ComplaintsforSS&B Heating & Cooling, Inc

• Initial Complaint

  12/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had this business come do work replace all duct work under the house for the forced air unit, and they broke the main sewer line. I paid for the repairs of their mistake, I went under the house and noticed that they ran the duct work multiple places, supported by the plumbing instead of straps and other support mechanisms. I would like a total refund 8,439.00

  

  Business response

  12/27/2022

  Ms.  *******, as we discussed at the time of the installation we are very sorry that the old plumbing pipe we were trying to reconnect to broke. We gave you a 5% discount, in the amount of $421.95, at that time to show our regret of the inconvenience to you. We have since paid the plumbing company, ***** **** Plumbing, $189 for the repair to your drain line. We also sent you a refund check for $169, this month, for to reimburse you for  their work to remove the clog in your main drain line, which was not our responsibility. As we discussed via text after you yelled at my staff, none of the pictures you have sent indicate any work that is not code compliant. Even with all of that we offered to come out an make any changes you requested to the routing and support of the ductwork but you did not respond with a time and date to meet us at the home, instead you submitted this complaint. 

   

   

  We gave you a written quote for the exact cost of the work performed, and completed the work for the exact cost quoted. You have a new fully functional HVAC system that has had no issues to date. We have covered the cost for all of the unforeseen inconveniences of that day and refunded an additional total of $590.95 that we did not owe. We have done everything in our power to make you happy and regret that we were not able to do so. Your account is not eligible for any further refunds or free work to be performed.  

  Customer response

  12/30/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Twenty-two years ago, SS&B was hired to install a new heater, water heater and A/C system for my home.  Unfortunately, they ran a 1” PVC pipe to my Main Sewer pipe from the A Coil (which sits on the utility room floor beneath the heater unit).  Like a car drips water while running the air conditioner, HVAC system put off moisture that needs to drain away from the house properly.  I have since learned that most homes have the A/C condensation (water) ran through its own drainpipe that goes outside of the house with a Clean Out, thus annual maintenance can be performed to prevent clogs and water back up into the HVAC unit A Coil and ductwork.

  
  This long PVC pipe SS&B originally ran under the house into the Main Sewer pipe 22 years ago has caused many problems over time.  
  -It eventually backed up and flooded my utility room floor, causing the top layer of the floor to swell which had to be ripped out and needs replaced. 
  -Recently, in May 2022 after going into my crawl space under the house I discovered the bottom of the Plenum was completely rusted out.  The Plenum is a galvanized metal box that attaches to the bottom of the Heater/Forced Air Unit inside of the house and when the Heater or A/C are on, the forced air blows downward into the Plenum (under the house) and from there is pushed out through the ductwork then up into each floor Vent or Register, which warms or cools the entire home.  All ductwork is connected to this central hub, and it had rusted completely out due to the A/C drain issues from the original install twenty-two years ago.  There were also several places where the original galvanized ductwork was rusted out caused by the same issue.  This meant the heated and air-conditioned forced air was warming and cooling the entire crawlspace for quite some time, while kicking up dirt from the crawlspace and spewing it throughout the home.  Not only a health hazard but it also created multiple openings for creatures to enter the home from the crawl space. 
  It has taken a lot of energy and self-educating for me to understand how an HVAC system works.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t understood that when hiring the same company to fix all the current issues in May.  I have never asked them to clean up their mishaps from the original install 22 years ago.  I was willing to pay top dollar for trustworthy work.  I did not receive that and repeatedly have tried to communicate throughout this ordeal since May, with the different staff and have not been heard.  I was treated with disregard and not taken seriously.  Not listened to multiple times that I haven’t listed here.  I can’t trust this company and I need a refund as follows so that I can find a company who will address the issues and simply use their expertise to make necessary repairs.  
  When I again hired SS&B it wasn’t a complete HVAC system, as the response to the complaint claims but rather to replace the A Coil, the Plenum, the ductwork, and the Boots.  Boots are what attach ductwork under the house to the Vent aka Register inside the floor of the house in each room which the heat or cool air comes out of.

