ComplaintsforTri South Mechanical, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  06/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The tech came early to fix the unit outside. I notified him that we are down the street and he did not wait. He did not service anything. He didnt touch anything he didnt open anything and he didnt fix anything. He just left and said, contact the office to make another appointment and that he is needs to leave. At the very beginning of the conversation in the office I told them they need to give me ample time to make sure someone is there. He did not give us enough time. He basically said that he is down the street and that h*** be there in a few minutes. And when I explain to him that we are literally five minutes away, he did not want to wait those five minutes and he said no its OK for me to make another appointment to have him come out. And we got charged for that call. And they took it as far as the collections so now its more money added on for something that we did not get service for for something that could have been prevented and had he kept his correct time slot. Somebody wouldve been there for him, we have made an attempt to contact the owner and he is not willing to call us back .

  

  Business response

  06/01/2023

  We received a phone call and placed the service call for this customer on 12/20/22 at ****** the service call details are as follows from the day the call was placed by the landlord (******************) "Unit is running constantly, tenant has to go to breaker to shut it off. Homeowner has reason to believe it is the furnace in the attic but is not sure. Call homeowner on the way, she will communicate with her renter. (714)***-****. Told her $125/hr plus drive time and any repairs". Our technician was dispatched the following day 12/21/22 at 2PM, He called the landlord to tell her he was headed to her rental property, Once he arrived on site and did not get an answer at the door he called the landlord again and she said she would reach out to the tenant, The tech waited on site for 30 minutes total from arrival, She did not get an immediate response from the tenant while he was still on the property. With no response from the tenant and no one being on site to let the technician into the house he was pulled off of that job and sent elsewhere, Once he had already left the property the landlord called the technician back to say someone was on the way and would be there in a few minutes, At that time he was already headed to another customer and informed the landlord that she would need to call the office to schedule another time/day for ** to meet someone on site. As discussed with the landlord when she placed the service call on 12/20/22 our rates were $125 per hour and that billable time included drive time, This rental property is 25 miles from our shop one way. We strive to provide same day or next day service for service calls (depending on our call volume), We do not guarantee specific time frames because doing so allows us to move our technicians around more freely as they complete service calls throughout the day so we can respond to as many service calls as possible during a business day which is why we request a number to call before we go to a property, Unfortunately we were not provided the tenants contact information so we had to rely on the landlord communicating with them and relaying information back to our technician on site. The week this service call was placed the high for our area was 50 degrees with lows as low as 10 degrees, As you can imagine we had an influx of service calls (customers with no heat) that we needed to respond to before the long holiday weekend which prevented us from being able to wait on site for customers to meet us when they were provided a call before going to let them know we were headed to their property. Our policy, like all other companies including Doctors, Charges customers for missed appointments. We pride ourselves on quality work and sending skilled technicians out to our customers properties, We simply cannot do that for free, There were no other charges invoiced to the customer except for one hour of our time that was wasted on a missed appointment. 

  Customer response

  06/05/2023

   
  Complaint: 20125714
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  nothing was mentioned about drive time. They said it was for the visit. He was there and I told him that we were five minutes away. He said he will not wait five minutes. They were basically at the stop sign at the end of that street. And he left anyway. He did not do any work. He did not do any work. He didnt look at the unit outside. He didnt touch anything and left. They never sent anything in writing. I do not have anything in writing regarding any of that. They did not mention anything about drive time it is supposed to be for the service, and if we moved forward with the work they were going to deduct that amount from the work amount. So there was no work done. He came earlier than his time, and when we were headed to the house to meet him, he refused to wait for five minutes. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************

  

  Business response

  06/06/2023

  Drive time being included in the billable time WAS discussed with the homeowner when she placed the service call on 12/20/22 at 9:36AM - Again, here is what was discussed with the homeowner while on the phone placing the service call "Unit is running constantly, tenant has to go to breaker to shut it off. Homeowner has reason to believe it is the furnace in the attic but is not sure. Call homeowner on the way, she will communicate with her renter. (714) ***-****. Told her $125/hr plus drive time and any repairs." It is also NOT our company policy to credit the service fee towards any repairs made so the comment made " and if we moved forward with the work they were going to deduct that amount from the work amount" is false. Additionally (and as previously stated), We do not promise specific times for same day or next day service, We call the customer when we are available to head their way, so we also could not arrived early causing the customer to miss the technician meaning "He came earlier than his time" is also a false statement. We are only attempting to collect the money owed to us for a missed appointment. There has been several conversations with the homeowner and several people in our office while trying to collect the money owed and all of this has been explained to the homeowner multiple times, The homeowners story changes with every response/phone call or there is a new "piece of information" given with each response proving that this is nothing more than the customer trying to back pedal out of paying us what is owed for a missed appointment because the lack of non payment resulted in this invoice being sent to collections which is what prompted the report to the BBB. Thank you for your time. 

  Customer response

  06/06/2023

   
  Complaint: 20125714
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
   
  what was that is quite offensive. There is no story to be changed. What I said is the same from the beginning until now. I dont know what their tech/driver said but Im telling the truth and Ill say it again. The tech would not wait for five minutes, they were down the road. He literally said hes not gonna wait for me to call to make another appointment for him to come out there again. And for them to say that I am backpedaling, so I will not pay. That is uncalled for. I have called other companies before for work here and there, and I have paid every single bill and every single invoice. I have never in the time I have owned a home have I ever had a problem with a company like this. I have never had any issues with any other company before, ever! I stand by what I said, I was told that the funds were gonna go towards the work if there was work to be done. I do not think that I need to pay a bill for something that was not done. This company did me wrong and this is why I am standing by what I said before, it is not about the money its about whats right. If there was work done, and if anything wrong happened on our part, I would pay this bill. But nothing happened, and he came and would not wait for five minutes and he left. Five minutes! I called on another company, and they came, and they did the work that was necessary, and they got paid every single *****. 
  Sincerely,
  
  *************

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