Shamburg Heating LLC

"Were were called on 9/19/14 to give a free bid for a wood stove installation. She had a quote for a stove and venting from a local shop and wanted us to install it. At the free appointment, it was determined that the stove would not work in her application and we gave her suggestions on some that would. She indicated that she had drafting issues at that time, and Scott spoke to her about custom draft inducing caps. She looked at a few other wood stoves in the days following and then asked that we come sweep her fireplace, inspect the chimney with a camera scope, and install the custom draft inducing cap to see if it solved her draft issue (if it did, she was going to leave it as an open fireplace and get some glass doors instead of the wood stove). On 9/24/14 we called and scheduled the sweep and cap for 10/15/14 (the cap had to be custom made). She emailed on 9/29/14 asking us to bring glass door brochures when we came to do the cap as she was leaning towards not getting the stove if the cap worked. We arrived on 10/15 and swept the chimney, did the video inspection and installed the cap. The cap drafted as promised. The room did NOT fill with smoke. If it had, I'm sure she would have asked us to remove it at that time and would not have paid for it. It was AFTER we had installed the cap that she mentioned that she was thinking of getting a pellet stove and wanted to know if the cap would work. The cap WOULD work, but it is overkill and not necessary as the pellet venting would include a standard cap. She paid us for the sweep and cap and said she would decide what she wanted to do and let us know if she wanted to order glass doors. Ultimately she decided to buy a pellet stove from her nephew who works for a fireplace manufacturer. In all of the many conversations that we had, she never mentioned that she had a nephew who worked for a fireplace manufacturer. She was shopping all the local stores, so I'm unclear as to why since she had a family member who could get her a unit at cost. She called and said she wanted us to come out and take the new cap off, install her old one and refund her for the cap (she said she did not expect the service call/labor to install the cap to be refunded). We had spent an enormous amount of time with her at this point (doing research for her and answering questions) and just wanted to move on so we agreed to come out and remove the new cap, install her old one and refund the cost of the cap. She is claiming that the pellet stove installers said the cap was just sitting there unsecured. Not true. That was (as she states) during the week of extremely high winds and there is no way it would stay put if it was just sitting there. So in closing, she paid $189 for a chimney sweep, $40 for a video chimney inspection and she paid the $118 service call/labor to install the cap. We did not charge anything to go back out and take the new one off and put her old one back up. We thought we were being very fair, as most companies would charge at least a service call for a client who simply changed her mind. We could not have been more stunned when we read her review, We have been in the fireplace business for over 30 years. 90% of our business comes from referrals, so we work very hard to make sure that our clients are happy. We did the initial visit for free, spent an unusual amount of time giving her advice on options during subsequent phone and email conversations, and we refunded her in full for the new custom made cap. I'm not sure what else we could have done to please her."

"We did not supply the tankless water heater. They bought in on Amazon. Our contract was to “Provide and install Rinnai vertical chimney vent system, flashing, cap, storm collar, and gas line”. Our contract clearly states that we do not do plumbing or electrical work in two separate places on the contract. The unit that they purchased online did not come with the required plumbing kit, so we provided one for them. We did indeed tell him that he could make the connections himself as opposed to hiring a plumber, but that he would need to purchase a plumbing permit. On 5/19/14, prior to when we started the job, they asked in an email “Please advise us which permits we need”. We told them they would need a mechanical permit (which they later asked us to purchase) and a plumbing and electrical permit. They had installed (themselves) an electrical outlet prior to us starting the job. They told the inspector that it was already there, so the inspector did not require them to get an electrical permit or minor label. There was an overhang near the chimney penetration that we missed at the original site visit. Since we missed it, we only charged him our cost for the extra venting. The total we charged for installing the Rinnai venting, flashing, cap, storm collar, gas line, additional venting needed, the plumbers kit and the permit fees was $1621.94. The only charges that were added to the original contract were the plumbing kit that was missing from the Rinnai that they purchased online and our cost for the extra venting. The $4100 figure they stated must be the amount they paid for the water heater and their plumbing permit. They did their own plumbing and electrical. They indicated (after our installation) that they had purchased 2 outside Rinnai tankless units from Amazon last year and had a different company install them. I’m not sure why they didn’t call that company back out to install this one, but if they had two installed previously, you would think that they would be familiar with the inspection process and that mechanical, plumbing and electrical permits are required. We had been dealing exclusively with [removed member name] on this job. We had had no communication with anyone else until the end of the job. At that time, I began receiving emails from a woman asking why we hadn’t told them about the required permits. Of course we had - I have many emails back and forth with [removed member name] regarding every stage of the job - but I don’t think she was in the loop and felt that we had mislead them. Nothing could be further from the truth. We had extensive communications with [removed member name]. We have been installing tankless water heaters for nearly 19 years. We were one of the first companies in the area to complete the Rinnai training. We have installed hundreds of them. We have very clear and precise contracts and we have checklists that we go over with our clients both prior to starting work and after the work is completed. We do this so that there are no surprises."

