Frank's Heating Service Poor Ethics

On the last day of May or first day of June, a Frank's Heating Service technician came to my house to inspect the problems we had experienced with keeping the home cool. The technician partially balanced the system and advised that we would benefit from having a second zone installed. Since this was not the first time a Frank’s Heating Service technician spoke to me regarding the 2-zone system, I took the opportunity to ask questions to check for consistency of the information.

What I found indeed was consistent. According to both techs (the 1st one was working on a neighbor’s system), here’s the basics of how the second zone works. Each zone has its own thermostat. The Zone 1 thermostat serves as the primary and determines which function is active (e.g. heat or cool). Zone 1 must be on in order for Zone 2 to receive service. When Zone 1 reaches the temperature set on its thermostat, Zone 1 deactivates. If Zone 2 then calls for airflow, a damper in the ducts closes off Zone 1, redirecting air to Zone 2. The airflow continues to Zone 2 until the zone reaches the requested temperature. According to the techs, only one of the zones can receive airflow at a time.

On June 16th, Michael Hillis (the president of Frank's Heating Service is Frank Hillis, Jr. as noted in documents filed with the state) came to my house to bid the installation of a second zone. While the process was pretty uneventful, several of his statements are quite interesting.

 “…the technicians are told not to “sell” services...”
o As mentioned above, the tech that was in my house spent about 15 minutes relaying the features and benefits of a 2nd zone. In fact, he mentioned that a 2-Sone system was the answer to the temperature variations in our home
 “…both of the zones can have service at the same time…”
o When pressed to ensure I heard him correctly, Mr. Hillis insisted that he was correct, that the techs were wrong and that they shouldn’t be selling anyway.
 “…now you’re asking for perfection…”
o This was Mr. Hillis’ comment to questions regarding standards of design or performance, like
 What is the standard for air temperature at the registers?
 If two zones are in place and both are set to 75 degrees, what is the acceptable room temperature variation, in degrees between the zones?

We agreed that he would finish the quote and fax it to me, which he did. After thinking about the inconsistencies, I decided to ask several questions to see if this company is on the up-and-up. What I found is that Mr. Hillis balked at answering what I consider to be basic questions. Even though we had an installation date on the calendar, Frank's Heating Service pulled out, refusing to do the job. Mr. Hillis invited me to call him with questions, which I did. It took 2 phone calls over 10 days for me to catch him (no, he did not call me back – I had to track him down).

Why? It’s my opinion that they don’t want to deal with a customer who will hold them to standards of construction, installation and operation, someone who wants expectations of design and performance clear before work is begun. In the end, Mr. Hillis said they are “too busy” to do the job. The company’s trucks are in the development every day of the week. And, by the way another of the residents asked for a quote for the same work (with one less room to work with). The result? The quote is 65% HIGHER than Frank's Heating Service quoted for my home. Same model, same scope of work, less footage to balance……

When dealing with contractors, I would ask, ask, ask. Be very, very careful, as this experience suggests that they won’t respond to inquiries, can’t answer questions or can’t keep the stories straight. The risk of substandard work, excessive breakage, substantially higher charges for similar jobs or extended down time of critical systems just isn’t worth it.

I won’t speak for other residents but can accurately state that mine is not the only experience with Frank's Heating Service that created an atmosphere of doubt or uneasiness.