I received a bill for a furnace repair. I want to wait as long as possible before I pay the bill. There are no payment terms on the bill. How long can I legally wait before I pay without penalty? I live in Ontario if that makes any difference.
Not sure about the legality, but businesses that I’ve delt with will send unpaid balances to a collection agency after 90 days, particularly if you don’t talk to the business or make some sort of effort to pay something.
To be safe, I would send the check 30 days after the statement was received. If there are no terms listed, chances are the terms are “Due on receipt” but you’d probably be safe going 30 days.
As someone who has working in accounting departments for years now, I’d say Joey is probably right on the money - I wouldn’t let it go longer than 30 days, because that is the usual terms in the business world. Besides, they performed your service already - the right thing to do would be to pay them as soon as possible - hold up your end of the deal you made when you contacted them for service.
BTW, I do both A/P and A/R for my company, so that’s where I was coming from. But you mentioned the word contract. I would suggest the OP take a look at the contract. The terms are probably in that contract. I’m gonna take a guess that the terms are either Due on Receipt or Net 30 (pay within 30 days). It will probably go on to mention that past due accounts are charged 1.5% interest per month (18% per year), pretty standard amount, but alot of places won’t charge the intererst if you pay them in a reasonable amount of time.
So, to be compleatly safe, pay now, to be pretty safe wait 30 days then mail the check.
But, check you’re contract, it’s probably in there.
Why? 
Because they were assholes!!
I called because my furnace was leaking water. I knew that I had a 10 year warranty on the furnace. It turns out it was the condensate pump. The repairman asked if I wanted the pump repaired or replaced. Knowing I had a warranty, I asked that it be replaced. Then I got a bill. I called the company and they said that the condensate pump was not part of the furnace and it was not under warranty. I said that I know nothing about furnaces and that I could not have known that the pump was a separate component. Back and forth, back and forth. The end result being that I should know that the condensate pump is not part of the furnace even though I know nothing about furnaces and no one told me. No documentation, nothing in the warranty.
They were assholes!!
If you have a complaint with a business, delaying payment is a jerkish and counter-productive way to demonstrate it. You should go to Trading Standards or the Citizens Advice Bureau or whatever your local versions are and take their advice.
FWIW I think you’re wrong. It should be obvious, even to a layman, that a condensate pump is not part of the furnace, plus you should have asked the repairman about warranty coverage when you authorized the replacement.
I assume the pump was inside the furnace, a separate thing, yes, but inside and out of the view of the homeowner and probably purchased at the same time as the furnace. I can understand how a homeowner might not know that it was a separate part.
Can you return it? Are you handy enough to install you’re own? They run about $50 at a supply house.
Wait a minute. I must be a dummy. The condensate pump is clearly on the outside of the furnace but how would I know that it was not part of the warranty of the furnace. This was my question to them over and over. How am I supposed to know that. Did I get a separate warranty for the condensate pump? No!
Did I get a bill the separates and costs out each component of the furnace? No!
When the furnace was installed, I purchased an extended warranty. I asked the guy, “My furnace is guaranteed for 10 years, so I will not have to pay a penny for repairs for 10 years?” His answer “Right.”
Just because something is stuck on the outside of something else, does not mean that it is not part of the same device.
To me, if the thing is required for the operation of the furnace and if it was installed at the same time and if it is part of the same price then it is part of the furnace.
Of course, now I know different and A.R. Cane, you are right, I should have asked but “even to a layman”???, your wrong there, because I am a layman and so is my wife and we didn’t know and no one any time told us nor is it written anywhere.
I may be dumb but I can read. Shouldn’t these things be written down?
Did you ask, at the time of the repair, if this was covered by the warantee? If not, you’re on the hook. You authorized the service, and specified a replacement.
In general, big ticket items like furnaces cover only what’s inside the box of the device itself.
So I’ve been told 1000 times by the repair guy.
My argument is, “Prove to me in writing that the pump is not part of the furnace.”
I know I screwed up by not asking. A valuable lesson was learned at the bargain basement price of $300.
I don’t think they’ll be able to show you ‘in writing’ that it’s not part of the furnace, becuase, it’s not part of the furnace, they just sold them to you at the same time. The reason you have one is becuase I assume the drain that the water is being pumped to is uphill from the furnace. The condensate pump is not required for the furnace to run, it’s required to get the water to where it needs to go. Normally gravity takes care of that, I assume you can’t let gravity do the job with your setup.
If you pull out the original extended warranty it probably details exactly what is and what is not covered, that might clear up the issue for you.
I’m a layman and I’ve never even heard of a condensate pump. Why would I imagine it wasn’t some part in my furnace if my furnace repairman didn’t tell me otherwise but was the one to fix it?
In reference to the OP, I once had a 120.00 bill I did not agree with, and so sent them 10.00 a month for 12 months, and never had any issues- this was a doctor though- they considered using a pair of tweezers to remove a swimming earplug from my ear canal “surgery”, which I wasn’t covered for :rolleyes:
Is the repair company and the furnace company the same?
IANAL but I read once (while I stole a friends’ business law book) that if you notify them of the disputed charge, and you send them a check that says something like “final payment” or “payment in full” and they cash it, that’s tantamount to them accepting the negotiation. Try that. Not because I think it’ll work, I just want someone else to try it and tell me if it does.
IANAL either, but I’m not sure where you’re coming from. I assume what you’re saying is that the OP should send a check for less then the full amount and do that?
Even so, the repair company could just throw out the check, claim they never received it and take you to collections. Probably not the way you want to try it.
No