This is the first time in my 68 years that I have had to write a letter of this type. I feel it is my duty to warn people about the business practices of Phil Schuler at Schuler heating. This company and its owner are dishonest, untrustworthy, and unreliable.
Let me give you a brief outline of their business practices:
We had a problem with our HVAC in our home and we had Phil Schuler come out and diagnose the problem. He suggested a new high efficiency Maytag unit. He gave us three options by this manufacturer and we chose "The best option" as recommended by him. This included air filters and humidifier. We did not challenge his price and paid what he asked. From the very start this unit was defective from the factory but the problem was solved. We were happy, after all defects do occur and it was rectified.
Soon however we would get a constant stream of errors and malfunctions every time the weather changed. We even referred to it as the "Red screen of death" as the thermostat would flash a red screen. Phil did come out and attempt to address these issues however, he constantly complained about the manufacturer. As we had a service contract with Schuler Heating we assumed he would honor the 12 parts and labor warrantee. He did not do this and we often paid for warrantee work. Finally in August of 2014 it was determined that the evaporator coil was trashed. Again this is a warrantee issue. Phil claimed that Nordyne (the manufacturer) would not honor the part. To make a long story shorter I called Nordyne and they in fact stated that they would honor the part and that I should work through my installer, which was of course Schuler Heating. This lead to a string of excuses. They want to charge him for shipping, the distributor won't work with Phil, the part was shipped to California, he was TOO BUSY to help us to name just a few, and in short we still have not had the evaporator warrantee work honored.
Now let's jump ahead to Christmas day. Our furnace quit again. A nice young man named Dan came out and diagnosed the problem and said we needed a part. Again we were sent a bill for what should clearly be warrantee work. The Furnace continued to malfunction and on the Friday after New Year it quit entirely (we of course had a house load of guests). We called Phil and he said he would get the part and be out by noon. Keep in mind that this was the coldest day in two years. As we approached noon we had received no word. So my wife called. He said we had driven "all over Chicago" to get the part (a statement that I challenge) and he now has it and will be out soon. It is now almost 4pm and no response. So my wife again calls Phil. Phil informs us that he will NOT be coming out. Phil, on the speaker phone for all to hear, you are going to abandon us? Why?
He now reaches into his big bag of lame excuses for a total lack of reasonable customer service and informs us that the reason he will not be coming out because we complained to his employee about Schuler heating and the failure to warrantee their work so Dan refused to come out. Of course Phil won't leave his warm house to do the job either.
In all my years in business and dealing with customers, suppliers, government, and everyone I have never heard of the customer being blamed for complete lack of service. Phil, my hats off to you. You have established a new low in support.
It has never been necessary for us to be impolite or abusive with Schuler. We don't even have to raise our voices. The facts speak for themselves. Please safe yourself years of grief, abuse, and disappointment and many dollars - do not employ Schuler Heating. read more
