ComplaintsforWeathermakers Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  01/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Weathermakers Air Conditioning & Heating, INC....what a sham of a place. I called Weathermakers on Monday, 1/17/2022 and asked if there is a free estimate for duct cleaning. The lady put me on hold and came back and said there was a free estimate-as she had not been aware of this for customers. I let her know this was on the website. Understanding that this was free, I set up an appt for Tuesday, 1/18/22 from 11am-1pm. The tech called at 931am, stating he was in the area and would like to come early. He arrived at 10am, completed is walk through and provided an estimate. He then proceeded to ask for $85. I let him know of the conversation that happened between myself and the lady who I scheduled the appt with on Monday and the website stating it was a free estimate. He went outside and made a call. Then came back into my house without knocking stating that since the appt was slotted as a service-call I owed him $85. I then lead him back out of my house and stated I would not be doing business w/him or Weathermakers since this WAS NOT a service call and I would not be conducting any future business with this company. He sat in my driveway for about 15 mins then finally pulled away.

  

  Business response

  03/30/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2022/03/08) */ Contact Name and Title: Christal H., FO Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX Contact Email: **************************** We appreciate and value your time to provide feedback regarding your recent experience with Weathermakers AC & Heating, Inc. We apologize for the delayed response pertaining to your complaint (our BBB account did not have up-to-date contact information for us to acknowledge/address your complaint in a timely manner). We also would like to extend our apology regarding your experience, that it did not meet satisfactory or expectation of working with us. For just a second, let's take a moment and acknowledge... we are human and capable of human error, as this is never an excuse... we must accept this as fact. It seems your call was scheduled with our Service Department as a Service to perform and not as an estimate. The Service Pro assigned to your appointment was only following company protocol; to collect at 'Service Completion.' We have a Service Call Fee (as well as many service providing companies do). Basically, this covers the company's overhead cost (the company's daily operating expenses); when a Service Pro is dispatched out to a client's property and that client declines any of the recommendations, suggested repairs/services, etc., we (the service industry) charge a small fee for travel and time spent in that appointment. This is common practice, the overall objective in the Service Industry as Service Professionals is to discover and/or inspect unidentified issues with the client's system(s) and provide option(s) to proceed with or decline. Your Service Pro assigned to your Service Call, should have explained to you that if you decided to proceed with the Roto Brush Duct Cleaning Service; we'd waive that fee altogether and charge you for the approved service(s) ONLY. At this time, it is unclear whether the Service Pro explained this process/procedure to you during your Service Call appointment (unfortunately, this former team member is no longer with us - not pertaining to your appointment, of course). That being stated, we can only go off the notations (facts) to your appointment that day. Based off those notes, the Service Pro did provide you with an Estimate to fulfill your initial inquiry and even suggested due to the cost of the Duct Cleaning Service, it may be more feasible for you to consider replacing your Duct System instead. It's plausible to say that you were not prepared to decide at that time... and that is completely fine; the Service Pro (again, following company protocol) attempted to collect the Service Call Fee regarding his trip out to your property. We get it, you were under the impression that we scheduled a Free Estimate pertaining to Duct Cleaning - this unfortunately, was not clear for the Service Pro in his appointment notes. Yes, we do offer Free Estimates, with that said our "Free Estimates" do have limitations and exclusions - the "outlined terms." Those details of the limits/exclusions and outlined terms are disclosed on our website. To find this information on our website, it does require some navigating.. but we'll quickly help you find these "outlined terms" by doing the following: from the 'Home Page' (www.weathermakersac.com to the right of the page) you will see options to click 'Services' or 'Estimate'. Let's click 'Estimate' you'll be directed to our 'Contact Us Tab'. Now let's click 'Book Our Service' (on the left of your screen). Our website will load 'Our Services' page. Here you can see a list of services, service pricing and details pertaining to the services and estimates we offer. Let's click 'details' under 'Estimate', once you've clicked on 'details' a small informational pop-up window goes over the outlined terms, what our "Free Estimates" pertain to, what is included, the limitations, exclusions, etc., (we attached an image to this response for your review. You mentioned in your BBB complaint; you told the representative you seen "Free Estimates" on our website. It is clear in the recorded conversation, you made no mention of this at that time) if for some reason you cannot access the image or navigate around our website to locate this information; the 'details' of our 'Estimate' section is as followed.. "Our Estimates are for NEW Systems, the Installation of NEW or Customer/Property provided Systems and/or Equipment and Duct/Ductless Systems ONLY. We DO NOT offer Free Estimates on repair(s) and/or service(s). Excludes: Estimates pertaining to ALL repair/service types for current System(s), Unit(s) and Equipment." After much deliberation with our team, reviewing your account notes and the recorded conversation regarding your estimate inquiry (on 01/18/2022). We have concluded, it seems there was misunderstanding of on our part (the representative) handling your call. During your initial inbound call, the Service you were inquiring about would NOT have been included in our 'Free Estimates' outline. You're correct the representative did place you on a brief hold, they had full intention to confirm that we offer Free Estimates for "Ductwork" (the major detail here is, you were seeking an estimate for Duct Cleaning Services, that part was missed.. the representative assisting you was a new team member and was not clear how specific they needed to be when looking to confirm and provide you with accurate information). When the Service Pro proceeded to call our office the first time it was to update and debrief the details of your appointment; that inbound call was also processed by the original representative who handled your call.. adjustment notes were made inhouse, and that debriefing was not brought to a superior to address or attempt to resolve your issue. Unfortunately, this is when it became clear where we fell short. Your Service Pro attempted to collect again, for what they thought was a Service Call, not an estimate. Regarding this, we can only apologize about the miscommunication on behalf of the team members involved and move forward to resolve the issue. Lastly, we need to be transparent and held accountable for the experience you encountered. We hold ourselves to a very high standard with 40+ years in the industry, this most definitely could have been prevented. We have no intention to pursue or attempt to collect payment for this mishap. We appreciate your consideration and the opportunity to work with you. We have debriefed our new team members; just how important missing minor details can greatly affect business growth and relationships. It is the details.. We are aware and accept that we may not regain the opportunity to earn your business; with that said we extend our sincerest apology regarding your experience. We hope that maybe one day we may revisit another opportunity to earn your valued business and provide you the quality experience you deserve from our company. From all of us here at Weathermakers we hope that you accept our apology.

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