ComplaintsforD.L. Folsom Air Conditioning & Heating Corp

• Initial Complaint

  03/30/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We had an Air Conditioner installed by Folsom Air Conditioning Jan of 2023. We requested that we wanted the closet where the ** unit will be installed to be insulated to reduce noise from the unit. We told them multiple times that it was of utmost importance that noise while the unit was running was very important to us and that it should be very quiet when running. The unit is so loud that it wakes us up multiple times per night especially when the weather gets hot. We spoke with Folsom many many times and they have finally told us there is nothing they can do. I have gone to 2 other units in our building the the sound when these other units kick on are not even close to the noise of ours. We had South ******* Air Conditioning, **** come in to analyze this unit. Paid them almost $500 to do this. They told us it was not installed correctly and that Folsom should have build a frame to set the unit on instead of mounting it on brackets that are connected to the walls creating vibration in the condo. They also said this is a very loud unit that Folsom selected and that here are many other much quieter units they could have selected.South ******* Air Conditioning, **** says the unit is oversized house and duct work which causes noisier compressor, short cycling, excessive blower noise and high humidity levels due to short cycling. The blower is on low and is blowing our curtains so much that we have to open them when the ** is on so as to not damage them. Our curtain company told us they will get damaged from the speed of the air. It is set to the lowest possible air flow which attest to the oversized unit.The bottom line is that Folsom has installed an incorrectly sized unit and will not take responsibility for it. We have asked them multiple times to simply replace the unit with the appropriately sized unit as well as to put a suggested prefab 36" stand that the new unit will sit on to allow minimal noise to transfer from unit into wall. South ******* Air Conditioning, **** also did a Load test

  Customer response

  03/30/2024

  Nature of Complaint:
  Repair Issues
  
  Date Problem Occurred:
  January 3, 2023
  
  Date(s)Complained:
  March 30, 2024
  
  Purchase Date:
  January 3, 2023
  
  Salesperson:
  ******
  
  Product/Service:
  Air Conditioner Installed Bosch SV Series
  
  Model #:
  SV041-1VTC-FLTPDD
  
  
  Account #:
  *************************
  
  
  Order #:
  108055I
  
  Purchase Price:
  $9036.70
  
  Payment:
  Paid in FULL
  
  Disputed Amount:
  $9036.70
  
  

  Business response

  04/03/2024

  Dear Kolow & BBB: 

        We have acknowledge ************** complaint, the unit noise and the air flow. We have followed-up with ************** with multiple visits and corrected minor details which had reduced the unit noise level.  As for the air flow, we noticed new ************ grills throughout the appartment has caused air acceleration flow across the room; which the owner deined of replacing. ************** was not satisfied and proceeded to hire a third party air conditioning to evaluate the new unit. A copy of the report was emailed us stating the new unit was not installed correctly, the heat load document stating new unit is oversize, and the stand needed to be prefab to avoid noise transfer. First thing i noticed is the heat load report is incomplete with many discrepancies that would determine the tonnage needed. This needs to be corrected since the owner paid dearly. The walls have been insulated around the unit as per our agreement. The condenser stand was custom built at the job site with heavy steel grade as required by state. 
  

   As per our agreement we removed an existing 3.5 ton unit and replaced it with the exact 3.5 ton but with a newer model. The ************** has clear the permits and have met the requiments by the ****************.  Our contract has been executed to the terms of our agreement with **************.  In my opinion the water feeding the air conditonings have compromised the units performance which makes then work harder. I have attached two photos with problems that has happen in the 220 building. Our company has gone above by protecting the owners investment by installing water strainers. ************** has requested the water strainer to be removed. 

  A request for a smaller air conditioning unit has been denied. Folsom Air Conditioning has fulfilled its one year labor as per the terms and condition agreement which ended four month ago. Moving foward please contact ***** for the nearest local dealer.

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

  Office Manager 

   

   

   

  Customer response

  04/06/2024

  The analyzation of unit installed by Folsom Air was by ************* Air
  
  ************* Air Said:
  Unit appears to be oversized for home and duct work that it serves. This will cause short cycling of equipment, noisier compressor operations, excessive blower noise and high humidity levels due to short cycling. Highly recommend that unit be swapped for smaller unit based on heat load calculation and with Bosch whisper quiet unit to reduce noise and increase overall performance and comfort. Recommend relocating in order to have enough room to put in prefab 36" stand and new unit that will clear the door frame. This will allow minimal noise to transfer from the unit into the walls of the bedroom and surrounding areas. Document is attached
  
  Folsom responded that the heat load report is incomplete
  I have attached a copy of the completed heat load report that is fully complete. They measured the condo and fully analyzed conditions. The analyzation of unit installed by Folsom Air was by ************* Air. Heat Load Document is attached
  
  ************* Air Said:
  Unit appears to be oversized for home and duct work that it serves. This will cause short cycling of equipment, noisier compressor operations, excessive blower noise and high humidity levels due to short cycling. Highly recommend that unit be swapped for smaller unit based on heat load calculation and with bosch whisper quiet unit to reduce noise and increase overall performance and comfort. Recommend relocating in order to have enough room to put in prefab 36" stand and new unit that will clear the door frame. This will allow minimal noise to transfer from the unit into the walls of the bedroom and surrounding areas. 
  
