I have a condo heat pump that was not working I called premi-air and paid $500. for two visits and my heat pump still does not work properly the fan on the unit does not shut off.. I find it impossible to get an honest and trust worthy company to fix any thing so I tried homestars. I am so disappointed in both Premi-Air Heating & Air Conditioning and homestars. Premi-Air got good reviews but I wonder who was writing them. If after two visits a company can not fix a simple heat pump they are either incompetent or dishonest? What am I supposed to think if after two visits my unit does not work. I think they want to come back and then charge me for something else. This is my rebuttal to your company response. I was NOT looking for a quick cheap fix I was looking for a honest reliable repair company. When I called you for the first time I told you I had paid 300 dollars to the company that is associated with my condo it worked briefly and they wanted me to pay again which I refused. On your first visit you say” Our technician diagnosed your problem that the compressor relay was not wired properly and not allowing the compressor to come on.” So your technician was obviously wrong because it only ran for a few minutes after he left. He did NOT watch it operate for ½ an hour as you say. After your first visit you left me with a 353 dollar charge and the heat pump did not even work for 5 minutes. You say “we told you we will return "FREE OF CHARGE" to diagnose the problem.” Why would I pay you again after paying 353 dollars? I paid 75 dollars to have a thermostat installed. You say “I am very familiar with your thermostat and the hidden functions that it has that you might be unaware of.” Why did your technician not program it correctly while he was here? I thought 75 dollars was high cost for a 5 minute job but hopefully for such a high fee you could program it correctly the first time. Even after I shut the unit off from the thermostat it continued to run I had to shut off the main switch to make it stop. After your second visit I noticed your technician was manual turning the main switch on and off. So that I would think it was cycling but I was not sure what he was doing until he left and I realized it would not shut off. I did write this review because I am rightfully disappointed and after 510 dollars my unit is still not operating properly. And other people have the right to know. If you are truly trying to satisfy you customers you would have called me but instead you wrote a rebuttal. If you had fixed it right the first time you would of had a customer for life and I would have recommended you to everyone I know. Instead I have called someone else and will have to pay even more. Outrageous!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $500.00
- Company Response
Good Day Mr. R.,
I feel very bad that you are unhappy with our services but even worse that you took the liberty to write this bad review that does not accurately present the facts and the reason for your disappointment. This is troubling to me specifically because we have company policies that were followed meticulously to ensure customer satisfaction.
For the sake of all the fine people on Homestars, I will relate what actually happened.
We responded to a service call at your condominium unit on Thursday. You told us that your heat pump had not worked for more than a year and you did not want the building contractor to service you because they wanted to charge you $300 to return after their first visit. We charged you a flat rate of $139 + HST which we clearly explained includes a diagnostic service. This means we will send a technician who will identify the problem with your unit and the cost to repair it. Our guaranty is that if within 30 days any additional problem occurs with your unit that our technician may have overlooked, we will return to your home FREE OF CHARGE to diagnose your unit again. We have this warranty to protect our customers. Many times there are layers of problems where a problem is not apparent until the first layer problem is corrected.
In your case, we found the system not working at all. Not cooling and not heating. The compressor would not come on at all. Our technician diagnosed your problem that the compressor relay was not wired properly and not allowing the compressor to come on. We quoted you, in advance of any repair that we performed, $99 to repair the wiring in the unit. We did this repair and the compressor ran. You were delighted because the unit had not run in over a year and we had successfully "revived it". Then you asked us to install a new thermostat that you had purchased. We quoted you $75 for this work which you approved in advance of the thermostat installation. When we left Thursday, our technician confirmed that the compressor was running properly within the amperage and pressure ratings of the manufacturer. He watched it operate properly for 1/2 hour.
Later on Thursday, you called to tell us that the compressor stopped working. We told you that we would return on Friday and YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED OUR DIAGNOSTIC CHARGE as per our company policy. When we arrived, we found that after the compressor runs for a while, it trips out on its internal overload protection. This is a sign that the compressor bearings are getting worn. We suggested the installation of a "HARD START KIT" which will allow the compressor to operate properly under these conditions. Although your compressor was worn, this would extend the life of your compressor and would allow you to defer the large expense of compressor or unit replacement. Before we did this work, you approved the cost of $139 for the purchase of this hard start kit. You were upset that this was costing so much. I also feel bad that your unit was worn and required these repairs, but I was happy that we were able to restore the heating and cooling that you had not had for over a year.
