Rob's Albertan Service Experts

Update: March 9, 2016
I have updated my rating from a 4 to an 8 after being contacted by the General Manager of Rob's Albertan to address my concerns. His call served to:
1. Apologize for the oversights / mistakes / miscommunication.
2. Correct the annual maintenance service call price which had been erroneously quoted to me. The price is only marginally more costly than the price from the company to which I intended to switch.
3. Demonstrate goodwill and accept responsibility by offering reasonable compensation which I was pleased to accept.

In fairness to others who will use HomeStars reviews, I cannot change my rating to a 10 because, we should not have had to go through this process. I sincerely appreciate the GM's effort to mitigate our dissatisfaction.

Original review February 19, 2016
We had 2 new furnaces installed in November 2014 at which time we were pleased with the installers. However, we had the understanding that they had connected the existing humidifier to the new system. Last winter, and then again this winter our home seemed very dry and I experienced extreme sinus pain. We were literally bruising ourselves because of scratching our dry skin during sleep. We called Rob's to service the humidifier. The technician said that it wasn't operating and that we needed a new one. $116 to be informed of that. Then $600 to have the new humidifier installed. The technician said that it would take a couple weeks for the humidity to reach a comfortable level. It was at 16% and should have been at 35%. We waited, kept checking the humidity, and saw no rise. Excruciating sinus pain and itching continued. We were operating out jet tub just to add humidity to our bedroom as a temporary measure to augment the humidifier. Husband goes to the mechanical room to determine if he can see any problem. THE TECHNICIAN HAD NOT OPENED THE WATER VALVE!!!! Here we were trying to be patient and not complain as the technician had said because of the drywall and hardwood floors it could take awhile to get the humidity up! Then in January we get call reminding us that we are overdue for our annual maintenance which was included in the purchase price of the furnaces. When the technician arrives, we tell him about the humidity problem and that his predecessor had not turned on the water valve. No apology, no Gee, I'm sorry that you have been having so much pain and discomfort unnecessarily because of our screw up! But he looks at the humidifier and asks when it was installed. We tell him that it was only 2 months ago and that literally it has been operating for only a few days since the water was turned on. He can't believe it because the humidifier pad is so gunked up with crud. He says that pad has to have seen at least 18 months of use. Did we get the new humidifier that we paid for or did we get one that had been previously used???? We waited for a few more days, constantly checking the humidity and seeing no improvement. I went to the mechanical room to check the humidifier and noticed that the technician, Adam L., had left the humidifier set to summer instead of winter!!! I called Rob's and asked to speak to a service manager and was told that he was on the phone, so I agreed to be placed on hold. After about 3 minutes, I called back and was told that he was not in the building. I left my name and number for a call back. I have not yet spoken to a service manager. Its been more than 3 weeks! The humidity is currently at 26%. Certainly not the 35% that it should be by now but at least the sinus pain is gone as is the itchy skin. But our blood is still boiling that we had to endure it at all because of the technicians not taking adequate care in their duties.
I am also checking into whether it is legal for Rob's to force us to pay their high rates of annual service in order to have the parts warrantied on the new furnaces. Having to pay $600 per year to for maintenance over the life of the furnaces is RIDICULOUS! It means that either you pay and additional $12,000 (over 20 years) for furnaces that already cost $13,286 or you don't but end up being held hostage for service and parts charges. The customer loses either way.