"We've had our central heating die twice since 1991 - and of course, both times it was right when the Bay Area got socked by those rare two-week Alaskan freezes! Hassler was booked solid, not surprisingly, but Jackie gave us an appt six days out, so we huddled near portable heaters and resigned ourselves to supporting PG&E.
The tech came as scheduled, and quickly identified the problem (dead ceramic igniter). He said we were fortunate to get 10 yrs out of it; that most go out in 7-8 yrs. Changed it out and yes! We had heat again, thank G*d.
I also asked his advice about thermostats, as I hated the one we had. He said they offered two brands, and hooked up the one he recommended. He told us to just try it - also leaving us the second one, still in the box. He said he would come back in three days and see how we liked it, and if we didn't want it he would switch it out for the other (cheaper) one.
Well, he was right - the one he recommended was easy to program and has very precise controls (which our old one didn't). He came back to check with us, we gave him the unused one back, and paid the bill. GREAT WORK, GREAT SERVICE!"

2/28/2014