If you wake up one cold winter morning with your teeth chattering and your bones shivering, you’re probably facing a heating emergency. It doesn’t have to be the result of a storm or an electrical failure. It can simply be a system malfunction or break down. But what should you do?
First, if you have a preferred customer maintenance agreement with your professional heating and air conditioning company, you can be confident that help is just a phone call away. You should be able to call the emergency number and be put right at the top of the list of technician visits for that day. At HGH Mechanical, our service customers receive the white glove treatment the minute their phone lines connect to ours. As part of their membership, they are guaranteed maintenance and troubleshooting, as well as expedited service in any situation.
What if you’re not a preferred customer member? What should you expect from a heating and air conditioning specialist if you call with an emergency? First, you should be able to talk to a person. You should not have to navigate through a tiresome menu of numbers on the keypad and listen to an ongoing stream of computerized voices. If the phone is not answered by a person, the voice mail should provide clear direction on how to get to a person. The first person you talk to should be able to help you, either by scheduling an appointment or by finding the right person with very little holding time. The people on the other end of the phone should be friendly and knowledgeable.
Next, you should be able to get an appointment within a six-hour window or less. This is, after all, an emergency. You should not have to wait 24 hours without heat. If the technician you call can’t help you immediately, he should refer you to someone who can. That’s not giving away business; it’s satisfying a customer need, and having confidence that it will come back to you.
Any promises made on the phone, like arrival time, should be kept. If the technician can’t get there when he said he would, a courtesy call is necessary. The technician should thoroughly inspect the system and make good recommendations for next steps. He should earn your respect and your trust.
If you’re in an emergency heating situation, you require quick attention from a team of professionals who care about the outcome. Accept nothing less than kid-glove emergency care.
