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I have to amend the post below with late breaking news.  Washington Energy Services sent a guy, Mark, out today to view the damage to our deck, inspect the installation and generally get an idea of how the whole project went.  He gave me some tips on the heat duct covers we have, checked things out, very happily agreed to have the part of our deck that got hit repaired, and generally put some things into context for me.

I appreciated his willingness to listen and hear my experience of the installation–and I have made it clear that the product is everything they said it would be and we’re very happy, post-installation support nothwithstanding.

It doesn’t take a lot to right things when they go wrong.  I remember back at Amazon in the early days we used to savor the problem orders and the customers who had fallen into the 20% gap (the 80/20 satisfaction rule).  Why?  Because we knew if we could “flip” the situation, we’d have a customer for life.  Customers just don’t think about companies a lot until something goes wrong.  And at that point, the proof is in the pudding–if the company handles things well (and again, it doesn’t take much, really), alls well that ends well.  If not, well, that’s another story.

So, we go forward from here.  I still think WES could leverage email and the internet a whole lot more, but that’s my bias.  At some point, I’m certain, that option will make sense to them.

Today: thanks Mark!

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I recently purchased and had installed a new Bryant energy efficient gas furnace, the i90, I believe it is. The sales process made the product sound like the perfect solution to heating our older 3 story house. You know how that goes: warm at the bottom, need to wear hat, gloves and coat at the top.Anyway, we bought the pitch from Washington Energy Services and hoped for the best. Just yesterday my partner said, “wow, this thing really does make the air feel a lot better–it’s so different.” I said that was good to hear since their support has been abysmal. She said, “Well, I’d rather have a great product and bad service than the other way around.” And I couldn’t agree more…if that were the only choice in the world.

The Installation

Here’s how things went: we signed up for the installation. When the day came, the truck and driver were lacking in grace and agility, and as it was recycling day, hit and dragged for several feet up our gravel driveway our glass container–crushing and spilling glass through the gravel and up the drive. Picture it: glass in gravel. This is no easy sweep up, there’s still quite a lot of glass in our driveway now.

Next, as the driver barrels up our long, steep driveway, he hits our upstairs deck and knocks off a piece of siding. To tell the truth, I would have stopped things right there if I didn’t have experience with Washington Energy. They put in our gas fireplace and it’s been a great addition to our house in the winter. But still, I was worried about the installation.

But proceed they did, and as with older houses, they encountered a few unexpected problems that caused them to spend more time than expected. I felt for them, they had a schedule to keep. But it’s my house….They finally finished, though, and brought the papers up to sign. I said, would you walk me through how to use this system–after all, it’s apparently very different from the previous one we had. Well, the installer showed me quickly how to use the thermostat, pushed the papers for signing, and I gave up–signed them all and figured I’d learn on my own. Not exactly what was promised in the sales pitch.

Then the duct cleaner shows up–nice guy, tells me what he’d going to do and starts to do it. Only problem is, some of our ducts were screwed into the floor–not a big deal, easily removed, but apparently too difficult for the duct cleaner. I didn’t follow him around to make sure he cleaned all the ducts, but a day or so later, before trying out the heater for the first time, I checked the ducts and sure enough, there was considerable debris still in the ducts that had small screws attaching them to the floor.

Post-Installation

Now we get to the post-installation part of the deal. The paperwork accompanying the Bryant furnace installation was not exceptionally helpful. No easy to find “Next Steps,” or 1-2-3 Introductory Info–nothing like that.

I called to arrange an inspection, which is apparently required and which I paid for as part of the installation. Upon calling the number, I am given another number to call which I couldn’t do for a few days. When I finally did, we got things set up and the inspection took place.

I received a notice from a bank that my “loan” for the furnace would start immediately and I would get a loan packet soon. I didn’t want a loan, I wanted to pay outright. This threw me so I called the original sales agent who told me to call Jim M. at WESco, which I did. Twice. Three times. Nothing, nada, zilch. Not even a phone call back saying, sorry we can’t help you. Talk to the bank. Finally I did call the bank and they were able to help me, though I wasn’t able to run this purchase through my Visa card. Se la vie.

I also called Travis at WESco to let them know they needed to fix my deck and that they really screwed up my driveway; Travis was sympathetic and asked if I’d been given an online survey for this installation. I had not. He said he would take care of that and arrange to have my deck looked at. Never heard back from Travis and haven’t received a survey.

Good product, poor service

So, at the end of this whole process–and I’m sure it’s the end because I’ll never hear another word from WESco again–we’ve got a good furnace and a bad feeling. Is that enough? No, probably not. I read later, online, that perhaps Bryant furnaces aren’t the best in class, and that there are others, like Trane, that might be better. If I were to do this again, and for any future heating needs for our house, I likely won’t use WESco again. It’s too much money to spend to be treated like that.

What could WESco do differently? They could hear me–they could send out the survey, they could respond to my questions, they could acknowledge that there were problems and at least try to take care of one or two. They could include a simple “Quick Start” document that helps me easily do the next steps without bumping into walls at every turn. They could even just point the customer to their non-existent online tools for all kinds of stuff. They could make sure that the installer knows how to explain correct usage of the system so that it works as promised, rather than making the customer ask around, go online, call the company for tips and hints and trial and error.

There’s a lot they could have done. Instead, I’m left with that feeling of having given WESco what they wanted–money, cash on the barrel head–in exchange for something less than I expected.

Must customers have to to choose between Heaven and Hell?