Boonstra Heating and Air Conditioning

On Dec 24/15, a Boonstra technician diagnosed ($147) our Waterford gas fireplace problem as a faulty thermocouple and said he'd order one ($191 to install). Two weeks later, still no word from them so I called and they said they'd call next day. No response so called week later, same cycle. Today (4 weeks) called again and was given parts department. They asked me make and model - something tech should have recorded, and they should have asked over last month. I'll cut my loss and give up on Boonstra.

Jan.7/2016-

Hot water tank (no hot water), arrival was prompt. 15mins troubleshooting (Tech) *Bennett, called into the office to discuss how he was getting 120V everywhere. A short conversation and the call was over.

He brought to my attention that the fix is my "gas valve" Level:4 $826 to replace/install. I decline and paid unhappily $146.84. Nil fix.
Second opinion following day the fix was a $53 Flame switch

Level:1 on Boonstra chart $239 replace/install. Grossly mistroubleshot.
I called twice to discuss my dissatisfaction. First i spoke to a argumentative personal name Debra. For someone who couldn't attend to my customer complain she sure has a lot of negative words for me.

2 days later i called again and spoke with a more pleasant personal name Barb *i think was her name. Again i was promised a return phone call. That Call has never happen - its now Jan.14/2016.

Looked in my Rheem manual to note that the troubleshooting guide clearly points out to replace "Flame Switch" before "Gas Valve" when Ignitor is energized, but gas valve does not open. Flame switch contacts stuck closed ignitor remains energized = change flame switch.

Instead Boonstra techs decided to jump to the next part "gas valve" which was perfectly A-OK. I would've paid $826 plus taxes for a simple fix of a Flame Switch.

I would never recommend this company, if based only on the fact they don't care enough to return call a dissatisfied customer over my concerns of misdiagnosis.

If you flip over their receipt you'll see their 100% RIGHT Guarantees.
Clearly states:

If you are not satisfied that we have provided the RIGHT service, we will refund the cost of the service.

(which i'm not - your troubleshooting wasn't followed properly as per Rheem manual, instead to decided to place the more expensive part by more the $900

I deserve a FULL refund of $146.84.

Don't contact me Boonstra unless your to honour full refund
Job# 322650 >… in one week i'll update this forum on how i was dealt with if anything.

Updates: Jan.25, 2016 i received a full refund via a mailed cheque - 3weeks from the initial contact.

Use your own opinion on this company but i would avoid them

This was our first experience with Boonstra.
Called on Tuesday and was surprised a) got a live, friendly person on the phone immediately b) that she informed me that they could get someone out to do the job before the weekend. Miranda went through the the entire procedure so we knew what to expect. Friday morning Kyle called to let us know he was on the way. Upon arrival, Kyle and Jayson walked me through what they were going to do and time frame of work. They finished on time and showed the results of the cleaning. Very professional and courteous job. They are our new go to heating company. Thanks Boonstra!

We knew our oil boiler was on it's last legs and started the search in August for a new unit. We saw a couple of companies to quote a furnace or boiler replacement. Boonstra's Chris was efficient, able to quote us immediately, and offered a couple of options to choose from. It was 30+ in our house that night, so when we brought up A/C, Chris had a pretty easy sell on his hands, especially when he said they could have A/C installed within 4 business days. We have no ductwork, so we thought we had no A/C options, but Chris told us about ductless A/C and that it was a great alternative for homes like ours, and could also be used for heat. True to his word, our house was crawling with Boonstra service techs within 4 days (I think there were six of them here at one point). We had the ductless A/C installed and they also started disconnecting our oil boiler (we decided to go with gas). The manager arrived onsite (Bob) and found the boiler that they had ordered for us was dented. It was immediately loaded back on to the truck and we had a new boiler delivered within 1 business day. It did take some time to get the new boiler running properly (it took them 6 guys to get our old behemoth out of the basement, and there were delays with Union Gas) but it was totally worth it. At 9:30p.m. one night, we were having trouble with the boiler and I emailed Chris for support. Within 7 minutes (seriously), Boonstra's Tech Support called us and offered to send a tech out that night. We settled for having Ron come out the next day and when he arrived, he specifically ensured that we had been offered service the night before. Ron, Lewis, Chris, and all the rest were fantastic. Because our radiators were installed by a drunk monkey (not Boonstra), Ron had to get creative with bleeding the air out of the lines for us. The man is an absolute genius and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him in particular from all the Boonstra techs that we saw. He was patient, thorough, and explained every single thing he did for us, so I now understand how the system works. I would absolutely recommend Boonstra. Even if we had trouble with the equipment, their technicians are incredibly tidy (drop cloths everywhere, and booties), personally well-kept, and exceptionally professional.

