One star given, only because zero stars was not an option. Stay away from this company!!
After having my dryer thermostat replaced, the repair company suggested that we get our dryer vent cleaned.
During the repair, we pulled the dryer out and vacuumed and wiped the insides of the dryer so there was no lint or any kind of debris.
I booked the appointment with Alberta Furnace Cleaning, a division of Alberta Home Services to come and clean our dryer vent. I let them know that no one would be home until 1:00 and they let me know that wouldn't be a problem as they just clean the line from the outside dryer vent. Since I had never seen this procedure before, I didn't think that was an issue. Upon arriving, I learned that they had finished up and told me they do everything from the outside with no need to come inside. They then came inside and turned on the dryer, immediately they dryer filled with smoke and it came billowing out into the house. We unplugged it immediately and needed to open all of the doors to let the smoke out. The technician was very quick to say "this isn't our fault, it must be something with your heating element", to which I replied that we had just had the dryer fixed and cleaned out and there weren't any issues. Unfortunately, since I was new to this process, I had paid prior to them turning on the dryer. As the smoke was clearing out, the technician said over and over how it wasn't their fault, they have cleaned hundreds of dryers and had never seen this before.
The next day, I called the office, I spoke with the CSR, who was incredibly snarky, and not helpful at all, I finally asked to speak to someone else as I was finished with her belittling me. The Operations Manager got on the phone and explained to me that they would not give me my money back but would be happy to come and clean it again. Needless to say, I wanted them no where near my house again. He said there was a lot of lint in our vent and that was likely the cause of the smoke. He said that they don't clean all the way to the dryer, so they don't check if there is any lint in the dryer. When I asked if the lint could get pushed into the dryer from their procedure, he said the agitation could cause this, but since they don't clean to the dryer, that is not their responsibility. I reminded him that they are the experts and that is why I hired them, because I have no experience or expertise in this area. He said the dryer is our responsibility. I then asked why they would turn on the dryer if there was a chance of this, to which he replied that they were not the cause of the smoke and it was not their problem, again letting me know they could come back and re clean the line if that is what we wanted?
I had to call the dryer repair service back to look at my dryer, when he arrived and took apart my dryer, there was so much lint back in the machine (that we knew was spotless as we had just cleaned it out when he was there 2 days prior). There was a lot of lint in the machine as well as burnt lint on the heating element. This lint was pushed back into the machine from when Alberta Furnace Cleaning put their nozzle in our vent. After having the machine fixed...again because of all of the lint, we had another dryer vent company in to re clean the lines. There was a lot of lint and debris still left in the line. The new company let me know that they clean the line from both ends to ensure there is nothing left in the lines as well as testing the amount of air that comes out of the dryer vent.
While I will take some responsibility for the dryer vent build up, that is precisely the reason that I called in professional to do the cleaning, to get the job done properly...or so I thought.
I will never use this company again and will be sure to mention this to anyone interested so they don't have to go through the same hassle as we did. Poor service, didn't do the job properly and even worse customer service...stay away!! read more