Ballard Natural Gas Service Inc

Heat had stopped over weekend. Visit scheduled for same day, 2 hour window. Arrived within that time. Spent 1/2 hour examining and pricing. Explanation was thorough. Solved problem.

Shaun arrived promptly, and he immediately got to work. I asked him a bunch of questions at the beginning of his visit, and he answered each one cheerfully. Over the course of the hour as he worked, I asked him further questions, and he never failed to humor me. Overall, he suggested I clean the heater a little more, and that I need a new hot water heater (the current one is out of warranty, and the bottom is pretty rusty). I am very thankful for being told this. Overall, a very positive experience.

The bid was explicit about the work to be done, with a couple of options to choose, and reasonably well itemized. During the specification, they were patient about making decisions, while providing good explanations of the options. The price was certainly not the cheapest, but definitely competitive. I am very particular, and they were willing to account for my preferences and specific small details in the work order. The job was supposed to take 3 days. The installer I was promised was not actually available on the first day so they sent somebody else. The guy they sent was experienced but a bit sloppy for my taste. On the second and third day, their ace installer arrived and he did a solid job. These guys are efficient and hard workers, barely stopping for lunch or water. The installer handled my supervision well, and was willing to adjust details during the install according to my requests. He even gave me some repair materials in case anything came up later.

They were good on the phone, scheduled an appointment, and came when promised. Since the wall furnace is an auxiliary, not the main source of heat in the house, it was not an emergency. They came back a couple of days later promptly on request to make a necessary adjustment.

The experience was pleasant from the beginning. We knew that we needed our existing furnace replaced but then when Taylor came to submit the bid (which was very detailed so we knew what we were getting), we asked him about converting our whole house. His suggestion of adding a new furnace was not only cost effective but enable us to have minimal work done on the house with adding more duct work. The work was not only done on time but the mess was minimal (truly, the day the cut the returns in our ceiling, there was no residual dust or dirt) and the work was completed a day before schedule. When Taylor came for the post work inspection, he left a detailed packet with warranties and maintenance information. Finally, Taylor has always been accessible for questions. Very nice company to work with.

Another excellent company had come earlier but did not have the part and couldn't get the job done until after the weekend. So I called around and explained what had been told to me that needed to be done. I told them the motor needed to be changed but actually in retrospect I was told the whole assembly needed changing. Shawn was able to come to my house with three hours notice. He thought he had the necessary parts (the motor) but the whole assembly was rusted and needed replacement. He drove off to south Seattle at 5 pm to buy the part before the store closed and came back and got it installed -the whole process took about 1 hr 15 min. I will absolutely use them again though the cost of the assembly was about $125 more than what was estimated by the other company for the assembly (not just the motor).

I was very impressed that this company referred me to their competitor, because they thought the other firm could do a better job providing me with service. That's unusual in this day, and very welcome. It reminds me of the quality of service that one used to expect in a small town.

I definitely recommend Ballard Natural Gas. I got several estimates and theirs was priced very competitively. The level of service they provided was exceptional, far exceeding my expectations. In sales Neil Kappan consulted with me to find the best solution within my budget, performed a heat loss analysis and sent a proposal quickly. Project management; prior to starting the job, Neil and the assigned P.M. came to take final measurements and go over the project details. The PM stopped by twice during the job to check progress. Installation was a three day job. The installers demonstrated great craftsmanship & attention to detail. Their level of dedication was impressive. They repeatedly asked for my input, kept me updated and cleaned up as they went. On the follow up visit, Neil came by after the job was done to check all the work and answer any questions. Including the initial sales call, Neil was in my home six times to make sure things went smoothly. Pretty impressive.

Responded quickly with on site inspection and estimate. Accepted approval of contract over phone and scheduled work within one week. Installed all in one day. Met inspection the next and everything was up and running.

Shawn from this company did a great job. He arrived exactly at noon (our allocated time frame was 12:00-2:00) and pinpointed the problem immediately. Within 45 minutes he had replaced the damaged limit switch and was on his way. He was very tactfully explained that the damage can result from not changing the filters according to recommended timeliness, and that by adhering to a regular schedule, we can prevent this happening again.

Carl showed up on time, very professional. He began by spending a good deal of time looking at the furnace and had me turn up the heat to get it going. He had some initial ideas about the unit and the airflow issues we had but didn't want to jump to any conclusions early. Then he walked through the house and checked all the ducts and rooms. He tried opening the blower door and the air intakes. Finally he decided our furnace is getting old, and should be replaced sooner than later, but was frank that we could wait it out if we wanted. He also said we could clean the ducts but it wasn't necessary. I really appreciated his professionalism and demeanor. Great service, I plan to hire Ballard to replace the furnace when we do based on this initial service.

