Nasty Replies To Customer Wanting Advice About HVAC

The following is an overview of a question and responses that took place on the largest most respected HVAC forum on the internet. Pay close attention to the attitudes of both the requesting participant and the active responders, and then see the summary at the bottom of this article.

Requesting Participant: “Need your advice please.”

“Any idea on finding a licensed ac contractor in Charlotte to install a new ac unit that I already bought. Every place I called, they want to sell me the new unit, but they don’t install the new unit that I purchased. Appreciate your input.”

Responding Participants:

• “I’m sure some company up there will install it for you….at a labor marketup from the norm and no equipment warranty. Expect to pay more when you bring your own steak to the steakhouse.”

• Don’t even think about doing it, are you crazy? You are just inspiring more cheapskates to try this crap and I’m sick of it. How the “F” does this customer know it is even close to being the right size.
  Gimme a break. The sad thing is they will find someone to do it then when it breaks in 2 months they will wonder where it all went wrong. My advice to you customers that try this is don’t. Nothing will be warrantied, you will have an inefficient system, and you are dragging down us techs that are knowledgable and honest by undermining our skills.

• “I would do it for the same price as if I sold the unit to you. There would be no warranty though.”

So, what we see here is not an uncommon occurrence in this type of situation. We have a homeowner who has asked, a to-the-point, civil question, in a respectful manner. He has stated the following: I am here. This is what I need. Can you help? I appreciate your help.

What he receives, is disrespectful, chiding, critical responses.

The first respondent is not necessarily incorrect, but is disrespectful.

The second respondent is just plain brutal. If that were me in that situation, my response back would have been, “I do not allow anyone to talk to me this way, so this conversation is over.” But, such is the character of many internet forums.

The last respondent is the one that I really want to focus on. If you have any sensibility at all, and it is apparent that you do, as you are currently here at AskBoyd.com trying to gain knowledge, then this one should send you through the roof. That contractor is stating that he would do the requested installation, but for the exact same price as if he sold the equipment himself and would not backup his work.

The whole reason that I have written this entire article is to address that last comment. In the past few months, I have interviewed many HVAC contractors and have asked this exact question. On several occasions, I was given this answer. “I will be happy to install equipment that a homeowner has purchased themselves, but I will charge them the same as I would if I sold the equipment.” And they tell the homeowner that exactly in those terms. I have always fancied myself a pretty good salesman, but never in a thousand years would I use that as my pitch. Wow!

I want you to put yourself in this situation and as you do so, keep in mind that we are talking about hundreds or even thousands of dollars. YOU’RE DOLLARS! Now imagine yourself asking that same question to someone directly in front of you. If you received any of the above remarks, how much more time would you spend with that person?

Now the good news J In my interviews, I also found contractors who took another approach. When you read exchanges like the one above, often times you will hear contractors refer to “Hacks”. In many of their minds, a hack is any contractor that is not them. The reality is that there are less then professional, incapable contractors who operate HVAC businesses, but, you will find that in any industry. For the sake of ending this story, the contractors that I interviewed were all professional, capable contractors. And, within this group I found a small population that stated that they would be happy to do these types of installs on a “Time & Material” basis, and many had and would again in the future.

So, when and if you do go the route of purchasing your own HVAC equipment, be prepared for the naysayers, but rest assured that there are good honest contractors out there, who will help you. You just have look.

Knowledge is Power. Thanks for letting AskBoyd help you get, The Power.