This complaint is about the problems I have encountered with my TRANE XE1000 TTB036C100A1 3 ton 10 SEER air conditioning unit which was installed at the end of June of 1999 and put into service about a month later. This is also a complaint about the dismal lack of customer support and customer respect I experienced when dealing with this company.
TRANE is unresponsive to requests for assistance in this matter and has advised me that they have no responsibility to me since the warranty on the unit expired in June. This advice was provided but I was denied access to supervisory personnel.
Beginning a mere 10 months after the 5 year warranty expired on this unit, extraordinary service and repairs have been required approximately twice a year. Out of pocket expenses, to date, exceed $830.00. Specifically those expenses are:
$350 to replace the condenser fan motor (10 months out of warranty), $100 to replace a burned wire on the outside unit (less than 1 year later), $300 to replace a circuit board on the inside unit (less than 6 months later), $125 to replace freon leaking from the unit somewhere (less than 6 months later) and an unknown amount to repair the current problem although it is probable that it will require me to purchase a $486 coil approximately $100 in shipping costs sales tax installation cost of freon.
I called my HVAC contractor when the unit did not seem to be cooling. He sent out a service person who found a 1/16 hole in the aluminum coil. The hole was directly beneath the factory wiring loom routing and clearly showed abrasion of both the wiring and the coil where, over 7 years of rubbing, resulted in a condition which created the hole in the coil. I declined the solution offered by the service person until I had a chance to talk to my HVAC contractor.
After meeting with my HVAC contractor, it was clear, that unless TRANE was willing to assist, I simply had three choices, an epoxy based repair (not expected to work), the replacement of the coil (at the above price) or a replacement of the entire unit (including a new inside unit to match the outside [possibly much in excess of $3000]. My contractor told me that he contacted his regional person who told him that his hands were tied unless I contacted TRANE at 903-544-6413.in the mean time, my HVAC contractor sent out another service person to attempt the epoxy based repair. This repair, he assured me, would be temporary, if it worked at all.
I made the call to TRANE and spoke with a Customer service representative who took down all my information and told me that someone would call me within 24 hours. My next contact was with a regional representative by the name of Murph at 314-301-6000. Murph is the same individual who my HVAC contractor talked with and who directed me to call TRANE. Murph got the story again from me and told me he would call back that afternoon.
When he did not return my call, I called him only to find out that the office was closed at 4:30 pm. I left him a message to call. He called me back the next day and told me that he was advised that TRANE had no responsibility to me and there was nothing they would do. I asked him for the name of the person that told him to tell me that, he refused. I told him that that was unacceptable. Murph told me that he would try again and would call me back by noon the next day.
When he did get back to me, he told me that he was told that I should call TRANE again at the 903-581-3660 and have them send the complaint up to Legal. I called TRANE again, at my own expense as these are not toll free numbers, and when I was finished, they told me that they will NOT send my complaint up to legal and only if my attorney writes to them will legal be involved. I told them that was unacceptable.
I then contacted Murph again to ask why he told me to do something that was not policy. He had no response. I again demanded the name and phone number of the person who told him to tell me to call and ask for the complaint to be sent to Legal and was again refused. I advised Murph of my intention to make this information public and he did not ask me not to do so. He told me he would try again. My dealings with Murph have left me with a strong feeling that TRANE and Murph are not forthcoming with their real intentions.
In summary, this unit was sold as an unstoppable piece of high quality and long lasting equipment in their advertising. The brochure includes a number of statements that have not been borne out by my experience. Those statements include: Lasts a Long Time (is 5 years 10 months is a long time for a central air conditioner?), Runs time after time, and You can feel confident we will be here when you need us in the future. The company slogan itself It's hard to stop a TRANE, misrepresents my experience with the equipment and the company.in fact this TRANE stopped about every 6 months once the warranty ran out.
The design of the wiring routing leads one to believe that someone is either not paying attention, or just doesn't care.in my experience, TRANE has exhibited total disregard for their product's reputation or customer satisfaction. They are extremely interested however, in not providing the names or contact numbers for the supervisory personnel responsible for the decisions.
I found that Murph provided me with false information which, when I acted on it, cost me additional money (the 10 minutes of telephone call charges to their headquarters which was supposed to have escalated the complaint to legal, but instead allowed yet another consumer service person to tell me they would not even provide that little relief).
All in all, I intend to advise as many people of these facts as possible so that they can fairly evaluate the company reputation when considering purchasing any product from the company. I will not recommend this company or its products to anyone considering purchase. If I must make a permanent replacement of the parts or unit, it certainly will not be a TRANE and if there were no other choice but TRANE, I would gladly go without air conditioning for the rest of my life. My grandparents did it!
Jeffrey Pomona, Illinois
U.S.A.
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