I am very happy with the new furnace and am looking forward to more cost efficient heating. My only disappointment was the company representative who did the initial evaluation prior to installation did not anticipate how much destruction of shelving that was nailed down to beams, etc., on two sides of the old furnace would need to be removed. Had I known this ahead of time, I could have moved all the items on the shelves in a more orderly manner and been left with much less of a mess in the basement when the installation was complete. The installer seemed to be caught quite off-guard by how much demolition he had to do to the shelves, etc., as was I. Other than that, I was very happy with the outcome and the furnace, the service, etc.

It was a mixed service. I really like their repair man that came out. He was very professional. In doing the check, it broke the circuit board. We did not blame him because it was old. Dealing with the office was a pain. It was hard to find out what they provided. I asked them about earthquake shutoff. They just gave us brochures.

I had a great experience with this company. Kathleen was extremely helpful when I called, and they were able to fit me in that week (it was during a very busy time). Mike was extremely friendly and did quick work. My furnace had not been serviced in 7 years, so he took the extra time to clean it and even gave me a replacement filter. I will have them back every year!

Neil was very helpful in providing advice and asking good questions before their proposal/bid. The work that Ballard Natural Gas installers did was excellent. Even my builder/carpenter commented on what a good job they did and how hard they worked. The new duct work is actually beautiful to look at. They custom made a new 7x12 trunk line from the furnace across the length of the house. They initially made a mistake with the route of the main trunk of ducting. They agreed to correct the route with existing supplies. During the course of trying to correct it, they realized they really needed to have a new piece of duct work made back at their shop, so they called in the fabrication order and picked it up during the day. They somehow managed to finish the job on time. The installers even made some last minute changes per our request at no additional cost. There wasn't any sign they were ever there. They picked up everything and took away old duct work.

Carl showed up a few minutes early. He was great. The part that we needed to replace- the gas valve- was expensive, but we are warm now. Carl also let me know that he was 90% positive he found the right problem and shared with me the tests he ran to eliminate the other possible reason. In the event that the furnace fails again, he reassured me they will swap the replaced valve back in (left it at our house) and try replacing the circuit board (second most likely source- which is also about the same level of costliness). We have 30 days to see if our "intermittent" problem was fixed- plenty enough time since our furnace had been failing at least once a day. The furnace has not failed (yet) after its fix, so I think the right problem was identified. Still, I appreciate the peace of mind afforded by the back-up plan Carl outlined.

So we smelled gas and called a heater/plumbing company (not Ballard Natural Gas). This other company came out to inspect the furnace, told us we had a crack and turned it off. Said we needed a new furnace. We got quotes from a couple places, and Ballard Gas (we had to wait a week) came out to give us an estimate. While he was here, the tech noticed that the furnace should still be under warranty! So he said he could fix the heat exchanger. A few days later, another tech came to do the job and noticed there was actually no crack in the heat exchanger at all! Not only did Ballard Natural gas talk to us about the warranty, instead of trying to sell a new one, but then they told us there wasn't even a problem! In the end, we had a maintenance service performed. Only downside was that we needed to wait a week to get a quote for the furnace.

Great job overall. The serviceman (sorry! didn't get his name) showed up exactly on time at 8 a.m. and quickly got to work. He was a very nice man and answered all the questions I had about what he did, if we needed a new furnace or how long this one should last, as well as how often we should change the filters. I would definitely use this company again the next time we need regular maintenance.

The first time I called I spoke to a very nice woman at Ballard Natural Gas who thoroughly explained the work they would do and set me up with an appt. (I'm not sure I understood most of it, but she certainly gave me more than enough info to prepare me for the appointment.) This is a busy time of year for this type of work so I had to wait a few weeks for the appointment. On the day of, Mathew showed up on time and quickly got to work. He did a great job of explaining what he was doing. He hooked everything up to the vacuum truck and it took a couple hours to complete. At the end, he went over everything he did and explained some things we could do to save energy. Overall we were very happy with the work that was done and will have them back the next time we're due to have the air ducts cleaned.

They were on time, quick, and professional. Did exactly what I had asked for.

I was very impressed with Ballard Natural Gas Service. Their technician was on time, friendly and efficient and did a great job.

It was fine. I was shocked by the price of the part, but that's not their fault. They did forget to order the part, but after we called them, they had it, and installed it very quickly.

This was an excellent experience. The sales people and installer all came through on their commitments. They showed up when they said they would show up and did the work they said they would. They always called me right back if I left them a message and their work was excellent. The price was great. I couldn't be happier.

Extremely hard working and efficient. Had used BNG in our previous house for maintenance on our gas furnace and were very happy with that work, too.

They found a problem with the furnace, and recommended having the furnace serviced. That was nice, particularly since it wasn't really what I was paying them for. They did a professional job, in the amount of time they said it would take. They were on time, clean, etc. No problems.