I should have stopped after the first service call.
My furnace was working intermittently and called Klauer. They were unable to identify the source of the issue and recommended changing my fan speed to prevent overheating. I agreed. My bill was $180.
3 days later, the problem surfaced again. Called Klauer and asked for them to try again. This time the tech was 99% sure it was the smart gas valve. I'm sure he got the confidence from the last diagnostic since unplugging and plugging the smart gas valve at the last visit solved the problem. They charged me another $80 as a diagnostic fee for this second visit (for the problem they couldn't figure out the first time).
The tech quoted me to fix the gas valve at over $600 and suggested just getting a new furnace because mine was 20 years old.
Before getting the quote, I ordered the part for $216 on Amazon (local prices were the same).
I was quoted a little over 1800 for an 80% furnace and was generously(sarcasm) offered my second diagnostic fee towards the price of the furnace ($80), but no refund without the purchase. I passed and said I would take my chances with the new part.
Got the new part and had it installed within 15 minutes. Now my furnace works again after paying Klauer $260 to get to a root cause, and $216 for the part and installing it myself.
Some folks may find this perfectly reasonable, which is why I went into detail, but I would have expected the company to refund the second diagnostic fee ($80) at the fault of their expertise to troubleshoot the root cause efficiently. This is what they do for a living. read more