  Folsom responded that the heat load report is incomplete
  I have attached a copy of the completed heat load report that is fully complete. They measured the condo and fully analyzed conditions.
  
  Folsom responded with "The walls have been insulated around the unit as per our agreement."
  The insulation Folsom installed consistently fell apart and was not installed to reduce sound. I had to call them multiple times about this and was told by Folsom "it was the best they could do". Folsom did not take into consideration the most important thing we told them that sound reduction was the most important element and was the reason we were swapping out our unit. Again, this unit produces so much noise when it turns on that it wakes us up every night. 
  
  I spoke with the town inspector about Folsom. He contacted me a number of times asking if Folsom fixed the issue. He agreed with me that Folsom should fix this to take care of the issue.
  
  Folsom said, "The condenser stand was custom built at the job site with heavy steel grade as required by state".
  Folsom simply connected metal to the walls and placed the unit on top of it so the sound gets distributed to the walls directly. The top metal bars that are sitting on the frame connected to the walls were not secured and are sitting loose with the ** unit sitting on top. This means the ** unit simply floats and can move around freely. They did not build a separate frame that would sit on the concrete floor and not touch the walls that would prevent the noise from being transmitted to the walls. They went the cheapest, easiest way to install. 
  
  Folsom said, "In my opinion the water feeding the air conditionings have compromised the unit's performance which makes them work harder.
  The water feeding the air conditioning in our building has been upgraded with a new pump and filtering system which prevents this issue. There is no change in the unit's sound and it does NOT compromise the performance. These are all excuses that Folsom is coming up with to prevent them from actually fixing the problem.
  
  Folsom says, "Our contract has been executed to the terms of our agreement with **************."
  Again, the #1 reason for changing this unit out was to reduce the sound and noise. Folsom has not done this. The terms of this agreement have not been executed. Folsom just does not seem to care about this problem.
  
  Folsom says., "Our company has gone above by protecting the owner's investment by installing water strainers".
  This was recommended to us by the building management and we paid for this water strainer to be put in. Folsom originally forgot to install it and I had to remind them to put it in and they had to come back to install it. The guys from Folsom that installed the unit told me I didn't need a water strainer so I had to make the call to the company to have them come out once again. I also called Folsom multiple times to have them fix the insulation that was falling apart.
  
  We spoke to our management company in our building who used to recommend Folsom to all in our community and they called ****** asking him to please take care of this and Folsom refused. The management in our building will no longer recommend them.
  
  Final note:
  We do not want to chase Folsom or cause any problems for anybody. This has not been fun for us to have to contact Folsom so many times trying to get them to fix the noise issue. As I stated before, The #1 reason to replace our unit was to reduce the sound and noise. This position that Folsom is taking is simply not right. We had a secondary, very well known company come out that we paid $451 to have a look and analyze the situation. They agreed with us, the management company from our building agreed with us, and we the customer are not happy with how they installed the unit or the unit they selected. It is like they just won't listen to us or the others. Folsom simply takes a hard stand that they are right and will not take responsibility for any of this. There is a simple fix for this... Install the correctly sized unit on a frame that does not touch the walls. A quality air conditioner company would always analyze the house or condo they are installing a new unit in to size the correct unit to install. The air flow is loud, the unit is loud, the installation is not correct. This is not an honorable way to handle this situation.

  Thank You
  **** and ***********************

  Customer response

  04/06/2024

   
  Complaint: 21507168
  
  I am rejecting this response because of the following:

  The analyzation of unit installed by Folsom Air was by ************* Air
  
  ************* Air Said:
  Unit appears to be oversized for home and duct work that it serves. This will cause short cycling of equipment, noisier compressor operations, excessive blower noise and high humidity levels due to short cycling. Highly recommend that unit be swapped for smaller unit based on heat load calculation and with Bosch whisper quiet unit to reduce noise and increase overall performance and comfort. Recommend relocating in order to have enough room to put in prefab 36" stand and new unit that will clear the door frame. This will allow minimal noise to transfer from the unit into the walls of the bedroom and surrounding areas. Document is attached
  
  Folsom responded that the heat load report is incomplete
  I have attached a copy of the completed heat load report that is fully complete. They measured the condo and fully analyzed conditions. The analyzation of unit installed by Folsom Air was by ************* Air. Heat Load Document is attached
  
  Folsom responded with "The walls have been insulated around the unit as per our agreement."
  The insulation Folsom installed consistently fell apart and was not installed to reduce sound. I had to call them multiple times about this and was told by Folsom "it was the best they could do". Folsom did not take into consideration the most important thing we told them that sound reduction was the most important element and was the reason we were swapping out our unit. Again, this unit produces so much noise when it turns on that it wakes us up every night. 
  
