Ongong maintenance after original installation
I’m glad that Boonstra’s has so many happy customers and so many glowing reviews! My experience with this business has been somewhat less wonderful.
I had a complete HVAC system installed by Boonstra's in June, 2004. Every year since then, I have paid them for an annual service contract. One of the provisions of the contract is annual furnace and A/C inspections by the above-noted company. I called Boonstra's customer service on Feb. 29, 2012 to find out why they had not called to arrange my winter heating system inspection yet. They informed me that I had cancelled my service contract in June, 2011. I replied that I had RENEWED my contract in June, 2011; NOTHING had been cancelled. I then provided them with the dollar amount and date of the June, 2011 service contract renewal payment from my records. After transferring me to 3 different people within their organization, they finally informed me that they could not honour the terms of the service contract until I could prove that I had renewed it last June.
This is very unprofessional in my opinion; I had been under the mistaken impression that I was covered by a service agreement; what would have happened if I had an unforeseen heating emergency on a cold winter night? If their records had erroneously not been updated to show my service contract renewal, they should have at least sent me a note or email telling me that my contract would be expiring shortly unless they heard from me. The matter could have been sorted out then! A reputable company would have followed up at the time, not have just ignored it until the customer called for service. Remember, I had been renewing the contract every year since 2004. And no, I did NOT inadvertently forget to renew my contract last June; I sent the renewal payment back to their office with their technician, who had inspected our A/C on June 21, 2011.(Canada Post was on strike at the time, so I avoided any potential payment delays by doing this.) One of the 3 customer service people I spoke to on Feb. 29/12 admitted that Boonstra's had been having some major problems with their record-keeping since they moved to Burlington from Waterdown a few months ago. In any case, when asked to prove that I had in fact renewed my contract, I responded that I would much rather just look for another HVAC service provider.
Prior to the above customer service disaster, I had been contemplating ending my involvement with Boonstra’s, because the reliability of service had deteriorated significantly over the past few years. Service appointment no-shows and last-minute re-scheduling of service calls booked weeks in advance had become Standard Procedure for this outfit. According to several of their service technicians, ownership/management changes in this business around four or five years ago led to their downward spiral.
Steer clear; there are plenty of more reputable heating & A/C companies out there.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $220.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Hire a competent Customer Service Supervisor or Office Manager. All businesses make mistakes; professional businesses don't lose customers because of those mistakes. they resolve the problem and move forward.
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Never pay for a service contract, or any other pre-payment for goods or services by credit card. It's too easy for these types of operators to say "You're out of luck; we never got your payment information." Always pay for such things by cheque. It's a lot harder for these businesses to deny the existence of a cashed cheque. Plus, if they goof up and lose the cheque, you know there's a problem because there's an outstanding cheque showing on your bank account months later.
- Company Response
I am truly sorry to hear you had such difficulty in renewing your membership agreement. As we discussed, there must have been some sort of serious miscommunication on the renewal process. It should actually be quite easy to renew a membership, and can be renewed at the time the technician is at your house performing your preventative maintenance. For certain, our records indicate that you had not paid to renew your membership, (which was confirmed by you when we talked on March 28th), and the status of your membership would have “expired” when the failure to renew occurred. Our records indicate we reached out to you in August of 2011, and left a message. Admittedly we should have been more aggressive with your renewal. Today we now process Visa payments right on site, as this makes for efficient payment processing. We feel terrible that we let you down, because you have been a customer in good standing. Had you run into any sort of heating or cooling challenges (such as a no heat or no cool), we would have assuredly grandfathered your membership status in. It is our goal to retain our club members. In hopes of resolution we did offer you three years of Free Membership as compensation, but at this point you have declined.
Maintenance agreements are a very important part of our business, and we value each member. The renewal process is very easy, and can be done at anytime. In fact, we have over a thousand members who have been with us for more than 15 years. At any rate we let you down, and for that we do apologize. If at some point you do reconsider, please reach out to us. We have new customer loyalty rewards now, and we would make sure that you would be well compensated.
Todd, General Manager