So far, you had incurred the expense of $139 Diagnostic, $99 for wiring repair and $139 for hard start kit. The total for this repair was $377 + HST. There was an additional charge of $75 for the replacement of your thermostat.
None of these costs were surprises and all were pre-approved. Additionally, your system now works in both heating and cooling.
Friday late afternoon, you called us back and reported that although your cooling is working, the fan never shuts off. Again, we told you we will return "FREE OF CHARGE" to diagnose the problem. I am quite sure that the fan is running constantly due to the programming of the new thermostat that you supplied and asked us to install. I am very familiar with your thermostat and the hidden functions that it has that you might be unaware of. Regardless, we offered to return this week, and adjust our schedule to come after hours to accommodate your schedule so you are not inconvenienced to stay home from work. I want you to know, that when my technician was on site on Friday, as per our policy for second visits, he called me to discuss his findings in detail and I personally was involved in the diagnostic and recommendation. I deeply care about all my customers and do everything in my power to solve their problems quickly and accurately. I am available to my technicians 24/7 to ensure our recommendations are correct. Your case was no different and the fact that your unit is cooling nicely proves it.
Clearly, you are upset because you were hoping for a cheap fix which is not realistic. Any of our customers would have left us a glowing review that we were able to revive their unit and saved them the expense of replacement. They would have complimented the fact that we stand behind our diagnoses and do not charge to return if anything else goes wrong. They would appreciate that we would come after hours with no charge to accommodate their schedule.
You mention that you wonder who writes our reviews, in fact, they are grateful customers who appreciate the hard work all our team members exert to satisfy each of our dear customers. The proof to this is your review and other few negative reviews that we have received. The proof of the validity of our reviews are the fact that I care deeply about pleasing my customers and take the time to respond to each of their comments whether good or bad.
Mr. R.,it is clear from your review that you don't consider us honest or competent. I guess there is no longer a reason for us to continue doing business. I do feel terrible about this but some things are out of my control. I respectfully request, that in the event that you reflect on what happened and how we have helped you when no one else was able, and when you realize that we are a sincere, honest and competent company, you call us back so that we can show you how to program the thermostat to allow for your preferred method of fan control.
Sincerely,
Joe Simon
Good Day Mr. R.,
Once again I'd like to thank you for your comments. I am very interested in your concerns and appreciate you expressing them. You suggest that I should have called you rather than respond to your comments on this forum. I always respond to my customers in the arena that they select. I find it strange that you wrote your original review without even reaching out to me with a phone call or email to express your dissatisfaction. Rarely does a customer leave a poor review without even expressing any dissatisfaction to us directly through an email or phone call. You never called to complain and we only learned of your extreme dissatisfaction on this forum. If your goal is to speak with us, and try to resolve your heat pump problem, why didn't you simply call me? I feel responsible to the fine people of Homestars and it is to them that I am speaking when I communicate the actual facts of our interactions. The following facts are quite clear from our conversation. The heat pump is cooling properly and all of the charges were pre-approved with you before any work was done. You say that "the heat pump did not even work for 5 minutes." This is clearly not true because you would never have let our technician leave site if the unit was not running when he left. Even if he left your apartment, he would not even have reached his vehicle within 5 minutes. Had you called our office, our technician would have come right back. In fact, the heat pump worked all afternoon until you called us back much later. It is unfortunate that you are misrepresenting the facts. Regarding your thermostat, the fact that the fan is running is not a malfunction nor is it a mistake in programming it is merely one of the features that allow the user to select different modes of fan operation. This thermostat was selected, bought and supplied by yourself so I assume that you understand how to use the product you bought. We do not warrant any equipment that we did not supply. Our technician installed and set up the thermostat properly. I personally reviewed this with him. The fan scheduling is a USER" preference and is designed to be setup by the user. As I said in my first response to your comments, "I respectfully request, that in the event that you reflect on what happened and how we have helped you when no one else was able, and when you realize that we are a sincere, honest and competent company, you call us back so that we can show you how to program the thermostat to allow for your preferred method of fan control."