  
  I did NOT end up getting the new Boots I paid for which would replace the old, rusted ones as agreed upon prior to the work beginning.  Originally the SS&B representative said they could easily be replaced but when the work commenced the crew leader said it was too difficult and they instead slathered some kind of silver liquid into the old, rusted Boots without discussing it with me.  I had to ask what they were doing.  They refused to put in the new Boots that I paid for.  That unknown liquid solidified and has now hardened, shrunk and cracked with visible rust throughout every single Boot attaching to each Vent/Register in the entire house.  The final cost of the job was not adjusted to reflect the absence of new Boots.
  SS&B crew broke the large PVC Sewer Main while removing the thin 12’ PVC air conditioner drain they installed improperly years ago.  The plan was to finally run it outside of the home so the new Plenum would not rust out again.  The crew said they could not continue the work until I had the pipe they broke, repaired.  The company's office gave me some plumbers names and phone numbers and clearly stated that I would have to pay for the plumbing repairs.  Not knowing quite what to do, I called one of the companies the office told me about and ***** **** sent someone out.  The plumber said he could do a temporary patch and emphasized it needed a more comprehensive repair after the ductwork was installed.  He said he would run an auger which was standard procedure when a Sewer Main was to be worked on.  He charged $169.00 and I paid ***** **** in full for the temporary fix.
  SS&B recently texted me they offered to pay the plumbing bill back in June, but that is not correct.  Not only did they say I had to pay for the Sewer Main they broke; they contacted the plumbing company and had them put in the notes to the Plumber NOT to bill SS&B. 
  I tried to talk to SS&B recently and they eventually said they would reimburse the $169.00.  I did receive a check for that amount. 
  I just learned through SS&B’s response on this complaint that they have now given $189.00 to ***** **** to finish the temporary fix of my Main Sewer Line.  I was not notified about it, I was not involved in how the amount was decided on, I was not notified payment would take place, and I was not asked what plumber I would like to hire to complete the fixing my Main Sewer Line.  I only learned of this through SS&B’s response to the complaint and had to initiate contact with the plumbing company they chose to randomly send money to and still don’t know quite what is going on, have no date for a plumber to come out, frankly no communication from SS&B.
  
  I recently went into my crawl space to make sure the temporary patch on the Sewer Main was holding up and much to my dismay I found the new ductwork laying on top of my existing plumbing in multiple places, including where the SS&B employee had broken the Sewer Main and it only has a temporary patch which I told the SS&B crew that the plumber made it clear it was fragile.  SS&B used my existing plumbing repeatedly to prop up or hold up much of the new ductwork. 
  I also discovered SS&B used old metal rusted wire from the previous galvanized ductwork even though I paid SS&B to replace all of that with a flexible ductwork wrapped in insulation.  This old rusty wire is cutting into the insulation around the new flexible ductwork.  I addressed this with the SS&B recently and included pictures and videos of the rusty wire cutting into the newly installed expensive ductwork, along with pictures and videos of the ductwork ran improperly in multiple places, worming it through and using the existing plumbing as a support rather than simply using the appropriate straps.  Absolutely none of the former galvanized ductwork that was replaced was resting on ANY of the plumbing, and the new ductwork should not be either.  It should have black approx. 1” wide straps that won’t harm the new flexible ductwork.  Now the vast majority of my plumbing has been compromised by worming all this new ductwork through it.  It is puzzling and there is no professional reason for running the ductwork this way.  It was just a short-cut, and it is putting pressure on all the plumbing.  I will need new plumbing due to the error of SS&B.
  
  SS&B asked for me to text pictures and videos, so I did.  Initially they said the ductwork was not heavy enough to do harm to my existing plumbing.  Then they said they would send someone out to look at it.  Then they texted, “we do not see anything in the videos that are of concern to us”, they just keep going in circles.  The entire text loop is confusing because they would state nothing was wrong with their install, then offer to come and look at it.  I asked who I was speaking to (via text) with no response at times.  Someone would offer to put in new straps, and then someone would state that they were not needed.  Eventually it became clear that they would send someone out to LOOK at the ductwork, not repair their errors.  Also, SS&B’s response to this claim is, “Your account is not eligible for any further refunds or free work to be performed”.  

  
  Original cost I paid in full to SS&B was
  $8439.00

  
  -421.95 in part due to the crew also breaking my thermostat wall unit and then telling me I needed a new heater when all that was needed was a seasoned repairman to re-install the original forced air heater unit and wire it properly to the thermostat in the hallway. 
  -169.00 for the original plumber cost of a temporary fix so the SS&B employees could come back and complete their work.
  -189.00 for monies they sent to the original plumber without telling me, nor asking if that was who I would like to hire to complete the Main Sewer line break.
  
