ComplaintsforHuhtala Oil & Templeton Garage, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  03/02/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On January 27th I had Huhtala oil and propane come fix my furnace for the second day in a row. While they were there I had them clean out an extra furnace in my basement. It was sooted up and needed to be fixed. The repair man used a basic shop vac with no filter which just spread the soot all throughout my house even into my kitchen cabinets. My one year old daughter and myself were upstairs unknowingly breathing in soot particles. The guy even acknowledged the soot when he came upstairs but still went back downstairs and proceeded to make an even bigger mess. When he was finished I told him it was on everything in the house. He told me the air was so black downstairs he had to remove a window and couldn't see. I spent three hours cleaning with help that evening before realizing this was way more than I could handle and it wasn't coming off properly. The next day I contacted Huhtala and they had their insurance agent come look. They proceed to tell me to go through our homeowners insurance. That policy didn't cover everything and huhtalas insurance is refusing to take full responsibility. My basement hasn't been cleaned, my electronics haven't been cleaned, my well needs to be tested for contamination and all of my baby's toys are ruined along with other personal items. Most of our belongings are being help up by the dry cleaners because of the insurance company. We have been displaced for over a month. I have had breathing issues from the exposure. They are refusing to take accountability and leaving us with no options. Soot is a toxin and both my baby and I have had a lot of exposure plus my animals have as well. They need to clean up the rest of the mess and pay the dry cleaner as well as reimburse the personal losses. I need to be able to safely live in my own home with my baby.

  Business response

  04/13/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2022/03/22) */ We were asked to fix the first floor heater at residence because homeowner had no heat. Technician had to leave residence to get parts that were needed to repair the first floor unit. When technician returned to residence, he smelled soot burning. He spoke with homeowner who told the technician that she turned on the "BASEMENT" unit for heat--not the first floor unit that we were repairing. Tech went into dark basement with his drop light because there are no lights in the basement. Tech noticed basement unit was yellow on the bottom and burning soot; basement was very, very dark. Homeowner then instructed tech to clean THAT unit, the BASEMENT unit that was full of soot. Tech brought his vacuum cleaner into basement, removed the front panel of unit and noticed unit was plugged solid with soot. He removed the smoke pipe which was also plugged with soot. Unit had not been cleaned or serviced in years (by our company). Tech tried to vacuum unit using only a drop light to see anything. Vacuum cleaner plugged three times with soot. While vacuuming, the tech noticed that the air shutter on gas burner was not properly set up and plugged, therefore, causing improper combustion. Our insurance company went to the residence and determined that they would cover only 50% of the clean-up cost. They determined that the homeowner is 50% responsible due to lack of maintenance on their heating systems. Consumer Response /* (3000, 11, 2022/03/28) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I originally called on Wednesday January 26th about my upstairs heater not working. On that day I told them over the phone I also needed the basement heater cleaned. It wasn't even looked at. So when they came back the following day (because they replaced the wrong part the previous day) I had the repair man fix that heater as well. Looking back I should have realized that they didn't know what they were doing and that's why they didn't even bother to look at it the first day. The bottom line here is the wrong equipment was used to do the cleaning and the guy didn't stop even though he could visibly see that he was spreading soot throughout my house. The extent of the mess could have been greatly reduced if any common sense was applied. Considering soot is microscopic particles, the fact he couldn't see downstairs because of it is absolutely insane and inexcusable. The basement heater is a secondary heater that could have continued not to be used. The heater had been serviced a couple of years prior but had not been used much at all because I have been disabled since March 2018. I'm finally recovering enough that I can get down the basement stairs and I wanted to be able to use the heater again. It is a secondary heater and not needed regularly. How this excuses the complete disregard for the health and safety and living quarters for myself and my one year old child is absolutely beyond me. Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2022/04/05) */ We take great pride in our experienced technicians and we go above and beyond to consider the safety of our customers. We cannot take responsibility for lack of maintenance on a customer's equipment or the condition of the work environment within the customer's home. We informed our insurance who completed an inspection of the home and deemed Huhtala Oil 50% liable for the soot. The customer was advised numerous times to contact their insurance company."

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