The Furnace Company Saga Heats Up…
After a lengthy hiatus, I have begun once again holding the feet of Apollo Johnsen (aka Apollo Johnson, Apollo Ray Johnsen, Apollo Ray Johnson, Dennis Johnsen, Dennis Johnson, Dennis Ray Johnsen, Dennis Ray Johnson, Ray Apollo Johnsen, and Dennisray Ray Johnsen) to the flame, this time by filing a complaint with the Contractors State License Board as I had long ago promised.
It all started when Apollo and his Day and Night Furnace (now known as The Furnace Company, which also since relocated to 2464 El Camino Real #249, Santa Clara, CA 95051, 408-866-5580), under license number 747061, were called in July 2005 to repair a leaking evaporator coil in an otherwise functioning air conditioning system.
Unfortunately, he was successful in pressuring me to replace the furnace unit below the leaking evaporator coil since it was “rusted out”. Turned out, of course, that there was no rust at all, and in the process of the new, overpriced installation he violated a slew of Business and Professions Code sections as well as several civil codes. Once discovered, I canceled my contract (twice!) as allowed by law and within the three-day deadline, however he has continued to refuse the cancellation, keeping the full $4,100 that I paid by credit card when I erringly thought the work had been completed satisfactorily.
After many months of attempting to obtain a refund from Citibank, I gave up and switched gears in an effort to either get my money back through him directly or get his license suspended while trying. On May 14, 2007, I sent off my complaint to the CSLB.
On May 25, 2007, I received a letter postmarked May 23 from the CSLB stating that they had received my complaint against Day and Night Furnace (aka The Furnace Company). The letter stated that the contractor must contact me within seven days in order to make a settlement and to avoid investigation, effectively giving him a June 1st deadline to respond. I even waited until June 5 to put my mark in the “Contractor did not respond” checkbox before mailing it back to the CSLB.
On June 6, 2007, at 2:45 pm, Apollo Johnsen called my work from 408-774-8283 as a result of the complaint I filed with the CSLB. Since I had expected a phone call at home, I asked him why he had called me on this number. His reply was that that was the number provided to him by the CSLB — I still don’t remember putting my work number on the complaint, but I guess I must have.
He then asked me what was wrong with my system. I replied that it hadn’t worked in two years. He claimed he had never heard anything about that, despite the multiple phone calls, faxes, and letters (he even sent one of my certified letters back unopened and unanswered). “So”, he said, “it’s the same old story: you want your money back and want to keep my equipment.” I said, “No, I had repeatedly asked for the old equipment back at the time. I didn’t want the new equipment. I canceled the contract.”
His final unbelievable statement to me was, “You’re just a professional scam artist.” He then hung up on me. Not once did he offer to fix the system he broke. If I never see a penny but he loses his license, I will be happy about the outcome.
Let’s see what information is available on the Internet about Apollo, his companies, and his associations so that others may avoid being scammed by him:
One of the Day and Night Furnace Company San Jose addresses is at 1177 Branham Lane, San Jose, CA 95118 (which is a Postal Annex). Both Day and Night Furnace and The Furnace Company are listed at the oddly similar address of 1177 Cherry Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125, and can be reached for service by calling 408-866-5580. The Ripoff Report (which accuses Apollo of paying workers under the table to help them avoid paying child support — their opinion, not mine) lists the business address as 2101 El Capitan Ave, Santa Clara, CA 95050. The address of The Furnace Company (according to the CSLB) is a Parcel Depot located at 2464 El Camino Real #249, Santa Clara, CA 95051, another mailbox service. The Furnace Company is also listed in Redwood City and in Campbell with the same 408-866-5580 number as the San Jose locations. His contractor license number is listed in a yellow pages ad along with a phone number of 650-321-8821 and a “3-year guarantee on parts and labor”. The same 650 number is also listed as the company’s Palo Alto phone number at the business address of 910 Garden Street, Palo Alto, CA 94303-1745.
Basically, if you need to call or write Day and Night Furnace, you have a lot of calling and writing to do…
Received a letter from the CSLB last week that states that the case is now under investigation.
I got a hang-up call today at work at 4:19pm from Apollo’s 408-774-8283 number. For the heck of it I checked the entire call history of my office line since November 2006 and noticed a bunch of other calls from his phone number: June 8, 2007 12:06pm; June 27, 2007 10:36am; August 15, 2007 1:43pm; August 20, 2007 11:09am; November 2, 2007 11:09am; November 7, 2007 3:07pm; November 30, 2007 12:31PM (for six and a half minutes, yet I don’t recall receiving a message); November 30, 2007 3:16pm; and February 14, 2008 7:59am (perhaps he wanted to wish me Happy Valentine’s Day).
Not sure what his game is. I’m sure the latest hang-up call has something to do with a report he’s recently received from the CSLB.
You do realize, of course, that I’ve had no contact with this guy. I’m just sayin’
For anyone following this, I have edited the June 6, 2007, comment above somewhat to remove information that might have been considered sensitive or personal — even though the information was obtained through simple Googling. The removed facts were immaterial to the overall dispute anyway.
Also, for the record, Apollo has stated that he did not make the phone calls mentioned in my March 6, 2008, comment above, and that the phone number is not his. I doubt that, but since he has not left any comments here, I will happily present his side as I become aware of it.
I am closing the comments for this page since the story has moved on with more information. Read those pages, and leave your comment at the end of the series. Thanks!