  I deserve a refund of the remaining balance of $7848.05 
  

  Sincerely,

  Miss **** *******

  

  Business response

  01/18/2023

  Good afternoon, I read Ms. *******’s response while I was on vacation last week. Here are the text messages, recorded phone conversations and the invoices that we paid. In this response was the first I have heard of any boots that did not get replaced. She claims it was a temporary repair made to her plumbing line. As we discussed with ***** **** on the phone and is outlined in this emailed invoice, there are no further leaks as it was a permanent repair. She claims to have paid for this because we refused. As you can see they had held the bill for us, it had actually never been sent to us nor did she pay it. She paid for a clog in the drain line which was an item which was not my responsibility to pay but we did to try and make her happy, along with the $500ish Discount we gave her in May .

   

  As is outlined in the text messages and phone recordings above, she became combative with my staff. I told them they did not have to take that abuse, we would communicate via text which we did. In these texts we tried multiple times to schedule a time to come out and make any changes she wanted. She never responded to schedule this. She also said she was too busy to meet us per the phone call that her estimator Brad made to her. He would have been happy to even after hours if that is what was required on her end. Finally as we discussed with her the less than 1 pound of weight from the flex duct resting on the PVC pipes absolutely will not compromise the plumbing drainage system, even with that being said we offered to change it if she wanted us to but she would not schedule a time.

   

  I am not sure what the process is supposed to be to clear these issues up as we rarely ever have them, so I am sending this information to you to make a determination on what is right and wrong in this instance. I have no intentions of refunding any further money to Ms. *******. I feel like we have gone above and beyond to accommodate someone who cannot be made happy.

   

  Thanks,

   

  ****** ******* - President

  Customer response

  01/22/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  
  I originally contacted SS&B twenty-two years ago for a new A/C, Forced Air Heater, A-Coil, and Hot Water Heater with Install.

  
  I didn’t realize they had run the A/C drain line to my Main Sewer Line under the house plus they drilled a hole in the top of the Main Sewer Line and then only glued the extremely long but unusually small diameter drain for the new A/C and A-Coil.  This cut-rate work eventually caused serious damage over time.  The drain line installed by SS&B clogged from not being ran outside with a proper Clean-Out to prevent clogs.  A clogged line may not sound like much but when a small drain line clogs for this type of Forced Air HVAC unit, that means the water backs up and, in this case, caused major damage to the home over time.

  
  I NOW understand that over time the long PVC drain installed by SS&B that wasn’t supported had sagged.  One major outcome from the inferior work was the line clogged and caused my utility room floor to flood and decimate a large area of the floor, the water making the wood swell and had to be ripped out.  I still haven’t fully completed the reconstruction of this damage. 

  
  I also NOW understand that the Plenum (a metal box that sits beneath the Forced Air Heater Unit in the Utility room) is where the heated or cooled air is pushed downward into the Plenum and is the central hub in the crawlspace to all the then galvanized metal ductwork that connected to every floor vent in the home.  Due to the defective install of the A/C drain line by SS&B years ago, the condensation from the A/C didn’t drain properly, rather it ran INTO the galvanized metal Plenum hub under the house and out through the galvanized ductwork causing massive rusting-out of both the main Plenum (Pictures Attached) and several areas on the ductwork.  Once again, this fiasco was due to the initial insufficient install of the drainpipe from the A/C A-Coil installed by SS&B, being ran improperly to my Main Sewer Line. 

  
  Rust is a slow process, so this has been going on a long time and has led to heating/cooling my entire dirt floor crawlspace plus pushing/forcing the kicked-up dust to come up through my floor vents/registers causing the house to be constantly full of this extremely unhealthy polluted air. 

  I NOW know, this all goes back to an improper installation of a simple drain line by SS&B.  And the only reason I have figured this out is because of what they did the second time I hired them.  

  
  I have finally put the pieces of the puzzle together. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand how the entire system worked until AFTER I re-hired SS&B to come and replace my A-coil (sits at the bottom of the heater unit in the utility room and has coils where condensation takes place during the summer when the A/C is on). I also hired them to replace ALL the galvanized metal ductwork (much of it rusted) and replace the severely rusted out Plenum box (Pictures Attached).
  From the beginning of the job agreed upon with the SS&B Salesman, there was one issue after another.  When the work began the crew had an employee splashing around some kind of silver paint-like liquid inside the Boots throughout my house.  I told the crew that the Boots were to be replaced, but they said they weren’t able to.  I still paid for new boots that were never installed and the silver chemical slathered in my old Boots has already cracked and rust is showing through so their “quick fix” failed.  (Pictures Attached).  I paid for new Boots, but I am left with ancient rusting Boots that have unknown silver-colored chemical product splashed on them by SS&B without my permission or even a discussion, contaminating my house.

