I struggled with submitting this incident, I have had good service for the last five years but this very much raised a flag. After doing the initial start up and service our heater required replacing and it was completed last June. To start the year this year I called and asked for a service call to light and my concern was the warranty. It could not be done for a couple of days which I accepted ,but the total charges reflected a basic serve charge of $94.00, 25 minutes of service time $40.00, and $17.42 for taxes. The tech was great and kept reassuring me the process was easy. Moving forward based on this charge I will have difficulty using this service or recommending based on their position on pricing what I considered to be a minimal task
- Approximate cost of services:
- $151.42
- Company Response
Thank you for your review, Dan. We have been servicing your pool heater over six years when we started servicing your Hayward CZ200C-EI in 2010. Our rates have not changed very much over the years. When you look at only the service fee to dispatch our technician combined with the labour fee, our rates are still in line with what you paid in the past. In 2012, the service fee and labour was $125. In 2013, the service fee and labour was $248 as there were repairs to the unit. In 2014, the service fee and labour was $161. In May 2015, the service fee and labour was $141. On July 4, 2015, the unit would spark but would no longer ignite so we quoted on as new unit. The service fee and labour for the service call on July 4th was $213. Three days later, we replaced the Hayward unit with a new Raypak unit. We also credited you back $93 for the service fee from July 4th as goodwill. Essentially, that call on July 4th was $120 for the labour only. In June 2016, the service fee and labour was $134. Please note that our rates do not include HST.
We are different from other gas contractors that we take safety very seriously. Many contractors will light the pilot and leave it at that. We don’t. We light the pilot, check the operation of the pressure switch, check the ON/OFF safety circuit and check for spiders in the burner orifices. Most pool heater service calls are between 20 to 25 minutes. This falls completely in line with our past service calls, except for those service calls when we had to do a more substantial repair to an older Hayward unit. It is also important to note that when we have had to service your Hayward pool heater, we always had the parts on our vehicle to complete the repair.
Another concern you mentioned was warranty. Raypak is very clear on warranty. If the issue is an installation error, chemistry issue, a maintenance/service issue or an issue that is not related to the pool heater, the customer pays. This was merely a light and check to your unit exactly as we have done in the past for the prior Hayward unit. We did email Raypak who confirmed that the light and check to your pool heater is not a warranty situation as there was no part failure or additional issue with your heater.
You said our technician was great and we think that warrants a 10 for the service that we provided not only this year but also in the past. ~ Jason