My furnace died in the middle of a cold snap last Tuesday

It was 15 degrees outside and I woke up to a house at 48 degrees. The pilot light was out on my old furnace but it wouldn't relight. Tried the reset button like 5 times with no luck. Ended up calling a HVAC guy who came out same day for $250 just to look at it. Turned out the thermocouple was bad and he swapped it in 20 minutes. Cost me $80 for the part and service call total. Now I'm wondering if that was a fair price or if I got taken for a ride. Anyone else deal with a sudden furnace failure in winter and get a similar quote?

2 comments

2 Comments

leo_campbell1d ago

Hold up, I gotta disagree a little bit. $330 for a same day emergency call in 15 degree weather to swap a thermocouple actually sounds pretty reasonable to me. Most companies charge a minimum of $100-$150 just to show up plus diagnostic fees these days, and the fact he had the part in his truck saved you a second trip. I get that it's frustrating paying that much for a 20 minute fix, but you're paying for the knowledge and the convenience of not freezing all day, not just the labor.

jesse_barnes371d ago

Yeah my buddy had almost the exact same thing happen last winter with his furnace. Guy showed up at like 8pm on a Sunday, fixed it in fifteen minutes, and it was like $350. He was mad at first but I told him dude you'd have paid double that for a hotel room if it stayed broken all night.