Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/18/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On Oct 17, 2022, I had a Levco Tech technician come to my home to replace a $40 hyvent after it began leaking antifreeze. The technician was at my house for less than 30 minutes and it took him approximately 5 minutes to replace the hyvent, since it’s an easy piece to pop out and replace. When I called Levco Tech to arrange the appointment, I was told that the visit should cost $300. When I asked the technician about the cost while at my home, he confirmed the $300 cost. However, when I contacted Levco Tech to receive the final invoice, they billed me $579.61. They charged $500 for the labor and $40 for the part. I called Levco Tech to say that this price vastly differed from the $300 I was told the visit would cost and I also told them that the technician was not working on my heater for 1 hour, but rather for less than 30 minutes from start to finish. Levco Tech said $500 is their rate for weekend technicians and I told the billing representative that I would not have had Levco come over if I had known the bill would be $500 for labor, which is clearly price gouging. Levco was not willing to adjust down its rate, despite that it widely differs from competitors like ***** ****** for the same labor. I’d like the price to be adjusted down to the $300 I was quoted. Can you help me do this?

  Business Response

  Date: 10/20/2022

  Mrs. *****,
  
  We appreciate you thinking of us during your time of need but our account of the events are slightly different from what you have claimed. On Saturday afternoon at 4:49 pm you called in to our emergency service line, stating that you were an active oil delivery customer and “your heater is dripping oil onto the ground and that you thought your house was in danger”. When Chris (the on-call technician at the time) called you back minutes later, you told him again that you were an active oil delivery customer (which you are not, closed your account on 12/23/21), and that you have a service plan with Levco (which you do not). You then told him about your oil leaking issue to which he responded that something like this when applying our discounted labor rates for service plan customers is usually around $300 when performed outside of regular business hours. 

  Thinking that this was truly an emergency situation with oil leaking from your equipment, Chris went immediately over to your home to investigate. Upon arrival he found that in fact no oil leak existed and there was water slowly leaking from an air vent. You gave him approval to replace the air vent. He replaced and then tested the new part to make sure it worked as it should. He was at your home from 5:36pm until 6:30pm on Saturday night. Given that this was outside normal business hours and you do not have a service plan, we believe the bill to be fair. 

  Should you wish to take advantage of discounted labor rates on future service calls, have your equipment tuned up once a year, and cover the replacement of many of the parts on your oil heating equipment, give us a call to reactivate your oil delivery account and purchase a service plan.

  If you would like to discuss this matter further, or be provided with any additional documentation about the service call, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/21/2022

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  

  Levco Tech,

  Your response below is not accurate and, if you have a recording of the call I made to your service line and can submit that to the BBB, you will see that what you have stated below is not correct.

  What is correct is that I called into the general Levco Tech line because I believed my heater was leaking oil. When I spoke with your dispatcher and was connected with your technician, I never once stated to your dispatcher or your technician that I was an active oil customer. The only reason I called Levco Tech was because your company was the last one to service my heating system and your company ticket was still on my heater and that was the number I called. Therefore, it is not correct that I stated on those initial calls to your service line that I was an active oil customer.

   

  I asked your technician how much the service visit cost when he was at my house and he said it would be approximately $300. There was never any discussion about rates related to being an oil customer because I never stated that in any of the conversations with your dispatcher or technician--I only said that I believed oil was leaking from my heater.

   

  It is also not correct that there was water leaking from my heater. The technician who came said that anti-freeze was leaking from the unit, which was confirmed because the liquid was viscous and thicker than water, which was also why I initially thought it could be oil (not water). The information you have stated below is not accurate and I'd like you to pull the recording to show the BBB what was said on my initial call to the service line on that Saturday afternoon call.

   

  Furthermore, the technician was not working on my heating unit for 1 hour, as stated previously, and spent no more than 30 minutes in my house. I have no idea if he sat in the driveway in his car after the service visit as I was not watching out my window, but it took him 5 minutes to replace the hyvent (which is the term he used for the part he replaced) and then he was done with his work. Therefore, for all of these reasons I am only agreeing to pay the $300 service visit, which was the rate told to me. $500 per hour for labor is price gouging and not a competitive rate, based on your peers in the industry, and the technician was not in my house for 1 hour and should not be paid for 1 hour of work anyway. Please revise the rate to the aforementioned $300 and I will gladly pay the bill, as previously mentioned to you on the phone.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ********* *****

   

  Mrs. *****,
  
  We appreciate you thinking of us during your time of need but our account of the events are slightly different from what you have claimed. On Saturday afternoon at 4:49 pm you called in to our emergency service line, stating that you were an active oil delivery customer and “your heater is dripping oil onto the ground and that you thought your house was in danger”. When Chris (the on-call technician at the time) called you back minutes later, you told him again that you were an active oil delivery customer (which you are not, closed your account on 12/23/21), and that you have a service plan with Levco (which you do not). You then told him about your oil leaking issue to which he responded that something like this when applying our discounted labor rates for service plan customers is usually around $300 when performed outside of regular business hours. 
  Thinking that this was truly an emergency situation with oil leaking from your equipment, Chris went immediately over to your home to investigate. Upon arrival he found that in fact no oil leak existed and there was water slowly leaking from an air vent. You gave him approval to replace the air vent. He replaced and then tested the new part to make sure it worked as it should. He was at your home from 5:36pm until 6:30pm on Saturday night. Given that this was outside normal business hours and you do not have a service plan, we believe the bill to be fair. 
  Should you wish to take advantage of discounted labor rates on future service calls, have your equipment tuned up once a year, and cover the replacement of many of the parts on your oil heating equipment, give us a call to reactivate your oil delivery account and purchase a service plan.
  If you would like to discuss this matter further, or be provided with any additional documentation about the service call, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.