Crankin' up the heat

Warning: the following blog contains foul language and profanities. . . No Mom, not really! But it is a long post, so go pour a cup o' joe and get comfortable. It's the story that many of you have been waiting for.

Three weeks have nearly passed, and my anger has long since boiled over and evaporated. I needed time to let the memories fade a little before sharing them, otherwise the entry would have just been a long winded angry rant, and that's just not my style. In general, my style is pretty laid back, finding humor in everyday stuff. I believe in hard work, respect and honesty, and I expect that back, especially when shelling out my hard earned money. I am not the type of person to yell and scream when something goes wrong, but rather try to be understanding that sometimes things go wrong, or get screwed up... just fix and move on.

Keeping that in mind, I continue with my story...

When I last wrote, I had opted to wait for an extra few days to have the furnace relocated instead of having a temporary oil line installed. My reasoning was simple, if my furnace were temporarily "fixed" my wait time for the furnace to get moved would have been extended by weeks, if not months. And there was no chance I was going to go another winter with furnace issues. And with that decision I was told by the company's owner, Jim, that they would be out by mid week the following week. This was a Friday afternoon.

This company has a reputable business, have been around for many many years. I've had my oil delivered by them for several years, as well as had many service calls, ie: spent lots of money. I had some misgivings about them after the miss communications over the last week, but was willing to forgo them, after all, s*it happens. I normally keep names out of my blog, for privacy reasons, but after weighing how I was treated and continue to be treated (three weeks later), I feel I'm doing a service to anyone that may search for reviews or comments regarding this company. The following is a true story, with no embellishments. This is how Niccoli Brothers in Brockton treated me.

By the following Wednesday, I still hadn't heard anything about when they were coming, so I called and was told that it was written down that they would be out the following morning. Great! I tell my boss I'll be taking Thursday and Friday off to be able to oversee the work, and be available if there are any problems. As Jim wasn't in the office, they said to give him a call in the morning to find out what time to expect them, which I did. Jim tells me he's "hoping" to get the crew over in the afternoon. Which is fine, it gives me time to clean out the areas they need to get into to work. Come afternoon I call again and I'm told that they won't be able to make it. I tell Jim that I took the days off specifically so I would be there, and he tells me I can leave a key, that his crew is responsible, etc. Well, that may well be, but the way I've been put off isn't leaving a good taste in my mouth, and I'm absolutely not comfortable with it. So Jim reassures me that they will definitely be out the following day.... which by 12 noon they still weren't.

Keep in mind, it's now been over a week I've been without heat & hot water. It's been a complete inconvenience boiling water for dishes, finding places to shower and do laundry. Thankfully, my 16 year old spent the majority of time at his dad's house, so there is one less thing to worry about.

Anyway, I once again call Jim, because apparently he doesn't know he can make outgoing calls to customers, and he tells me the crew will be out that afternoon... he promises me. And true to his "word" three guys do show up.... however, the foreman, Joey, informs me that there is an emergency that he needs to get to. He instructs the other two what he needs to get worked on, and off he goes. And true to Jim's "word" again, the crew IS great. All three were polite, neat and courteous. Unfortunately, it's already late in the afternoon on a Friday and it's obvious that this isn't going to be done... I'll have to go the weekend without what I once took for granted.

They did manage to disconnect the furnace and physically move it into the garage on Friday. But they needed the carpenter to come out to cut the hole in the roof for the pipe, for which I was told would be here mid Monday morning. At this point, I can't afford to take any more time off, and since the crew is respectable, I hand off the key to Joey Monday morning. He promises me that when I come home after work (after working until 7pm) I would be able to take a hot shower. I spend the day at work daydreaming of lathering up and wiping the steam off my mirror (My X-rated dreams of late).

However, come 5:30 I get a call from Jim telling me that he "hates having to make this call" because the carpenter NEVER showed up so the furnace was still NOT connected... no heat... no hot water... I'm ready to blow a gasket at this point, why am I just finding out now?? I've owned my own business, I've had to make these types of calls. It doesn't matter that the carpenter is someone they farm work out to, it still comes down to the company being responsible. Again, yelling and screaming isn't my style. I tell him how sorely disappointed I am, that I expect that he'll make up for all these inconveniences and that I expect the job WILL be done Tuesday. He will call me the moment the carpenter arrives at my house, and I'll leave work and remain there until the job is done. He tells me he agrees and he'll take care of it, blah blah blah (that's what I hear)

I get the call around noon, he's finally arrived. I head home and am greeted out front by Joey, who, by the way, is the nephew of the owner. He apologies up and down, left and right. And I know he's sincere. He felt horrible that his promise was broken, that he can't believe how out of control this job had become. And as we're talking, the carpenter, who is up on the roof, yells over to Joey saying "Wow, I thought Jim said there was an irate old woman living here," apparently surprised that I wasn't up on the roof screaming at him. My jaw drops to the ground, Joey turns to me and with total horror says "Tell me he didn't just say that!" I am once again blown away, I walk into the house where I nearly burst out in tears. (A week and a half without heat/h2o takes a massive toll on one's well being and I'm thinking I'm close to a break down.)

