem.

We hadn't heard anything from Baileys for a while, so I thought they agreed with us.  They didn't deserve any payment because they didn't do anything to be paid for.  (I guess if Bailey's wants to pay his men on this basis that id fine by me.)  But now we have another bill from Bailey's which they say is past due. 

I am making this report so maybe now they will get the message.