Call Richard

I had a "routine" maintenance appointment for our furnace today, long overdue. Well, the man came into the house about 5 minutes after he'd started, told me he had to shut off the gas and couldn't work on the furnace. It evidently has a cracked heat exchanger--which could be fatal if all circumstances were right(or wrong) due to a carbon monoxide induced "big sleep." So, we have no furnace right now; luckily, it's not winter, thus we have lots of time to figure out what to do. Naturally, I called Mr. Stargazer at work right away; he is always so calm, whereas I was busy wringing my hands. (seeing lots and lots of dollar signs) He was having a very frustrating day at work because of this multi-million dollar mansion on Dash Point. They have the driveway totally torn up with piles of dirt and trenches; instead of being able to park his big white van(see it?) at the top, he has to leave it at the bottom. Then he must haul up all his carpenter stuff, including heavy saws through a very hazardous landscape. I hope he hasn't broken an ankle! After calling all the people I could think of to give me furnace bids, I whined to my parents--who gently advised me to call Richard. He is their furnace man, and has kept their 40 year furnace operational. Richard also spent time finding the problem and fixing my brother's furnace when E's house was 50 degrees, while other companies told him there was nothing wrong. My family is very loyal and think very highly of Richard, so I called. His company doesn't have a very impressive name, his voice is rather nondescript, he isn't much of a salesman, BUT he was the ONLY person who said," Your furnace is eight years old? Almost all furnaces have at least a 10 year warranty on the heat exchanger and most have 20 years. They would be pro-rated, but you still would possibly only have to pay shipping."  To make a long story short, should he desire the work, Richard will do whatever job needs to be done on our furnace. My husband has a pile of bids on his chair from other companies, but personally, I'm just going to tell him to call Richard.