ComplaintsforSunshine Plumbing & Heating, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I purchased a complete Heating and Air conditioning system 2009 with a LIFETIME Warranty for parts and labor on all systems. Company has attempted to repair air conditioning unit for over 3 years now with no resolve. They keep comming out for service and cannot remedy the issues. Unit continues to run constantly for 18 hours without cycling on or off as is a normal function of this unit. Inside temprature will not drop below 74 degrees anytime day or night. Warranty contract states that if units are condemed, it will only be condemed by a Manager of Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. Also, Warranty contract states that when a new unit is replaced, company will not be liable for additional cost for an upgraded unit beyond what level is being replaced other than what is available at time of replacement. I require a new air conditioning condensing unit with a matched evaporator coil(and any other equipment need at the time of installation) to be installed at company's expense.

  

  Business response

  08/21/2023

  Hello,

  I have received a certified letter directly mailed to me with this complaint. I had been working and talking with ******** ***** prior. He called and requested service while I was out of the office. When I returned he mentioned that he has one of our Lifetime Warranties. I asked him to drop off the paperwork he had since this job was done in August of 2009. I have attached the documents he provided. The Lifetime Warranty requires that the system must be serviced. He has not contacted us for service so I have requested his service records. This is important just as oil changes are required and important for an automobile. The Warranty also states that only a Sunshine Manger can deem a piece of equipment condemned for replacement. So I scheduled an appointment with Mr ***** to do this evaluation for Friday July 28th. On Thursday July 27th Mr ***** called the office to cancel as well as contacted me directly to make sure I received the message that he was cancelling the appointment and was, in his words, "done with Sunshine Plumbing". At that point I thought this was resolved and he was going to hire another contractor at his expense. I was willing to work with him, but at this point he has refused our service and to work with us. He is demanding a new unit but I was trying to confirm that the maintenance has been preformed and go thru the process. I have also attached our response letter to his demand letter. Right now I am at a loss because he is refusing to work with us but at the same time demanding we do what he wants on his terms.  

  Sincerely,

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

  Customer response

  08/22/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: It contains inaccurate information. The Lifetime Warranty produced and submitted by ****** ********** **. dba Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. does not contain a requirement for service maintenance. When their salesman sold this complete heating and cooling system to me, it was never offered, or explained to me that there needed to be a maintance service contract in place. This was not offered by the salesman at any time before or after the sale of this equipment. Please see the actual document sent by Mr ********** **. He states that I never had a service maintenance contract with his company and has falsely assumed that I have had another company perform this service. Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. has always been the only company to work on this unit. ****** ********** **. now is demanding through his rebuttal letter that I send all annual maintenance records to him as a condition of lifetime warranty continuance. This is not stated in the Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. Lifetime Warranty contract or any other documents that I received from Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. It has never been a requirement from ****** ********** **. and yet Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. has worked on our heating and cooling system with his approval since April 2019, doing all repairs under this warranty. Many visits have been scheduled and completed by Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. with no remedy to the said problems. I have never received any copies of completed work orders from Sunshine Plumbing and Heating after any service job completion. No one from Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. has ever stated that a maintence service contract be required prior to scheduled visits or work being done on my units.

  After allowing Sunshine Plumbing and Heating many opporitunities and actual scheduled visits for repairs, in their attempts to remedy the problems surrounding this air conditioning unit over several years, it is clear that they are unable to repair the unit to normal operationg condition. With this fact in hand, I have suggested to ****** ********** **. several times that he needs to replace the unit with a new one rather that waste our time and increase our electric bill by allowing this unit to continue to operate constantly without proper cooling and cycling.

  On Junly 21, 2023, ****** ********** **. called to ask me for any copies of the Lifetime Warrany, receipts, proposals, ect that I have in my possesion. I delivered copies of these documents that day to his business. ****** ********** **. stated that the warranty does not include replacement of equipment yet it is stated in 2 seperate areas of this lifetime warranty contract. He wanted yet another Tech to visit our home to diagnose the same problems that have been going on for almost 3 years now. He stated "that he just wanted to keep the unit running". This, I believed to mean simply running, not adequately cooling our home. He also stated that he would call me next week to tell me what he had decided to do regarding this unit. He never called me back the next week. I had to contact him on July 25, 2023. ****** ********** **. stated during our conversation, that he was trying to locate a new air conditioning condensing unit for replacement of our old unit. He stated that he would call me when he had found the replacement.

  On July 26, 2023, ****** ********** **. called and stated that he now required another tech be sent  out for yet another visit to our home to recheck the old unit. I asked him why another visit was nessarrary and he replied "that he did not trust the techs that had been sent out previously from his company". I believed that this was his attempt to not replace the unit with a new one at all. I reminded him of our prior conversation in regard to the new condensing unit and he stated that he would require the tech visit to rediagnose the problems. I reluctantly agreed as I felt that I had no other options left. After considering the vast amount of lost time and energy placed upon us and this air conditioning unit with no remedy, I called ****** ********** **. on Friday, July 28, 2023 to cancel the appointment. ****** ********** **.'s response was "OK, thank you". This was the end of this conversation. I never spoke with him again.