  
  This job was extensive and since they only had two crew members it took several days.  When one employee kicked at the original old defective A/C drainpipe under the house to remove it, he BROKE my Main Sewer Line. I was told by the original salesman I was responsible for the repair and the crew could not continue with the ductwork installation until I had a plumber fix it. He gave me the name of a couple places, so I called one that was able to send someone out that day. The plumber was befuddled by the fact that I was to pay the bill.  He commented that SS&B had even called them and said to be sure they were NOT billed for the repair.  Since it was late in the day the plumber only did a temporary fix on the Main Sewer Line, he patched it and stressed that it was only a temporary fix.  He also ran an auger through the system before the patch and said it was standard procedure.  He wrote on the ticket the cost of the auger and said when the ductwork was finished, he would come back and complete the full repair on the Main Sewer Line, he would charge for that portion of the work when the work was done on a later date yet to be determined. 

  
  When the crew said they were done working under the house they started reassembling the Heater in my utility room, it had to be removed initially to get to the A-Coil to replace it.  I spoke with the crew leader and told him to be careful with the thermostat on the wall in the hall.  It was complicated when it was installed in the past and NOT to cut any wires.  As with everything else, he just ignored me and clipped the wires.  Then soon after, the young crew leader said my heater was broken and I would have to replace it.  I called the Salesman and tried to explain this latest chaos and finally told him I needed a real tech to come out and complete putting the previously working heater back together and since the employee had ruined my current wall unit by cutting the wires off, to bring a new wall unit as well.  The salesman said I would have to pay for a new wall unit.  This was eventually sorted out and the heater did NOT in fact need replaced. 
  
  Recently, I was planning to contact a plumber to complete the repair properly.  That is when I discovered the unbelievably shocking way all the expensive new FLEX ductwork was wound around and wormed through my plumbing, plus laying on top of some of the plumbing as support, putting unnecessary stress on every pipe, elbow, glued PVC joints, etc.  I have since learned that all the SS&B crew had to do was place straps used in the industry for FLEX ductwork.  The way the FLEX ductwork was wormed through the PVC plumbing, it’s going to take serious effort to untangle it and pull it out, hang it properly with Duct Support Webbing, and then see what damage they caused to the existing plumbing in multiple areas. 

  
  I tried talking with SS&B about it; they asked for pictures, so I again crawled under my house to accommodate them.   They then started texting saying there wasn’t anything wrong after looking at the pictures and videos.  They said they would come out and LOOK at it, but they also said there was nothing wrong with it. 

  They said the same about using rusted metal wire in some places to hold the FLEX ductwork up, rather than using the proper materials.  They said they had NO PLANS of repairing anything, nor paying for anything to be fixed properly.  They have made it clear multiple times that they will not do any work to fix the ductwork that was NOT installed properly nor pay for anything to be fixed.

  
  In SS&B’s first response to this complaint they stated, “Your account is not eligible for any further refunds or free work to be performed.”

  
  One person would say they would schedule a time to come and LOOK, while the next moment saying that everything looks fine to them as per the pictures I sent, and no more work was needed.  They blur every conversation and don’t listen.  They are not offering to come to my home to fix anything, rather they seem to be attempting to bully or intimidate.  They literally have stated they will NOT fix the ductwork nor pay for any additional expenses.  But in a response to the complaint they make the opposite claim.  I don't know if this is a business tactic for them or plain incompetence, either way they obviously are not trying to take care of their customer.  

  They leave me with the only option of receiving a refund so I can have the work done properly.

  
  Original cost I paid in full to SS&B was $8439.00

  
  -421.95 in part due to the crew also breaking my thermostat wall unit and then telling me I needed a new heater when all that was needed was a seasoned repairman to re-install the original forced air heater unit and wire it properly to the thermostat in the hallway. 
  -169.00 for the original plumber cost of a temporary fix so the SS&B employees could come back and complete their work.
  
  I deserve a refund of the remaining balance of $7848.05 

  
  Sincerely,

  
  Miss **** *******

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