ComplaintsforBrancato's Heating & Cooling

• Initial Complaint

  02/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The day before Christmas, 2022, our furnace ceased operation. In addition to being the day before Christmas, it was a Saturday. We had absolutely no desire or ability to pay weekend and/or holiday emergency services premiums so, after receiving ********** number from a local real estate professional, we called ********** & left a message, stating explicitly that we did not wish to have them come out on Christmas Eve or Christmas. Additionally, we explicitly requested that they CALL BEFORE COMING. Before engaging their services, we absolutely needed to discuss charges. Mon. a.m., Dec. 26, we received a text message from **********, asking for our address. We replied and AGAIN asked to speak with them directly, via telephone, before sending anyone out. The next thing we knew, a service technician from ********** showed up on our premises. We attempted to engage the technician in conversation to no avail. Thereafter, ********** office finally called and, after ascertaining that the service technician had arrived, that was the end of that call. After a very short assessment of the situation, the service technician left to get a part. He was gone for just under an hour, then returned and spent another very short period of time installing it. When I tried to discuss charges with him, he declined to do so and said it would be handled by the office. A few days later, we received a bill for $489.75, indicating that $189.75 was for the part and service and that $300 was for a holiday fee. We were horrified, as that was EXACTLY what we were trying to avoid. We specifically toughed it out in the cold for two days, opting to wait until Christmas was over, in order to avoid holiday fees. We contacted ********** and were told that they considered the day after Christmas to be a holiday as well. THIS IS SOMETHING WE WOULD HAVE LEARNED ABOUT AND COULD HAVE OPTED TO AVOID IF THEY HAD CALLED US BEFORE COMING. But we were denied that option. More to tell, no space.

  Business response

  03/03/2023

  We believe we have resolved this issue with the customer.  He didn't want to pay after hours service call, against our policy, we changed the billing price to our regular billing price.

  Customer response

  03/29/2023

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered. 

  Briefly, we do not consider ********** unilateral statement as being the actual response we requested.  There was an area on the original complaint that asked us to detail our desired resolution.  We specifically indicated that we wished for there to be a mutual discussion and this has never happened.  This is yet another manifestation of their lack of customer service.  The whole issue here is NOT whether or not they should charge a holiday premium or whether or not December 26 is a legitimate holiday.  Rather, the issue in this case was their failure to call and speak with us directly about services and charges BEFORE providing service AS WE REPEATEDLY REQUESTED.  That would have enabled us to opt out of these cutthroat charges before they were incurred.  If they wish to designate ANY given day of the year as a holiday, that is their prerogative, however, at the same time, it should be our prerogative as to whether or not we wish to engage their services under those conditions.  This is one of the reasons we repeatedly requested a call before coming, as this would have been our opportunity to opt out, but that discussion never took place.  Then, after filing a complaint with the BBB and again requesting an opportunity for verbal discourse, ********** responded, once again ignoring our request for a discussion and instead providing a unilateral statement that seemed to focus on their policy of charging a holiday premium for services incurred on December 26, which is not the issue, as it is their right to designate any day of the year as a holiday, if they so desire.   However, the pendulum swings both ways, and customers have rights as well.   Again, the actual issue in this case is their failure to call and discuss charges before providing service, as requested repeatedly, so that we could exercise our right to opt out of service on a day that would incur holiday charges.  The amended bill they provided,  while offering a very small reduction, appeared to have been reconfigured as to which charges were for parts and labor and which charge represented the holiday premium.  Although  we cannot speak to intent, we can speak to appearance, and  it appears to be an attempt to recharacterize the amount of the holiday surcharge.  If not, then it is the most egregious example of mark-up on the part installed that we have ever seen. Either way, it stands as a monumental and continuing failure to provide basic customer service, with basic human decency.  And in a day and age when economic hardship and unfair business practices are disproportionately affecting the senior segment of our society, it becomes more important than ever that businesses be held accountable and that other consumers receive fair warning.
  

  
  

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