Disappointed at Workmanship and Tactics
Was looking at getting a AC + furnace combo and went through a ton of quotes from all the companies you might think to go to. Of all, Empower looked to offer the most and the fairest price. The sales person was super helpful, attentive, patient and noted that there is no reason to get a new humidifier from Empower as I already had a new one and they would just install it free when they do the furnace. I thought that was great and super helpful. As well he sweetened the deal with a carrier rebate of $800 which was great. The other reason we decided to go with them was that they were a certified Carrier installer which should have some weight to it.
Fast forward to installation day. They started off with the removal of the old equipment. All good so far.
Next up they moved to get the new AC installed. I had the old AC mounted on the wall and I preferred to have the new one done in the same way. Finding out that they had to put new brackets in, they noted that it might not hold. That should have been a red flag, but they proceeded to make the holes in the brick and place anchors in. None of the anchors held and ultimately after 3 holes all no good, I had to do with the pad on the ground. I now had 3 unnecessary holes in the brick in addition to the old ones. They should just not offer a mounting service when they are not equipped to do so.
Moving to the furnace installation. There was A TON of issues placing in the new coil. The older installation was CLEAN with cutouts made precisely and cleanly. Now imagine the exact opposite of that and that is what happened. Instead of making the duct wider, so that it can fit nicely, then cutting out holes where required, they kept the old holes, cut up the duct so that it stuck out to fit the new coil. It was horrendous. This was going to be the way it was going to stay and up to the standards of the installation had I not stopped them, and demanded they redo it. A new sheet was placed with new cutouts but they were barely accurate and had to be adjusted and bent to fit again. Looks better and covered by tape, but very disappointing from a Carrier certified installer.
The intake and exhaust piping is mostly ok but done geometrically incorrect on one join so its barely fitting and holding on. I fully expect this to fall apart at this joint as some point.
The cleanup was relatively fine, the walls were damaged where they were working inside and the washer scratched and scuffed. Outside they did not fill any of the holes and used bright white caulking for any gaps where the pipes went through. Where they drilled for the new intake pipe, they didn't clean up the area, fill with foam and caulk it. What they did was leave all the lose grout and brick there and just fill it with white caulking, on red brick. There were gaps and holes where I had to rip it apart and do it properly myself.
I have spoken with Empower about the issues and we both agree that installation should be done better and that this helps anyone looking to get it in the future get a better experience.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $9,000.00
- Company Response
Hi Janko,
Thank you for leaving a review, I'm sorry to hear that there were areas during the installation process that did not meet your expectation. I believe my colleague has already been in touch but if there are any additional issues you notice or did not address already you can always call us at 1-800-375-8984 and we're happy to try and see what could be rectified.
Regarding the rebate, looking at your sales proposal the promised trade-in rebate amount we see on our proposal for you was $800 instead of the $900 you'd mentioned, could it be possible that the $900 was maybe a promise from another dealer you had reached out to? Normally if the rebate amount received falls short of what we promised on the proposal we're happy to keep our promise and make up the difference since it was a promise to our customer, however on the proposal I am seeing $800 as well. If you'd like to get a copy of the proposal feel free to reach out to us via email and we're happy to send a copy.
The $800 trade-in rebate you mentioned is a rebate offered by the manufacturer, we as the dealer submit the rebate for the customer online and the rest is being processed by the manufacturer and sent out from the United States. A confirmation code is provided to the customer through an email the manufacturer sends and that code can be used to check the status of the rebate claim. We unfortunately do not have additional insight into the process compared to the customers, so the information we can provide to customers is limited to what the manufacturer provides to us. Also, due to the pandemic, there may be delays in the processing of the rebate at the manufacturer's rebate headquarters and/or during the mailing and shipping phase. But I can certainly see how the delay and lack of information on the rebate could be frustrating. If you still have additional questions or issues you'd like to bring to our attention please don't hesitate to reach out to us at 1-800-375-8984, we're always happy to help!Sincerely,
Team Empower