Appointments

What is it with appointments?

When I was young, back in the dinosaur days, appointments were special things you dressed up for. I never recall going to the doctor's office, even if I had the measles, without having to get all dressed up for that appointment! We never had appointments for playing with another kid or the many other things that require appointments now.


Cars. Why does one need to make an appointment for one's car to get repaired? Still, it is necessary.

Air conditioning/heating. There's another useless appointment. The service industry is all upside down. The service we get is lousy, at best, usually. Don't know how it is where you live, but here in VA, to get service on your AC or Heating, you must have a contract with an HVAC company. We went with the ones who were doing it when we moved in, since the previous owner said they installed the heating/cooling system and had converted the heat from electric to gas. These contracts are a tiered system: the top tier gets first priority when you have a problem, the second tier gets service within 24 or 48 hours and I think that is all there is. In other words, without a contract, you won't see a tech for days after the problem begins.

A couple of years after we bought the house, we had several problems in a row. The humidifier was clogged. The guy fixed it. It reclogged and the moisture collected in the heater and ruined it. When it was replaced, they told us the hose had been reconnected incorrectly and had caused the problem. I reminded them that we NEVER touch those hoses and electronics, so it must have been their technician. Why would I bother it? I'm afraid of it! It is big and noisy and has way more electricity running through it than I care to sample. They looked up in their records and said it probably was his fault but that they had fired him, but we'd still have to pay for a new system.

Other companies' contracts cost a lot more because of the length of our commitment to this company, so we stayed with them. The next few visits were different techs, and I had really liked the first guy. He seemed reliable and could tell me exactly what was wrong and why. However, just last visit, I noticed that the old technician is back again! My husband gets to enjoy these appointments, and I think he doesn't want to bother, but I just wonder how much rehab this guy had before they allowed him back on their payroll. Or was he ever off?