- Jun 4, 2005
- 1,099
- 1
- 81
I live in a house that is 22 years old. We have been dealing with the same HVAC company for the past 10-15 years, and they had been out over the years to fix stuff, such as a gas controller on my gas heater, my air conditioner, etc.
They normally are very good about what they charge and I never felt that I was ever taken, until today.
So my Honeywell gas heater goes out. I checked the pilot, it was not staying lit, so I changed the thermocouple. It worked for a while and then didn't. I tried another new Honeywell thermocouple, same problem....pilot would not stay lit. I figured either the gas controller was messed up or the transformer on my heater was gone.
So I called our trusty HVAC company to the house. Service man comes up at around 5:45 and takes a few minutes checking the "heat exchanger for cracks", etc. He then fiddles around and checks the transformer or whatever with a multimeter, etc. He then figures out the problem is the thermocouple. For some reason, a little brass fitting was missing and the thermocouples I was using were burning out because they were too far into the flame. He puts a new Honeywell thermocouple with that little brass fitting and then goes back to his truck to write up the charges.
I figured that it would be like $50-75 for coming and diagnosing the problem (1/2 hour worth of work) + the cost of the thermocouple ($10 at Home Depot + their markup ~ $25-30). I figured I'd have to shell out between $75.00 and $100.00 for this trip.
So he writes up the charges and it was $182.00, and $107.00 was for the thermocouple!
I was tight on time, but I asked him how he could charge $107 for a simple cheap thermocouple and he went on about how it was special, etc.
I didn't have time to argue, so I paid the man and then when I got back home later, went online to check if he was telling me the truth. The most expensive Honeywell thermocouple for their home gas heaters I could find was about $11.00. I've replaced at least 3 or 4 thermocouples in the past on that same gas heater using just standard store bought ones. No problems.
The service guy did nothing else other than this.
I was very disappointed, so I phoned the company and spoke to an after-hours manager. I asked him how his service guy could charge me so much for a simple thermocouple, and he gave me a spiel about the price being parts, labor, warranty, etc. I told him that I was not happy with this amount they charged me for that item, and I told him that if they charge like this, then I won't ever ask them to come out to the house to do any more work.
As I said, they have always been very fair in pricing their services and parts in the past.
The night manager said he'll leave a message for the owner so he can look at it tomorrow and get back to me.
Now, I don't mind paying for good service, but paying a huge markup on a cheap $10.00 thermocouple after I was already charged $75.00 for the guy to come out and diagnose my problem seems to be excessive.
What do you guys think....the serviceman who came out just stuck me with the highest price in his book for this item?
Thanks,
Pradeep
They normally are very good about what they charge and I never felt that I was ever taken, until today.
So my Honeywell gas heater goes out. I checked the pilot, it was not staying lit, so I changed the thermocouple. It worked for a while and then didn't. I tried another new Honeywell thermocouple, same problem....pilot would not stay lit. I figured either the gas controller was messed up or the transformer on my heater was gone.
So I called our trusty HVAC company to the house. Service man comes up at around 5:45 and takes a few minutes checking the "heat exchanger for cracks", etc. He then fiddles around and checks the transformer or whatever with a multimeter, etc. He then figures out the problem is the thermocouple. For some reason, a little brass fitting was missing and the thermocouples I was using were burning out because they were too far into the flame. He puts a new Honeywell thermocouple with that little brass fitting and then goes back to his truck to write up the charges.
I figured that it would be like $50-75 for coming and diagnosing the problem (1/2 hour worth of work) + the cost of the thermocouple ($10 at Home Depot + their markup ~ $25-30). I figured I'd have to shell out between $75.00 and $100.00 for this trip.
So he writes up the charges and it was $182.00, and $107.00 was for the thermocouple!
I was tight on time, but I asked him how he could charge $107 for a simple cheap thermocouple and he went on about how it was special, etc.
I didn't have time to argue, so I paid the man and then when I got back home later, went online to check if he was telling me the truth. The most expensive Honeywell thermocouple for their home gas heaters I could find was about $11.00. I've replaced at least 3 or 4 thermocouples in the past on that same gas heater using just standard store bought ones. No problems.
The service guy did nothing else other than this.
I was very disappointed, so I phoned the company and spoke to an after-hours manager. I asked him how his service guy could charge me so much for a simple thermocouple, and he gave me a spiel about the price being parts, labor, warranty, etc. I told him that I was not happy with this amount they charged me for that item, and I told him that if they charge like this, then I won't ever ask them to come out to the house to do any more work.
As I said, they have always been very fair in pricing their services and parts in the past.
The night manager said he'll leave a message for the owner so he can look at it tomorrow and get back to me.
Now, I don't mind paying for good service, but paying a huge markup on a cheap $10.00 thermocouple after I was already charged $75.00 for the guy to come out and diagnose my problem seems to be excessive.
What do you guys think....the serviceman who came out just stuck me with the highest price in his book for this item?
Thanks,
Pradeep
. My draft inducer motor, 
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