ComplaintsforProactive Home Services

• Initial Complaint

  04/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Proactive home services installed a gas boiler and gas water heater for me. I switched from oil to gas heat. I already had a gas line in my house. After the conversion my pipes banged and clanged incredibly loudly. They did return once in an attempt to address the problem but were unsuccessful. They didnt even listen to where we said the banging was coming from, which we had recorded. Additionally the new boiler shut off twice during a 3 month period. They had warrantied service on this boiler for 1 year. I called them 6 times over a 3 month period and received no reply. Finally I told the company that I was going to have the system repaired by a competent plumber and would like them to reimburse me. The owner called back within 5 minutes and said that he would come over and fix the problem ( finally). He was quite aggressive and argumentative though and I told him that I didnt want him back in my house. He did admit not returning a few phone calls . Additionally he told me that he would submit the rebate paperwork with National Grid for me. When I inquired about the rebate, he said that I didnt call National Grid for 2 months ( not true) and that the program expired and I was no longer eligible for a rebate. The cost of repairs to fix the system was 1000 dollars and the missed rebates were approximately 800 dollars. I would like this company to reimburse me

  Business response

  04/22/2024

  We installed a gas steam boiler for ****************** on October 23 2023. After the installation was completed the boiler shut off two times as he stated. The reason for the boiler shutting off was due to a clogged return line in his homes 80 year old house piping which we repaired for him as a curtesy at no charge. ($1200.00 value). after that he stated he was hearing a banging noise. We returned to his house on 11/9 and 11/15 but on both occasions we were not able to duplicate the sound after turning the boiler on and off several times and waiting in the house for the sound to happen. We instructed him to listen for the sound to let us know if it happens when the boiler stars or stops or during a heating cycle to help us diagnose the issue. He called again on 12/17 at 10:33am and 12/19 at 1:35 PM. I ended up speaking to him on 1/3 at 12:12pm. During the 1/3 phone call he was irate that i didn't call him back fast enough and he stated that doesn't want me back to his house. I explained to him that i would be happy to resolve his issue but i need to come to the house to do that. He told me that he was calling someone else and he would send me the bill. I let him know that i will not pay another plumbers bill at that time. All of the phone call conversations as well as times and dates are all recorded by a 3rd party software company and are available for review.

  As far as the rebates are concerned, we absolutely filed the paper work with national grid as we stated we would. We sent the rebate application to National Grid on December 5th. The application was declined because they require the homeowner to call and change the rate code from a low use customer (They were on a SC1 Gas 130 Res ***** Heat code that needed to be changed) to a lower rate customer code used for heating customers. *********************** did not get back to me until 1/30/2024. On 1/1/24 National Grid cancelled the rebate program without any notice to the installers. However, because we submitted the application (even though they had the wrong rate code) they honored the rebate and it was issued to ***********************. All of this communication was done through email and is all verifiable and available for review. 

  When ****************** threatened to go to the building inspectors house and bang on his door because he wasn't processing his permit fast enough that should have been enough of a red flag for me to cancel my contract with him. Unfortunately, I didn't.

  No money will be refunded from Proactive Home Services to ****************** for any services or rebates. His lack of ability to function in a professional and respectful manner is what caused him to incur any additional charges he may have had.

   

  Customer response

  05/03/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  The owner of this company is telling half truths and dare I say non truths. I will try to put some context to his response

  1.  My new boiler shut down 2 times not because my pipes were old , but because it was installed improperly . Once the inferior work was corrected by a competent plumber at total cost of 1000 dollars, it has since worked fine.

  2.  Proactive stated that he came to my house on11/9 and 11/15 which is true but he only attempted to fix the boiler once. He came to the house on 11/9 because the Inspector ordered him back because he didn't properly vent the job in the boiler room and not to address my concerns

  3. Proactive stated that we couldn't recreate the incredibly loud banging noises in our pipes. The reason for that is because they did't take the time to come to my house and turn up the heat. Also my wife and I have numerous recordings of the terrible banging that I can provide.

