Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/22/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 2/21/24 I had a technician from this company come into my restaurant to replace 2 thermometers that had gone bad on my grill (griddle). As he was replacing both thermometers with instructions from another technician, he failed to unplug the grill. Therefore he messed up our control panel and my grill did not want to turn on at all. Once he realized that he had messed up my control panel he was very apologetic. He called his company and they told him that they would be fully responsible for all expenses that were incurred for messing up the control panel and also for replacing both thermometers. To me , that was the correct thing to do for them to take care of all that , as well as compensating me for my lost revenue. I called the company and I was transferred over to the service manager *************************. As I spoke to *******, I explained to her that. As a result of my control panel being damaged. I had to close down the restaurant for the rest of the day and that I was gonna lose a lot of revenue as well as having to pyy all my employees for showing up to work that day. I asked ******* for the companies insurance information so that I could file a claim and help me with the expenses incurred for that day. ******* refused to provide me with any information. And she told me That she did not have any insurance to provide me with and that I was lucky for her to be taking care of all expenses of damaging the control panel as well as the thermometers. According to her other companies would not have taken responsibility for what their technicians did. I feel that if we make mistakes , it is our responsibility to take care of our mistakes and take action and try to fix any mistakes that we did. On 2/22/24 another technician shows up to replace control panel. He has my manager sign an invoice with no charges and description of job completed. Then he sends me the same invoice with a ******* charge for a control panel that they damaged. Enclosed is proof of invoice.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/25/2024

  21332929

  I appreciate the opportunity to respond to this complaint.

  On 2/19, Dutton was called for EMERGENCY response service by ****** to diagnose a problem with her oven.
  Dutton was onsite same day and diagnosed the problem to be a faulty probe on the oven's left/black board.  As approved by ******, Dutton ordered Next Day Air a new left board probe as well as pro-actively a new probe for the right board that was the same age/wear as other probe.

  On 2/20 when the probes arrived and the FIRST tech became available, instead of proceeding to other customers, because ****** approved EMERGENCY service response, I called ****** to see if she could accept service at that time.  Based on the time of day, ****** felt it would be better to be onsite the 1st half of the day rather than the 2nd half of the day, so we set it up for the next day to be onsite as early as possible, based on your already set schedule.

  On 2/21, we called ****** in route just before 11am and as approved, proceeded to her location under EMERGENCY return service.

  While replacing the faulty probes, ************** inadvertently damaged/shorted the controller mechanism, which put the unit out of service.  

  Dutton immediately advised ****** that this damaged part was not a faulty part she would be responsible for, but was damaged accidently by Dutton, who would take full responsibility and pay for the new part, labor to replace the part, travel and Next Day Air freight charges to get the part shipped ASAP.   ****** understood the only charges for which she would be responsible would be the ORIGINAL EMERGENCY service and travel to diagnose the initial problem and the RETURN EMERGENCY trip, service, probes/and NDA freight and that ALL charges from that moment on would be the responsibility of Dutton. 
  
  Before leaving, ****** had an idea to use a borrowed oven that they could deliver to the site and Dutton could install temporarily.  ****** was given a labor only price of $600 to perform this extra service and ****** approved this.  Since we had to wait for the oven to be delivered, I instructed my technician to take lunch while we waited.  When the oven arrived, it was not only larger than the existing unit, it was also a different type of gas that would also need to be converted.  We advised ****** that this was not included in the previously provided verbal estimate of $600, at which point ****** began to feel that Dutton should not be charging ANY labor to get the oven installed.  
  
  ************** spoke to ****** and my technician called back to say that ****** decided not to proceed with the swap.  I waived the 1 hour labor while my technician was onsite after lunch trying to come to a decision.
  
  On 2/22, we replaced the faulty controller and everything was up and running.  I provided the invoice that reflected all agreed charges as well as the credit for all time/travel/parts/freight for 2/22's service, but ****** did not approve paying ANYTHING.  

  I spoke to ****** to explain that we were only charging for the time/material/travel UP TO the point we damaged the controller and everything after that would be out Dutton's expense.  ****** made it clear that she expected compensation for the time her unit was down and money lost due to that time down.  I explained to her that the mistake was not a malicious act and we are taking full responsibility by paying to bring her oven up and running, but that we could not compensate her beyond that.  She was not happy and then began to complain about our normal rates regarding our *************** rate of $120/hour labor and $120 trip (usually about 3 to 5 days out) vs our EMERGENCY service that we offer at $180/hour labor and $180 trip which bumps out our unscheduled service and places that customer in the next available spot - she said that was "bs" and that we were basically taking advantage of customers by offering the EMERGENCY service at a higher rate.  I tried to explain that our call load does not allow for everyone who calls to receive same or next day service, so we allow the customer to prioritize with an EMERGENCY rate that is still lower than some service companies' normal rates.
  
  ****** was not happy and advised me that God would take care of me and my unethical behaviors and she did changed her mind and no longer agreed to pay for the billable service we provided.

  At no time did Dutton advise that they would compensate ****** for any additional repairs/expenses for the original issue or loss of use.  

