Around April of I contacted several A/C contractors to purchase a new unit. I did not go with the most expensive and I did not go with the cheapest. I talked to other acquaintances who had used him and they highly recommended him. I contract Bill Bohlen owner of All Quality Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc out of Deland on 05/19/04.
This contract was to install a new 4-ton, 12 Seer Bryant A/C unit with a air handler, new T-Stat, hang the air handler up off the ground under my crawl space and one year labor for $4000.00 and if ductwork needed to be replaced it would not exceed additional $1200.00 making the maximum amount $5200.00. On 06/21/04, Bill picked up a check from me for $2000.00 that was half down to get the job going. He started on 06/22/05 did not finish this job until 06/29/05. It was one excuse after another for a week to get this job done, and I went all weekend with no air. Once he was done, he left old ductwork and trash all over my yard. I called him on 06/29/05 to ask if he was leaving all that trash for me to pick up and hall off.in addition, I explained that the house was not cooling any better with the new unit than it was with the old one. He told me he would pick up the trash when he came back to be paid and for me to give the new unit a couple of days to cool the house. He came on 06/30/05 to get the remaining balance of $3155.00. He asked if I could write two checks, I thought that was weird but wrote the checks. When I got home that night, the trash was still there. I was aggravated but tired of messing with him. I hauled the garbage off. Then around September the unit stops working. I contacted Bill for a week, leaving messages repeatedly. Finally, I contacted another Bryant A/C contractor to come out and assess the issue. They charged me $319.95 for a service call and to replace a burned out fan motor and bad circuit board. They documented that this was from poor insulation of the unit and that Bryant had several complaints regarding Bill Bohlen's work. They also let me know that is work was not up to standards.
I contacted Bryant to place a complaint on Bill Bohlen. People like him should not have a license. After the unit was finally repaired I left Bill a message telling him thanks for his negligence to contact me back and I no longer need his services. Finally, Bill called while I was at work and left me a nasty message on my answering machine stating that he had phone records proving he did try to contact me back to address the issue.
Needless to say, I did not want to ever deal with Bill again. Then around March of the unit still was not working efficiently. I started calling other A/C contractors for advice. During this time, I discovered that Bill Bohlen had not pulled permits for this job and I was in code violation. I could be fined up to $5000.00 a day and the unit shut off until the unit was brought up to code. I contacted Bryant, Daytona Beach Code enforcements, DBPR, several other A/C contractors. All to find out that an all in one package is what should have been installed originally because of the location of the crawl space being under my home where flooding can occur.in addition, Bill had buried the air handlers drain line next to the air handler and there was standing water under my home. This causes: mold, termites, water bugs, mildew, and could get to my ductwork and destroy all of it.in addition, he had only replaced one 18" duct. There was leaks every where, and other ducts had been taped up with duct tape as a temporarily fix, boots needed to be resealed and replaced, there was no safety float switch on the drain line and no electrical disconnect box at the air handle to prevent electrical shock when working on it. He did not do $1200.00 worth of ductwork at all and with the ductwork, being such a mess the new unit could not work efficiently.
Due to Bill's incompetence and unprofessionalism, if I wanted to ever to sell my home it would have to be brought up to code first. If I wanted to protect the unit from being destroyed by water, I would need to replace the unit with an all in one package. If I ever wanted, the house to cool properly all ductwork would need to be reworked or replaced. After contacting several contractors to give me estimates to do this work only one was willing to write me a statement and willing to do the work. All of the other contractors would tell me verbally but said they could not write anything down because they could be held liable for leaving the previous job in the condition it was in. On the other hand, they told me to leave the unit the way it was and when it flooded or something drastic happened to report it to my homeowner insurance. Or, they stated they had given me an estimate last year and they felt I got what I had paid for. Some stated if I was not an existing customer they were just to busy right now to take on new clients. One of the contractors had to replace a burned wire cap while he was assessing the unit. I have the burned wire cap in my possession along with pictures of Bill's work and documentation on his poor installation. Bryant took my complaints but would not release any documentation on any other complaints against Bill. I do have a statement showing Bill had insurance at the time of install.
However, when I contacted the insurance company they told me he was not covered by insurance. I have documentation from the Florida Licensee Division showing is license status is Delinquent, Active whatever that means.in addition, it has cost me another $5700.00 to purchase a new all in one package unit, bring it up to code and rework or replace all ductwork. This means I have paid $10,855.00 for A/C Unit and another $319.95 for repairs. Grand Total $11,174.95, this does not include missing work to meet contractors, the inconvenience and stress this has caused. Therefore, after speaking with an attorney, it would be in my best interest to file a small claim against Bill for $5000.00 and even if I do win, I may never receive the money. Not a real promising solution but I will give it a shot.
Therefore, I would like to leave consumers out there who are not A/C knowledgeable like I was a few key points. First, it is your responsibility to make sure all, any work being done on your home has had a permit pulled, and that a code enforcement representative has passes the work. When it comes down to it, you will be held responsible for other contractors work. Secondly, every contractor will verbally telling you different things that need to be done but most are not willing to write most of it down. Thirdly, you can check DBPR web site to see if the contractor is licensed and if he had complaints on him.in my case, it did not matter. Nevertheless, it is still a good place to check. Last of all; do not learn the same hard lesson that I did. It is very costly and frustrating.
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