ComplaintsforValley Comfort Heating and Air

• Initial Complaint

  03/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We called Valley Comfort and Heat when I wall heater stopped working. A technician came out and said the ignitor was the issue. We payed the service fee and set another installation appt. The technician recommended getting a new heater and said this brand "was old, and not around anymore, hard to get parts for." He was able to get an ignitor and installed it. Since the heater still did not work he said it was the gas valve and told us "just get it on Amazon since I can't find it and call us to install it." After talking with the manager *****, we decided to get a second opinion. Action Plumbing and Heat came out and said this brand is actually still around and the heater itself is in good working order. Upon installing the new gas valve, the said the newly installed ignitor was not installed properly and that was the reason it did not work. They installed a new ignitor since the one installed by Valley Comfort and Heat was not operable. The heater now works very well. In addition, when Valley initially installed this ignitor and the heater continued to not work he left it in there and did not give us the option of having it removed. We still have the ignitor and notes from Action stating that this was improperly installed. I called to ask to speak with ***** and explained the situation. He said he would call me back, I never heard back form him. I tried daily and he was always "out of the office" and never returned my calls.

  Business response

  03/06/2023

  **** talked to the customer in question on Friday March 3rd @ 3:30 P.M. The customer was yelling at Ravi that we didn't install his part right according to another company. The customer was told that all he had to do was call us back out and we would have came back out free of charge to address the situation. How do we know the other company didn't do something to the system or the part and make it out to be our problem. The part in question only goes in one way and it would be almost impossible to damage. The problem is that the Empire brand is no longer made or carried by any of our local suppliers, but most parts are inter-changeable for wall heaters. We believed this unit to be roughly 15 years old, but unable to accurately say due to no local places having parts to help us figure out the age. Unfortunately we can't refund for something that another company has said we did wrong.

  Customer response

  03/09/2023

   
  Complaint: 19535465
  
  I am rejecting this response because: This is not accurate information. Below is a timeline and further information reading the call on Friday. I encourage you to listen to the call and take into account the amount of calls and I time it took to even speak with someone, all while living in a home without heat which could have been prevented had the initial installation of the ignitor been performed correctly. 

   

  An important note is that I called Valley on the day of installation as the ignitior was installed incorrectly, I never received a call back. I called again and spoke with ***** the next week. Valley never went over their policy nor did they answer the phone that day, there was no way to speak with them prior to the new ignitior being installed. *********'s notes that I 'should have called' I did and he continually never called back. 

   

  Here is a time line: (Note we did not have a heater from Feb 2 until Feb 20 and the temp averaged between 29-55)
  
  
  Feb 3 Initial quote from Valley. **** said it was the ignitor, clearly not familiar with this heater. He said the entire heater needs replacing and that company was not around any more so parts will not be available. My fianc was there at the time and said he was nice, but clearly new and new to this type of heater. 
  
  
  Feb 10 ignitor was installed by ****, but heater still did not work. **** said to my fianc "order a gas valve on Amazon". I spoke with ***** about this and he said the ignitor may not be the issue and  stated the technician should have reinstalled the old ignitor (he did not and did not ask). ***** said he would work on a gas valve. He never returned the call.
  
  
  Feb 10 Action was out for an assessment and second opinion of the heater and said an ignitor and gas valve will be needed. Also, that the heater is in fact working well other than this and Empire is still a functioning company. (I told ************ would be doing this, he never said anything about a policy around not being able to be refunded for a part that was not installed correctly)
  
  
  Feb 13 Action ******* worked on the wiring. Job was not complete due to rewiring being required, **** never mentioned the heater needed rewiring.
  
  
  Feb 20 Action Plumbing completed  wiring and installation of a new gas valve and they said the ignitor that was installed by Valley was the reason the heater did not work last week. I purchased another ignitor through Action Plumbing and they installed it.  I saved the part and their notes. I called Valley that day, ***** never returned my call. The next week I called and spoke with *****, he said he would call back after investigating. 
  
  
  Feb 27 - March 3 I called daily as the receptionist said ***** was in and would be calling me back. He never called or gave any message about resolving this situation other than saying "It's not my problem, you touched the part." No explanation was given and upon the original installation we were NEVER informed that if that part was installed improperly we should not have it removed. 
  
  
  March 3 I finally spoke with *****, it was extremely inappropriate and notes are below. Also note he never offered to look at the part which I offered for him to help figure this out. 
  
