Gas Fix

Please think twice before hiring this company.
It pains me to have to right this review as I gave Gas Fix the opportunity to make a wrong right but they chose not to.
I contacted gas fix to come and diagnose a problem with my Town and Country fireplace back in October of 2019. The fireplace had been working but the flame control would not go from low to high. You could hear the valve opening as there is a slight noise when doing so but the flame height would not increase. I called Gas fix as they had serviced my fireplace in the past.

This time their service tech came and I told him what was happening and he took the remote and played with it. At this point he said that it was the gas valve that was not working and I would most likely need a new valve. He then removed the glass. He took out the logs looked around and removed the cover where the valve was. I was in the room watching and trying to learn a little about what he was doing. He said that it was not a difficult job but the valve was in an awkward place to get in and replace. I do not recall seeing him use any test equipment to determine that the gas valve was at fault but he did write on the invoice measurements that he supposedly took and said that the valve needed replacement. I said that they could go forward with the repair and he said that the office will contact me with a price and when they could come and replace the valve. This visit I was charged 285.89 including the tax.

I was contacted by the office with a price of 987 before tax for the repair and also confirmed that the safety check and cleaning where included in that price as a cleaning was not done on the first visit and booked a date of October 30 for the repair.

The service tech came back on the 30th and installed a new valve and I looked at the old valve and took a picture of it along with info printed on it for future reference. I was not there the while time while he did the job as I did not think I had to be and was also busy myself. I was not so sure he did the cleaning as what was originally requested and confirmed that it would be performed on this visit. He did not have his
vacuum or compressor with him (at least he did not bring them into the house) I did not see any cleaning take place 0n the inside of the fireplace with the exception that I saw service tech clean the glass. and walls looked wiped down.

After finishing the job Dwayne (service techs name) called me and showed me that the flame height control was functioning. To my Surprise I saw very little improvement in the flame height. Even the flame colour was not what it was normally like when the fireplace was installed and had worked well up until this problem. I told Dwayne that this was not satisfactory as it was no where near what original flame height was. He stated that the valve is working fine and that it was about a 30% ramp up in flame height which was within the manufacturers specs. He also stated that before he did the installation I did not have Ambers over the gas ports and he had put new ambers in and properly covered the gas ports so that would make the flame height lower. He said to give it a few days for the ambers to burn in and I should see a difference in the flame height. I expressed my disappointment and concern and told Dwayne that If I did not see an improvement after a few days I would like him to come back and look further into the situation.
At this point i did as instructed, let the Ambers burn in. (as a note the fireplace usually running at full, heats up the main floor of the house and makes the room that the fireplace is in, very hot. It was a main source of heat when we had the record breaking temps in January a few years back. at that time the furnace in the house broke down and we had to wait a number of days for parts.)
Running it this time at full barely made a difference to the temperature in the fireplace room

After almost three days of non stop running the fireplace at full position I contacted Gas fix to schedule a return visit. A return visit was booked for Tues the 5th. On the evening of the 4th I received a call from Scott the owner of Gas fix. He called and informed me that no one will be coming on the 5th as the new gas valve that was installed was working fine. To say the least I was shocked and more then a little perturbed. He was quite rude during our entire conversation, which did get a little heated! I explained to Scott the situation and that I have waited much more then two days to see a change in flame height and that nothing has changed. He again said that the valve is working fine and that no one would be coming out. I asked him why he did not believe me and if he thought I was not being truthful and how could he determine it was not working properly when he has not even seen it. I said that this was completely unacceptable and I wanted him to come out and see it. I said that I would escalate things further and would leave a negative review. I was very upset! Scott did finally agree very rudely to come and see the fireplace the next day.
On the morning of the 5th I got a call from Scott to say he was on the way and to make sure the fireplace was turned off for when he got there. I turned off the fireplace and waited for Scott to arrive. When he arrived he came in and removed the glass and logs and brought in his vacuum and cleaned inside the fireplace and also removed the burner assembly and took off the main gas nozzle. That is when he showed me the inside of the gas nozzle and said that this was most likely the problem. There was a spiders web inside the nozzle. I was surprised and asked why this was not checked when Dwayne was here to do the service and cleaning and he said that this was not part of a service and cleaning. Scott reassembled everything and then ignited the fireplace. Wow, instant proper flame height and color just like it was when it was installed. Scott cleaned up and he did apologise for the heated conversation from the day before and said that there was not a charge for his visit.

After he left I was still disappointed,feeling that I most likely paid for a gas valve when I did not need one. I did a lot of reading regarding what is and should be serviced when an inspection and service is done on a fireplace. I also contacted town and country support and they feel that this should have been checked before hand. I contacted other company's and explained my initial problem asked them if when they did their inspection to determine the problem would they have checked the main gas nozzle they all said that that was part of a normal inspection and cleaning. At this point I decided to ask Scott if he would at least reimburse me for the price of the gas valve. (see reasons below) I realized that work was performed and time was spent and he had to pay his employees and all I was asking for was the cost of the valve, no extra labour costs. That request was sent via txt on the afternoon of the 5th and after a number of follow up texts and emails I finally got a reply from Scott on the 18th of November. I was denied reimbursement for the gas valve. I requested on that date the old valve back and Scott got back to me on the 20th saying I could pick it up in Hamilton on the 22 at 4:00 Unfortunately I was unable to pick up the valve on two occasions and notified Gas fix both times that I would not be able to make it. I had come out of retirement and was working in Pickering at the time. I contacted Scott again to try and reschedule a pickup and also asked if he could just leave it at the office and I will come by and pick it up. Here it is January the 3rd and I have still not heard back from Scott.
A very long review but one I feel I had to write. Very disappointed with the attitude towards the whole situation. I felt I was being fair by not asking for reimbursement of Labour, only for the cost of the valve But Scott feels differently. He feels that it was the valve high low motor which was not working. He also said that a spiders web in the orifice would not cause the flame to not to go up or down. It could at least restrict the flow enough to make it look that way. As I was told by fireplace service company's, they also said it also may have been the web not allowing gas flow thru to increase the height . I am also surprised that Dwayne would not have checked this after I told him that the improvement in flame height was very limited. I am still very surprised that when Scott came, I was present for his full inspection, and the only time he turned on the fireplace to observe the flame height was after he did all his checks and found the spiders web. He did not turn on the fireplace before hand to observe the reason for my return request. This in itself makes me think that he already had a good idea what the problem was. Remember he was initially not wanting to come back. I am a retired electrical engineer and understand the workings of most electrical things, and agree tI could be the valve but it was definitely a spider web that was causing the poor performance of the flame the second time,and very possibly the first time also!!!! We can write down anything on a work order. I guess we will never know.

Having said all this if Gas fix service tech had done the required job properly the first time and did not dismiss my complaint so quickly,( I am sure he has worked on Town and Country fireplaces many times and would have known himself that the flame height was not correct.) The excuse of not having ambers on my burner was not the right thing to say to dismiss this poor repair and servicing job. Also if Scott was not so rude, and if they would have taken ownership for poor customer service, and if I had received my parts back I would not be writing this review.