Let's not make more of this than we need. Let me describe a recent encounter, to illustrate exactly what you do NOT want to do:
After a service call to fix the furnace, continuing problems with the aged unit led me to call the serviceman with this request:
"Let's cut to the chase, and just replace the unit with a new one. We don't want to spend all winter worrying about what will break next."
The reply (this was a Thursday morning) was: "Well, yea, those things are always breaking down ... I'm on a job right now, and have to go somewhere for the weekend, so I won't be able to get together with you until sometime next week ..."
Come on ... it's in the 30's at night ... do you really think the customer is willing to wait a week for a quote, etc? You've already seen the job, how long does it take to say "a new furnace will cost $450-600?" Do you think that I'm getting the impression that you're not really interested in the job?
Consider that this story started two weeks before the weather turned, with others being 'too busy' to look at the furnace BEFORE it got cold out.
So, how did I resolve this? Well, I have one advantage over the usual DIY- an account at the HVAC parts house. So I made time to visit there .... dealt with a staff that was predisposed to telling me the part wasn't ... holy smokes, they DID have the part .... put it in, and the beast is making heat.
I'm not picking on the HVAC industry. We do the same thing ourselves .... we get so used to saying 'no' that we forget to say 'yes, it CAN be done.'
