Fuge Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc.

In May of 2016 I had Fuge Heating and Air Conditioning come out to the house because my heating system was acting erratic. The technician arrived in a couple hours and we both went to the basement where I explained the problem and in no time he found the component that was misbehaving. He happened to have the exact part in the truck so he installed it and away he went. He was a nice enough guy although he left mud all the way from my garage to my basement. The real problem was when I got the bill. The bill is split into two parts one being a service call the second being the price for the part. Prior to receiving the bill I looked the part price up online to get an idea of what the total bill would be, I found the same part listed many times on the internet for about the same price (give or take). Sp now I had an idea what the bill was going to be and I could budget for it. When the bill arrived the part cost turned out to be three to four times more then all of the like parts I found online. So, I phoned Dan [redacted] to discuss the invoice to see if there was any way to discount the bill and bring the bill a little more in line to my estamate (never got an estimate from Fuge). I explained that I was a veteran and a senior citizen on a fixed income and many businesses feel good helping vets and seniors... this didn't seem to matter, he indicated if he gave those kinds of discounts he'd have to raise his prices. He also indicated that his wholesaler charges him much more then the prices I saw on the internet and indicated he doesn't know how those people on the internet can sell so cheaply. As we talked on it seemed as if he wasn't going to move...I got the sense he was adding $70-80 onto the wholesale price; if the guy would have just knocked off $10-20 it would have made me happy. As it is , I will need a new furnace by this coming winter and I don't believe Dan [redacted] will be involved in the bidding. Although, he did say he would drop this bill if I bought a new furnace from him. REALLY!!!

Review: This organization failed to call me and tell me what was the problem with my boilers and completed the work with out my knowledge and it cost $2,920.00. I have tried to discuss this with the owner on 2 occasions but he told me he did not call me because I was a " [redacted] I am not going to pay this bill unless they cut it at least 1,500.00. I can afford that specifically since the y did not tell me what it would cost or what was wrong.Desired Settlement: Adjust the bill to $1,500.00.

Business

Response:

Thank you for your letter of November 15 concerning the poor communication & over billing

that a customer feels they received from us. [redacted]

On 10-21-13 received a request for service from a property management company for 8 - unit

apartment building. We should call owner before we go. Called & she wanted price to repair.

I started thinking & a couple seconds later she snapped back it won't be $3,000 will it. I said

it would be a lot less than that.

After going to Milwaukee to pick up expansion tank with fill to replace tank that diaphragm

had failed I noticed that there was no water in system & South boiler was firing. Large

circulator was tight & I could not loosen. Over my 40 years in the industry I have never

witnessed or heard ofa boiler running dry & not cracking the boiler. Just running dry is very

unusual. I called & told her that I had to get circulator and North boiler had a leak that needed

to be fixed, and that would have to be done Monday. First she said o~ and then latter in

conversation she said she did not want it fixed if it was not big. I said it needed to be fixed. I

also said it would cost closer to her estimate. The property manager had mentioned that

circulator was not working but I forgot. I deducted 1.25 hours for second trip to Milwaukee.

Circulator on South boiler was tight & I replaced also.

After service man fixed leak he found circulator on North boiler tight & draft safety limit bad.

Replaced circulator & caJled her & told her that he had to order limit. Service man also

noticed that there was a leak above circulator. Its position made it impossibJe for 1 man to

fix. He told me after this call that I had to call her & let her know about small leak & how

much it would cost. I did not call. I had no idea what it would cost & it was no fun to call

her.

On Tuesday we got a call for no beat. Service man found strainer on South boiler plugged.

There was flow though this strainer Saturday night, Sunday & Monday. Service man did not

drain water from system, only water in North boiler on Monday. It must of plugged from

gunk in bottom of boiler that got stirred up when boiler was filled.

On Thursday she called to say system was leaking more water than before. There was an

inspector there because she was trying to sell building. At first service man told her we could

not make it till Monday. We finished Fridays job in the morning so 2 of use went & fixed

leak. There was one other small leak on threads by large circulator that we also fixed. We

also installed blocked vent switch. [redacted] says that the leak that caused her to call was not that

big when he was there.

On Monday 11-4 she called to complain that we did not fix leak outside boiler room that was

running across floor. [redacted] found zone valve behind steps leaking and running to floor drain.

The 3 of us did not see water running across floor before & had no reason to go to that area of

basement.

During my conversations with her I heard an unbelievable amount of profanity. Her first

complaint started with how we could charge her for 3 1 ~ hours labor & she repeated 3 J Y2

hours many times. I said it was not that much but did not know amount without looking at

invoice. We billed 16 Y, hours. She said she never authorized most of the work. She said her

tenants only saw use there twice. She said we were trespassing. She said she showed our

invoice to one local competitor and they said they would do the same work for $1,500. I said

that was I lie. Then she said she showed it to 2 competitors. Then she said she had a property

manager & they got an estimate for $1,500 before we did the work. She said she was

recording phone call. I said good. She said her lawyer was there while she was talking to me.

She said I was trying to take advantage of her because she was a woman. I laughed. She

asked me why I didn't call her. I said she was a [redacted]. I should have used a more politically

correct word that meant the same thing.

We did not go to her property once that we were not either requested to go there or demanded

to go there. I did not get back to her about leak that [redacted] found and than she ordered us to go

there.

During her profanity laced calls she was demeaning, cruel & very creative. If throughout this

letter I would have listed every time she used profanity this letter would be twice as long. I

am not proud of how I communicated with her. I am proud that I did not fall to her level. She

threatened me a number of times, I did not even demand that she pay bill.

There was a billing mistake on last time there. It should have been 1 hour. We can produce

job record to show how this happened. We also forgot to bill for wholesaler opening charge

of $75. I also missed billing my time to lift pipe so service man could replace circulator on

North boiler $74. Our service rate is at low end of industry & we do not charge a trip charge.

I am including invoice as she received & Email that we got from our answering service.

Thank you again for bringing this matter to our attention. We value your opinion of us.

Consumer

Response: