Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Tru North Heating and Air, Inc.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Tru North Heating and Air, Inc.

  30 W Lancaster Avenue Downingtown, PA 19335-2851

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  Tru North Heating and Air, Inc.

  1074 Creek Rd Downingtown, PA 19335-1214

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/21/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We had the company install a new HVAC and handler unit on April 26, 2022 for $10,187.00. Fifty percent deposit was paid prior to the work and the rest of the payment was made day of installation (April 26, 2022). On Wednesday, May 4, 2022, the unit stopped working and Tru North came out and said it was a wiring problem to the thermostat, supposedly fixed the wiring problem and went on their way. On Saturday, May 21, 2022, our unit stopped working again and the unit completely iced over. We called Tru North for service and a tech came out and told us that the filter was clogged blocking airflow, the unit was iced over and there was nothing that he could do when it was iced over. The tech said that after a few hours, the unit should be working just fine (after we replace the filter) but just in case, the tech would call to check on us later in the day since it's a Saturday and they don't do service calls on Sunday. The unit never worked and the tech never followed up with us. The tech also charged us $79 service call despite the unit being less than a month old, despite us getting a service satisfaction guarantee and disregarding the fact this was the second time the unit had stopped working.Sunday, May 22, I left a 1 star ****** review of the company detailing what had been done to that point. The owner called and yelled at me saying I shouldn't be listening to his workers and that I should've called him, despite his worker saying they don't answer the phone on Sundays. Owner never apologized or offered to make the system work. Another HVAC company came out Sunday afternoon and found that the wiring from the original installation was done incorrectly, the unit had never worked properly from install and also the new unit was low on freon. They fixed the installation problems and refilled the freon for an additional $399.72. All documentation provided to Tru North but no response from company (asked for all communication in writing - no phone calls).

  Business Response

  Date: 09/12/2022

  Hi *********!

  I have attached the original purchase agreement where on page 4/5 under “ALTERATIONS,” you will find, “Any alterations, additions, adjustments, or repairs made by others, unless authorized or agreed upon by this Seller, will be cause to terminate Seller’s obligation under the contract.”
  
  Some additional information I will attach:
  RL ORIG EMAIL & EMAIL FROM RAY – you’ll find the original email *** sent along with the response Ray sent (which *** never responded to)
  RL REVIEWS - The original negative reviews received (Through ****** and ********)
  ******** COMMENTS - Negative ******** comments we received due to the slander
  RL ORIGINAL INSTALL which reflects he had a 10yr Part, 2yr Labor warranty with us
  RLSPP - The 5yr Contract we gifted *** for $0 (which has since been cancelled)
  *** ***** Warranty Void Info – this is where you will see our contract that clearly states this
  PROOF OF REFUND reflects the money we gave back to him regarding his concerns
  RL-FIRST APPT photo shows how quickly Ray sent out our tech when *** called us initially
  
  In addition to the information mentioned above, I’d like to give a step-by-step process of how everything happened:
  -*** ***** called in on 5/21/22 around 1PM. Ray sent out our technician immediately, who was on his way by 1:23PM.
  -Our technician found the coil was frozen and there was debris in the filter, because of this he cleaned off the filter, and requested *** call us once the unit melts. The reason for this is that it can be difficult to diagnose a repair accurately with a frozen coil.
  -We receive a 1-star Review on ****** from *** (attached) on Sunday (5/22/22)
  -*** is claiming he did not have a dirty filter, though we have verbal statements through our technician that he shook debris out of it in front of Ron
  -*** said our technician told him not to call in but we’re 24/7 (it’s listed everywhere) and ***  has called into us before
  calls ***  immediately after seeing the 1-star review – *** has already had another company out (*******) – it’s too late
  -*** forwards us an email requesting we pay for the cost of his ******* repair, claiming they threw us under the bus, and he now only wants contact from us via writing
  -After calling *** about the review, Ray sent an email to him in hopes to work things out on 6/4 which was never responded to. He also responded to the ****** review.
  -We don’t feel we deserve this negative feedback over a situation that is out of our control. We would have happily offered to come out on Monday morning, first thing once the coil thawed out. If the heat were a concern, and we were made aware, we would have gladly taken over window units, as we’ve done for many customers in the past. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize he was dissatisfied until Sunday (after he had someone else out and created a 1-star review on ******).
  -Even after all of this, *** continues to defame us online by updating his ****** review monthly with 1-star (as seen in documents above)

  We made it out to ***'s home within the hour of his No A/C call to assess his problem and instead of calling us back when the coil thawed, he decided to go with another company and void his warranty. We did make multiple attempts to settle this with *** but he continues to harass us online for a bill that we are not responsible for. Please close this concern as we refunded him his $79.00 fee and his warranty is void with Tru North.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/15/2022

  (We will keep [the other company] hidden for privacy purposes. We do have a copy of the original invoice and can present it upon request.)

   

  The bottom line is simple. *** ***** had 10 years of free parts, 2 years of free labor, and was given 5 years of FREE maintenance along with a thermostat repair at no charge. Ron never requested service on Sunday, whether by email, text, or phone and instead chose to have another company come out and tamper with the system. This act voided the warranty and the service agreement as clearly stated on the contract.

   

  Our technician specifically told us that the filter was dirty. We do not believe our techs would lie to us. It happens from time to time when new installs shake loose old debris in ductwork.

   

  Regardless we’ve refunded the $79 dispatch fee which does get charged to all our customers (warranty or not).

   

  Regarding ***'s Service Plan- our customers do not pay increased dispatch fees on weekends or nights under our plan. This is clearly stated on documents presented. Our typical night/weekend fee is $149 for non-service members. It's also the same as [the other company], who charged him a reduced dispatch fee for signing up for their plan (per their invoice).

   

  It’s a simple fact that we received a call from *** on Saturday and had our technician out to his home within the hour. When the customer took the time to call us - we arrived.

   

  The customer's claim of "yelling" at him is subjective, however his claim that he doesn't "trust us" and only wanted interaction in writing is the reasoning behind why he called another company on Sunday in the first place, despite having all the above amenities for free.

   

  In his original email he sent to us, it states clearly "We already had [the other company] scheduled to come out that day.” This is also what he told me over the phone when I called him. This information lines up.

   

  HOWEVER - ONLINE- he states:

  "Sunday, I ended up leaving a 1 star ****** review and the owner called me immediately. He didn’t apologize but told me that it’s not true that they don’t answer the phones on sundays and said I should’ve called him instead of listening to what his employee said. He didn’t offer any solutions and didn’t offer to send a tech back out. I ended up calling another company who immediately came out and discovered that the unit was wired wrong from the install and never worked properly from the start. I ended up having to pay $600 to that company to fix the installation mistake."

   

  This comment, stating "I ended up calling another company" and making it due to Tru North not offering any solutions is FALSE and it is defaming our business. These are two statements from him contradicting each other.  When he was on the phone with me, he mentioned having [the other company] out that day, and that he did not want to wait till Monday.

   

  We have filed screen shots of many of *** *****'s claims online, and using words like "scammed" and “rip off artists” are considered defamation. *** ***** also claimed to have been forced to spend "almost $1000" towards “fixing” our install which is misleading – according to the receipts shown, the amount was lower than that, yet he made these claims twice, and we have the evidence to prove that this dollar value is NOT $1000, or even close to it.

   

  Facts -

  Our dispatch fee is $79.00 and [the other company’s] was $84.15

  Our minor wiring repair (changing one wire from y1 to y1/y2) is no charge (as it takes 5 minutes and costs nothing) and [the other company’s] was $93.29

  Our charge for 410a refrigerant is $250 for 2 lbs while [the other company’s] was $222.28 for 1 lb - so this charge from us would be $125.00 if it was a non-service plan customer

  Our maintenance program is $120 per year and [the other company’s] was $189.00

  All our repairs are 10% off for our plan customers. If you look at [the other company’s] invoice, it states the pricing above for services, then mentions their member savings of $70.53, but they never even took off the savings for the repair.

   

  This customer was overcharged in every single aspect by [the other company], and all these services would have been provided free from Tru North.

   

  Even if you take the wiring, the refrigerant, and the dispatch fee, combined it is $399.72 which is less than 50% of what he is claiming he was "ripped off" for online.

   

  Also, Tru North did offer to cover [the other company’s] bill (IF a photo, proof of the wiring error, or a picture of the low charge on the gauges was delivered). With that being said – we did not receive anything. We are not going to pay back a repair amount billed by a separate company *** had out, especially after *** chose this option over Free, and we certainly are not paying for his new maintenance agreement with someone else.

   

  The bottom line is that *** decided, based on a "lack of trust", to void his 2-year labor warranty along with his FREE 5-year maintenance plan by having another company come out and tamper with the equipment. 

   

  As the contract CLEARLY states... "ALTERATIONS: Any alterations, additions, adjustments or repairs made by others, unless authorized or agreed upon by this Seller, will be cause to terminate Seller’s obligation under the contract."

   

  At this point if *** would like some form of financial remedy to his situation, he must agree to remove ALL of his online content defaming our business and we would then, after removal of ALL content mentioning Tru North in any fashion, be open to discussion on matters helping him remedy his financial loss- within reason.

   

  This would be limited to our costs as a company for 1lb of refrigerant, as we do not charge to move a wire from one terminal to another, and we already refunded his dispatch fee.

   

  Any consideration is NOT an admission of guilt, as we cannot prove that wiring was incorrect, but rather a final offering of consideration regarding a now voided contract. Again, any consideration offered would be in exchange for removal of all online content regarding Tru North and promise from *** ***** that this ends the matter entirely.

   

  *** *****, or affiliates of *** ***** shalt not continue to speak negatively regarding Tru North Heating & Air, otherwise all discussions of helping *** ***** with his [the other company’s] bill are off the table.

   

  Sharon E****

  General Manager

  Tru North Heating & Air

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/15/2022

  [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:
  
  The facts as presented by Tru North are NOT true.  I never asked for any compensation from the company nor did I ever state that I was ripped off or scammed in any review.  I do not wish any financial reimbursement from Tru North nor will I remove the factual accounts of what happened.  If they wish to pursue this further, we are prepared to show with our own records the discrepancies in the call log, emails and reviews as claimed by Tru North. 

  In addition, there are other facts surrounding this that i did not share but will be happy to delve further if they wish to pursue this with inaccurate descriptions.

  Regards,
  
  *** *****