Installation of high efficiency furnace and new central air system. No upfront information re functioning of new system (ie water pump attached to furnace to remove condensate). Attitude as if "we should know this already". No big deal in and of itself. Just common courtesy & good business relations. Cut hole in siding to fish pvc 5" pipe from furnace to remove gas emissions. Ugly pipe 12" out, but necessary. Understood. Jagged edge in siding cut, looks like something a drunk gerry rigged. Complained they ruined siding. Came back and gooped w/plumber's putty which fell off eventually. (Putting white collar from Home Depot over it ourselves just to neaten it up. Purely aesthetics, but original work looked like crap). Intaller's comments: "No one ever complained before!"

Installer supposed to submit schematic of house and we fill out form and they submit shematic and forms to gas & electric company for us to receive sizeable rebate for installing energy efficient components. Lost schematic. Never called about it till we called. Waiting for permit to have inspection done. (*Word of caution and hard lesson learned here: NEVER HAVE ANY WORK DONE WHICH REQUIRES A PERMIT BEFORE YOU HAVE THAT PERMIT IN YOUR HANDS!*) Oh, suddenly they need survey of property to pull permit. Figured they'd already applied for permit. Didn't know they needed survey. Mail them copy. No call from them. Call back. Oh, lost in mail. Leave it in mailbox we'll pick up. Two weeks have gone by now, no inspection and no heat. Installer says "Gee you can put on furnace. I did a good job. Should be no problems." Ah! operative word: "should". Has he given me any reason thus far to trust him? I'm gonna put on a furnace w/no inspection and risk being asphixiated? Not. Wait, Wait. Wait. Call every other day. He's picking it up. He's got it. It's going in the mail. Oh, he'll have to drop it off. Oh, the town forgot to include another necessary paper w/the permit. Have to wait for town to mail it to them. Okay, coming at 12:30 one day. Cancelled dr's appt. to be there. Gee, no show. Call at 1:00. Gee, still didn't get extra paperwork from town. Now can he come two days later at 11:30. 11:30 comes, 11:30 goes. Call. Oh,running late. I've got dr's appt rescheduled. "When's your drs appnt. ?" his wife asks. What's that matter to you? Okay, he'll be there in an hour. Arrives finally. Got paperwork from town. Uh oh---- but no permit. Search, search through briefcase. Calls home/office blasting wife. Gee boy was he pissed. Like I give a rat's behind. Tells me I've no idea how infuriating this is! Is he kidding or just being incredibly insulting? I"VE no idea? Try living w/no heat for a month when temps have been hovering in 40's and 30's at night w/only the oven on and a space heater. And he's pissed. Oh and what's this? No rebate forms either. We have to fill them out too. Plus cause he lost original schematic of measurements of house, he's got to do it again. Thank god we had copies of schematics we've done years ago w/all measurements. Gave that to him. Any thanks for us providing him w/work he should have done and kept in the first place. Guess.

Promises to return w/permit later that day. Wife calls, no apologies, just blaming other workers for not giving us rebate work when they were originally supposed to (on installation). Nothing like foisting responsibility for your ineptitude. Mailing it out. Great, more waiting, cause it's got to be filled out by us and sent back to them for submission. No big deal. Money irrelevant at this point. Just want freaking permit to get inspection so I can get heat in my home! Installer says I can call right away to set up appnt cause he'll have permit to me later. Need four inspectors I find out. Ask him who, what kind? No talking, no eye contact, just surly writes down types of all four inspectors. Like I'm too dumb to remember if he tells me or like I should have known. Like he obviously expected me and spouse to know a lot more beforehand. Thank god for computer research on our part.

Comes back later and finally delivers permit. "Have a nice day, now". Eff you, I'm thinking. Here's your "nice day". Wife calls says she's putting rebate forms in mail. Gee more waiting. Whut a serprize! Inspectors coming in four days. What are my chances of passing everything? Don't even want to go there.

Bottom line: Don't do work w/o permit. Holding permit grant over their heads makes them get job done faster and more efficiently if they know they won't get their money till you've got permit. Never leave it in hands of other to get that permit.

Second, this particular company is small. Gee, I wonder why. I think they'll stay that way for a long time. Sometimes it pays to go w/the Big Guys or at least someone w/more reputation. Mom & Pop operations aren't always or necessarily bad. But when I'm waiting for my house to get heat, I don't care if their dog ate the permit or the wife has to pick the kid up at soccer practice or his one truck blew a tire.

If you decide to use this company, Beehive Heating & Cooling, 732-408-0200 in Jackson, New Jersey et that permit, ask more questions than you think is possible and if you get the same kind of condescending attitude we got from the owner....pass. There's other HVAC fish in the sea.