I received a call from a customer yesterday and the woman was absolutely frantic.
I barely understood what she was saying, because she was yelling and crying at the same time. The woman called because her cat got stuck in the ductwork below the house. I’ve frequently encountered problems with animals stuck inside of the ductwork. This was the first time someone called because it was a house cat. Oftentimes the problem is mice, rats, or birds. I assured the customer that my repair company would be happy to help and I told her that we had someone close by and ready to respond. I contacted the heating and AC repair technician and described the bizarre situation. I decided to drive to the location to assist with the strange ductwork problem. I arrived a few minutes after my service technician. He was already inside of the house assessing the situation. I knocked on the front door and the woman answered. My technician was under the house at that time. The guy came back a moment later and he had the cat in his arms. I was honestly surprised he retrieved the cat from the ductwork that quickly and then we found out that the cat was never in the ductwork in the first place. The cat was stuck under the house, but definitely not anywhere near the ducting for the heating and AC system. We didn’t even charge the customer for the service call. We didn’t have to remove any tools from the truck, so it was the right thing to do.