I cannot believe what I am just reading. Why did it not occur to me to do some research before having this company come to service my A/C and air ducts?
On August 7 the technician came to clean my ducts and do the $24.00 A/C 18 point checkup. At the time my A/C was not turning on and I told him it was making an unusual noise when turned on. He immediately looked at the inside unit and said the problem was that the motor was overheating because it was full of mold, dirt, etc. He would do maintenance on the motor and add a sanitizer (for free!) for $175.
After briefly looking over the outside unit he said it also needed freon an additional $50. He was confident that this was the problem and did not bother to do anything else, everything else was ok.
After spending two hours cleaning and servicing the motor, he turned the unit on and it seemed to be working. I asked about the duct cleaning and he clearly said "it is just a scam to get us here and look at your entire unit", that should have been a red light for me.
He left and I got a bill for $249.00. That evening about 4:00 the unit stopped just as it had before, I immediately called United and they assured me that they would send someone in the following morning.
The second technician came in at about 11:00 and at first said the the connections on the motors were not in all the way. Turned the unit on worked briefly, then stopped again. Now, he goes outside and takes the entire cover off the outside unit and does a complete checkup, which the 1st technician did not do, because he never took off the cover. Apparently, the compressor was not working properly and the system was leaking.
He was honest enough to say that the 1st technician gave a bad recommendation and he did not do a proper check up of the system.
Since my system is about 15 years old, he should have recommended a new system and should have found the leaks and compressor failing - which is clearly included in the 18 point checkup advertisement.
I have a difficult time paying $249.00 for something that was not fixed! I cannot simply take the explanation given by supervisors and customer reps. That the system is old and anything can happen from one day to the next. If the 1st tech would have checked thoroughly the system then he would have seen all the problems and not perform the wrong service.
Now the only alternative they are giving me is to buy a new system and they would subtract the $249 already paid. I would not even think of buying into that. I have placed a stop payment on my check, I will file a complaint with the licensing board, BBB and Consumer affairs. I don't know what steps they will take once my check does not clear, but they cannot expect
me to pay for something that was supposed to be fixed based on their techs mistake. Maybe it was all a scam to get me to buy an entire unit.
Griselda
Valencia, California
U.S.A.
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