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A furnace story (that wasnt to be)

We got a phone call from a potential new customer. After a little info, we found that we had already been servicing their parents house for years. Even replaced the parents furnace, A/C coil, air cleaner, UV and water heater. We've been servicing the parents home twice a year for years and years. So the potential says, "Hey, we had a company come out, they had the booties, a small red carpet, they camera'd our heat exchanger and told us it was cracked, rusted, etc, etc and needed to be replaced. What they have is a older 100k btu 90% that would need to be replaced with a 60-75K 95% gas. This company tells them they will replace it with a

100k 95% gas furnace for.......................................... hang onto your hats now............... $8,000 !!!!!! Now this is replacing the furnace only. NO other accessories. Existing PVC, modify the supply to fit and reuse the return air. We gave them a price of $3500. Now they start to wonder so they start checking around. (They are living with their parents while they decide). They call a company that is huge and known for selling appliances. They have a kinda neat online site where you answer a few questions and you get a complete written estimate!! They haven't been out to look at anything. The customer keeps calling us back and saying, now I want to replace this, now I want to replace that. The company is including "this", does yours?" "Now it includes "this" too, does yours?". Finally the price is getting ridiculous and I go off on them. I tell them, "Here is what I do as you can check by asking your parents. We also advertise at the schools and churches. We support the local schools in our town by providing money and gifts for all their drives, outddor activities and anything else that goes on in this community. Does the company across the river you want to use do any of that? (No, they dont). Anyways, long story short, they are probably going with the other company because we wont give the job away for "free" and the husband has used that company at his office. (So did the parents at their house and we won them over). Anyways, thats life in the fast lane of the hvac world. Bubba
Reply to
Bubba
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Just remember that when you lose one, something better is gonna come along.

Reply to
Noon-Air

Today's consumers [home owners] tend to be a little less trusting and a little more investigative. Especially with the internet. But you can beat a horse to death somtimes.

It seems to "win" over a new customer, you have to be price [economy] concious and bend over backwards to provide [what may seem extra but is standard to some] service.

There's been several times I lost 'em, but after they find out the 'other' [technitions] really don't know, they come back.

Reply to
Zyp

I tell 'em that its not about price but the very best quality and value for their hard earned dollar. Are they looking for a top quality installation of the very best equipment, done by a certified master contractor and tech, or do they want it done cheap.

Reply to
Noon-Air

Well, let me check it out, and I'll call ya tomorrow.

Reply to
Zyp

Hi, Some idiots never learn their lessons. They keep repeating same mistakes all their lives. And they think they are the smartest in the whole world.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Good story, Bubba.....

As the "regulars" must know, I don't do "cheap", either.

Of course, I work in the electrical trade.... but our offerings are not all that much apart.

I design and install systems that will run for their designed life. Not break down, not cause call-backs every year, not bust out in a ball of flames someday.

So do you.

I make certain the job is done right, every single time and down to every single detail. If I walk onto a job and the conduit isn't straight, we tear it down and start over. If someone didn't ground something correctly, it's fixed. If we find a flaw that was our fault, we fix it... for free.

That used to be how America worked... and how it should work. It isn't about the 'sell', it's about the seller and buyer and satisfaction each have with one another.

Homeowners and other consumers here... make no mistake. Your HVAC system is the biggest hog of energy, the most costly to purchase, and the hardest to maintain appliance in your home. If you want to be warm and cool when you want, and you wish to do so for the lowest cost possible overall....

Please, please don't low-ball your HVAC purchase decisions. There is one hell of a lot more there than just "up front" price.

Jake

Reply to
Jake

I wish it was a story. Unfortunately, its real.

Crooked stuff just kills me. If it aint straight, it'll drive me crazy till its done right.

Nice try but only a few will follow. Its a throw a way world. Most will look for the least expensive. Only a few will do it right. Its just the way of today. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

Well, hell.

I'm the guy that bought McQuay equipment, installed by the factory reps, for my newest building.

That stuff costs a lot more than anyone else.. period.

But, I need to maintain a RH and temp. that allows me to store millions of dollars of customer PLC stuff. The McQuay system does it cheaper, and with literally NO problems almost three years in.

The best stuff you can afford, installed by the best people you can find... makes all the difference in the world.

What's the REAL cost of throw-away crap? You sacrifice economy, serviceability... and in most cases a reputable firm that will fix problems.

Not a great bargain, IMO.

Ya know, we run a couple of racks that have computer servers in them. Each rack is backed up by a American Power Conversion UPS (Symmetra XR) at 12 kW each.

Every time you call APC you get a REAL U.S. Citizen who will work you through whatever problem you might have with their equipment. APC sells more UPS's than anyone else, anywhere.

The reason, I think, is because they do things right, and they stand by their products religiously.... like McQuay.

I'm happy that folks like McQuay, and APC, and HP-Compaq, and all the other companies out there support me.

So, I'll continue to support them. That's how it works.

Jake

Reply to
Jake

dear mr. bubba (!), your advice is always valuable, please turn the time limit to unlimited: the saddest part of your story is the part that says "Note: The author of this message requested that it not be archived. This message will be removed from Groups in 6 days (Dec 17,

10:28 pm)." thanks and merry christmas! -buffalobill
Reply to
buffalobill

Thanks for the request but I look at it like this: Do you really want to see some of my "ramblings" posted forever and ever? :-) Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

It's nice to see that bubba's original posts will be flushed down the toilet and not be archived by Google. Obviously Bubba himself feels his posts are not worthy or valuable enough to be archived.

However, the doorknobs like Coon-Air and Zyp and everyone else that post replies have included Bubba's post - quoted in full, so his post will still be archived a dozen times over and available on Google for years.

So Bubba's posting setting (X-No-Archive: yes) is useless in a group like this where most posters are full-quoters. I doubt he's ever made a post that someone else hasn't full-quoted in a reply.

Reply to
HVAC Guy

So does this mean you were going to miss me? Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

- Woosh -

Did you feel that go right over your head Bubba?

Reply to
HVAC Guy

The only thing going over my "head" is you HVACGayGuy and I told you to get up off your knees and stop doing that. Go find one of your own kind for that. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

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