  I spoke with the town inspector about Folsom. He contacted me a number of times asking if Folsom fixed the issue. He agreed with me that Folsom should fix this to take care of the issue.
  
  Folsom said, "The condenser stand was custom built at the job site with heavy steel grade as required by state".
  Folsom simply connected metal to the walls and placed the unit on top of it so the sound gets distributed to the walls directly. The top metal bars that are sitting on the frame connected to the walls were not secured and are sitting loose with the ** unit sitting on top. This means the ** unit simply floats and can move around freely. They did not build a separate frame that would sit on the concrete floor and not touch the walls that would prevent the noise from being transmitted to the walls. They went the cheapest, easiest way to install. 
  
  Folsom said, "In my opinion the water feeding the air conditionings have compromised the unit's performance which makes them work harder.
  The water feeding the air conditioning in our building has been upgraded with a new pump and filtering system which prevents this issue. There is no change in the unit's sound and it does NOT compromise the performance. These are all excuses that Folsom is coming up with to prevent them from actually fixing the problem.
  
  Folsom says, "Our contract has been executed to the terms of our agreement with **************."
  Again, the #1 reason for changing this unit out was to reduce the sound and noise. Folsom has not done this. The terms of this agreement have not been executed. Folsom just does not seem to care about this problem.
  
  Folsom says., "Our company has gone above by protecting the owner's investment by installing water strainers".
  This was recommended to us by the building management and we paid for this water strainer to be put in. Folsom originally forgot to install it and I had to remind them to put it in and they had to come back to install it. The guys from Folsom that installed the unit told me I didn't need a water strainer so I had to make the call to the company to have them come out once again. I also called Folsom multiple times to have them fix the insulation that was falling apart.
  
  We spoke to our management company in our building who used to recommend Folsom to all in our community and they called ****** asking him to please take care of this and Folsom refused. The management in our building will no longer recommend them.
  
  Final note:
  We do not want to chase Folsom or cause any problems for anybody. This has not been fun for us to have to contact Folsom so many times trying to get them to fix the noise issue. As I stated before, The #1 reason to replace our unit was to reduce the sound and noise. This position that Folsom is taking is simply not right. We had a secondary, very well known company come out that we paid $451 to have a look and analyze the situation. They agreed with us, the management company from our building agreed with us, and we the customer are not happy with how they installed the unit or the unit they selected. It is like they just won't listen to us or the others. Folsom simply takes a hard stand that they are right and will not take responsibility for any of this. There is a simple fix for this... Install the correctly sized unit on a frame that does not touch the walls. A quality air conditioner company would always analyze the house or condo they are installing a new unit in to size the correct unit to install. The air flow is loud, the unit is loud, the installation is not correct. This is not an honorable way to handle this situation.

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

  Business response

  04/09/2024

   **************,
  Very simple, I was hired by **********************, your contractor, to troubleshoot the no cool/loud noise / clean unit. The noise was diagnosed to be a vibration on the blower motor. Due to cost vs benefits to perform all repairs, the customer decided to replace the a/c unit. Customer never complained about the under or over size cooling of the previous unit at that point.
  The replacement a/c unit was done like for like, permitted and inspected by the ************** Building Department. 
  After the unit was replaced, ************** stated that the unit was oversized despite the new unit being the same tonnage as the previous one. We offered to replace the new a/c unit at cost price based on his heat load calculation, which he declined.
  Afterwards due to unfounded complaints, we rescinded the offer. 
  Our terms and conditions state the 1st year obligation for any a/c issues are now complete.

  DL Folsom  A/C & Htg Corp 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   
  

  Customer response

  04/11/2024

   
  Complaint: 21507168
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Yes! This is very simple! We hired Folsom to replace the ** unit based on the problem we were having with the noise of the previous unit. The air flow of the previous unit was not a problem as it is with the new unit Folsom installed. So Folsom created a new issue with air flow and did not fix the noise problem we were having. We are not skilled in sizing a unit for a location and had no idea that it was something that might be an issue. We feel that it is the job and responsibility of Folsom to detect the correct sizing of a new installation. We hired Folsom to install a unit that was appropriate for the location. The idea that Folsom is calling this "unfounded complaints" attests to the attitude of them towards us and that they take no responsibility for installing the wrongly sized unit. It is not our responsibility to understand under or oversizing of the unit. Due to Folsom's relentless need to blame us for the problem they created we then paid an outside company to analyze the situation for a cost of $451 and to do a full and complete load calculation that shows that Folsom installed a unit that was incorrect for the condo. This is a company that will not backup the work. We hired Folsom to fix the problem of the noise, not to create more noise and then make it the homeowners responsibility to size the correct unit to alleviate the problem.  
  
  Folsom keeps saying that they replaced the unit with the same sized unit does not make sense based on the noise problem we were having. It is Folsom's responsibility to make sure the unit they install is correctly sized. We did not hire them to simply replace the unit with the same unit. This is a ridiculous argument.
  
  We kindly request that Folsom replace this unit with the appropriately sized unit agreed on by both parties or to remove this installed unit and refund our money.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

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