By the time I come out, the carpenter is gone... thankfully having finished his part of the job, and escaping my wrath. Joey is beside himself and assures me it will be done. This was around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. He and another tech were busy little beavers, and a few hours later a third shows up and joins in the fun. It wasn't until 8:30 that night that Joey gives me the OK to turn on the heat and run the hot water. He's not fully done, he tells me he'll personally be back on Saturday to tidy up and insulate the pipes. I know he's doing that on his own time, and it means the world to me. I go to bed after a load of laundry, running the dishwasher (filled with dirty dishes from 2 weeks ago) and finally, a long hot shower. Ahhhh!! Life as I'd known it restored!

I expected that I'd hear from Jim the following day, to follow up and to grovel for my forgiveness, but apparently I have too high of expectations, because the entire day goes by without a word. The following morning I call, but he's not in the office, so I leave a message. When I get home from work later on, amazingly the bill for the work is ALREADY in my mailbox. Floored, I open it, and even more floored to see that Jim took off a lousy $175 off a $4,000 job that left me inconvenienced for 2 weeks.

One hundred and seventy five dollars!

Now I know some may say that I'm being sexist, but I know that he'd NEVER have tried getting away with that if I were a man. Of course, most men would have bitten this guy's head off long ago. Maybe most people too. Maybe I am too patient, too much of a push over. But regardless, he thought he'd get away with this?? Ha!

Boy, was he wrong. By the time he returned my call, I'd had plenty of time to get worked up. Those that know me know that I can be pretty damn patient, but when I lose it, you don't want to be on the receiving side. And that's exactly where Jim ended up. I told him how thoroughly disappointed I was with him, that I should have been called after the job was complete to see if it was acceptable, to apologize again, to verbally tell me how he was going to compensate me. I shared with him what an unprofessional person the carpenter was, I told him what he said and how insulted I felt, not just by him but by the entire way I was treated, outside of the crew, which again I can't say enough of.

I went on to tell him how I work with many people that live in the area and that they were aware of how badly this job went. I told him I write blogs on home improvement, with over 10,000 hits and how I'd hate to have to write a review using his name knowing that if anyone Googled it, my story would come up. I told him my patience and understanding being abused was unacceptable, that a lousy $175 off was insulting.

I told him I wanted him to install the additional radiator in my family room he had quoted for me ($300) to compensate me for I've been through. He promised me that he'd do it. That it wouldn't be for a few weeks because the busy season had begun, but that he'd get it done before the really cold weather set in, and I was OK with that as it's not something I need to have asap. But I was told it would happen, and after all, didn't I just get through saying that it was unacceptable to abuse my patience??

Saturday came, and so did Joey, just as he promised... and apologized again. He told me he was in the room when Jim called the carpenter and how not only did he get a "new one drilled", that the company would no longer be doing business with him again. He thanked me for all my patience. He then went about his business on his day off and finished up.

So, that brings us to 3 weeks later, and still no call from Jim... maybe he thinks that's OK. Maybe he thinks I calmed down and forgot. But what I do know is that my bill will remain unpaid for quite some time. I'm sure I'll eventually get a call. I'll tell them to expect it in a day or so, and then when they call back, well, shucks, I musta forgot. Two can play this game... And in the end, if need be, I'll just take my discount... what I see as just compensation.

And if he doesn't like it, well... I'm OK with that.

One Day it's Here...

... and the next day it's not. Or at least two weeks later it's not!

I am referring to my furnace, of course. As mentioned in my previous post, my furnace had a small leak, that if it had not been detected would have ruined my laminate wood floor. As it were, it did a small amount of damage, thankfully all of which can be repaired.

Anyhow, the tech came out and replaced the part and all was well in the world again, for about a day and a half anyway. I came home the following Wednesday to no hot water. I attempted to fire up the furnace, but to no avail. The following morning I put in another call to the burner company and was told that someone would be by after I got home at 3:30 that afternoon. However, by 5:30 I began to wonder just how off schedule the tech could possibly be. I placed a call, got the "emergency service" line and had to leave a message. This is the beginning of my horrible experience with the company. Someone calls me back and when I ask where the tech is, I was told that he wasn't coming... that no one had been scheduled to come out to my house at all. The person I spoke to checked with the other guy I dealt with in the morning, Joe, and he told me that Joe must have misunderstood me. He thought I had to check with my husband to see if I wanted the work done.

Now, I have to laugh, despite being pissed off, because outside of NOT having a husband, thank you very much, I can't imagine why I'd have to check with him to see if I actually wanted to have heat & hot water. I thought we no longer lived in the stone age where men dragged their woman around by the hair, but maybe I'm just confused.

