My A/C unit was turning on and off, and seemed to shut off when it was really hot. So at night it would come on when the temperature outside was cooler, and during the day, especially on the hot days, it would shut off. They sent a technician. He was supposed to show up between 11:30am-12pm, but he was over 1hr late.
Once he arrived, he was professional, and advised that the problem could be the capacitor, compressor, or the relay. He said he needed to call the manufacturer to confirm exactly which part it was and would get back to me within a day. I received no phone call the following day, so I called them back for an update. I was promised a call back, but did not get one. Same thing happened the following day. After about 3-4 phone calls I finally heard back from the owner, Chris and he told me the problem was the compressor and it would cost $1496 for the part and $994 for labour. They told me that I would have to pay $1496 for the part in advance, because they don’t want to be stuck with the part if the customer cancels on them.
I got another company to take a look for a 2nd opinion, and they ended up replacing the capacitor for $270 (parts and labour). My a/c has been running fine ever since, even on the hot days. I called Airplus back to advise them that they mis-diagnosed the problem, and see if they would do anything about $100 service call fee that they charged. I wasn’t expecting the entire amount refunded since they did send a tech. I was hoping they would refund part of the charge.
After a lengthy discussion, Chris told me that they would have replaced the capacitor first, and then the compressor, but I had to pay for the compressor because they don’t want to come back and forth ordering different parts. At this point in the call, he told me that he would have refunded me the $1496 for the compressor if it turned out that it wasn’t the problem. I was not told this in the original call. If I could have received a refund, then why did I have to pay a deposit in the first place? If they refunded my money, wouldn’t they be stuck with the part? It sounds like they would make the customer order and pay for the MOST expensive part. Another question I have is why are they ordering and replacing so many parts? You should KNOW what needs to be replaced. So this company just randomly replaces parts until the problem is fixed? There are articles on the web that describe very specific tests that can be done to determine if the compressor failed, like checking for acid levels, and hooking up an Ohm meter and checking the resistance. None of this was done on my unit. In the end, as I had told Chris on the phone, I was disappointed with the service provided, especially since they had such a high rating on Homestars.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $100.00
- Company Response
Susan, as it stated on our invoice for dignostics that it may be the capacitor, relay and or compressor, you chose another company for 2nd diagnosis,they had that particular capacitor with them and it's running right now but we believe it won't last very long because my tech did ohm out the compressor when it did run and found it over amping, so I believe you have a temporary fix. The reason we get a deposit on expensive parts like your compressor is because we've been burned in the past from customers not paying for material after it's been installed then it's a battle to get paid and once part is installed,can't return supplier for refund.I did explain to you when we talked that if it is the compressor what the cost would be and that the deposit is necessary when ordering of these expensive parts. We did nothing wrong but your upset because you paid for diagnosis twice which was your decision, we did diagnos the problem correctly but you just didn't want to give a deposit which again is your decision but to trash our reputation over $100 that you wanted back is our biggest gripe about the social media unfair dominance.