2005-07-22

For the Googlebots: It's spelled C.O.O.L.R.A.Y.

I should be writing a hate-filled, pissed off entry about how the customer service at CoolRay Heating and Air is amazingly horrible, but it's been a few days and I've calmed down a bit. So I will just tell you the story as calmly as I can. We had installers in our house for 14 hours on Monday (until after midnight!) and they still left us without air because the equipment was faulty, and they came without the correct supplies to install some returns and had to fashion together "something". We had to sit all day in a house that was over 91 degrees, and we slept in it as well. The next morning we called the company and told them we needed them to finish the job ASAP. A supervisor came out, and fixed the problem after about three hours. I was very polite to him when he asked me to pay the full amount (close to $5,000) and I told him that we were not happy with having to go without air conditioning for so long, and having to stay up past midnight because the installers were still in the house. He told me that he couldn't do anything for us, but he would have the owner call us.
Oh, he called us alright. The owner of CoolRay....I repeat, the OWNER of CoolRay called Ken and actually YELLED at him. He said, "We jumped through hoops for you guys! We came out right away! Just what are you expecting?!" We didn't get an apology for our inconvenience, only accusations of trying to rip off the company. Eventually, he agreed to take off $100 from our massive bill. Psh. We would have been happy with a sincere apology for our troubles and maybe an extension of our maintenance agreement or something, but instead we received a shitty owner threatening to "Just come and rip out the entire unit if we are not happy with the service." Yes, he actually said that to my husband.
We were beyond pissed. As business owners ourselves, we would never in our wildest dreams even consider talking to a customer that way. When we screw up, we make it right, even if it means we take a small loss. That's just the way good customer service works. And the fact that we went with CoolRay over the other companies that gave us estimates is even more amazing. CoolRay was significantly more expensive than the other companies, in some cases several thousand dollars more! The reason why we ultimately went with CoolRay is because we thought they had a reputation of correct and good installation, and they offer quality name brand Trane equipment. What we got for our extra money was flawed Trane equipment (straight out of the box), and bumbled and lengthy installation. Not to mention an unbelievable tongue lashing from the owner. The end result is our new air conditioner is working wonderfully, and it feels better in our house than it ever has before in the summer. It's really hard to stay angry when it's so comfortable. But I felt I had to post a public complaint about the service we received just for GP, and mostly because if you are a business owner and you call my husband and fucking YELL at him, you're just lucky I didn't go down there.
So there.