This review is primarily about the management of Collier's. A brief history of our use of their services:
In 2021, we needed to replace our aging (ground-water) geothermal system, and we got quotations from 3 area companies. After some consideration, and noting that one of the companies was likely soon to close, we chose Collier's. They sent a 3 or 4-person crew on the day of installation. Some were a bit klutzy and dinged a steel door and breached an active water pipe, before shutting off the water. But they cleaned it up well. When I complained about the dinged door and the rather clumsy work, management sent me a gift card. OK.
Since then, we had one under-warranty repair on the geothermal system, to replace a solenoid valve that failed. Collier's seems to have no basic parts in stock, so repairs took order time to get the part, then scheduling, etc., and it took a bit longer than we anticipated. Still OK.
In late June, 2025, our gas water heater failed. So I called Collier's and asked them to install a new one. It was delivered and installed on June 2, 2025. All seemed OK. The price was quite steep and a round number, which seems to be a new "thing"--that is, a single (large) round-number installed price. Still sort of OK.
In June 18, 2026, the water heater quit. It had a 1-year labor and 5-year parts warranty, so I called Collier's to get them to deal with the problem. Initially, the scheduler told me it might be a week before they could come out to service the water heater; but that was subsequently amended, and the service tech came on June 22. After inspection, he relit the pilot light and told me that sometimes carbon buildup on the igniter and sensor will shut the heater down. All under warranty, so no charge. OK.
Two months later, on Wednesday, August 18, we noticed that the water heater had again failed to stay lit/functioning. At first, the service dispatcher told me that it might be a week before a service person could arrive. When I noted that I was disappointed that it would take that long to deal with the problem, she went to work on the issue and managed to get a service person to come the next day, August 19. That service person checked a number of things, including noting that the "sensor was tripped," checked the exhaust on the roof for normal operation, looked for dust/dirt, etc. around the burner, and basically said that no problems were found. We were not charged for this visit at the time. But the service person indicated that there might be a problem with the sensor and that it, by itself, couldn't be replaced, and that an entire new burner unit would be ordered for us, at no cost for the parts (due to the 5-year parts warranty) but that labor would be ~ $200. We OKed this. The pilot light was relit and the heater worked (for now).
We were told that a time for installation would be confirmed once the parts
arrived. In the last week of August (I didn't note the date), the service scheduler called to say that the parts were in but that she couldn't schedule the new burner unit's installation until, probably, after Labor Day, some 10 days or so later. We were out of town until late on September 8, and while we were gone, other people in the house lost hot water at least 3 times, having to reset the sensor and reignite the pilot light. The implication of this is that in fact the sensor was increasingly failing. (Note that none of the service people said that there was dirt or other problems that were creating a problem for the sensor.) The new burner was installed early on September 8 and the process took about 20 minutes; the bill ended up being just short of $300 for labor, which apparently included charges for evaluation on August 19 as well as the installation on September 8.
No invoice was received; so I called, and an invoice was sent via email. I mailed the check promptly, and it was cashed a week later.
I also sent a letter to Chuck Ault, the co-owner/service manager, and asked him to contact me at his convenience to discuss the letter that I sent with our check, since I felt that the beginning of the failure of the water heater began while it was within the 1-year warranty on everything. But I paid the bill; and I didn't contest the matter in my letter--just laid out the sequence of events.
I also asked Mr. Ault to provide a time when I could come in so that we could consider a service contract on our geothermal system. I received no response at all. This, despite the fact that Collier's seriously markets their service-contract approach to maintenance of HVAC and other equipment. Then, several days ago, I got just such an email from Kevin, a co-owner, inquiring whether I was interested in a service contract. I responded, indicating that I hadn't heard back from Mr. Ault. Then, silence.
There's a major management problem at Collier's. I don't trust them. And you shouldn't, either. read more