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/26/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [When I spoke to *************************, she was very rude and unprofessional.  She ended up hanging up on me because she took personal offense on my saying that I felt that they are taking advantage of customers by charging emergency rates to come out on the same day versus within the next 5 days.   if your oven does not work then you are forced to pay emergency rates because if you do not then you have to wait up to 5 business days for them to come out and how are you going to operate a business without a working oven? You cannot you have to shut down till its fixed.  When I asked her to provide me with the company's insurance name and policy number so that I can file a claim for loss revenue she totally refused to provide me with that.  I understand that the technician in no way meant to mess up my grills control panel and that it was an accident but that is why insurance policies exist. This same technician told me I was not going to be charged for what he came there to replace in the first and also for what was needed to be fixed due to him intentionally messing it up.  My brother had a grill that he purchased, and he told me ask them to hook it up so that you do not have to close your business because nobody knows how long it will take to get fixed and that way you are not hit hard financially. So, I bring it up to the tech he says it's a great, so he decides to lunch while we ran to pick up grill. But then when he sees that the grill is propane, he says that I would be responsible for paying them to hook up the grill. I find it unfair for me to be responsible for that because if the tech had not messed up my grill, I would not have had to have gone through all of that. He suggests I talk to *******, so I call her.   From the start she was so rude and unapologetic and says there is no way way they will hook up the grill for free. Then she refused to provide me with any information about their insurance.  I am not trying to take advantage of the situation I am just trying to be compensated for my losses and pay my employees for that day because they showed up to work and no one had any idea we were going to be forced to shut down all operations.  
  
  *********************
  
  
  
  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/01/2024

  Hello,

  I am sorry to find that ****** found me both rude and unprofessional - that was never indicated on the initial complaint.
  I understand that she was extremely upset and though I tried to be as professional as possible, I will admit that during the conversation, after I reminded her that I had assured her that we were taking full responsibility for the damage and would pay Next Day Air to order the replacement for the damaged part, for the part, for the labor and for the return trip, her agitation escalated to a personal attack because she wanted more money.  ****** explained that she felt *********** be compensated for loss business, and to cover the cost to swap out that oven that was down with another oven and then to also convert that oven to the proper gas type, to swap it back out again when the original oven was fixed and to re-convert the spare oven back to the original gas type.  When I declined covering any more than what we had damaged, she became angry and started complaining then about our emergency rate charges that we offer to all customers if they require IMMEDIATE service as she said that was "BS" and that "we rip people off" and that "God would take care of me". 
  I felt that she truly crossed a line and I had no other choice but to hang up as there was no need to be further abused just because I was not going to give her more money.
  She did mention insurance and I explained that we do not have insurance for non-malicious errors, but that she likely has loss of use insurance she may be able to use, but the insurance we have is for personal injury if we do something that causes bodily harm. 
  Dutton did not ***** our responsibility for what ************** did - we completed the task to at no charge order and replace the damage part, but Dutton never offered to also pay for the original repair that had nothing to do with the damaged part.  
  When my 2nd technician was onsite, he was told by ****** that Dutton told her there was no charge at all, so he believed her and gave her a ticket w/no price indicated.  When the technician called in, he was advised that the original repair had not been paid, so he was given the cost of the job and the CREDIT for the no charge repair was included for ******'s reference, so she could see we did what we promised; however, ****** continued to claim that Dutton promised to also not charge for the originally requested repair, which was ab inaccurate claim on ******'s part as nobody from Dutton offered that or any additional compensation. 
  We have been in business for over 40 years and we pride ourselves in being ethically and morally sound, but I understand that you can not please everyone.
  The balance due is only for the original service approved by ******, the rest of the repair was covered by Dutton as it should have been since we caused that damage. 
  We also did not charge the additional hour my tech was onsite while we waited for the spare oven to be delivered only to find it was not compatible. 
  I wish I could offer more information, but I understand that ****** will not be satisfied knowing she is responsible for her invoice and is not satisfied with Dutton only paying for the damage we did. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/02/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

  In response to Ms. ********* letter: It is rude and unprofessional to hang up on a customer, refuse to provide them with insurance information so that they can fille a claim, raise your voice at a customer and practically call them a liar or say that they misinformed 2nd technician on site.  I never attacked Valary. On the contrary I explained to her my situation, and she was very uncaring since the beginning.  Never once offered an apology for what had happened.  
  Once I asked her for insurance information and she reused I said its okay, God will take care of IT. IT refers to the situation not to her. Never did I say God will take care of YOU and If I were to say God will take care of you it's not necessarily a bad thing because God promises each and every one of us that he will take care of us, he will provide us with all we need.  I don't understand why she is taking things so personally and not acting like a professional / service manager. If she wants to take things on a personal matter then I would like her to understand that God is Great, He is love not hate towards one another. God is light and not darkness, He is truth and not untruth.  God demonstrates compassion and not the opposite, so please refrain from twisting my words. My words were and are " God will take care of it.", which means that He will provide me with the economic means that my business needs to recover from the losses due to your technician unintentionally damaging my griddle and putting me out of business for that day. Both technicians told my manager and I that we would not be responsible for repairs for both days. ****** says something different.  I suggest better training technicians so that this doesn't happen to anyone else. If you're not going to honor their words and if you are going to charge me for installing other grill that I needed installed to not shut down the restaurant that day( which I refused to go forward with because it's unfair that you damage my griddle and I have to pay), then at least have the courtesy to provide your customer with insurance information so that they can file a claim and everyone can go about their lives.  

  Regards,
  
  ******

  P.S. Look at 1st and 2nd invoice provided by their 2nd technician you will see that hours were altered afterwards.