Scammed

I got a lot done yesterday, although it seems like no matter how much I accomplish, it hardly makes a dent in things! I have most of the clothes unpacked - I think. Most of the kitchen. Some of the bathrooms. What a chore. :) It took me months to pack up; I sure hope it doesn't take me months to unpack, too... but it probably will.

The kids have short days on Wednesdays. It was really nice actually. I picked up C and that took awhile because we had pre-arranged to meet at the stop sign and she went to the wrong one. :) Ran an errand and picked up J. He is enjoying school now, making friends - although the friend he told me he made yesterday was an error, he informed me - same person, but wrong name. :) As soon as we got home, a neighbor family came by and asked if he could come over and play. J went to their house and played with their son for about 4 hours! They really hit it off well. I guess it's easy when you have a lot in common - Legos, Pokemon, video games... The boy's mom even told Ro that it was the best playdate her son had had.

Speaking of J, we got the report from his standardized tests last spring in the mail yesterday. That kid is smart. He scored 100% in every area of language arts (scoring 600/600) and scored 100% in two of the five areas of math (also got two scores in the 90's and one in the 80's, for a score of 475/600). His rating in both subjects was "advanced." The picture there is of him practicing his cursive in the car while we waited for C to finish Back to School Night the other day.

Ro had to train in Aurora yesterday, but he got home early enough to take C to the music store to rent her trumpet. She's named it Tina. ?!?! That's her, giving Tina a toot shortly after they got home. That's also the outfit she wore to school yesterday for picture day. Too cute.

I chatted for awhile with some of the neighbors yesterday. It's insane. People here are friendly! LOL The neighbor on our immediate left invited us all to dinner on Saturday. That's something we've definitely never experienced before. Turns out, too, that she lived in Rosamond for a time when she was a kid. Small world, huh?

We barbecued burgers last night and have been enjoying our family meals at home quite a bit. G is eating much better now, too. I don't know if I've mentioned that or not, but she hasn't seemed hungry much at meals except for dinner, but she's doing better now. Her 8th tooth has come through and is about 1/3 of the way in now. Her rash is still there but looks a lot better to me. Hopefully she's on the mend.

So are you wondering yet why I entitled this post "Scammed"? Read on, my faithful listeners...

Boy am I ever angry. I got scammed - or almost - by a company the other day called CLIMATECH. This is what led to the frustration in one of my recent posts. I'll try to keep this short but I definitely wanted to post it in case anyone else ever has to deal with this.

We called Climatech in response to an ad of theirs for a $49 furnace cleaning and service. We have been advised by a number of people we trust to have the furnace serviced before winter, and at the same time we wanted a quote on the a/c. So the guy came out, started his work in the basement, and shortly thereafter the doorbell rings and there are two more Climatech employees, one the service manager, there to "check up" on their tech. So they all go downstairs, and the service manager comes back up about 10 minutes later, sits down, and breaks the news to me:

"Ma'am, I can't even let you operate that furnace with a baby in the house. It's cracked and needs complete replacement." He went on and on and told me how it would be dangerous to use the furnace, but that he'd cut me a deal - a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" deal - and wouldn't charge me for this and that - that he could complete all the work the next day - for only... are you ready? $6600.

I felt odd but doubted myself. What do I know, after all, about furnaces and cold winters and such? I was pressured to begin the paperwork so they could get started, even though I objected to making a decision like that without Ro. He continued to work me and I agreed to do the paperwork, although I told him my husband may call and cancel.

I was told what a great deal this was, how they were throwing in all these extras for free, how no one else would do for me what he was doing, how lucky I was that he stopped by to check on this job. Believe me, he laid it on thick.

So Ro came home, and I told him the story, and of course it doesn't sound right. He called the home inspection guy, who agreed it was fishy and gave him the names of two reputable companies here. Ro called Climatech and put the order on hold. The manager called him back and began to pressure him about it, but Ro stuck to his guns and said, "I don't make decisions of $7000 on the spur of the moment or without checking around and getting other estimates, period."

Ro had another guy come out to give us a quote on the a/c but we haven't gotten that figure yet. He also said he doubted the furnace needed full replacement. And a guy came out today while I was here, took me down to the basement, exposed the heat exchange (which the other guy did not), showed me his tools (better than the Climatech guy) and said he could find no crack in the furnace at all, let alone the three that Climatech supposedly found. He gave us a bid for the a/c and said the furnace only needed a tune-up. When I mentioned part of what happened to us, this guy said, "I could bet who it was, but I won't say names." I asked for the name... and sure enough: Climatech.

There are more details of course but I'd hate to bore you with all of it. I'm not sure if Climatech is a chain, or if it's just a common name of heating and air conditioning companies... but I would caution you to reconsider if you were to use them for your heating or a/c needs.

I feel like I've just done a Public Service Announcement. :) OK I'll get off my soapbox now and go finish emptying the POD so we can get rid of it. Looks like a beautiful day!