it happened again

[smwilliamson]

Customer calls me back. I put an igniter in their lennox traditions last week. First an angry and Stearn voice mail from the husband. Then a rather dramatic phone call from the wife. "We paid more than $350 and the stove only ran for 2 days!"

Both were adimant that I "make time to get get back there today".

So I did. Guess what?

Burn pot in backwards. I should have billed for the return visit.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

You charge for service calls?

Eric

 

[Fsappo]

Yup, that woulda been a $100 bill.

 

[gyingling]

Were they at the least apologetic about their calls?

 

[Bigjim13]

You charge for service calls?

Eric

It's like he's trying to make a living or something.

One thing I don't get though, why was the burn pot in backwards? I am not familiar with that stove at all. DId you have to take it off to put the igniter in and then put it in backwards? Or did the customer take it off for some reason?

 

[Delta-T]

You charge for service calls?

Eric

It's like he's trying to make a living or something.

One thing I don't get though, why was the burn pot in backwards? I am not familiar with that stove at all. DId you have to take it off to put the igniter in and then put it in backwards? Or did the customer take it off for some reason?

its normal to remove every day or so to clean the burnpot...very common to put it in backwards, frighteningly common I dare say....let me know when you get to someones house for a service call and just put pellets into the hopper....thats a classic "no one told me I had to put pellets in it".

 

[Bigjim13]

You charge for service calls?

Eric

It's like he's trying to make a living or something.

One thing I don't get though, why was the burn pot in backwards? I am not familiar with that stove at all. DId you have to take it off to put the igniter in and then put it in backwards? Or did the customer take it off for some reason?

its normal to remove every day or so to clean the burnpot...very common to put it in backwards, frighteningly common I dare say....let me know when you get to someones house for a service call and just put pellets into the hopper....thats a classic "no one told me I had to put pellets in it".

Ahh I see.

Have you really had people who owned pellet stoves that didn't think needed to have pellets added regularly? I imagine you have, I guess those of us in the sales/customer service fields all have stories...

 

[Pellet_OilBoy]

You charge for service calls?

Eric

It's like he's trying to make a living or something.

One thing I don't get though, why was the burn pot in backwards? I am not familiar with that stove at all. DId you have to take it off to put the igniter in and then put it in backwards? Or did the customer take it off for some reason?

its normal to remove every day or so to clean the burnpot...very common to put it in backwards, frighteningly common I dare say....let me know when you get to someones house for a service call and just put pellets into the hopper....thats a classic "no one told me I had to put pellets in it".

Oh Yike zooks.

 

[firewarrior820]

[quote author="smwilliamson" date="1297907387"]Customer calls me back. I put an igniter in their lennox traditions last week. First an angry and Stearn voice mail from the husband. Then a rather dramatic phone call from the wife. "We paid more than $350 and the stove only ran for 2 days!"

Both were adimant that I "make time to get get back there today".

So I did. Guess what?

Burn pot in backwards. I should have billed for the return visit.[/quote








When I use to repair copiers, when someone called to say my machine is dead two questions were asked
is it plugged in ?is it turned on? if this is a common problem with this kind of pellet stove ,why wouldn't you trouble shoot over the phone?

 

[Xena]

haha, classic! Bet they felt like real asses.
I repair PC's in homes and offices
and have had calls regarding a computer
or monitor that won't turn on only to
find out they didn't have it plugged in.

 

[Countryboymo]

I can contribute a couple from selling auto parts. I had a gentleman come in looking for a tie rod end for a tractor (farming community btw) so I went through the book and asked him what side it was on and he sternly like I was an idiot asking questions to hear my head rattle said 'the side next to the barn'. I immediately went to the suspension and steering parts aisle and after gaining my composure came back and told him I needed to know left side right side sitting on the tractor.

There was another time someone called the store and wanted a master cylinder for a car and after hearing about the whopping 5.00 core charge and that if they brought the part in they would not have to pay it...they took it off and brought it in. OH and they drove the CAR it came off of. I was standing at the counter looking across the parking lot and told one of the guys 'man that car sure is coming across the lot rather fast' and it came right over the curb and into the front of the store and into a pyramid of cases of anti-freeze which on a tile floor is like walking on snot. They got out of the car which was partly in the store and reached behind the seat for the master cylinder.... They later filed suit against the company for us not specifically telling the person NOT to drive the car and won. I am sorry but if you don't know enough about how it works you shouldn't be working on it.

There are of course more stories but those are two that will always stick with me. I kind of miss the business for the occasional laugh and stories that came from it, that is about all I miss of it.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

No good deed, goes unpunished.

 

[gbreda]

They later filed suit against the company for us not specifically telling the person NOT to drive the car and won.

Um, really??????

And that my friends is part of what's wrong with this great country of ours. Morons with lawyers. And judges who allow it.
Not real sure here, but I dont think that this was what the judicial system was created for.

Just my 2 pennies

 

[Pellet_OilBoy]

They later filed suit against the company for us not specifically telling the person NOT to drive the car and won.

Um, really??????

And that my friends is part of what's wrong with this great country of ours. Morons with lawyers. And judges who allow it.
Not real sure here, but I dont think that this was what the judicial system was created for.

Just my 2 pennies

No, im quite sure they discussed that at constitutional conventions, how wonderful it would be for people to be able to sue a neighbor for falling while intoxicated in their driveway or a store for falling through their unhinged skylight while trying to commit a burglary. There is no one entity that had hurt this country more than lawyers. I'd better not get started...

 

[Taperbill]

I did a service call for some damage to the bathroom walls ..holes that our company must have missed?

mmm..

Upon entering the house I noticed a strong smell..and a note on the door of the bathroom..
" please dont let the goats out..thankyou.."

yep, raising goats in the tub..and I had to smile when the finish carpenter arrived to fix broken trim and door.

Baa? and yes..we didn't fix it for free.
so..it didn't get fixed.

 

[smwilliamson]

Customer calls me back. I put an igniter in their lennox traditions last week. First an angry and Stearn voice mail from the husband. Then a rather dramatic phone call from the wife. "We paid more than $350 and the stove only ran for 2 days!"

Both were adimant that I "make time to get get back there today".

So I did. Guess what?

Burn pot in backwards. I should have billed for the return visit.[/quote








When I use to repair copiers, when someone called to say my machine is dead two questions were asked
is it plugged in ?is it turned on? if this is a common problem with this kind of pellet stove ,why wouldn't you trouble shoot over the phone?

I tried that. Understandably, if they have had the stove for 7 years one would think they know the difference between front and backside of the burnpot. i was actually surprised too, as I thought that this model wouldn't allow the burn pot to fit in backwards.

 

[Countryboymo]

I should have left the lawsuit part out of the story as it totally ruins the funny part of the story.