  On July 28, 2023 I sent ****** ********** **. dba Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. a certified letter asking for replacement of our unit including a complete explanation of my reasoning. I failed to receive my return receipt from the **** so I re-sent a second copy of the first letter to make certian that he had recieved the document. I did receive a certified letter from ****** ********** **. with the aformentioned demands for non existence paperwork.

  I am requesting for ****** ********** **. to perform to the lifetime warranty contract by replacing this air conditioning condensing unit and matching evaporator condensing unit so that I have a properly performing system and normal electric bills once agian.

  I am hopeful that we can resolve these issues in a timely manner within the arena of the Better Business Bureau's guidance.

  
  Regards,
  
  ******** *****

   

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]

  

  Business response

  08/28/2023

  The Only thing I can offer is to reschedule the appoint with my technician ***** to evaluate the system and see what needs to be done. I have the compressors at my office if those need to be replaced or we can get any other part that needs replacement. The replacement of the entire condenser is the last resort. This is the prerequisite to that. The intent of the warranty is to keep the unit working. 

  Customer response

  08/29/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau®:
  
  Aside from being previously being told by ****** ********** ** that "he was attempting to locate and replace a new Condensor Unit for my unit", I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me if: this will remedy the currently installed original Condensor Unit to operate at a normal consistency allowing the inside air temperature to cool down to at least 70 degrees in the summertime, not cost me $200.00-$300.00 per month in electricity bills, and not continue to run in the on-mode for 15-18 hours per day during summertime without cycling on and off as a normal function of refrigerated air conditioning cooling does. Otherwise, if these conditions cannot be remedied after one last attempt, I will be requiring a complete new outside Condensing Unit with matched inside Evaporator Condensing Unit be installed per contract language by Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc.at ****** ********** **'s expense. The Lifetime Warranty contract as stated for all installed equipment shall continue in force as originally provided.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******** *****

  Customer response

  09/05/2023

  I am writing this follow up e-mail in response to a complaint #******** from last week(August 2023) in regard to Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. not contacting me with any communication on a resolution to my issues. I have been told via a telephone call I made to BBB on September 1, 2023 that the case has been closed. I have not been contacted by BBB or Sunshine Plumbing and Heating in this regard.
  
  I am requesting that BBB contact ****** ********** **. of Sunshine Plumbing and Heating on my behalf to compel him to communicate with you(in written response) and myself to schedule a  resolution/repair/replacement of my air conditioning system. I require a telephone call from Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. in order to schedule a follow up on the issues in a timely manner.
  
  Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter
  
  ******** *****
  *** ********

  

  Business response

  09/07/2023

  Again, I am offering to schedule an evaluation appointment and do necessary repairs. I am not agreeing to ANY od the conditional the demand terms of, including but not limited to:

  1- Indoor Temperature of 70 degrees in the summertime 

  2- I can not guarantee energy bills

  3- I cannot guarantee run times

  Yes, I was looking for a new condenser at the time because after the evaluation we had scheduled in July, I wanted to see if one was available at that time if we could not fix the unit I would replace it, but then you canceled the appointment. I wanted to get this resolved 6 weeks ago. 

   

   

  Customer response

  09/09/2023

  I have reviewed the response letter and wish to schedule an appointment for Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. to evaluate and repair my air conditioning unit to satisfactory standards. As such, it will be nessessary for this air conditioning unit to operate at normal air temperatures and cycles as intended by the manufactuer after evaluation and repair.

  The previous response letter from ****** **********, dba Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. states that he wanted to get this resolved 6 weeks ago. I have been attempting to get Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc.to resolve these issues with my air conditioning unit for almost 3 years now. I wish to schedule another attempt for Sunshine Plumbing and Heating Inc. to resove these issues once and for all.
  Regards,
  
  ******** *****

  

  Business response

  09/11/2023

  We will schedule a service call as soon as possible. I should be able to schedule a tech this week. Please let me know your availability and we will do our best to work within that time frame.

  Customer response

  09/11/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau®:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******** *****

• Initial Complaint

  12/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We hired Sunshine Plumbing to replace our home’s boiler in the Summer of 2022. In the winter of the same year we discovered that our home’s heat was not working. We contacted the business and we were told that they were too busy to send out a plumber. It took 2 weeks to get a plumber to the house. Their plumber replaced all our thermostats at the company’s cost but only connected 2 thermostats to the home’s heating system. For months only 2 sections of our home is heated. I called Sunshine Plumbing and spoke to their receptionist who took down the details of our complaint. She has not followed up with us. We contacted a competitor business for service and they confirmed that Sunshine Plumbing’s plumber (*****) cut wires and reconnected our thermostats in a complex manner out of code which caused our valves to break and not function. I called Sunshine Plumbing to report these findings. The receptionist said she would get help but has not returned my call. In the mean time our bedrooms are 50 degrees inside. Our cost for installing the new boiler is near $20,000. The valve repair has costed our family another $6,000 and we have not yet fixed the wiring issues Sunshine Plumbing has created. I’d like the business to take ownership for the consequences of the work we trusted them to do.