"There was, indeed, a problem with the main burner on the fireplace that he purchased through us. The problem was not a result of our installation, but rather, it was a manufacturing error. It was replaced, by us, at no cost to the member. After the initial installation, the member called and emailed indicating that he did not like the standard cap that came with his unit and wanted a custom cap (wanted a square one instead of the standard round). He felt that we should cover the costs of changing it and the required venting change. At no time during the bid or before or during the installation did he discuss a custom cap. That being said, we charged him only $80 to come out and change out the cap. We believe that was a fair compromise. As far as him having to research parts "himself", that was a process that he began before ever contacting us. He went directly to the supplier to purchase the unit and was told that he couldn't buy it directly from them (he was referred to us because we have a great reputation). He had already researched the unit and knew what he wanted. He also researched and purchased his own remote control. The idea that he would suggest that he was naive about what he was purchasing is surprising to me. As far as him comment that we are "very expensive", nothing could be further from the truth. We keep our overhead very low and as a result can pass that savings on to our clients. We do almost no advertising and rely on referrals from happy clients. His installation was done in a professional and friendly manner. As stated previously, there was a manufacturing problem with his burner that was corrected at no cost to him. We changed out the cap for him as well. I'm not sure what more we could have done to make him happy. In fact, I thought we had made him happy and I was quited shocked to see his post. Our last contact with him in March was very friendly, so frankly, I'm just really surprised to see such a bad review. We try very hard to make sure that each of our clients has a great experience with us and thought we had done so with the member as he never led us to believe otherwise."

"We were called out to do a preventive maintenance and cleaning on the unit, which we did. She did have some broken refractory panels (replacing those would not be included in a cleaning). She did call us back after this post and she purchased new panels which we installed for her."

"Our contract (Front and Back) clearly states that we DO NOT do electrical work. Right above the customer signature it reads “Electrical & Plumbing (if required) to be done by others, not included”. There’s even a section on the back labeled “Important things to remember” and within that paragraph it reads “We do not do any plumbing or electrical work and such charges are not included in the proposal”. Scott may have given her a rough estimate on what a standard AC electrical hookup usually costs (they are in our experience normally between $400 and $600) but she apparently needed to have her electrical service updated in order to accommodate the AC. This is NOT the norm and since we are not electricians, we would have no way of knowing that. We are not electricians, thus we cannot give advice on what a particular homes electrical needs are. We advise customers to get an estimate from an electrician. For example, you wouldn't ask your bathtub installer, how much the plumbing to the bathtub would cost so you shouldn't expect your mechanical contractor to tell you how much your electrical will cost - you get bid from a licensed electrician. This member apparently chose not to get a bid for the electrical until after the AC was installed. We in no way tried to mislead her. 90% of our business comes from referrals (in fact, she states that she used us due to a glowing referral from someone else). We make it our goal to ensure that everyone has a good experience and feels that they were treated fairly. Scott Shamburg is an honest businessman and the bid was for our portion of the job (which does not include electrical). Since this is the case, the claim that we “didn’t tell the customer of the new electrical service that was needed” has no relevance. The customer goes on to say that they were “hounded for payment the day after receiving the invoice in the mail” and that they were “pressured to pay by credit card when payment had been mailed w/in 1 day of invoice”. This simply makes no sense, as we PREFER checks (there are fee’s associated with running credit cards). The customer also states, “if you prefer payment immediately after the work is completed, say so before the work is done instead of mailing an invoice”. Our contract states that payment is expected at time of job completion and our work was finished. There are circumstances where the customer prefers a mailed invoice and/or isn’t home at time of job completion to pay us in person. In these cases we will allow the appropriate amount of time for the mail to be processed; the only reason we might have called is to ensure that the customer simply received the invoice (and that would have been at least 2-3 days after mailing since we know it takes that long to reach the customer)."

"I don't have a client by this name in my records. Perhaps it was under another name? At any rate, if we were called out the winter after installing a new furnace/AC, all would still be under warranty. We would not have charged for parts. Most units have at least a 5 year parts warranty. She gave an F for price, but I feel anyone who has shopped for an AC and furnace would agree that $4000 she stated she paid for both, installed, is a very competetive price. Also, she indicated that her "main panel burned out". That sounds to me like she is referring to her electrical panel. We don't do any electrical work and our contracts clearly state that. She would have had to have an electrician hook the power to the AC and furnace. Her electrical panel would have nothing whatsoever to do with us. We are, indeed, a family business. We are a husband and wife team and our sons both work for us. We have 2 employees who, while not related, are the sons of old family friends. Being a family run business doesn't mean that every person who works there is related and we don't represent as such. We're a small company who gets 99% of our business from referrals and we try very hard to make sure that our clients are not only satisfied, but that they are happy enough to refer us to their friends and family. We have been around for a long time and that simply doesn't happen in this economy if you don't take care of people and treat them respect. Even from her account, we responded to and addressed her concerns as we do any time one of our clients has an issue. I'm very sorry that she feels as though we treated her poorly - we hate to hear that. We do our very best to offer great service and equipment at a competetive price."