A follow-up to last month's review: I terminated my maintenance contract on Dec. 29 but Boonstra refused to process the termination for 30 days and charged me the monthly fee of $22.54 on Jan. 1st - happy new year, eh? In this electronic age, it doesn't take 30 days to do anything, it was just another money grab. Again, be very careful in dealing with Boonstra.

I was very impressed with Boonstra's from the beginning to the end of my experience with them. From Sarah the receptionist, to Ryan in sales; the repair worker; installers Michael and Charlie who just left shortly after installing an entire new system for me, and Bill in Quality Assurance in QA who arrived right after completion of the job, ALL were friendly, competent, respectful of myself and my home; and extremely knowledgeable and helpful. I would never use any other company. The installation of the AC required approximately 4 more hours of work due to finding an unexpected leak in the copper wiring inside the house, yet they did not charge me another dollar to resolve this. I am 100% satisfied, thank you so much!

Boonstra scheduled our fall furnace check-up for Dec. 29th - 2 months late. They know our furnace is 22 years old - they took pains to remind me about that when the appointment was made. The technician came, claimed there was corrosion on the secondary heat exchanger, and said the furnace was unsafe so he shut it down. He did no sampling for carbon monoxide. Now, because Boonstra came 2 months late, they have created an emergency for us. Naturally, a salesperson showed up at our door less than 2 hours later to sell us a new furnace. We decided to get a second opinion from a reputable local company. They sent their technician a few hours later - after a very careful inspection and air sampling, he declared the furnace safe and turned it back on. It is still running fine. We feel that Boonstra put us in this situation deliberately to try and sell us a new furnace while giving us no time to shop around or compare prices. We were a loyal Boonstra customer for almost 10 years but the next day we terminated our relationship. Be very careful when dealing with Boonstra.

The two specialists, Kyle and Jayson, who completed our duct cleaning were highly professional and efficient. They took the time to explain the process, as well as the results of their duct cleaning at the end. I would highly recommend both the company, Boonstra, as well as these employees.

I called for a tune up/maintenance on my furnace. Service was completed but a few days later I noticed something was not 100% with it. I called back and was told by the call centre agent that I would have to pay a second fee to get the techs out to diagnose it. I did not agree with this but since it was the middle of the night I asked that a Manager call me the next day. The next morning 1st thing Craig called me and assured me the agent was mistaken and there would definitely be no charge and they would get someone to me as soon as possible!! Tech Luis showed up promptly to the minute he said he would. He was professional, polite, helpful, informative and incredibly thorough. He discovered the issue, explained it to us, fixed it and gave us tips and advice so that it would never happen again. He saved us alot of hassle and frustration and with his tips he has saved us hundreds in possible future costs. We could not asked for a better experience. Boonstra's has always been our go to and this has just strengthened our decision. Thanks!!

We were looking to replace our 17 year old furnace and 30+++ year old a/c. We had the Boonstra rep. in to look at the job and quote a total replacement of both systems. Chris was very professional, he arrived on time and had some very good suggestions on how and what to replace. We agreed on the pricing and set a date for the install. The installers arrived on the agreed upon day and the work began. This was quite an involved job and started on the Friday before a long weekend. While the job was quote as being complete in one day, we did expect that it would run over, which it did. As this was a long weekend they did not arrive back until Tuesday, but all went well with the installation.
Since the install we have had a couple of issues, which were attended to quickly, once we got in touch with the "right" person. Our furnace install needed some tweaking, condensate was building up in the exhaust lines and the furnace was gurgling - this was corrected in short order. The other issue was noise with the a/c upon startup, we were told this was normal.
All in all, a good experience, good service, polite service personnel and a good install. Would recommend highly.