My furnace died yesterday morning. I called some local heating guys and I called our electric & gas utility, too, because someone suggested it to my partner.
The locals were at my house almost before I hung up the phone. The utility said, after I got through the computer responses and managed to talk with a human being, "We'll have someone call you within two days."
I guess the concept of "dead furnace" means something different to a guy sitting in a phone bank with some headphones wrapped around his head than it does to the person sitting a freezing house. The small businesspeople know that. The big business doesn't care.
For the record, the utility called in less than 36 hours...While my new furnace was being installed.
