Just a bit over 3 years ago, I had Ardent install 3 Ductless air-conditioning systems, 1 Reznor Heater for my garage and 1 HRV system in my garage for my rodent breeding business. 4 out of 5 units I have had trouble with since installation.
When I first inquired to Ardent. I wanted quotes for 3 items for my Rodent breeding business, that is located in my garage, which is close to 1000 sqft. I inquired about an air conditioning unit, heating unit, and an HRV system. Jason sent his lead man Brandon to look at the garage and do the measuring etc. and relay the information to Jason, so he can do the quotes. I fully explained to Brandon What I was doing, as the garage was still under renovations at the time. I fully explained to Brandon, that there will be up to 3000 rats breeding for me, and that the heat output can exceed over 100 degrees farenheight. Also that it will be a very high dust environment. I received the quotes from Jason, and decided to go with his company. Big mistake on my part. They installed a ductless air conditioner that is way too small for the size building, never mind for my rodent business and the heat outputs of the rodents. They also installed an HRV system that does nothing but leak in the winter and drown my rats. Even with no snow on the output and input vents it still leaked, so I gave up on it last winter and unplugged it for the rest of the cold months. As for the Ductless air conditioner, it's way too small for the building an my needs. I have lost over 40 breeder females and 60 hopper and small rats due to it getting too hot in the garage. I feel this company has no understanding of commercial air conditioning needs, and doesn't do proper research in what the customer needs the equipement for, that they want to purchase and have installed by Ardent. I think Jason just cares about selling the equipment and getting money from the customer. I did explain to Brandon that it was a high dust and high heat environment. So why did he sell me an air conditioning unit that is totally useless for my needs. Also he now tells me after 3 years, the heads on the ductless air conditioning have to be replaced every 3-5 years because of the dust. !. why didn't he tell me this before the air conditioner was actually sold to me? Jason is now wanting $1,100.00 for a replacement head. If I knew I had to replace the head every 3-5 years ahead of time, I would never have purchased that type of A/c unit. He also wants to charge me $500.00 for 2 pieces of steel to go over the vents outside for the HRV system. $250.00 for parts, and the other half labor. I can understand having these specially made costs a lot to set up machinery etc. But where does $250.00 labor come from? To put what maybe 8 screws in the wall?
I had to pay an additional $332.00 for the ducting for the HRV system over a year after it was installed. This ducting should have been included in the original quote, as well as the 2 pieces of metal that go over the vents.
I'm now left with $5,900.00 worth of equipment that is more or less useless to me. An HRV that I can't use in the winter, which my main reason for buying an HRV system, was to use it in the winter, cause I can't exhaust 24/7 in the winter, or I'll freeze the rats out. I also bought an air conditioning system to keep the rats cool in the warm months.
The only good thing I have to say is that they did return now I believe it's around 20 or more times to try to fix some of the equipment sold to me. After more than 10 tries, they have fianally stopped the living room air conditioner from leaking gas and water.
They did fix the early problems with the heater after 3 tries.
But I'm still left with a leaking HRV system that is useless in the winter, and an air conditioner in the garage that is way way too small for the size building, never mind useless for my business needs.
I've had 2 other heating and air-conditioning companies in my garage to do estimates for a proper 3 ton 13 seer forced air system for my business. Both salesmen or estimators looked at the Ductless air conditioning that Ardent sold me and both said. That unit is way too small for this building, it's only a 1 ton unit.
Another thing that Ardent did wrong, is that they ran the drain line for the HRV system through the wall where it will freeze in the winter..
I mentioned to Jason, and he asked me to stop by the shop to pick up some parts to run a by-pass, he ended up giving me a bunch of miss-sized, parts and pieces, that if I installed them, they would 1 leak, 2 look like garbage. I ended up spending $100.00 of my own money, to buy the proper size line, tees, valve, clamps and brackets to secure it properly.
I strongly feel robbed and would like the amount of $6000.00 returned to me, or I will file be forced to file with small claims court next week. I will be speaking to a lawyer on the weekend, that maybe representing me
For your home and especially commercial needs. I would never ever recommend this company to anyone!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $15,000.00
- Company Response
Hi Robert,
thank you for your review however there are many things about your review that are untrue, exaggerated as well as important things left out in order to make our company look bad. It was also brought to my attention that our competition that doesn't have the high quality reputation that we have worked so hard to establish over the years had allot to do with this review. Please see below our side of the story.When we quoted you we priced out your job you were in the process of building your garage but you mentioned you would starting off slow for a few years and then expanding to larger quantity of rats, we gave options that were within your budget and explained that there is no way of knowing how much actual cooling you were going to need because you were starting off with a smaller amount of rats and then expanding so we suggested that you could go with one unit and then if it wasn’t enough you can expand that unit in he future in order to keep your costs down.
The actual unit yes had a few problems at the beginning but we corrected it and when it was working it did the job of cooling for years with no problems of not cooling enough.The problem you are having is that your business is a very dusty and an extremely dirty and toxic one, our techs have to go there at there only at the end of the day so they can go straight home and wash their cloths as the ammonia smell in your place is so strong. The Ammonia urine smell is so bad that the techs have gotten ill and their eyes are red and bloodshot by the time they leave. We have mentioned on numerous occasions that your type of business is going to need replacement parts as part of the business and the fact that ammonia from the extremely strong urine smell from all the rats is toxic to any metal and corrodes electronics quickly.
The last times we were there the equipment were so filled with dirt and dust that they could no longer cool and could not be cleaned and that you would have to replace the unit on the inside, and then again in about 3-5 years. you don’t seem to understand that this is an expense that must be accounted for every 3-5 years for your line of business no matter what you put in there.As for the HRV we have told you why the leaking was happening, it Is not our fault or the unit it is the fact that your wall is accumulating allot of snow that sticks and blocks the vents. We had no way of knowing this at the time of installation. when we suggested a fix and proposed we do it for cost you complained cause you don't have the money.
Bottom line is the whole story is not being told here (there is always two sides to every coin) and I am saddened that you wrote such a negative review just because you’re not happy we wont replace your indoor air conditioning unit that is rotted and filled with dirt and other stuff from the day to day operations of breeding thousands of Rats.
I’m also saddened because we have gone out on the 20-minute trip to your house on numerous occasions only to find that the problem wasn’t even anything that was caused by our product or our company and we didn’t charge you, in most cases we repaired/cleaned it anyway for you at no charge. we have also done allot of work for you free of charge or for cost where the company didn’t make money and in allot of cases we lost money on including installing an entire gas line BBQ line that was over 25 ft long FREE of charge and also installing an entire duct system for the HRV for less than what it cost us for the parts and labour.
Your entitled to your review but like I said not all the information is correct or being told, your side of the story is different from ours in many cases. We have a very good reputation and the thousands of extremely happy customers that know me and our company will back our integrity and professionalism up any day.
In this line of business with thousands of customers you cannot please everyone but we have gone over and above for you over the years but were not willing to replace the air conditioner free of charge for you as you wanted us to do just because you threatened to write a bad review.
Jason Edwards
ArdentHeating, Air Conditioning & Water Treatment
31 King Street unit 10
Barrie, Ontario
L4N 6B5
(705)721-HEAT (4328)
www.ArdentCanada.com