Isaac Heating & Cooling

Ray Isaac.

Over a week ago I got a postcard from Isaac Heating & Cooling, saying a service-contract had not been renewed, and was about to expire.
Isaac services two things: -a) my tankless water-heater, which they installed, and -b) my stand-by generator.
A tankless water-heater is just that; it doesn’t preheat a tank of water and let it stand.
It heats water on-demand; that is, as water passes through it’s heated. Mine is set at 120 degrees.
Our house was originally tankless, although it was Swedish, and nearly impossible to get parts.
It also had a pilot that liked to blow out. It wasn’t electronic-ignition.
We replaced it with a tank-type water-heater, and over maybe 18 years we went through two.
But then our gas-supplier offered a rebate to install a tankless, so we did. It cost a fortune, but was partially offset by that rebate.
Isaac installed it. Isaac is probably the premier HVAC (heating-ventilation-air conditioning) contractor in our area.
Our stand-by generator was installed by someone else.
That was years ago.
What it does is self-start and generate electricity for our house if the grid fails, like in a thunderstorm or ice-storm.
The installer was servicing it at first, but we switched to Isaac when that installer became difficult, and then more-or-less disappeared.
I had no idea which thing Isaac was referring to.
They’d just serviced my stand-by, and the tankless a few months ago.
And it seemed I had just renewed a service-contract, but I forgot for what.
Things are madness around here since my wife died.
Things pile up. and the service-contract the postcard was referring to may be in a pile.
I’d hafta call Isaac, and I don’t like doing that since my stroke.
My stroke was over 20 years ago, but it slightly compromised my speech. Writing still works fine, but that ain’t speech.
People tell me my speech is fine, but they never knew me before the stroke. —My brothers hear the difference.
It’s slight, but I have difficulty assembling words for speech. I hesitate, and silences occur. Lock-ups.
So I don’t like making phonecalls.
Often I have to inform the other party I had a stroke, that I may lock up and not get the words out, and if they talk too fast I may not be able to follow.
My wife used to make phonecalls for me, but now that she’s gone I do it myself.
And I can; I haven’t crashed yet.
But I’m hesitant to make phonecalls; I kind of stumble through them.
So, call Isaac and see what this postcard refers to.
At least a week passed before I got the gumption.
I rang up Isaac and a machine answered. It was a recording of smiling Ray Isaac, CEO of the company, sonorously telling me how he valued my call, and what a wonderful company Isaac Heating & Cooling is.
“Oh yeah, Isaac,” I thought; “I forgot.”
This is what always happens.
Rather than hire the staff to parry phonecalls, he shoves you on hold, and then tells you what a wonderful company Isaac Heating & Cooling is.
A never-ending litany of deals and offers galore.
So, put down my cellphone, put it on speaker-phone, and start eating breakfast.
You’re liable to be on hold for hours. —I’ve hung up before.
Minutes passed, but then I got a real person, and not in India. She had a local accent, and spoke English.
Heaven-forbid you call some software help-desk. It’s like all the English they’ve learned is “I’m deeply, deeply sorry.”
My expiring service-contract was for my stand-by, and we renewed it over the phone.
She had to call her Service-Department to verify the amount, which put me on hold again, and there was Ray yammering at me again.
When my wife died it was like she decided she could die; that is, I could do this. Which was right after my parrying Strong Hospital’s telephone runaround to retrieve stuff I had left in her wheelchair.
And I did.
My wife was in bad shape, so I made the phonecalls myself.

• My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17th, 2012. I miss her dearly.
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993, from which I pretty much recovered.