ComplaintsforRamsey & North Mechanical Services, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  12/19/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I called to reach ****** Mechanical but actually contacted North Mechanical who acquired ****** business and their telephone number. I called and requested a free quote for replacement of a 43 year old Furnace and A/C system. My system was so old and is in such rough shape that the tags on the A/C condenser that indicate its size are worn off. Anytime I have ever had service performed on my car or house a tech has presented me with a contract explaining the costs and scope of work to be performed. At no point did North Mechanical do this because this was supposed to be a simple quote for replacement. When the gentlemen from North Mechanical arrived to provide the free estimate he said it is not that bad. Since the tags that identify the model of the unit are gone they removed the cover to properly size a new condensing unit of the same tonnage. The service tech misdiagnosed a part believed to be the issue. It was roughly $20 for the part and the guy on the other end of the call said charge him $45 for the part. I reluctantly agreed to the $45 replacement of the part. When the part did not fix the system the tech left and several days later I received the estimate for replacement via phone. There was no mention of a $900 repair. At no point was I ever asked to invest $900 or much less provided a contract for such diagnosis and repair. $900 exceeds what my son was charged for labor to replace the his entire system. No one would invest $900 in a 43 year old system. The real scam is in the estimate for a new system. No details regarding the specs were provided on the phone. When my son asked for the written quote it did not specify the seer or ton rating. When pressed they finally provided those details and it was clear that their estimate was roughly $5k more for a basic low efficiency system and priced like high efficiency system with a communicating thermostat. Indianas Home Improvement Compliance Act requires contracts over $150 to be in writing.

  Business response

  03/22/2022

  Our apologies for the confusion and misunderstanding. Our team will be in touch with you this week to work out an agreeable solution to this. Again, please accept our apology.

  Customer response

  03/29/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

  **************, 

   

  I am writing to let you know as of this e-mail they have not reached out. They called on Friday and indicated that they would reach out. My sense is that they are stalling hoping we will wait and blow the 7 day period in which to respond.  At this point, no one reached out. We have no option but to accept or reject a proposal that was never received. 

   

  I am fine with waiting but I dont want to fail to respond to as construed as accepting their response which is unresolved.  I dont know how much you know about HVAC equipment. North Mechanical really attempted to scam us beyond converting a free estimate into a service call on a 40 year old system that we already determined that we wanted to replace. 

   

  Efficiency of HVAC systems for heat pumps and a/c units is measured in **** ratings. The higher the **** the higher the efficiency. In the bid they intentionally left the seer rating off.  I pressed them to provide the model so I could confirm the ****.  Understandably, equipment pricing varies by brand.  However, they quoted bare bones equipment as if it was a top efficiency and top tier equipment.  All of the other bids were close on the high end for comparable high efficiency equipment and lower efficiency 14 **** equipment.  They quoted base  level 14 **** equipment for what every other reputable agency quoted for top efficiency **** equipment. In many states south of ******* you are prohibited from installing such inefficient seer equipment.

   

  Interestingly, *** Favorite is no longer with North Mechanical.  Recently the city had a frozen sewer line that caused a backup in our basement.  *** Favorite is now with the company that the insurance company suggested.  When I asked *** if he used to work with North Mechanical he confirmed that. I expressed concern that his prior bid for service was double that of any other reputable company and would like confirmation of where things stand and were they anticipated cost to fall at the conclusion of the clean up service. He called the owner and told them that we wanted to cancel them. I simply expressed that we had concerns. They packed up their equipment and never provided an estimate other than the costs to date.  Additionally, they handed us a request to release to execute absolving them of any legal liability, which we refused. They were paid for the services to run equipment to dry the basement. 

   

  I guess my point is I dont know if it was North Mechanicals systemic practices or *** that was out to shaft us. Nevertheless, $900 to run a water hose and clean an 6 foot section of pvc is excessive. They replaced one part claiming it was the issue of no power.  North Mechanical was trying to take advantage of an 80 year old man.  I hope that BBB does not allow them to redeem themselves and their rating with a response that was ultimately meaningless.  People should know they tried to cheat us both on trying to convert a free estimate into a useless expensive service that never resolved anything and pricing a low end model system at the same price as high efficiency equipment. 

   

  Please do not default our response to accepted when they never followed through.  Please advise if I need to respond by the end of business tomorrow. If so, I must respond that I reject an offer/resolution that they never ultimately provided.  

   

  Thanks 

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

  
  

  Business response

  03/31/2022

  We are in the process of crediting this work. Forgive us this error.

  Customer response

  03/31/2022

  Better Business Bureau:

  We received a call from North Mechanical who indicated that they never intended to **** for this service and was a mistake. I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this response/resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  

  Regards,

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

*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. ↩