So after getting over the shock of this last comment, I tell the guy that I expected someone to come by, after all, it was their error, and a big one in my book. It was pretty chilly out, and both my son and I need showers. He said there was absolutely no way they could get someone out there. By now, I'm floored. I remind him it's their error and again he tells me there is nothing they can do for me that night. They can be there first thing in the morning, except that I need to be into work by 7. He tells me I can leave a key. Now, come on... I'm a woman, a woman without a husband to make all the decisions... He thinks I'm gonna just leave a key?? Umm, yeah, I don't think so. I tell him that I'll be home by 3:30 the following day and that someone better be there and on time.

After stewing for a bit and calling other burner companies, all of which would charge me emergency rates and not guaranteeing they would be able to fix the problem that night, I curled up under a few layers of blankets and went to bed.

3:30 came and thankfully so did the tech. However the problem is that the overhead oil line is taking in air somewhere and because of that, the burner won't prime and stay on. This is ultimately what the issue has been all these years. It all goes back to the Packrat's half-assed installation of this system. It turns out that the company that did the job didn't bother to replace the overhead lines, but instead spliced them together, which apparently is a huge no no. That I've managed to go the 7 years I have and not have it permanently shut down is a miracle. It's also a miracle that I haven't taken a sledge hammer to the darn thing, but I digress...

The owner of the burner service company, Jim, calls to tell me that I can have a new line run overhead from the garage to the kitchen. I think this is a total waste of time and money. After I saw what damage was done with the water leak I decided it was time to move the furnace all together. They had priced it out for me about a year and a half ago. I tell Jim that I'd rather just move the burner. I realize it's coming into the busy season and that it would take some time to schedule the necessary crew, but it was worth a few extra days of inconvenience. My son had headed to his dad's for a few days and I could use the shower at my parent's or my brother's homes. It's Friday afternoon. Jim tells me work should begin on the following Wed. or Thurs. I can survive that long. I've got my pellet stove for heat, and I can boil water for dishes and washing. People have suffered through worse... I'll manage.

So I begin my wait. And this is where the fun really begins... Stay tuned.

They call this Progress??

Today marks a milestone at the Campi. Today, I removed the last of the nasty carpet and tiles from the house.

I could get all nostalgic and misty eyed about how I'll miss never being able to smell The Smell, or how there is no more carpets or tiles to rip out of this house... but I don't think so! No, as I ceremoniously tossed the last of the carpet out the door and brought out the last bag of tiles down to the curb, the corners of my mouth began to turn upwards into a smile... my little Campi has one less problem, one less project....

Until I realized that the GD furnace wasn't working... again. Yes, despite my having it cleaned & tuned up over the summer, the evil creature that resides in my kitchen realized it's fall and soon I'd be turning it on for the heating season. This time, among other things, it's leaking water out of a release valve. The guy at the oil company said so long as it doesn't blow and start shooting water all over the place I should be able to hold off on them coming out until Monday to take a look. But if it does blow, I may want to call. Gee, do ya think??

Because the water has been leaking for some time, a part of my laminate wood floor (hidden from everyday view) has been ruined. I'm pretty frustrated at this point, and I think I've decided that the time has come for me to move this blasted thing out of the kitchen. I got a quote to have it done last year, and as much as it is to have it done, it will still be cheaper than waiting and having to replace the entire system in a few years. So when the oil guy calls back on Monday I'm gonna put the wheels in motion to get this thing moving.

Hey, it's just money, right??

Boring Flooring

Yep, another post about floors... I'll keep it to a minimum, promise.

Finished Little Mr. Man's bedroom floor this weekend. Now we're down to just the small bedroom to finish. Hoping to get in there very soon to start the process of ripping out the carpet & tiles and get the temporary carpet in there for the winter. Must stay motivated even though I am sick of floors at this point.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the final photos of the floor. The first is the plastic moisture barrier, followed by the finished floor.

He's already moved in all his "stuff" and I'm sure in another week or so I won't even be able to see what was accomplished.

And, as always, thanks Dad... Love you!

Smell Be Gone

I can honestly say for a while there, I never thought this day would get here... the day my bedroom floor was finally laid down.

This project started back in September of 2005 out of pure necessity... to sleep in a room that didn't smell of mildew most of the year, and reek of it in July and August. Back in 2005, Dear ol' Dad and I had finished the floor in the family room and had a huge area rug that was no longer needed in there. I got it in my head to pull out up the gross carpets and tiles in my room and use the rug "temporarily" having no clue that nearly 4 years would go by. Between other projects, lack of funds and Dad and I both finding time to get together, it got pushed to the back burner. The smell was fine for the better part of the year, but then there would be those days, those hazy, hot, humid days. You know, the days where there wasn't enough Febreze or scented oils in the world to mask what lurked below.

