Gas furnace not working at all, came out within 20 minutes even being that it was New Year's Eve, late afternoon, and did diagnose according to codes, that it was the control board in the motor. A portion of the board was melted, due to overheating, and would need to be replaced. Bad news was the part was not available in Flagstaff, and with it being a holiday weekend, it would be Monday before a call could be made to check availability of the part, it would have to be trucked up to Flagstaff, and that would be Tuesday at the earliest to get the part. I did advise him that we had an extended warranty that would cover that part, and he indicated that he knew how to work on Trane units and could do the repair. He was to check the warehouse first thing Monday and call me right after to let us know how long to get the part and get it installed. We used space heaters to make the house comfortable enough to get through the long weekend.
No phone call back so at 11:00 I called the office, secretary said the repairman was on the radio and would call me back. He did call and said he was not able to verify they could get the part and was waiting to hear from the Phoenix office and would call me. heAt 1:15 I called back and asked if there was someone else I could speak with to get this done and the owner, John, got on the phone. I explained the situation to him, he was very cranky, and said it was very difficult to get through to Trane to get an answer and would call me back, which he did. He said they told him I had no warranty and quoted me a price, I said but I have a full extended warranty, he said the part could be trucked up but insisted that I would need to pay up front for the part then get reimbursed by Trane afterwards. I told him that I wanted to verify with Trane that was the process, but he said that I needed to order now to get it done, but I had a feeling this was wrong. He said so much time had been spent calling and he wanted to do the work after all of that. Turns out Trane never deals with or reimburses customers, only dealers, and only Trane authorized dealers can do the work and get reimbursed, customers never pay up front. The Trane warranty people said his company is not authorized to do the work and get reimbursed, so I knew that was the reason he was insisting I pay him up front. I called him back and told him what I had learned, and that if I had paid him for the part there would be no reimbursement, and that he was not an authorized Trane dealer, and he said he knew that. I told him that he wasted my time and his, that was dishonest to say I should pay up front then get reimbursed knowing that it does not work that way. I knew he wanted me to be out the money for the expensive part and all of the labor so he could make the money. I told him forget it, said let's settle up for the service call and paid him by credit card. Bottom line: The owner's actions were dishonest, and he knew how the warranty works, hoping that I would not question or make phone calls to check out the facts. I would never hire them ever again, and would not recommend anyone use this company unless you check out the facts and determine if there is warranty coverage.
