Front Range Heating & Cooling Of Colorado furnace cleaning scam; ripoff; "con job"; deceitful business practices; liars Brighton Colorado

I have 2 furnaces in my home, one for the primary residence and one for an addition. I contacted Front Range Heating & Cooling last October 2003 about performing an annual maintenance and cleaning on both furnaces. They told me that they do provide maintenance and cleaning services for furnaces and agreed to set a date for such a visit.

On Oct. 8th, the "technician" finally arrived at my home over an hour later than was scheduled. But he arrived with no tools nor furnace vacuum cleaner. I thought that was odd but I escorted this "technician" to the location of the first furnace and left the room for about 5 minutes, as I was in the midst of office by this late hour of the morning.

When I returned, I found him not working but rather talking on his cell phone. I waited there while he talked on the phone for over 10 minutes. After he finished his conversation, he asked me to lead him to the location of the second furnace. I took him upstairs into the attic and when we arrived, his cell phone rang again.

Once more, he was preoccupied with this call for another 10 minutes while I stood there waiting. After he finished with this call, we talked for 5 minutes and I left to finish my business paperwork. Within 10 minutes, he arrived downstairs and announced that he had completed all checks and maintenance on both furnaces. I looked at my watch and quickly calculated that he had been at my house a whole 40 minutes, which included 20 minutes of talking on the phone!

Because I didn't see him vacuum the inside of the furnaces or even carry any tools in, I asked him why he wasn't cleaning the furnaces and he reponded that they didn't need it. As I was right in the midst of my own business endeavors by this time, I didn't take the time to investigate his claims right at that moment. So I paid him by putting the charges on my Visa.

Later that day, when I had some time, I went and looked at both of my furnaces. The insides were still very dirty like they hadn't even been touched. I then looked at the invoice more closely and noted that the "technician" had merely stated that he had only checked for gas leaks. One furnace is 12 years old and the other is 2 years old. I have expensive carbon monoxide detectors for each furnace.

I didn't hire Front Range to check for leaks and talk on the phone! I hired them to perform preventative maintenance and cleanings on both furnaces. Companies that I have hired on past occasions, have given me lengthy (90 point) inspection checklists and have been in my home for 3-4 hours while they serviced both of my furnaces. And this time never involved talking on their cell phones!

I contacted Front Range on 10/8/03, 10/9/03 and 10/23/03 about my extreme dissatisfaction with their services. I spoke with their receptionist as well as my previous sales rep, Brian Dewald, from whom I had previously purchased an air conditioning unit from in March 2003. Brian told me that the "technician" had performed more services then what he had written down on the invoice. Bull. I told Brian that I didn't believe that because he came in with no tools and spent a total of 20 minutes on both furnaces in addition to 20 minutes talking on his cell phone.

But I told Brian that I'd like them to send me a list of all services performed. I never heard back from them nor received such a list. I wonder why? Front Range owes me the $132 in charges and I have decided to pursue getting my full amount back period.

Jan
Denver, Colorado
U.S.A.