Purchased a ductless air conditioner 4.5 years ago, where the unit was running fine. Belyea even offered a free maintenance the first year, but never followed up with us to visit (even when we have home maintenance protection at that time, and purchased a $13,000 furnace from them 2 years later). Belyea was called to see why the A/C was not cooling, they arrived 3 days later, charging $221 as a diagnostic, then another $119 to do simple maintenance (3 minutes), claiming leaves were in the outdoor unit. There was a loose drain hose that was fixed (zip-tied) for $95 (after they installed it a few years ago!). Mysteriously the unit 3 weeks later is blowing hot air, not cooling. Belyea was called again, performed an $800 leak test, concluding a $1800 repair must be done on the unit. The technician then presented a sales pitch "it would be better to purchase a new unit". Now we are dealing with Mitsubishi directly, and will also warn neighbours and friends in North Toronto to stay away from such a company. There are many companies out there you can trust in your older homes! All of this happened during a heat wave in August/September 2018.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,800.00
- Company Response
We completely sympathize with Mrs. Ivanyshyn’s frustration with her ductless unit and have tried to provide the best advice based on her circumstances. We installed her boiler in September 2012 and included at no charge maintenance 18 months after the installation. We installed her Mitsubishi ductless unit on May 3, 2013 and the unit has had no maintenance since installation. On August 7th, 2018 they called saying the unit was not cooling. Our techs found the outdoor unit completely plugged with dirt, performed an extensive maintenance to clean the unit and got it operating. Outdoor units often get plugged up with fine plant debris and dust (an especially widespread problem in Toronto usually stemming from neighbors renovating homes and/or road work).
On Sept 4 we were called saying the unit was not cooling again. We attended the home and found the unit low on refrigerant, and performed a leak test. A leak test requires putting system under pressure for 24-48 hours to determine the location of a leak when there are no obvious signs at any of the valves. The result of the test determined that the leak was in the indoor coil of the unit, a repair that is essentially replacing half the system, and so suggested that replacing the system would be a better choice to make. When systems become plugged with dirt they can overheat which can cause refrigerant leaks. Unfortunately, there is also no way of being able to guarantee the integrity of a system after it has been run in these circumstances. Mrs. Ivanyshyn’s situation serves as an important reminder to be proactive with looking after equipment. Mitsubishi make excellent ductless units, but they require maintenance. It’s really no different than cars. It doesn’t matter if you buy a Chevy or a Mercedes, if you don’t maintain your car, it will break.