  

  Business response

  02/14/2023

  Hello ****,
  
  This BBB complaint has come to my attention. I apologize, because before this complaint I had thought this issue had been taken care of. I had sent one of my techs to replace the valves and parts that were causing the problem. Of course I want you to have a working system that we installed. I had called and left a message to discuss making the necessary repairs. Please let me know what the current status is and how we can help.
  
   
  
  Thank you,
  
  ****** ********** **
  CEO/President
  

  
  

  Customer response

  02/22/2023

  Thanks for your email and for attempting to address the issues in my complaint. 
  
  As you know, Sunshine Plumbing installed the tankless water heater and boiler combination unit we purchased from the company in the Summer of 2022. The technician who installed the system was Joshua. We were pleased with the work he performed and the professional demeanor of the technicians and personnel at Sunshine Plumbing. 
  
  Prior to this project, we hired Sunshine Plumbing to fix a sewage issue at our Albuquerque property and later we hired Sunshine Plumbing to replace a shower system in our master bathroom and replace faucets in our guest bathroom. (The faucets in the guest bathroom are loose and shift when the faucet is turned on. We overlooked this but it's still an issue I chose not to address in the original complaint.)
  
  During the rainy season in the summer, I called Sunshine Plumbing to report that there was water coming in from the roof into the garage. This was due to the removal of hardware and vent pipes from the old boiler and furnace. A technician was sent. He told me that he adjusted the vent cap on the roof. (There is still water coming into the garage from the roof via the vent pipe.)
  
  As the colder weather of fall came in, we began to notice that there was no heat in our home. My wife, ******** ******, made several phone calls to Sunshine Plumbing to schedule service and she was told that there were no available technicians. In October 2022, after several weeks of calling Sunshine Plumbing a technician was sent out.
  
  The technician, ******, came out to the house to test and rewire the valves (but did not replace any valves). He said that the system was in working order. He told my wife that there were a couple of valves that were leaking and would need to be replaced. She told him that we would like it fixed to avoid future issues. He told her that he would order the valves to replace the ones he found faulty and that he would return to replace them. During this visit, the tech changed out all our thermostats at the company's cost. Of course, we were pleasantly surprised by this gesture. Later we discovered that the heat was only working in 2 large sections of the house but not in the main bedroom, bathroom, closet, and adjoining office. 
  
  Again, we called Sunshine Plumbing and I spoke to the receptionist. Each time I explained the issue and requested that a technician be sent out. She assured me she'd send someone and never did. The second and last time I called (November 2022) she told me that ****** no longer worked for Sunshine Plumbing and that the manager was out of the country on vacation and that there was no one she could help us. I found this response unacceptable and asked to speak to someone who could help me. She told me that she would return my call to schedule a tech for another company they were using as subcontractors. If I recall correctly she mentioned ******* ********. In any case, she never called me back or scheduled a follow-up service. The company was well aware of our heating needs and for whatever reason was unable to provide us service.
  
  In December, in the midst of the cold, the internal temperature in our main bedroom, bathroom, closet, and adjoining office was in the 50s.  
  
  After weeks of waiting for Sunshine Plumbing to contact us, we decided to contact a competitor company who came out quickly to assess the work and ended up fixing the wiring issues and replacing the faulty system valves. The technicians from the competitor company reported to us that the wiring on the valves was inappropriately done which caused damages resulting in the malfunction of the system which then resulted in further work which included replacing the system's 3 manifolds.
  
  The heating in our home has been restored to pre-combi unit installation functionality. We hoped that we could continue our relationship with Sunshine Plumbing but that was not how it worked out. This may be due to a lack of communication and misrepresentation of work completed. Whichever case, the damage has been done and regretfully at our cost. 
  
  I don't know how Sunshine Plumbing can remedy the situation. We'll welcome any reparations that you find suitable. 
  
  Regards, 
  
  **** *******

  

  Business response

  04/03/2023

  I apologize for the delayed response. Below arte a copy of the two emails that I sent to **** on Feb 14 and the second email on Feb 23. 

   

  Feb 14, 2023

  Hello ****,
  
  This BBB complaint has come to my attention. I apologize, because before this complaint I had thought this issue had been taken care of. I had sent one of my techs to replace the valves and parts that were causing the problem. Of course I want you to have a working system that we installed. I had called and left a message to discuss making the necessary repairs. Please let me know what the current status is and how we can help.

   

  Feb 23, 2023

  Hello ****,
  
  Thank you for that response. Again, I am deeply sorry we could not make this right for you. You mentioned hiring another contractor to get the ****** **** working properly. What was their charges? Can you send me a copy of that invoice so I can see what work was done? I am surprised that they had to replace all three manifolds. I would like to get more info on that.
  
  You also mentioned that the faucets we installed are still loose. Would you give me the opportunity to get that resolved for you? If so, respond to this email and ***** will get that scheduled with you.  

*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. ↩