Dirty ducts done dirt cheap. United air Comfort, a Florida based heating and cooling company lands on a Detroit television station, twice. 2 years ago Fox 2 News caught United Air Comfort's bungling duct cleaners on hidden camera. The technician hooked up a big vacuum cleaner, made a lot of noise, and then tried to get the homeowner to pay for lots of extras. How much cleaning did he do? The TV crew stuck a camera in the duct work for before and after pictures. You guessed it, not a bit of difference. To make matters worse, the bungling tech forgot his duct tape, so he couldn't really seal up the vacuum hoses that were supposed to pull out the dirt. Plus, he showed up 5 hours late because he got lost! Imagine waiting around all day just so you could get ripped off.
This week the company made it on the air again. But this time the bungling technician could have put the homeowner in danger. The tech showed up to do a 29 dollar furnace tune-up, but instead of pulling out a flashlight and mirror (standard tools for furnace guys) to check the heat exchanger for cracks, he pulled out a BIC lighter. He told the homeowner (all caught on camera) that he used his "trusty light" to make sure the furnace had the proper draft. Then the guy proceeded to walk around tapping on the duct work pointing out Carbon Monoxide leaks, telling frightening stories about how many people die every year from CO poisoning.
Now here's the scary part. He didn't have a Carbon Monoxide detector. If there really was a leak the homeowner would never know about it.
But the TV crew had a surprise for the guy. They had the furnace checked out the day before. There were no leaks, and the furnace was in good running condition. So why did the guy try to talk the homeowner into spending 4-hundred bucks with his company? Maybe it was so he could afford to buy some furnace checking tools.
Now here's the best part. The TV crew went back and checked out all the "problems" the United Air Comfort tech found on his visit. Seems those problems were all in the guy's head. All the repairs the guy suggested were unecessary. To make matters worse, the suggested repairs probably wouldn't have fixed any real Carbon Monoxide leaks if there had really been any.
It's disappointing to know that United Air Comfort is licensed to operate in the state of Michigan and other states and can still get away with these kinds of business practices. What consumers need to do is call and write their Attornies General, as well as get ahold of the state agency that hands out licenses to mechanical contractors and heating and cooling companies. Take away the license and take away the problem in your state.
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