Basic fireplace cleanup, adjustment
Moved in to our new home which had a gas fireplace. wanted to make sure it was functioning before use.
Called gasfix because of such great reviews on this site. Emailed them for a quote for my fireplace, got the quote and decided to go ahead with the service call.
Quote "A normal clean and safety check would include vacuuming out the fireplace and bringing in a small compressor to blow out area's in behind and on top that we can not get at with the vacuum. We blow out the pilot assembly, burner, and fan assembly. We check the safety on the gas valve, check the electrical circuits, and the safety circuits. We clean the glass, check the window gaskets. On completion we fire up the fireplace and do a draft test and a carbon monoxide test to be sure that you are safe.
A typical service call is $160 plus parts and depending on the part maybe a little labour. This could be a little more if it is a extra large fireplace, has 2 or 3 windows or is extremely dirty."
No additional parts and or cleaning was needed as it is a small fireplace.
The guy came in to do the work, brought in tools made sure he didn't get my new carpet dirty by putting mat down where he was working.
He did his service (which was supposed to be a basic service call cleaning etc) gave me the bill and it was over what i was quoted. Telling me he made adjustments that's why it was so much. Fireplace worked until the next morning when i woke up, with same issue, Contacted Scott to speak to him about service he still has not returned my call/emails sent. Said he'd get back to me in a day. This was last Wed... Got someone else to come in after i sent a video (which was sent to Scott as well, seeing as Scott was not returning my emails/calls)
There was a clog in the line that was causing the issue,
The gasfix tech had said if it happens again it's the gas valve (over 500 for the part).
Apparently not just needed someone who knew what they were doing.
Terrible service.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $250.00
- Company Response
Brian: I’m terribly sorry that you are not happy with our service. In over thirty-five years, I find that most problems are related to communication. We would like to clarify some points that are not noted in your review.
When you first emailed me regarding servicing your fireplace, all you could tell me was that sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t work. So it worked intermittently. You did not know the make, model or age. I told you in my reply by email that I could not tell you how much it would cost to repair your fireplace without doing some diagnostics, especially on an intermittent problem. I thought that was clear enough. I could not and did not quote you a price to repair the fireplace.
Our prices do not include HST which is extra and that is normal. By law most companies including Gas Fix cannot include HST in our pricing. The price you are saying you paid includes the HST. This is a little misleading.
I did say that often a clean and check can resolve simple problems. I explained what a clean and check includes as you have listed. As you pointed out, I did tell you that extremely dirty units may be a little more. We arrived to a 30 year old (or older) fireplace that was filthy and charged you a little extra because your fireplace was extremely dirty and did not look like it had ever been cleaned. In addition, we found a wiring issue that could have caused an intermittent problem and repaired that problem. A clean and check does not include repairing any issues discovered during the check/inspection.
We test fired your gas fireplace and ran the fireplace while we did a draft test and while we did a carbon monoxide test and the fireplace worked fine and continued to work while we cleaned up, wrote up the bill and completed the payment. By your own account, the fireplace ran until the next day. Intermittent problems are the hardest to repair, especially when the fireplace works fine while we are there.
Although you said I never returned your calls, you never actually phoned me. All your correspondences were made by email. That is fine but emails are slow. If you had phoned the office that is staffed from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM, we would not have had to reply and could have dealt with your problem on the spot. The office is closed on Sat but the phones are forwarded to our field staff. So when you emailed me a video at 3:21 PM on Saturday, January 19, I did not reply until the beginning of the week. I did return all your emails.
We were prepared to return and tried to contact you to arrange a return call. Gas fix will return and check a fireplace that we serviced for 30 days from the original service date. Seeing the video was helpful. If it had acted up like that on our first call, it would have made the repair much easier.
You also filed a complaint with the BBB. We have submitted all the email correspondence we have in reply and the BBB has closed the file for lack of merit.
At Gas Fix, we strive to provide quality service and care to all our clients. Unfortunately, there are circumstances where no matter how hard we try, it becomes clear that this is not possible. We apologize for any misunderstanding and wish you all the best in the future.