So now here we are in 2009 and after 2 days in 90 degree weather, we finally finished. Dear ol' Dad was set up with the saw in the "Cutting Pavilion" (lol) and I was forced to stay in the air conditioned bedroom where I tapped in the pieces as he gave them to me. It's not that I wouldn't mind being the "cutter" but between Dad being Mr. Tap-Happy with the heavy hand chipping planks left and right, and the risk of me cutting off my arm or in the very least my finger, we settle into our jobs and work like a well oiled machine.

Sort of...

This years Tap Happy Award goes to me, who didn't destroy any planks by tapping too hard, but crushed the fleshy part of my hand between the metal hammer and the metal pull bar, leaving a circle of purple surrounding a 1 inch line of red in the middle. I do, however, get points, for not uttering one or even a string of swears. Nope, like the professional I am (ha), I finished tapping in the piece and left for the bathroom... where I silently screamed while running cold water on my hand for 5 minutes.

Of course, if that wasn't bad enough, on day 2, I managed to slam my finger between the afor mentioned hammer & pull bar. It was my left hand both times, so it shouldn't be so bad, at least in theory. I can't believe how much I actually use that part of my hand.

But I digress...

It's at this point I wish to say thank you so much to my dad, my Dear ol' Dad, for all his hard work, patience and undying faith in me. I love you so much. You'll forever be my role model and inspiration. I can't begin to thank you, but I'm sure a case of Bud will go a long way to help.

(Click any photo for larger image.)

Holy Moldy BatGirl!

As if I don’t have enough to do in order to ready myself for Dear ol’ Dad and finishing my bedroom floor, my son has finally seen, or more like smelled what I’ve been telling him for years… that his room is a pig sty and smells. He’s only coming to realize this because I put it out there that if he finally cleaned out all the toys he’s outgrown and gets rid of all the clutter, I would consider putting the old TV in his room.

Amazing what bribery can accomplish.

Soon after he digs in he finds, down by the side of his bed, a furry little clump of mold that obviously came from contraband he snuck in despite me constantly telling him no food in his room. He’s horrified by this latest discovery and thinks it all due to the moisture issues we’ve had with the carpeting. He’s so horrified, in fact, he tells me he refuses to sleep in his room anymore until the carpet is removed.

Seeing as he’s heading over to his dad’s for a few days, I tell him I’ll get started on striping out the carpet and padding and pop off the tiles so I can waterproof the concrete and prepare his floor for the next time Dear ol’ Dad is available for a project.

Seeing as it’s August, and the heat and humidity is through the roof, it makes perfect sense that I tackle this project. I mean after all, it seems like every time I’ve ripped out the carpets it’s been this exact kind of weather! But on the other hand, this might just be the right time. By finishing off my room, and prepping Mr. Man’s, I will be able to take the temporary rug I’ve been using over the concrete floor in my room and transferring it to his until such time as it gets finished.

I was able to get about half his room stripped down to the concrete and bleached the other day. Mr. Man came home for a night, moved everything to the “clean” side and slept on the couch before heading back to dads’ for the weekend. I’m hoping to get the other half done on Sunday, as he’ll be coming home for the week for vacation.

Meanwhile, Dear ol’ Dad is heading over tomorrow morning so we can begin finishing off my floor. I can hardly wait, as my room has been in disarray for the past week. My dresser and vanity have been moved out to the 3rd bedroom and my bed has been pushed into the middle of the floor at an angle so I could still access my closet. I’ll be pushing it up against the back wall tonight so we’ll be ready to go first thing in the morning.

As always, I’ll be sure to document the events for your viewing pleasure. Meanwhile enjoy a few of Little Mr. Man’s room. The bottom one is the concrete foundation before it was vacuumed and bleached down. The dark spots are from where the adhesive was for the tiles. The white stuff is concrete dust from where the moisture was forcing it's way up through the seams of the old tiles. I don't have a picture of it after it was vacuumed up and bleached, but looks much better than this.

Garden Living

Well, it's been a while since I've updated here. Between rain and humidity, not too much has gotten done around the Campi.

Planning on laying down the laminate flooring in my bedroom with Dear ol' Dad in the next few weeks. For those that don't know or haven't read that far back, the carpeting in the house has serious olfactory issues in the heat and humidity due to the concrete floor no longer having much moisture protection after all these years. I've re-floored the living room, kitchen and familyroom and only have the 3 bedrooms left... and I can hardly wait. I've managed for the past 7 years to deal with this, and for most of the year it's really a non-issue, but during the summer, especially this summer with the rain and humidity I'm ready to move on this project. I'll upload photos and keep you posted.


Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure, here's a look at this year's annual yard/garden photos. Enjoy and thanks, as always, for stopping by the Campi.

Click on each one to enlarge.