ComplaintsforRay Flanagan Heating, Plumbing, A.C. and Drain Cleaning

• Initial Complaint

  02/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In the fall of 2021, my husband and I purchased an oil burner at a cost of $6,500 from Ray Flanagan, Inc to replace an older heater that no longer could be in use. Shortly after it was installed we started hearing loud banging noises throughout the day that we never had before with the previous heater. In addition, the temperatures on our first floor dipped into the 60s whereas with the old heater our first floor was always warm and met the temperature we set our thermostat at. The booming noises that happen at least half a dozen times a day wake us up at night and disturb us throughout the day. We called the company over the course of several weeks. Several times they said they'd be coming and then never showed up. When their technicians finally did come to our home, they shrugged and just said they didn't hear the sound. They each stayed less than an hour and when they left we would would still hear it and are to this day still experiencing this loud booming sound that is intolerable. No one has solved the problem.. We spent $6,500 with this company for a new boiler / heater that is still under warranty and we've have had nothing but problems. And, the technicians were incredibly rude when they came, acting as if we were making up that we were hearing these sounds that family and guests confirm they hear as well. In addition to not helping us resolve this problem, refusing to replace the new pipes or the boiler itself to see if that will solve the problem they instead sent us a $248 bill for replacing a downstairs thermostat that did absolutely nothing to solve the problems we are having!!! It's absolutely unbelievable. We have requested several times for the company owner, Todd Flanagan to come out to our house to address this issue and instead they sent us a bill without resolving the problem for a useless thermostat. We want this booming sound resolved and this insane service bill rescinded.

  Business response

  03/22/2022

  We did in fact install a brand new **** ******* oil fired boiler in the fall of 2021. The installation went well, we fired it up, it was working fine and we assumed all was well. End of Jan or early Feb 2022 we got a call from the ********** stating that they heard a "boom" sound when the boiler turned on. We sent 2 different techs that work for Ray Flanagan Heating and plumbing on 2 different occasions and neither tech could reduplicate the "boom" to determine the problem.

  Since neither tech could reproduce the "boom" after several attempts Todd Flanagan, owner of the company personally went over to  see if he could reproduce the 'boom" sound  and he couldn't not.

  Next course of action:  Todd called the field rep for the manufacture **** *******, Dane K**** down from ************** Dane came down and went through a thorough diagnostic exercise to reduplicate the the "boom" and he could not get the system to "boom"

  Next course of action: Todd ordered a whole new burner assembly and installed it. Roughly a week went by and we had not heard from the **********.   We thought all was well and then we got another call and they said there was a red light error code and that they had no heat. We are now working on trying to figure out what made the system populate an error code and we were thinking there are some sort of contaminants in their oil tank and that needs to be tested by their oil company.

  In closing this message, as you have read by the details presented, by no means have the *********** been ignored or avoided. We have gone as far as getting the field rep from the boiler manufacturer down to try and assist.

  We will continue to work through the problems and find resolution. As mentioned, at this point we think it's something in the oil tank.

  If you have any questions please feel free to call the office at ************

  Customer response

  03/23/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  When we filed the complaint with the BBB we asked that the system be replaced or our money refunded. The system continues to work improperly and it has not been replaced or our money refunded. In the weeks since we filed the complaint (and let me be clear, the company largely ignored us until we filed the complaint) we have attempted to work with the company to try to resolve this and were repeatedly told they couldn't hear or replicate the booming sound  (as if we were making this up) so we recorded the system for several hours and captured the booming sounds which we played for the Todd and Dane, the boiler representative, who clearly heard the booming noises we recorded. They decided it could only be coming from the burner on the boiler system. We waited several more weeks but a burner representative did not come  (and instead asked to put a camera or a recording devise in our private home, which is absurd and unnecessary since we recorded the noises.  The company then brought its own replacement burner to our home and it was installed but a few days later we heard loud grinding noises and just as we were about to call the company the boiler shut down completely leaving us with no heat. Their technician confirmed that the replacement burner was not working properly and felt his only recourse was to reinstall the original burner and now we are of course once again hearing booming noises since we are back to square one. So, in sum, the boiler system makes booming noises, the attempt at a replacement burner failed because it didn't work properly. These loud sharp noises disturb us throughout the day and night and are also affecting our livelihoods. The company is now placing blame on our oil tank and oil company. Let us be clear, we have lived in our home for 16 years and our our previous boiler (which we only replaced because it was old) used the same oil tank and oil from the same company, HiHo, and it never, ever made these noises the Flanagen  boiler makes. It's clearly not the oil tank that is the issue. We have tried hard to be patient with the Flanagen company and technicians and Todd has made some efforts to resolve this but mostly everyone is saying it's someone else's problem. Thus, the problem has not been resolved because the faulty boiler/burner system has not been replaced. Since the issue has not been resolved satisfactorily at this point, our complaint remains and we are seeking still a full replacement or refund so we can obtain a system that works properly and end this nightmare.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** *** **** ******

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