ComplaintsforComfort Cooling, Heating & Air, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  05/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Friday May 19, 2023 Comfort Cooling Heating and Air of ******** ** came to our house to perform an annual cleaning maintenance on our AC unit. After the technician had taken the unit apart he told me that due to the state of the heat exchanger he was condemning the unit “by law”. He turned off the gas supply to the unit and physically cut our thermostat wire, telling us that we would need to get a new unit because the heater was condemned. When asked, he refused to cite any statute that allowed him to do so. He told us “no comment.” We told him to fix the wires he cut and leave. He refused to fix the cut wires and just reassembled the unit leaving the cut wires on the ground, and the unit no longer working. The unit was in good running order with no problems before he touched anything. We contacted the owner and he also wouldn’t provide any statutes for physically cutting our wires. We have contacted other hvac companies and were told him they could turn our gas switch off but not physically cut our wires.

  

  Business response

  06/02/2023

  To whom this may concern,I hope this letter finds you well, I am writing in response to the complaint made by a Mr. ********* ******, or ******** ******* who is listed on the property.We sent our technician out to do a routine, maintenance and clean equipment for the upcoming summer.. upon inspection our technician that the 23 year old unit had large holes in the heat exchanger in the furnace portion of the package unit… which can cause carbon monoxide poisoning even death , my technician showed the husband the holes and told him he would need to replace the heat exchanger or the entire unit… my technician told the man he could disable the heating portion and he would be able have air conditioning for the summer, but we need to make this decision before winter came. The man seemed to understand and went inside to tell his wife or significant other …She came out of the house in a fury videoing my technician saying “these guys are trying to scam us. This is what they do”My technician was so taken aback. He tried to explain and show her the holes in the heat exchanger, letting her know that it was very dangerous for her and the family to turn the gas on and breathe carbon monoxide.  He had priorly disabled the heating portion of the unit by turning the gas off and disengaged the 2 small control wires to gas valve … he snipped  the ends of the 2 furnace control wires that were bare metal measuring about a 1/4 of an inch to keep unit from shorting electrical against cabinet. This is common practice .. you simply strip wire and reconnect when unit is safe  for operation again ….She lost it , cursing my technician very belligerent and told him to put it back the way it was …. He packed his things and left.I called to the home owner to try and reason with her … I stood by my technicians decision to professionally disable the gas heating portion of the unit … I have seen families get very sick and stories of many people dying from carbon monoxide poisoning , we have been doing this for many years , we usually disable equipment and place a danger tag on equipment but we’re unable to do so with the actions of the radical person yelling at the technician …. I’m truly starting to wonder what type of world we are really living in where our company is being demonized for being honest and trying to save someone’s life and help them.. I spend much of my time helping all that I can , we are an honest company and our reputation speaks for itself … we help the elderly with bills and even equipment,We work with Gods pit crew donating our time and resources to helping others in desperate need , we do not do work that is dishonest in anyway shape form or fashion.I’m still disheartened that someone would do this or say this about us when all weWe’re trying to do was help them …( I will attach pictures of busted heat exchanger and letter from the city’s inspections division) Thanks and may God bless you !!!****** ***** ,

  Customer response

  06/22/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Good afternoon. I’m not sure why this company is talking about their volunteering in the middle of this complaint. I also volunteer with **** ********** but it’s not relevant to the destruction this company caused to my property. It’s clear that the owner is being manipulative to try to paint an unrealistic picture of who they are and divert the conversation from what occurred.With that said, my husband hired this company to do $99 cleaning of our unit and nothing else. They did not clean our unit, but they did come to our house and cut our wires and told us we now needed a new unit and quoted us several thousand dollars to fix it.  We even asked the technician to fix the wires he cut and he refused to. We talked to the city and other hvac providers and it is NOT common practice to physically cut wires. This seems like common sense but we called around after being lied to by both the technician and owner of the company. It is ok to shut off the gas valve as this does not cause additional damage to the system. The problem lies that our unit was in full working order before they came to clean it and now our heater doesn’t work. The gas they are referring to would only be a safety concern if the heater was running. Nevertheless, it is summer and only the AC is being used. Again, we asked the technician to fix the wires he cut but he said by law he couldn’t. This is obviously a lie on the technicians part. If the technician came to my house and i saw that his tires were bald (safety concern) could I take them off and drill holes in them because I need to physically condemn the tires for his safety? No. I’m not entitled to destroy other peoples property and I have more sense than that. This is a shady organization and they need to be held accountable for their actions. A $99 cleaning should never have turned into a destroyed system and being quoted for a new one because ours no longer works. Regards, ******** ******* 

  

  Business response

  07/21/2023

  Hello ******** , I am just writing to clear the air here. Our companies reputation speaks for itself. People who know me or our employees know that we go above and beyond to help people we love people and we give back to the community, never in any way would we take from anyone… we disabled your system by turning the gas off and clipping two wires that are easily put back in when the system is safe it literally takes two seconds and cost absolutely nothing in material to start this unit back  up , the wires are not a part of your unit they are merely the control wires  to turn it on and off like a light switch …. we do this for people who do not understand the seriousness of carbon monoxide poisoning, it can be deadly ….. we do not lie to people. We actually do our best to help others we give back we believe that God has blessed us to bless others and that’s the only way we see it. Nothing here requires an electrician , we understand you were very upset to learn your heat exchanger is bad , but when a unit is over 24 years old this is very common..   the city cited you a letter advising you of how dangerous this is …We’ve done nothing wrong and stand by our work … have a blessed day ?? (Here is the code below)[A] 102.3 MaintenanceMechanical systems, both existing and new, and parts thereof shall be maintained in proper operating condition in accordance with the original design and in a safe and sanitary condition. Devices or safeguards that are required by this code shall be maintained in compliance with the edition of the code under which they were installed. The owner or the owner's authorized agent shall be responsible for maintenance of mechanical systems. To determine compliance with this provision, the code official shall have the authority to require a mechanical system to be reinspected. The inspection for maintenance of HVAC systems shall be performed in accordance with ASHRAE/ACCA/ANSI Standard 180. To give a clearer picture of the insignificance of what we did…. this is the control wire to the equipment … we in all cases clip the exposed portion of the copper wire (white only ) to keep any homeowner from turning unit back on themselves and potentially killing their families… when the unit is repaired correctly … we simply reattach the wire control thermostat wire and ensure proper safe operation ….this causes no damage to any equipment nor the wiring .Thanks and may God bless you !!!****** ***** ,

  Customer response

  07/21/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.  Regards, ******** ******* 

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