I'm Freezing

Uh, yeah. So my house has only been in existence for 18 months or so, right? And one would expect, when one owns a newer home, that said home would be relatively maintenance and trouble free, for the most part, correct?

And if there is trouble, like say the furnace won't kick on, would it not be reasonable to ask that this occurrence happens on a weekday? Or that, if not, then one would be able to find a heating and cooling company that has Saturday morning hours?

We got sucker punched by Murphy's Law.

Woke up this morning to a chilly house, which isn't necessarily a problem, since our heat is programmed to kick on at about 7 or 7:30. However, when that time passed and there was still no real heat emanating from the registers, we started to worry. We have a new, fancy, high tech, Energy-Star-Save-the-Planet-Good-Housekeeping-Sealed-Lennox furnace that crapped out on us. Called the number on the furnace sticker, and got voice mail with nary an off hours emergency number. I found a company that's actually in our town, husband called and was actually called back. So I took munchkin to my parents' house and husband waited for the HVAC dude.

Dude was very nice, apparently, but his company sucks donkey. They charge DOUBLE for labor on the weekends, not even time and a half. DOUBLE. And if the builder had this company install the system, our service call would've been free (so we'd at least have our $120 back). And, oh, the company that installed our system? Out of business. Yep, we don't even have any sort of recourse there.

So Lennox covers the part that's busted (some sort of gas valve that you can't even go to Home Depot to buy...you must buy it from some special warehouse and you must be a certified HVAC guru), and hey, it's good that we won't have to shell out at least $91. However, the LABOR for this is $300!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't even charge that much for an hour of MY time at work. What the frig?!? And if we had it installed today? $580. JUST. FOR. LABOR. Since kiddo is spending the night at g & g's, I said hell, no, we'll wait until Monday.

But I'm pissed. Why the hell is this thing busting after 18 months? And why the hell doesn't Lennox cover at least part of the labor costs, especially before the unit has been operating even 2 years? This is crap. I was so mad earlier, I thought I was going to bust an artery. I will be writing to both Lennox and Good Housekeeping about the quality suckage, even though I'm sure it won't get me anywhere. And I'll be calling my homeowner's insurance on Monday morning to see if this is covered under our policy.

It's totally the principle of the thing.

And I'll be checking into HVAC certification for my husband. Dammit, he might as well earn his keep somehow.

SERENITY NOW!