C R
Rating: 3 out of 5
Furnace Repair (Flame Sensor)
Five days ago, reliance responded to my call requesting service on my furnace in a timely manner. The flame signal was low and I suspected that the flame sensor needed to be cleaned or replaced. Within a few hours of my call, John from Mississauga was sent to my home to fix the problem. John was friendly and professional. He immediately put on shoe covers and checked the thermostat and furnace. He was competent and thorough in his assessment. On the furnace, he cleaned the flame sensor and checked the circuit board. Although the flame sensor on my furnace is very difficult to get at, John was patient and careful in his work. In the end, I needed a new flame sensor, so he ordered one which was to be installed the next day by another technician (Joe, from Brampton).
The next day, Joe showed up to install my flame sensor. I was not pleased that he parked in my driveway (what if his truck was leaking??). I was also not pleased that he arrived two hours early than he was supposed to. I had informed Reliance that I needed the technician to arrive after 2pm. They informed him, but he showed up at 12pm anyway. I was not home yet and my wife was unprepared because she was involved in a professional clinical meeting for our children in our home at that time (which is why I requested the service call to be after 2pm). When joe arrived, my wife answered the door and informed him of my absence. He persuaded her to allow him to go to the furnace despite my absence and her inability to monitor his work. I felt this was unprofessional of him. My wife is passive and avoids offending anyone, so she led him to the basement. Because she was preoccupied with attending to the professional clinicians in our home, she did not notice that Joe was not wearing shoe covers. When I arrived and went to the basement I noticed that he did not wear or bring any shoe covers, yet he walked on my floors and in the dining room (where the thermostat is) with his boots on. I felt that Joe's work on the furnace was rushed and rough. Although the flame sensor is difficult to access, I compared his work to John (from Mississauga), since John worked on my furnace the day before. There was a clear difference in quality. Joe completed his work and left our home, however, the consequence of his work lasted until today, in which I had to call reliance and request John to fix the mistakes. For four days there was a small flood of water that kept accumulating around the base of the furnace because Joe didn't reconnect the drainage hose inside the furnace. Moreover, the new flame sensor wires that Joe used were poorly connected; they were over-stripped and held together by an over-sized marette. The flame sensor operates by sending a microvolt to the circuit board, so a proper connection is crucial. Overall, I felt it was poor quality work and poor professionalism.
Today I called Reliance to ask them to send John back to my home to fix the errors that Joe made when he installed the flame sensor four days ago. Within a couple hours John arrived and did a thorough job of correcting Joe's errors. John has been in the business for many years and realizes that servicing your equipment is still first and foremost about 'customer service'. John is an asset to Reliance and customers should rest assured if he services your equipment. I recognize John's quality work and customer service, as well as Reliance's commitment to handle my concerns and offer prompt service calls. I gave a sub-par star rating to reflect my dissatisfaction with Joe's service call and the resulting mess in my basement that I had to clean up because of the leaking water from the furnace. My only consolation is that John came back to fix everything.