"Professional" cleaning turned nightmare

[Estarrio]

I have two pellet stoves that I typically maintain myself. My local dealer usually sends me an annual flyer advertising their annual cleaning/maintenance.

This year, I decided to splurge on the $340 they were asking for two stoves. I have a one and two year old in the house and thought it would be good to get an "expert" to look at them.

They sent two guys. Unfortunately, I was at work and my wife only saw what they did to one stove. Actually, my insert looks very clean and my wife reports that that the tech pulled it out and seemed to meticulously go through the unit.

My second stove is a free standing unit on the ground floor. It is my only heat source for that level of the house. When I got home, I noticed that it had been turned in an odd direction to face the wall. As I got closer, I saw that the aluminum tape on the chimney pieces were the same old pieces. The hopper still had the half dozen pellet chunks left over from the last burn. The clean outs on the side were left unscrewed. There was still considerable ash in the outside vent. The back was full of dust from sitting dormant over the summer.

At this point, I was feeling foolish for paying for a cleaning that was far less than what I would have done during the burning season. Then I noticed that the stove was still unplugged. I decided to test fire it. To my horror, the auger motor was completely inoperable. The light that signaled the auger interval remained on, while the auger sat motionless at any setting.

I called the next day. They took my number and assured me that they would come back and get it working. After another half day out of work, I headed to the office and my wife remained home. Just before 5p, I called my wife who reported that they had not arrived. I called and explained my situation to a gentleman that seemed very agitated with me. He told me that they had been to my house and diagnosed a bad thermostat and that everything was running fine. When I disputed that he had been to my house, he grew angry and insisted again that it was fixed before basically hanging up.

I'm now out $340, a working pellet stove, and any heat on my lower level to keep my toddlers warm. I can't even imagine that anyone would run a business like this. Anyway, I'm frustrated and needed to rant...

 

[stovelark]

Frustrated- don't be shy who did it?? I work at a dealer in Mid CT, there is a couple of our fellow dealers who we have heard similar stories- I think most people try to do a good job (I refuse to believe people go to work intending not to) but bad things occur, but in your case safety warrants you being upset. Good luck

Stovelark
Enviro EF3
Enviro Emp Ins AC
Enviro 1700 Kodiak (Guess what we sell mostly..)

 

[DexterDay]

Sorry to hear that.. I hope you get it straightened out. There are some REALLY good dealers and there are some that just want to make money. I hope that they do right by you. Seems like a lot of money to not clean your flue or your Ash Traps or clean-outs. You need to vent. Then you need to call back tomorrow and tell them your Wife was home and no one stopped out. If they did and determined the root cause, then it shouldnt be a problem for them to stop out while you are home and show you the "Thermostat Problem". IMHO.

 

[save$]

It was up to me, I would forget the phone. Go there in person and have my "chat" with who ever you need to. Let them see you writing everything down. Try not to loose your cool, if you loose it, they win, and can show you the door. If you don't get satisfaction let everyone you know what happened. Hope you paid for it with a card. Call the card co and let them deal with it.

 

[stovelark]

Really Hot,

Sorry about your problems, read your note again, I don't know how they could mess up an EF3, In my view, one of the best stoves around (a fellow bay window design aLa the Whitfield Adv II T and Quad Classic Bay 1200, two real workhorses) and easy to clean. I cringe when I hear aluminum tape tho, vent piping is always better when siliconed (inside and out if asthetics permit, sometimes outside silicon looks bad). I don't think 340 is too bad for two stoves properly cleaned- A StCroix Ins is at least 2-3 hours pipe and stove if done properly (pipe disconn, all motors and blowers removed and cleaned, and resealed properly, all int baffles removed and cleaned, touched up when put back together and test ran). The EF3 is usually around 2 hours of work, piping and maintained and test fired. A dealer doing the right thing will certainly take care of you the 2nd visit, and poss give back a little for your inconvenience. Good luck

Stovelark
Enviro EF3
Enviro 1700 Kodiak
Enviro Empress Ins AC

 

[Vinelife]

Wow, take em to court..

 

[newf lover]

Not only did they not clean it, but left you with a non-working stove. Was this the dealer you bought the stove from? If so, this is bad on top of bad. I agree; I would not call, I would pay them a visit. Take pictures to show it wasn't even cleaned properly. I think this cleaning stuff is an area where there is potential to be all kinds of problems. I don't know if it's legal to say this, but I had Scott (smwilliamson) from this forum come out to do my cleaning this year, and I was extremely pleased with the job he did.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Can you stop payment on the check? That is the best way to handle it.

 

[Fsappo]

What is the name of this place? Stop pmt on the check. Go down there in person. Try to find the owner of the company, not a manager.

Thats terrible.

 

[heat seeker]

Stopping payment on a check could be construed as fraud and get you arrested. If you paid by credit card (the best way), call the CC company and file a contested claim. If the situation is not resolved, they will charge back the stove company and credit you. BTDT.

There may be a miscommunication at the store end, they may have been thinking of another job, and maybe the stove tech garbled the whole situation.

Talking calmly face to face with the store is an excellent idea, and the place to start. Good luck.

Garbage like this is what motivated me, many years ago, to learn to do most things for myself, from cars to the house to my stove.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

,,, [snip]
Garbage like this is what motivated me, many years ago, to learn to do most things for myself, from cars to the house to my stove.

That's as good a motivator as any.

To the OP, hope things get taken care of. I'd hate paying for work not yet done.