Customer Service and Loyalty in the North Country
The last couple of nights we've experienced sub-zero temperatures. -16 the night before last and a balmy -8 last night. On the way home from a night out, I had a gut feeling that I should check one of my client's homes. They had experienced furnace problems last weekend and felt confident that they had solved them. Since low temps stress everything man-made and otherwise, I was concerned. At 9:30 I found the house at 28 degrees and the furnace wouildn't fire. I called all of my heating contractor resources. The one that I reached refused to come out of his home in an adjoining town that starts with M and ends with a. I was informed that he would only provide emergency service for customers who had used him for routine maintenance. I explained that the owners just closed on the house and hadn't had an opportunity to order his preventive maintenance. He still refused to help. I wonder what would happen if I felt that way when my ambulance pager goes off in the middle of the night? I called 3 others with no answer. Apparently the cell phone for my "go to guy" acted up and didn't ring when I tried him. Trying him again at 7am I awakened him, gave him directions and he was here in 60 minutes. (He lives a good 30 minutes away). Problem solved and heat within 20 minutes of arrival.
Buckman Family Fuels in Chestertown is the only fuel oil dealer that I recommend because of this great service. They do excellent routine maintenance and they respond when called for an emergency! I first met them about 10 years ago when I called on them for an emergency fuel delivery at a home I was sharing. I wasn't a customer and the owner of the house had let the oil run out by mistake. His dealer at the time miscalculated and wouldn't make a Saturday morning delivery. Buckman's saved me then too. These guys just do it right without fail!