Date: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 21:17:45 -0600 (MDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Jack Reed <jackr@fortnet.org>
Subject: Re: (F)Jack the heater guru
Skip,
On Sat, 22 Jul 1995, Skip Correll 615-757-5508 (School) wrote:
> Jack:
>
> What happened with J.B. Heaters? Reply to me or the list.
>
When I first started looking into heaters for my 81 I thought it must be
Providence that one of the handful of VW heater jocks in the US was
within a two hour drive of me. After I contacted JB's about heat for my
van he steered me towards a Stewart Warner unit for installation under
the rear seat, which is not at all a stock installation. Being a tech
type, I asked about a zillion questions about the installation, where
would intake air come from, exhaust be piped to, etc., etc. At no time
was I belligerent but was instead just trying to get answers to questions
that kept poping up.
After sending $50 as a deposit and getting assurance from JB that a
heater would soon be forthcoming in about a month I contacted him again
for more installation info as I was planning on installing the unit
myself once I had it in hand. During the conversation, for no reason
I've ever been able to discern JB (never did find out his name) went off
on me, told me he didn't need my money and that he was sending it back to
me that minute, by overnight mails.
Now I understand that this is every self-employed individual's right not
to have to deal with people that he feels are consuming too much of his
time. But then he shouldn't be catering to the DIYer crowd if he doesn't
want to answer technical questions.
I've since spoken to many local mechanics and parts people who have had
their own stories concerning run-ins with JB.
As it turns out I'm glad that I went in search of the stock heater as
it's not at all the horror I was led to believe by JB. There's certainly
been a learning curve associated with understanding the workings of the
BA6, but after 3 years I don't consider it too steep for the average home
mechanic. In addition, I don't think I ever would have been that
comfortable driving it in the winter, knowing that a gasoline fired
furnace was inches away from my daughters there on the backseat, which
was JB's recommended installation location. If there was a problem with
the unit we would have enough warning with it underneath the vehicle to
be able to safely avoid a disaster.
YMMV of course, but my personal experience and the experience of other
local people is enough for me to avoid contact with JB's for any reason.
I won't go into what I think are his problems here on the list.
Jack