  4.  Proactive stated that I called on12/17, 12/19 and 1/3 for which they never responded or returned my calls for help even though I had a 1 year warranty on the boiler. This is correct, but what he failed to say was that I had also called on 11/6, 11/13, 11/14, 11/15 (2 times) 12/6, 12/17, 12/19 (2 times) 1/3, and 1/30. I can provide you my cell phone records if needed. I also called on 3/30 regarding my rebate for which I was told that it was my fault for not getting back to National Grid in a timely manner and that the program was cancelled all untrue. I called National Grid the day that Proactive informed me that there was a problem

  5.  Proactive said that I was irate when they finally returned my call. After 14 unanswered calls for assistance that went unanswered I have to admit that I wasn't enamored with this company. The only reason that I finally did get a return call was that I told the company that I was going to get the problem resolved by hiring a reputable plumber and I would like Proactive to pay the bill. Speaking of getting irate the owner of proactive was irate when I told him that I never wanted him in my house again. He asked me if he stole anything while working there.

  6. Proactive also attempted to start the installation without getting a permit from my town. When the job was delayed proactive claimed that first my wife then I threatened to bang on the Inspectors door to get him to sign the permit. This statement is untrue and I am sure that you can reach out to the Inspector to verify the validity of that silly allegation.

  7. In closing I payed Proactive a lot of money to install my boiler and I was under the belief that it would be installed correctly ( which it wasn't according to my plumber).  I was also under the belief that if the job was under warranty, that I wouldn't have to call for help 14 separate times over 2 months and get no response. I had no recourse but to get it fixed and I still want ProActive to compensate me for my out of pocket expenses that was needed for their job to be complete

  **** ******l
  
  
  
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  05/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Terrible! Stay away from this company!! On May 2,2022, I had a scheduled a/c checkup, which was part of my yearly a/c and heating coverage agreement. They canceled the appointment because it was drizzling outside. *******, who contacted me to cancel the appointment told me that someone would get in touch with me within 2-3 days. So, someone should have called to reschedule by May 5. This never happened!! On May 8, I reached out on their company website without any response. On May 9, 2022, I called and got transferred to their answering service. Again, there was no call back! I did the same outreach the next day and Wednesday May 11,2022. I had also written an email to the owner , **** on May 10,2022. There were a total of 5 outreach attempts without a response, only leaving my cell number for them to call back. Finally, I was fed up with their lack of responsiveness to my calls and e-mails. When I left my third phone message today with their answering service, I told the receptionist that if I didnt get a call back today that I would be writing a negative review and I would be taking them to small claims court to get half of my contract money ( $543 ) returned to me. Only today did I finally get a call back from the owner ****. He was nasty, when he should have been apologetic to me. He told me that hes dropping me as a customer. He said he was going to come to my home , which I took as an implied threat to me and my family. He also lied to me and told me that he contacted me 5 times. This is a blatant lie as I just spent the last few hours checking my phone records for my mobile phone and landline. He only called back after I threatened to take him to court for breach of contract, which seemed to be what he was doing by avoiding to call me back and providing the services that I paid for in my yearly contract. Desired Resolution: 1) Return half of my contact money ($271.50 ) as only have of services were performed as per the contract.

  Business response

  07/28/2022

  This customer called for non emergency service. Each time he called and left a message, I called him back and left a message for him. After the third time he called he decided to threaten me with leaving negative reviews online and gave me an ultimatum with a time frame to return his call. I returned his call and terminated his contract. 

  Customer response

  07/28/2022

  Better Business Bureau:

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  After waiting a long time for the business owner to respond to my complaint, it seems that he doesn't want to return half of the money that I paid him from the yearly service contract that
  I entered into with him or offer any type of reasonable solution. From what I can see in the email that was sent to me earlier today, he is still responding in the same manner in which he did a few months back. From what I can see, his response was the following:
  
  
  "This customer called for non emergency service. Each time he called and left a message, I called him back and left a message for him. After the third time he called he decided to threaten me with leaving negative reviews online and gave me an ultimatum with a time frame to return his call. I returned his call and terminated his contract."
  
  His response was not correct. I did not call for emergency service. I called for them to honor their contract and do the regular air conditioning check-up that I was entitled once a year. They ignored my calls for 2 weeks and were clearly avoiding their responsibilities stated in our contract. They performed the heating checkup in the fall, so they only performed half of the service I paid for according to out contract.  I plan on filing a civil suit against this business in the next few days.
  
  
  

   

   

   

   

  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business response

  08/17/2022

  I am not able to respond further at this time due to open litigation concerning this smatter

*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. ↩