I’ve lived in a lot of different cities, and I think I’d go insane if I lived in “the burbs”, but for Cripe’s sake, how hard can it be to find a good HVAC contractor? Or a plumber? Or an electrician? Or a painter?

Let me set the scene for you. My furnace doesn’t work. Done.

So I did the next logical thing, see if I can figure out what’s wrong with it myself. I can light a pilot light like nobody’s business – watch out! Nope, that wasn’t it. So I did the next logical thing by getting on Angie’s List to find a good HVAC contractor. They came out, gave me their “expert” plan to screw me opinion, and quoted a price of $700+. Even then, it still might not work and may need more parts, costing more money. Bend over!

I decided to use the HVAC guy that other people in my building use since he was somewhat highly regarded and knew what he was doing. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

He quoted me a price of $575, came out and did the repairs while I was at work, but had to come back out today to put on the finishing touches (they always have to come back for something so they can charge you more money). He tightened the last pipe fitting, turned on the water to fill it up, and…..whah, whah, whah. The work that he had done was to my NEIGHBOR’S furnace instead! Now her furnace is f*!%’ed up and mine still isn’t working. Genius. Puuuuure genius.

I could go on, but my point is that it’s damn near impossible to find good service people around here. So if you do find someone who isn’t out to screw you over and who has a clue what they’re doing, hold on to them. Maybe even keep them on retainer so you don’t lose them. Maybe even ask them to be your roommate or boyfriend so that they can work on “their” house instead!