  
   After filing the complaint Friday, I spoke with with ***** who said he was "out all week" which is not what the receptionist said. He had forgotten my case so upon reminding him of the details he clearly had not investigated or spoken with anyone on his team. He argued with me and stated "I've been cold all week" which was not related to this at all. I tried to explain that the technician, ****, clearly did not understand this heater and had to call several times to get help ***** cut me off. **** (the technician) stated to my fianc "these are really old, I don't really know them and this company is out of business." Which is not true, he likely was simply unfamiliar as my fianc said he was very nice about it. The phone calls are recorded so I encourage you to listen to the call. Admittedly I raised my voice but felt it was still more professional then ***** and warranted after the wildly inappropriate nature of how this is being handled of this situation. 
  
  
  Towards the end of the call I asked to speak with his supervisor and he initially refused to give me a name, and would not give me any contact information. He reluctantly gave me a first name, and  no contact information or title.
  
  
  Please note this along with the complaint filed and I am happy to follow up, talk and answer any questions. I also am happy to speak with the owner or anyone willing to to talk in a respectful manor and I will not put anything on online, social media, etc. I also encourage you to listen to the call as it was recorded.
  
  
  

  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  ************

  Business response

  03/09/2023

  Went to home on February 6th and diagnosed a faulty hsi pilot ignitor. Told customer had to order a new one. Upon *********** all of our supply house we were told that the best we could get was an aftermarket part, which we did. Returned on February 10th with new part, part was installed the only way it would go in and it still didn't work. Next logical reason was the gas valve. After not being able to get the *** part the first time they were told if they wanted to save money that could find the part on Amazon and call us back to install it as we don't buy parts from those kinds of sources. We only get our parts from HVAC supply houses because they warranty the parts we buy for a year. We were scheduled to go do an estimate to replace the wall heater on February 13th but someone called to cancel that appointment and that was the last we heard from them until they called and told us that they wanted their money back. **** did talk to ******************* initially, but then he didn't talk to him again until Friday March 3rd.  Again I can't stress enough that the other company could have damaged our part when they were there and figured well its there part we will just say it was broken and as far as ************** **** saying he has never worked on that equipment, that isn't the case as he has worked for us for 5  years and he has gone to many different systems. The other company did replace the part we replaced and the gas valve, so **** did diagnose it right, but finding *** parts was proving hard to find anyone locally who could find them. So i disagree with ************************ timeline of the events

  Customer response

  03/10/2023

   
  Complaint: 19535465
  
  I am rejecting this response because: My Name is *****************, ******************* is my fianc. **** is incorrect in saying we did not speak, we spoke briefly aprox a week before March 3rd. I have phone records and Valley records their calls. In addition I called the day of installation with no answer or call back. Their account is partly accurate, notably from their response the technician did not know how install the part and can not appropriately ***** the ignitor because they have not looked at it. It is impossible for them to say it was Action Plumbing when Valley has not looked at the part to do an assessment. I spoke with **** and offered this several times as well as offered the notes and Action Plumbing is happy to speak with them. 

   

  Yes, I did cancel the estimate for the heater because after we got a second opinion we became aware there was not a need for a new heater. The Technician from Valley said 'this company isn't even around and this heater should be replaced. You can't even find parts for it.' This is not an accurate assessment. The heater is in perfect working condition and the company is still around. A technician with knowledge of this equipment would have been able to properly assess and install this part. That is evident because the is now working after Action Plumbing installed the same part. 

   

  Just looking at the facts, Valley's technician was unfamiliar with this heater and the installation of a part. I called, no response when it needed to come out, Valley has yet to read the notes or look at the part there fore are not able to make an accurate assessment.

   

  How is one to processed when a campy incorrectly installs a part? I called them, no answer or call back, I saved the part and notes, no investigation even when **** said he would, we actually briefly spoke prior to March 3 and he forgot which is evident by my cell phone call logs and the fact that on the March 3rd call he remembered me once I refreshed his memory. Again, please listen to that call. 

   

  I have been nothing but transparent throughout this process. I have called, saved the parts offered to work with other folks that are more professional and still reserved public comment until this was settled. There needs to be responsibly taken from them. I'm not asking for anything other than money back for a part that was broken upon installation. I am even fine with paying for the service times because I do not feel there was ill intent by the technician that installed it rather a lack of knowledge and experience with this heater. 

   

  As before, feel free to reach out. I'm happy to talk and share ALL information I have in order to have.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  03/17/2023

  ************** never said he hasn't worked on one of these, he said he hasn't seen a lot of them. The best we will do is refund price for the part, $150. We still don't know who broke the part, and again there is no way to install that part wrong as it will only go in one way. This is the only amount we will refund as we are still going by what another company says. 

  Customer response

  03/19/2023

  Better Business Bureau:

  A refund is the minimum they should do. That is acceptable as it is  acknowledgment of the wrong doing of this company. Hopefully their managerial staff will learn to treat people respectfully and actually investigate situations rather than simply make unfounded claims about the improper installation of a part and clear lack of. training of their technicians. 

  A check can be sent to my address or refund to the card if possible. 

  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