Names not mentioned to protect the guilty: Classic customer tribulations

There's your sign.lol

typical. I run into this stuff all the time. One couple came in, and wanted to intall a p43 on a "tile" floor, laid on concrete. Front desk gives him a price, comes in w/ his wife to throw down $ on getting it done. Knowing nothing about the project, yet there to accept payment, I ask what the stove is going on (no hearth pad on the estimate.) They tell me " a tile floor". What kind of tile? I asks....."well, ya know, the sticky kind.." he lets it trail off, hoping I ask for nothing else... Sticky kind? I ask in amazement (having laid alot of tile, myself)... "Yea, ya know, the vinyl sticky stuff" he saws reluctantly. I saw the bit: hoping the install crew would overlook it to collect a check, maybe a tip and a promise of "I'll change it later". NO way. We'll bring some pads out with us, but its gonna be more than the estimate. He knew the deal, and agreed.

Oh boy....Could he at least use the high temp silicone sealant!!?

How much is your hourly rate?

keep those stories and live experiences coming Scott, good job for sharing, helps us all......!

I hope there are more of these stories to come, I am cracking up at how, I can't think of a nice way, so let's say not so smart people are.

Did you offer him some free advice?
Like: Go to hearth.com and join the pellet forums to learn how his stove operates and how to maintain it!
I must say, I learn something new here everytime i log on as the knowledge here is amazing!

Wi Thundercat said:

Did you offer him some free advice?
Like: Go to hearth.com and join the pellet forums to learn how his stove operates and how to maintain it!
......

Click to expand...

Why would Scott do that? I wouldn't if I was him....that owner is a goldmine....Scott is filling up his retirement fund quick. :lol:

So the igniter didn't fix it huh? I was wondering about that all week. Good job chasing down the problem Scott.

Most of us probably know a handful of people who have absolutly no mechanical aptitude what so ever. Personally I feel i can hold my own on most things around the house that need minor repairs. At the same time I also know when its best to call an expert in. Example: I dont work on the electronics on my cars but yeah I can change the oil, belts, struts etc. My boiler system at home has been giving me issues and after spending an hour or so doing minor troublshooting without finding the issue, I called my buddy the HVAC guy to come out. Money well spent IMO.

So when I hear thses stories of guys/girls working on and attempting repairs on, equipment they have no business working on, I have to shake my head.

So heres my short story: My work buddy has ZERO mechanical ability. He admits this freely but I had no idea how bad it could be. Trying to help him out some to learn the basics I had him working with me on a project at work. We were disasembling a pipe clamp. It was shop built to hold a 6 ft long piece of steel pipe for a demo. It had a nut welded to a section of 4" ID pipe with a bolt threaded through it to hold the smaller pipe in place. So I hand him a creasant wrench to loosen the bolt. A minute or so later he looks at me with a puzzled look on his face and says this wrench does not fit the bolt head?? I told him to just adjust it to fit. He did not know how to adjust a creasant wrench? I didnt know what to say to him.........

Topshelf said:

So heres my short story: My work buddy has ZERO mechanical ability. He admits this freely but I had no idea how bad it could be. Trying to help him out some to learn the basics I had him working with me on a project at work. We were disasembling a pipe clamp. It was shop built to hold a 6 ft long piece of steel pipe for a demo. It had a nut welded to a section of 4" ID pipe with a bolt threaded through it to hold the smaller pipe in place. So I hand him a creasant wrench to loosen the bolt. A minute or so later he looks at me with a puzzled look on his face and says this wrench does not fit the bolt head?? I told him to just adjust it to fit. He did not know how to adjust a creasant wrench? I didnt know what to say to him.........

Click to expand...

Was it metric?

Souzafone said:

Topshelf said:

So heres my short story: My work buddy has ZERO mechanical ability. He admits this freely but I had no idea how bad it could be. Trying to help him out some to learn the basics I had him working with me on a project at work. We were disasembling a pipe clamp. It was shop built to hold a 6 ft long piece of steel pipe for a demo. It had a nut welded to a section of 4" ID pipe with a bolt threaded through it to hold the smaller pipe in place. So I hand him a creasant wrench to loosen the bolt. A minute or so later he looks at me with a puzzled look on his face and says this wrench does not fit the bolt head?? I told him to just adjust it to fit. He did not know how to adjust a creasant wrench? I didnt know what to say to him.........

Click to expand...

Was it metric?

Click to expand...

I don't care who you are...... Those are funny!

You know he is a great guy. Growing up his Dad never worked on stuff around the house so he never had to do anything like that. Honestly it was all I could do to not just fall on the floor laughing. I took the wrench, showed him the thumb wheel and told him to just do it. I actually felt bad for him since he truly did not know how to adjust it. Again I'm no Mr Goodwrench but dang.....

OK so along these same lines, how many read the manual if you dont know, or do you just dig in knowing you can do it?

OK so I admit it, I'm a manual reader. Basically a Geek with a mechanical side.

