Would you pay extra for emergency/weekend stove service?

[Lousyweather]

I am just curious if you folks here who hire service guys to fix your stove would pay extra for evening/weekend service if it were available. I know a lot of you folks service your own units, so, while your input might be interesting, its not really relevant, as you'd just fix your own. And if you would pay more, how much?

Thanks

 

[Lake Girl]

Most of us have probably paid a premium to have oil or gas furnaces repaired on an emergency basis, why not pellet stoves too?

 

[Madcodger]

I am just curious if you folks here who hire service guys to fix your stove would pay extra for evening/weekend service if it were available. I know a lot of you folks service your own units, so, while your input might be interesting, its not really relevant, as you'd just fix your own. And if you would pay more, how much?

Thanks

I do some of my service, but also use a dealer. If the main stove were down and I NEEDED it back I'd pay 30-50% more for night/weekend service. But I'd be more likely to just use the heat pump...

 

[P38X2]

If I didn't have a backup source of heat?..of course!...assuming I couldn't fix it myself.

I'd expect to pay an "emergency service" fee. Something to the tune of $50-75. However, if the tech/company wanted to charge an increased hourly rate as well, I would NOT be cool with that.

You thinking bout offering this service?

 

[Jeff Lawson]

I think of it this way...if I worked on stoves...it would take more money to get me there after hours.

And at the same time...if I had to pay the premium for service or parts...I would.

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

Yep

 

[LMPS]

I think it really depends on when during the weekend I would need the service, and how cold it was out. For example if it was Friday night and it was going to be a very cold weekend I would be willing to pay the extra because burning oil all weekend would be most costly than the extra cost of the service charge. If it was Friday night and it was going to be a warmer weekend (in relative terms) then I might think about trying to make it through with the oil back up.
If it as Sunday afternoon/night I would think hard of just burning the oil to get through until Monday.
To me this is a cost benefit question, the cost of the extra charge vs. the benefit of not using oil.

 

[MikeNH]

I work on my own stoves, but my dealer is always there to answer any questions I have, and he always has parts on hand. He's closed on Sundays so in that case, if both stoves were completely down, I would swallow my pride and turn on the oil heat until Monday.

 

[moey]

Probably not it would be more cost effective to have turned on the oil or whatever other source of heat I had for a couple days. Or if it was a weekend save the $100 and go to a nice hotel and take a mini vacation. The oil person who used to service our boiler charged $30 for a middle of the night run, I told him at that rate it would have to be pretty cold for me to call him. Meaning Im not waking him up to give him only $30.

 

[bonesy]

Yes, any after hours or weekend/holiday service would be extra, by the tune of time and a half (basically OT). And I don't think many people have a choice if they do not fix it themselves. Either they pay, or they don't get it fixed. The plumbing and HVAC industry already does it, why not pellet stove service?

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Most of us have probably paid a premium to have oil or gas furnaces repaired on an emergency basis, why not pellet stoves too?

I have paid a premium to get emergency service on my oil boiler when it was the only source of heat in the house.
I rely on my pellet stoves for my primary source in heating but I can always fall back to the oil system in an emergency. So, no, I would have no reason to pay a premium for pellet stove service.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

When it gets to the point I can't service the stove I'd be fine with paying extra for emergency service. There might even be a service agreement side to the business just like the other side does. Pay x annually and the following is included kind of arrangement.

For now I can get by using the Dino burner my t-stat for that is parked at 55.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

There might even be a service agreement side to the business just like the other side does. Pay x annually and the following is included kind of arrangement

I like that idea. As I get older, there are more tasks that I feel I have to offload to service specialists. A service contract could offer that service at a moderated cost.

 

[P38X2]

In addition to my previous post, I'll add that even if I would end up burning the equivalent $$ to an "emergency fee" in oil over the weekend, I wouldn't call for service. Reverse the situation and I wouldn't wanna be the guy getting woken up at 3AM to go out on a service call that ultimately isn't an emergency. Yes, it'd be a tough situation for the service tech to have to explain to a possibly panicked customer, how the "24 hour emergency service" he offered and charged for, wasn't applicable, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and you better hope your good at communicating. If the customer insisted you show up, despite your best efforts, well then you just gotta suck it up and go to the call...or lose a customer and start earning yourself a bad rep.

Obviously, you need to be committed to this service.

 

[moey]

You could offer rates that would actually discourage someone from calling but they truly would if they were without heat. Then actually cut them a slight break in the end. Some people let there backup heat fail and don't bother getting it working so it truly can be bad when the stove will not work. Of course you can always plug in a couple space heaters.

 

[briansol]

Because I have oil heat, and a couple electric baseboards/"amish fireplace" thingees, I wouldn't. I would simply turn those on and deal with it in the morning and then call for back up if I couldn't figure it out.

I would, however, pay SLIGHTLY more for some non-emergency off-hours stuff. I HATE that retail things are only open 9-5. You cater to exactly ZERO working folks. lol At least do a late Thursday or something to 7.

Even a cleaning appointment at 630pm is FAR more convenient to me than having to leave the office early.

 

[Boondoggie]

I would certainly expect to pay more if I wanted it fixed on a weekend...

But I wouldn't do it, as I have backup heat and can wait until Monday.

 

[Lousyweather]

If I didn't have a backup source of heat?..of course!...assuming I couldn't fix it myself.

I'd expect to pay an "emergency service" fee. Something to the tune of $50-75. However, if the tech/company wanted to charge an increased hourly rate as well, I would NOT be cool with that.

You thinking bout offering this service?

Frankly, was just curious. Relatives in the oil biz, and I know how bad it is to get a call at 2am in a snowstorm on Sunday night....lemme tell ya, $30 (extra) wouldn't come even close to cutting it, fee-wise. Plus, someone has to be on call, and in many states, whether they go out or not, you still have to pay. I don't see it working, and that was shored up by the answers above.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

My son had a gas boiler emergency last week on Sunday. They told him it was $185 minimum to come look at it with no guarantee of a fix. I can't imagine a pellet stove owner putting up with that.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

We have to put this is some perspective here. The majority of us have a centralized heating system in our homes. Our pellet stoves are just space heaters. Some of us use them more to their advantage than others. When they break down and can't be easily fixed, more than likely you will walk to the dreaded thermostat on the wall and turn it up....