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04 January 2010

Ask Mecha + Rant Can I fire my furnace guy?→[More:]The Long Story:
Last summer I managed to get the gas company to agree to run natural gas to my house on the condition that I would buy a new boiler (a boiler means hot water radiant heat, which is weird and unusual in Asheville for whatever reason) that I needed anyway. Terrific; this will save me big money. So I called one of the two people in town who service and install new boilers and he came out and poked around and gave me a huge estimate and I gulped and signed it and he told me to call him when the gas company put the lines in. This was early September.

Fast forward two months and the gas company put the lines in. So I called him and told him they were almost done. Call me when they're done, he said. So I did, about a week later. I'm ordering the boiler now, he says, and I'm all, WHAT? You haven't even ordered it yet? And he's I'm busy busy busy but it'll get here, you'll have heat by mid December.

I go out and buy a couple of space heaters and the house is more or less warm particularly if it's a) a sunny day and b) I bake a lot. My electric bill, however, is running at $200 a month for the space heaters and I'm afraid to leave them on 24/7.

Mid December comes and I call him again and he says oh wow the boiler company is behind and they won't deliver it for two more weeks. I carry on a bit about this but clearly there is nothing I can do. Then, last Wednesday, he calls and says, I will be at your house on Monday at 9:30 to start installing your new boiler. Yay! I say and think, wow, I will have heat.

Meanwhile the temperature drops below 0 and plans to stay that way for a while. The space heaters can't really keep up with this kind of cold and it's getting chilly in my house, so I'm very happy that he's coming today. Guess what? I sat and waited and . . . no boiler guy. I called and he's all, I can't possibly do it now, this is a climate emergency, I got all kinds of people got no heat. I shout at this point "AND I AM ONE OF THEM!" and he suggests I buy propane for the old boiler WHICH IS BROKEN ANYWAY AND PLUS A TANK OF PROPANE IS GOING TO RUN ME OVER $400 I DON'T HAVE which I also shout at him. He then says he will loan me a space heater, which, apparently, he has dropped off.

MEANWHILE, the fucking pipes behind the laundry room have frozen, burst and flooded, which means a wall has to be ripped out and while they were flooding they ruined the space heater that was supposed to be keeping them from freezing AND I AM BEYOND FURIOUS. What I want to know is, given that I have a contract with him to purchase and install this boiler, can I now either go get the boiler from his shop and find somebody else (there must be SOMEBODY) who can install it or just call him and say, buh bye, dude, I am not waiting for you anymore, I am starting from scratch? Failing these options, can I deduct my electric bill and the plumber from furnace guy's eventual bill?

GRAR GRAR I HATE YOU STUPID FURNACE GUY

post by: mygothlaundry at: 14:34 | 12 comments

Is there any fine print on the contract that might help you? (Or, alternatively, show that you agreed to be held hostage by this asswipe and have no legal recourse?)

posted by occhiblu 04 January | 14:55

~~Of course~~ Probably you can fire the slack-ass, lying idiot. Read the contract; it's likely to have some provision that work will be accomplished in a reasonable timeframe and workman-like manner. The fact that you have not had a boiler installed may mean that he's already broken the contract.

You probably can't make him pay for the cost of the delay, but IANAL.

posted by theora55 04 January | 15:50

Oh, and {{{}}} big hug, well-deserved, and %$%^$%^*@ (shakes fist at stoopidhead boilerman).

posted by theora55 04 January | 15:51

Holy fuck-a-moly this sucks MGL. Man, wish I had some constructive input, but instead, I'll just say, wow, I'm really sorry you gotta be dealing with this!

posted by richat 04 January | 15:53

I'm so sorry you're being messed about like this.As theora55 says, there's probably some get-out clause in his contract that covers his arse.

posted by essexjan 04 January | 15:55

Lawyer, or small claims court, or file an insurance claim against him. He should have insurance. Is supposed to. All of this is a huge mess and hassle and I am so sorry. Stoopid boiler guy.

posted by rainbaby 04 January | 16:53

For an extra data point, we had a new boiler put in this fall and it only took a month between signing the contract and having the thing installed. I assume that boilers are lots more common here in snowy Pittsburgh but there was no long ordering process for parts. The install only took a day but we already had the radiators in place so they only had to remove the 1946 era boiler, put the new one in and run a new exhaust line.

posted by octothorpe 04 January | 17:17

Shee-fuckin'-it, mgl.

We needed a new gas furnace here in Wisconsin, where admittedly furnace guys are around every corner, and I called the company one day, and they put it in the next. 27.5 elapsed hours total. I assumed they needed the work given the economy (especially here).

Sympathy in abundance.

posted by dhartung 05 January | 01:03

Gah, mgl! Sounds like a scammer.

posted by brujita 05 January | 02:29

Oof.

Frozen pipes were my greatest fear when I had a broken furnace in November/December.

I don't know what to tell you, but I can certainly send hugs and whuffles,

posted by Stewriffic 05 January | 08:32

Wow. I have no words, only hugs.. ((((((((((((((((((((((mgl))))))))))))))))))))))

posted by redvixen 05 January | 15:30

Murphys law in the worst form. I hope everything works out, boilers are 200psi items; all this happened at a bad time but a careless rush install could blow up in a ruinous way.

Boiler guy should give you a big discount; and you should watch your wiring for all the electric space heater load on the circuits.

posted by buzzman 07 January | 00:09

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