Complaint filed May 10
I purchased a Trane heat pump unit model# TWP042X100 and air handler unit model # TWE040E130 on April 5 to replace my original unit (brand which I don’t recall) after twenty-one years. I regret to inform you that the Trane unit did not live up to your slogan “It is hard to stop a Trane” because this unit stopped on February 22 after only eight (8) years and eleven (11) months of service. On that morning we heard a clanging sound coming from the outside unit. I immediately turned the unit off and investigated. When I arrived outside, I noticed that the top or lid of the unit had cracked and collapsed. (See enclosed picture of the damaged heat pump top) I first thought a tree limb had fallen on the unit, but there was nothing in sight. I ruled out ice damage because I had not noticed any problem several weeks earlier when I cleared snow off
the unit. The only explanation I could ascertain was poor lid design or the metal could not support the stress or weight of the fan. The unit was operating fine before this incident and was just serviced by the original installer, Blue Dot, a respected HVAC company.
I called the Blue Dot technician and was told that the unit could be repaired, but it would take three to four weeks to receive a specially designed top for the unit. When my wife called Blue Dot on February 24, she was told that it would take five to six weeks for the delivery of the part. Meanwhile, we had to shut down the outside unit and turn on the emergency heat in the middle of the winter. After six days of using emergency heat, I called Blue Dot and cancelled the part order. I thought it was pretty ridiculous to have paid $69 for a service call, to pay an undetermined amount to use emergency heat for five or six weeks in mid winter and to pay $556 to repair a unit that now had proven to be unreliable. I was also told that outside unit could not be replaced alone and the inside unit would have to be replaced as well. I was informed that this particular unit was discontinued in 2009. Based on the above facts, I decided to replace the entire Trane unit with a new unit at the cost of $5615. Please note that we paid $4356 for your Trane unit in 2002.
I hope you understand the anger and disappointment I felt after purchasing a Trane H&AC unit from your company and having it fail way short of the fifteen to twenty years it is supposed to last and then being told in mid-winter that it will take five to six weeks to obtain parts to fix the eight year old unit. I am also hoping that the Trane Company will stand behind their product and see fit to reimburse me a portion of the cost of the original Trane equipment since it had obvious design flaws in the top to the outside unit. I am enclosing a photo copy of the damaged outside unit top and copies of invoices for the purchase of the two H&AC units and for a repair service call for the Trane unit.
After the May 10 letter written above was ignored, I wrote a followup letter a month later and that letter did
not receive a response either.in my opinion, Trane's lack of action on my
complaint demonstrates poor customer, service as well as non-support of a poor product. Joseph N. Butler
Trane Customer
[email protected]
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