Topshelf said:

You know he is a great guy. Growing up his Dad never worked on stuff around the house so he never had to do anything like that. Honestly it was all I could do to not just fall on the floor laughing. I took the wrench, showed him the thumb wheel and told him to just do it. I actually felt bad for him since he truly did not know how to adjust it. Again I'm no Mr Goodwrench but dang.....

OK so along these same lines, how many read the manual if you dont know, or do you just dig in knowing you can do it?

OK so I admit it, I'm a manual reader. Basically a Geek with a mechanical side.

Click to expand...

I tend to read manuals because my technical ability is on the low side. Sometimes though I "think" I know how to do something only to find out that I really am clueless, then I tear apart the house cuz I think I threw the manual out, only to find my wife put it in a safe spot that only she knows.

Damn, it can be tough being a man sometimes!

DOh, the dreaded "safe spot", the bane of men the world over, a curse I say. FUnniest call I've fielded to date is for someone burning coal in their pellet stove, not the "I'm gonna tinker and mix in a lil coal", but the "well, the hopper holds 50 lbs, and this bag is 50 lbs., lets dump it in!". For some mysterious reason the stove kept going into overtemp shut down, odd, very odd. Whats more odd, is this person insisted that whatever is wrong needs to be fixed under warranty. Well, sometimes you can't suppress the mocking laughter, this was one of those times.

I'm sure, anyone who fields service calls gets this one plenty too:

"Yes, hello, my stove isn't working"
"Ok, what seems to be the problem?"
"Well, its not working"
"Ok, could you tell me which stove you have and maybe we can figure this out?"
"Sure, its the black one"
(enter slightly sarcastic devil in ear) "I see, is it the one with the glass on the front door?"
"Yes, yes, thats the one!"
...and then we continue on until I discern which unit it is and how to fix, or onto the service schedule it goes. I just can't seem to stop myself from chuckling on the inside. You try so hard to be helpful, and to educate, only to run into solid stone walls. If it wasn't funny, it might be sad.

"used plumbers putty" & "a tile floor"... "the sticky kind" You guys are killing me here... You can't make this stuff up. When is the book coming out?

Delta-T said:

I'm sure, anyone who fields service calls gets this one plenty too:

"Yes, hello, my stove isn't working"
"Ok, what seems to be the problem?"
"Well, its not working"
"Ok, could you tell me which stove you have and maybe we can figure this out?"
"Sure, its the black one"
(enter slightly sarcastic devil in ear) "I see, is it the one with the glass on the front door?"
"Yes, yes, thats the one!"
...and then we continue on until I discern which unit it is and how to fix, or onto the service schedule it goes. I just can't seem to stop myself from chuckling on the inside. You try so hard to be helpful, and to educate, only to run into solid stone walls. If it wasn't funny, it might be sad.

Click to expand...

It's a Warnock Hersey, says so right on the back!

balls of fire said:

Delta-T said:

I'm sure, anyone who fields service calls gets this one plenty too:

"Yes, hello, my stove isn't working"
"Ok, what seems to be the problem?"
"Well, its not working"
"Ok, could you tell me which stove you have and maybe we can figure this out?"
"Sure, its the black one"
(enter slightly sarcastic devil in ear) "I see, is it the one with the glass on the front door?"
"Yes, yes, thats the one!"
...and then we continue on until I discern which unit it is and how to fix, or onto the service schedule it goes. I just can't seem to stop myself from chuckling on the inside. You try so hard to be helpful, and to educate, only to run into solid stone walls. If it wasn't funny, it might be sad.

Click to expand...

It's a Warnock Hersey, says so right on the back!

Click to expand...

ding ding ding ding ding, we have a winner folks! show the man what he's won! :lol:

Isn't Hearth.com like the cartalk of stoves?

Delta-T said:

balls of fire said:

Delta-T said:

I'm sure, anyone who fields service calls gets this one plenty too:

"Yes, hello, my stove isn't working"
"Ok, what seems to be the problem?"
"Well, its not working"
"Ok, could you tell me which stove you have and maybe we can figure this out?"
"Sure, its the black one"
(enter slightly sarcastic devil in ear) "I see, is it the one with the glass on the front door?"
"Yes, yes, thats the one!"
...and then we continue on until I discern which unit it is and how to fix, or onto the service schedule it goes. I just can't seem to stop myself from chuckling on the inside. You try so hard to be helpful, and to educate, only to run into solid stone walls. If it wasn't funny, it might be sad.

Click to expand...

It's a Warnock Hersey, says so right on the back!

Click to expand...

ding ding ding ding ding, we have a winner folks! show the man what he's won! :lol:

Click to expand...

smwilliamson said:

firewarrior820 said:

How much is your hourly rate?

Click to expand...

I assume you are asking me? It's $75

That $600 included two service calls included a service call of $155, an igniter, gasket materials and 6 hrs of my time.

Click to expand...

Thats actually a cheap price.......I had to have warranty work done on my T-vent that rusted away and it was 95 bucks to get there and 95 an hour...........I'm still not to happy about the rate and since it was not there fault and the fault of the manufacturer i had to pay.........kinda BS