My experience with Beacon Plumbing left me freakin. Here is why…..
The ignitor went bad on Friday evening so I called Beacon to replace the part. Using the diagnostic codes from the furnace I knew it was the ignitor and told their dispatch exactly what I needed for the specific furnace. For a $75 service fee they would be onsite by noon. At 20 minutes to noon they called and said they’re on the way from Bothell.
When they arrived it wasn’t two minutes and he said, “yup, it’s the ignitor. Here’s a piece of it”. So off they went to the truck to get the part. He asked if I know how much they cost and I said yes, $40 to $200 depending on which on.
He came back from the truck and installed it. It took 20 minutes. I became interested when he made a couple comments to his partner that I didn’t need the box. After the second comment I decided to keep the box and took a picture of it. Good thing for the picture as he ended up keeping the box, saying he wanted the spare parts inside.
This set off alarm bells so I googled the part number from the picture.
Honeywell glowfly Q3200U1004
Amazon: $25.95
Sears $37.95
Pex Supply $25.89
Beacon’s price includes the 20 minutes of labor: $318 + $75 for the service call
If you average the three you get $29.94. Leaving the $75 fee aside, that leaves $288 for 20 minutes labor. At $864 an hour who can afford them?
I’ve called Beacon to ask if this was a mistake and spoke with Jeff. He could not comment other than they have a flat rate book and will look it up. Jeff did say that I should expect a call from Steve on Monday. If Steve calls we'll see what he says.
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West Seattle Blog
West Seattle Blog
