My daughter has an Apple laptop. It broke down just out of warranty so we took to the local Apple store for repair. It couldn’t be repaired there at the store as the problem was some sort of hardware failure in the laptop. Then, right at the counter, the young kid told me the repair was going to be $300. I asked him how he knew that when he didn’t know what the problem actually was.
He told me every repair was $300
I questioned him a bit more and. Sure enough, no matter how serious or how slight the damage the store’s policy is to charge $300. Alright, I know they are playing the odds and some of the repairs they are going to lose on, but most of the time the parts are going to be less than $50.
So, why the $300?
I walked out knowing that I had a not to exceed repair price and I was comfortable with that even though I knew I was probably paying too much. So I attempted to see if I could apply this concept to our business model as a furnace repair company.
Not wanting to reinvent the wheel I asked around
We are members of a number of heating and air conditioning organizations and we have open forums on business procedures across North America. I even know the owner of a company here in Southern California that does this type of flat rate fix. He charges $250 to fix a furnace and the homeowners are told that any repair is going to be $250 before he ever shows up. Nationwide a number of companies operate this way.
They all told the same story
They face a lot of complaints and unhappy clients. You see, our average service call is under $100. The reason it is under $100 is because the majority of times we diagnose a furnace problem the furnace really didn’t have a problem. A wire came off, a fuse blew, a wire nut is loose, the furnace is unplugged, the circuit breaker is turned off, the filter is dirty and the list goes on. We thoroughly check the entire system and give recommendations, but the repair is simple. So if I told you that ….
The Repair is Going to $100
Before I showed up and all I did was put the blower compartment door back on correctly, would you be happy? I know I wouldn’t. That is an overcharge. The other serious problem with this type of furnace repair rate before looking is that many homeowners are pretty ruthless. They will shop continuously for a cheap repair even going so far as to call company after company right in front of me checking on everything that I am doing. I even had one person do a live video conference of me working on her furnace with another furnace repair company making sure that everything was done correctly and priced right. It was truly weird.
Every company had exceptions to their stated repair rates
All repairs for furnaces cannot be made for $100 or even $250. Many times the induced draft motors, circuit boards and variable speed motors exceed these prices in parts so I asked company after company did they replace these items under there fixed rate. They all had various ways of getting around these repairs. For instance, several said that each item is fixed repair rate and they showed me how they detailed their invoices adding together many different fixed repairs. Another one told me that in order to receive the fixed rate for the furnace repair they had to fix the entire system (ducting, venting, etc.) and if they didn't they wouldn't qualify. Two companies told me that in order to qualify for the fixed furnace repair rate the client had to sign up for a yearly maintenance contract that cost $250 a year.
The reason for the complaints is clear…false advertising
They produced false expectations on purpose and then used legal prose to juggle numbers. We won’t do that here at 911furnace.com. We will come to you for a minimum $21 service fee and if you don’t like what we are saying….you don’t have to pay. I would rather give you back your $21 than have you upset with me or my professional service technicians for any reasons
And that is how much it will cost to fix your furnace
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