Complaint Review: West Allis Heating & Air Conditioning

I am so amazed at this Heathers complaints. I think West Allis did the job correct. Thirty to come out at night? cheap!!! The point is furnaces break down, cars, washers etc.... It SUCKS.. but its part of life, what are you going to do when this relic of a furnace takes its last breath? cry to the world how unfair life is when you have a 3,000 plus new furnace install? You are a property owner, get ready for lots of costs.

I am also a customer of West Allis Heating. I have no other affiliation with them.

I bought a duplex where the upstairs had never been finished and West Allis Heating helped install the upstairs radiant heating. They always arrived on time, performed all the work I asked of them and the charge was never more than quoted, sometimes less. They accepted returns of 'special order' items with no complaint or charge and worked with me in a professional manner at all times, even offering free advice on other plumbing items I was installing personally. I was so pleased with them as a heating and plumbing company I have used them ever since to service my furnace.

The only reason I found out about this complaint was because I lost their address when they moved. I 'Googled' them and came across the Ripoffreport website - so something good came out of it!

I know life doesn't always rum smoothly but of all the contractors who performed any work for me West Allis Heating is right up with the best.

The timing switch was not making proper contact with the timing unit itself and would only make proper contact if was pulled down to a certain position - as soon as we would let it go it would stop working. The repair guy who came in had alot of experience and was out to save us money from having to replace the unit which would cost $100+. He set up a contraption to hold the wire in place and thereby make the connection perfectly. It's been working flawlessly ever since! He didn't charge us a thing either because he was a good honest guy and recommended by several of my friends who are property owners. That is the type of service that West Allis Heating & Air *should* offer and what I had originally expected from them.

I'm just curious here since a company's name is on the line how exactly do you jerry rigg a timing unit. And why in the world would you consider someone jerry rigging something to be on the level?

Just curious about it.

The "owner" who replied to this post was NOT EVEN THERE and has not seen our furnace. The furnace was totally rebuilt and converted in the 1980s (I believe it was 1984 - it says it right on the outside sticker) (Hardly 30 years). The ORIGINAL PROBLEM that we called about was the furnace was producing no heat - we wanted this probem FIXED and that was what the original repair person came out for. The repair guy stated it was the main circuit board WHICH IT TURNS OUT WAS NOT THE CAUSE OF THE PROBEM AT ALL and we were charged a huge $300 bill for something that DID NOT NEED REPLACED. Based on watching this guy, he had no idea what the hell he was doing and looked for the most expensive component he could to repair. THE PROBLEM WITH NO HEAT CONTINUED and he never bothered to go upstairs and check if the heat was working or not.

A few days later when the *exact same problem* occurred, we were told that a service guy would be right out and there would be ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE for the visit (That was the only reason I agreed to let them come back out) and they stated if it was a different problem causing the lack of heat, then the other component would have to be paid for to fix it. Which is fine if that's what is was, but the *exact* same problem arrising after just a few days after a *repair* guy came out to fix it? I DON'T THINK SO!

The guy who came out was quite young and very dumb. He was so short on braincells that all he could do was talk about how much he likes to drink at the local bar (never a good sign). I watched his every move on the furnace and he seemed very unprepared and very unfamiliar with our type of furnace. He poked around with the wires like he didn't know what the hell he was doing and the furnace did go on, but it was hard to say if any of his poking around was what fixed the problem or not.

He left the house for a good 10-15 minutes or so and we thought he was gone. He then comes back in (after talking to the owner of the company on his cell phone) and he started trying to force me to pay him a trip charge WHICH WAS NEVER AGREED TO AND AFTER THE COMPANY TOLD ME THERE WOULD BE NO TRIP CHARGE! Basically he must have been BSing with the owner on the phone and the two of them figured they'd be able to get some money out of me. What a crock of crap. I told him if he wants money to go bother my renter or someone down the block, I didn't care because I was NOT GOING TO PAY HIM! He actually had the nerve to go bother my renter who did pay him - but guess what- THIS CAME OUT OF OUR POCKET in the end.

I called and demanded a refund, eventually I did get a refund check.

HOWEVER, Still having the furnace problem, my friend recommended a really awesome heating guy (who worked for West Allis heating in the 80's) but now owned his OWN place and was totally on the level and this guy truely KNEW WHAT THE HELL HE WAS DOING! He came out and started *really* working on the furnace. He showed us *exactly* what the problem was and was able to reproduce the problem for us multiple times to show us it was NOTHING THAT WEST ALLIS HEATING SAID IT WAS!!! THEY REPLACED OUR $300 FOR NO REASON!! It turned out to be a timing unit on the top that wasnt getting the signal from upstairs. He did some jerry rigging and fixed it for us and it DIDN'T COST US A THING!! NO TRIP CHARGE, NOTHING! Now *THIS* is how you do business - maybe you should take some notes from this guy chumps.

In response to the report written by Heather:

Although I will not resort to name calling as Heather did, there are a few things in her statement that were quite contradictory to the actual occurrences of the service work performed.

That being said, some of what Heather said is absolutely true, but much of Heather's report is a misinterpretation of what took place. Over $300 was paid for a repair but this was for a module replacement rather than a "main circuit board" repair (something that would have been clearly stated on the invoice).

It is also true that we responded to an after-hours emergency call 6 days after the initial service on this furnace. As a side note regarding this repair, a wire was loose on the main wiring harness connecting the ignition module to the chimney damper. When an ignition module is replaced, a wiring harness is not a part of that repair; but is a separate repair unto itself. Thirty dollars to show up at someone's house at 9:00 at night during sub zero temperatures to repair an old wire connection is not something I would constitute as an unreasonable charge.

Please note that it is not uncommon for a 20 year old furnace to have multiple problems, just like it is not uncommon for any 20 year old piece of electrical/mechanical equipment to have multiple problems in a short period of time (cars are a great example of this). Heather's furnace is not 20 years old, but is in fact over 30 years old.

Every furnace also needs preventive maintenance and a 30 year old furnace needs extra TLC. Although Heather was apparently sleeping during my explanation (see "blah blah snore") of how the age and maintenance history of the furnace was the major cause for her breakdowns, it is a valid point that needs to be considered. Despite all this, I don't have regrets about taking my time "rambling" to this customer or any other if it provides the knowledge homeowners need to take care of their heating equipment and have it properly maintained.

The $30 that was paid by Heather's tenant was refunded because I realized (too late) that she had no interest in discussion or rectification of the situation and just wanted the money back.

West Allis Heating & Air Conditioning's otherwise stellar reputation has beed maintained for 49 years now and I plan to continue to be heavily invloved in the day-to-day operations and provide thorough explanations to our customers when needed.

After speaking with the owner instead of his lacky, I managed to get a refund out of him. Of course the whole time he kept trying to make it seem like "I" was the "bad guy" in the whole ordeal, telling us how much money it costs them to come out and fix things, how old our furnaces were, blah blah snore. He rambled on about all sorts of crap, never taking the blame for all the problems. Finally he issued me a refund because he realized I was going to cause him more problems than the $30 would cover.

AVOID THIS LOSER COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!!! UNLESS YOU ENJOY BEING LIED TO!