ComplaintsforU.S. Mechanical Services, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  02/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Had them install my walkin cooler at my floral shop. Charged system with 404a when cooler condensor called for R-22. $1000 worth of flowers were destroyed when cooler wouldnt cool and exceed 80 degrees. Called US mechanical and they attempted to blame me until I was able to show that the cooler expansion valve was green calling for R22 and the reciept had 404a written down. Mind you i paid them $860 dollars for this service. After they admitted to charging it with the wrong refrigrent (404a vs R22) the expansion valve needed replacwd which they then wanted to charge mr for the service again. After having another company confirm this error. And calling **, the store manager. ** the manager proceeded to tell me how he was doing me a favor by coming out in a snow storm ( storm was 24hrs ago) and you offer a 24/7 service. Mind you it was 1pm in the afternoon. He blamed me for the error, told me my equipment was a peice of ****, my sexond opinion didnt know **** and hung up on me. Their twch left and im stuck with having paid $860 repair bill, $1000 in dead flowers and a broken cooler.

  

  Business response

  03/11/2022

  To Whom it May Concern:

  In response to the complaint ID# ******** regarding *** ****** *** **********, I have also requested a phone call from the BBB.  On Monday, February 7, 2022 we received a call from ***** stating that he has a used walk in cooler that he brought to his business that needed wired and charged with refrigerant.  He said he had another company that had disconnected and moved the cooler for him but for some reason they were not able to reassemble for him.  We were extremely busy that day with no heat calls but told him we would do our best to get by there to see what he had going on.  ***** had stated on his initial call that he had a flower delivery the following day and would be willing to pay overtime rates if necessary if he could get us out.  We sent a service technician out at approximately 10:30am the same day so we were able to avoid the additional overtime rate.  We found that the condensing unit or outdoor unit was completely disconnected from the evaporator coil or indoor unit, interconnecting  piping between the two had been cut, refrigerant lines were left open to the atmosphere which is not a good refrigeration practice and that there was no electrical service supplied to the cooler.  We told ***** that he would need an electrician for the wiring but we could set the condensing unit in place, connect the mechanical equipment with new copper piping, replace the liquid drier, evacuate the sealed system, install the evaporator drain line and put in a holding charge of refrigerant so that when his electrician was finished, the system would be ready for us to start up and check operation.  He asked us to go ahead and proceed and that he had an electrician that he would have take care of the electrical work.  I probably should have already mentioned that we have no previous history with this customer, the location or this used piece of equipment that he has.  We did the work that he requested and put in a holding charge of refrigerant R404A as indicated in the attached photo.  There are many different refrigerants on the market today and because the equipment was not otherwise labeled by the company that had disconnected the equipment, we felt this was most likely what they had been using in it.  That completed our first visit.  ***** paid us for the materials and labor.  Again, we were not able to run, test or check operation as the equipment had no electrical service ran to it.  We did not hear back from ***** until Friday 2-18-22.  ***** called and said that he was having trouble maintaining the proper box temperature and had moved his flowers to a cooler environment in hopes of preventing them from dying.  Who did the start up  Why did they load product to the cooler if it wasn't maintaining the proper temperature?  *****t stated that he has a friend that is a refrigeration mechanic that told him the system had been running on refrigerant R22 previously and not R404A.  I told ***** that if we could see the expansion valve that it may possibly indicate the refrigerant type.  He sent me a picture of the expansion valve which I have also attached a photo of.  You can tell by the picture that the very is very rusty and numbers are hard to read but the little bit of the green label that can be seen tells us that this valve is designed for R22 refrigerant.  I told ***** that we would come out and recover the R404A refrigerant, evacuate the system and recharge it with MO99 refrigerant (which is an acceptable replacement for R22 which is no longer manufactured).  I told him we would come do this as soon as I got a technician available and would not charge him for the service.  In the meantime, we received a phone call from a lady named ****** asking us if we were going to pay for the flowers that had lost.  I spoke to her and explained that we never saw this cooler running and don't know any history on the equipment and that ***** had indicated earlier in the day that his friend had already worked on it after the wiring was completed so we do not feel liable for whatever losses they might have incurred.  I told her we were willing to come change the refrigerant at no charge.  She didn't sound happy that we were not willing to give them money but did want us to change the refrigerant.  We sent the same technician back out to change out the refrigerant and he indicated that ***** was yelling at him before he even arrived (he had called to let him know we were on our way).  The technician recovered the R404A refrigerant, evacuated the system and recharged with MO99 refrigerant.  He was now able to analyze the system operating and found that previously mentioned expansion valve was found to be not operating properly and the system doesn't appear to be correctly wired as the low pressure switch does not shut the system off when the switch opens.  When we advised ***** of what we were finding and that we would have to charge him for replacement parts and labor for further repairs, he came angry and unreasonable.  Again, we do not know where he got this equipment, its history or even if is a properly matched system.  We can tell by the condensing unit nomenclature that it was manufactured in 2007 and the compressor has a 2015 serial number so there has been major repairs done in the past but we don't know by whom or why.  ***** indicated that any further repairs should be taken care of by us at no expense to him.  He was being disrespectful and unreasonable to both our technician on site and to me on the phone.  While we regret the outcome of this experience for both us as a service company and ***** as a end user and potential new customer, we had no choice but walk away from this with no charges for the 2nd visit as agreed upon.  We never want an unsatisfied customer and strive to offer prompt and professional service.  I guess at this one, we just could not assume liability for this situation as the customer seemed to expect.  I know some of this gets a bit technical.  I look forward to discussing this on the phone to better explain and express myself.  

  Sincerely,

  ** *********

  Service Manager

  U.S. Mechanical Services

  Customer response

  03/14/2022

   I am rejecting this response because:
  WOW! NOT AT ALL WHAT HAPPENED! NICE TO SEE ** HAS CHANGED HIS TUNE THO. IF ANYONE WAS DIRESPECTFUL IT WAS ** AND HIS TECHNICIAN TOLD ME HE WAS THE BOSS N NOT **. SO THST JUST SHOWS YOU THIER COMMUNICTION AT US MECHANICAL. FACT OF THE MATTER IS AFTER ED STATED HIS TECHNICIAN NEVER MAKED A MISTAKE AND WE PROVIDE THAT TO FALSE. HIS TECHNICIAN DID IN FACT MAKE A MISTAKE OF CHARGING THE SYSTEM WITH THE WTONG REFRIGRIENT FROM THE START. ** IS FRUSTRSTED THAT HE WAS WRONG AND DIDNT WANT TO DO WHAT WAS RIGHT BY COVERING HIS MISTAKE LIKE ANY GOOD COMPABY WOULD DO. ITS FINE, WE WILL M9CE FORWARD AND LUCKILY THEIR ARE OTHER SERVICES.
  
  

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