A-Plus Energy Management Air Conditioning & Heating

Additional Notes

Complaint: I bought a very expensive ($11,000) air conditioning filter system from this company based on what the owner (****) advised. The purchase included an extended service warranty. There were numerous problems with the company's brand new top-of-the-line product—it broke down repeatedly and had to have numerous repairs. The owner has always been extremely unhelpful and it is through my persistence that the problems ever got resolved. The latest problem involves our service contract. The company failed to properly service the unit and replace the specialized air conditioning filter we purchased from them—they told us that only they could provide the needed filter and we could not purchase it directly so were at their mercy. This lack of proper servicing resulted in undue wear and tear on the new AC unit which will translate into a shorter lifespan. This was brought to my attention when their service technician came out to service the unit and told me that the filter was supposed to have been changed during the last inspection and may have resulted in permanent and expensive damage to the unit. When I called to find out why this had not been done, the owner ****, told me that it was overlooked in a very rude an unapologetic manner and told me it was not his responsibility although we have a service contract with him. A-plus then installed a new filter and I wanted to deduct the filter cost off the cost of our maintenance agreement—the agreement had not been fulfilled because A-plus did not properly service the unit we purchased from them and caused damage. I spoke to the owner about this and he said he would get back to me. We have not received a bill with the service cost deducted as of yet but their accounting department has called and I have explained the situation to them and it still has not been resolved.

Desired Settlement: We would settle for a billing adjustment with the service cost deducted from the filter cost and would appreciate an apology from the owner.

Business Response: I am aware of the customers concerns and they have been
addressed, however not to her satisfaction. 
The letter that was sent to her is attached.

 

To better understand her concerns, we should go back to
2010.  The AC system and air purifying
system that was sold to her was at her behest. 
Typically, I do not encourage 2 stage compressor systems, nor do I
encourage any air purifying systems.  She
wanted top of the line ****** and that is what my proposal for her included.  When I reviewed my original notes from 2009,
I had noted she wanted a 2 stage system and not what I was offering at the
time.  In addition, the original proposal
did not include the pure air cleaning system; she added that when we did the
job a year later.  ****** was running a
promotion and there were rebates for the top of the line system, thermostat and
pure air system.  We gave her what she
asked for, not what we would have offered. 
We were also supposed to do some duct wrapping, insulation, and other
energy conservation work that was modified because she had someone else do the
work outside the Austin energy program.   She did not want us to do the insulation
because we felt she needed other attic openings to do a good job wrapping the
ducts and blowing the insulation so she got someone else to do the
insulation.  This compromised our duct
sealing job, but we did the best we could and it passed the Austin energy
inspection.  She had airflow issues we
told her we could not address because she had metal ducts and the roof pitch
was too low.  The only attic access was
in a closet next to the unit and there was no reasonable access to address any
issues in the attic.  There is a copy of office
emails from that date regarding the above information that will also be
attached.

 

Shortly after the installation, the customer called with a
complaint that the unit did not cool well in the afternoons.   She was informed that if it was due to
insulation or duct wrapping that we could not help her because someone else had
done the insulation. Since they did it before we did the duct work, we could
only do the best we could under the circumstances that was left us.  After several visits, it turned out to be a
bad txv (expansion valve) and we replaced it under warranty.  Then, there were possible thermostat issues,
and after several visits to correct the problem, we found it necessary to have
****** send ****, their field representative to check out the new system.  He missed the first appointment, but made it
when we rescheduled.  He commented the
return air was too small, but we had addressed this with the homeowner and she
did not want to do what we suggested.   Mind you, to this point, none of the issues
have been due to poor installation, and in all cases we responded and continued
to pursue what needed to be done to fix the problem.

 

In May, 2011 there was a free cooling check up, and on
January, 2012 there was a heating checkup. We had included the two free
checkups with our original proposal as a bonus incentive.  The supply air plenum was still leaking some
air and this was repaired under warranty as well.  There was no cooling check up done in the
spring of 2012.  However, in the fall of
2012 she invested in an annual maintenance agreement and the first checkup we
did for that was for the heater.  In
February, 2013 she called the office with a no cooling call.  We went out, checked the circuit board and
refrigerant pressures.  The switch on the
board was re-set and the pressures checked out fine.  At this time, she was told her filter was
dirty and needed replacing.   She asked
*****, our dispatcher, for the cost of the replacement filter and he quoted her
$256 if she installed it and additional if we did.  She asked us to order the filter kit and
bring it to her when we did her prepaid check up that was still due.  Homeowner was to install the filter kit
herself.   As it turned out, after performing the prepaid
check-up, the tech helped her install it and did not even charge her for his
time.  At this time she refused to pay
for the filter and told us it was our fault for not reminding her it needed to
be done, that we should have automatically brought it, and now her unit is
probably dirty because of us, and she refused to pay us.  She wanted us to admit it was our fault and
give her credit for the service call that locked out the control board.  I refused. 


 

In conclusion, I would like to add (also stated in my letter
to her), as a courtesy to our customers, we send two to four reminders a year
regarding spring and fall checkups.  We
also send a first quarter newsletter.  In
not one single case has any of her mail been returned to us.  I cannot take responsibility for her not
taking care of her own equipment.  We do
not call and remind customers to change filters.  With a customer base in the five figures, we consider
ourselves fortunate that we are able to send post card reminders.  I think if she would check around, she would
find out that we more than exceed what our competitors do by sending multiple
mailings, and not just one.  I cannot, in
good conscience, apologize for something that I feel we are not responsible for.  The customer ought to take responsibility for
her own actions, or lack of.  From what I
can tell looking back at the invoices in her file, in all cases the issues have
been addressed in a timely manner and that none of them have had anything to do
with a poor installation.  The problems
were from parts that failed.  This has
nothing to do with our work and we have always been responsive and not charged
for any of the calls. The owner would like to be credited the cost of the
annual maintenance agreement where all of the work has been performed.   We do not see the validity of that, but I am
open to arbitration and will abide by the BBB decisions.  

**** *****

Consumer Response: [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Complaint: *******

I am rejecting this response because:

BBB's Final Determination: After reviewing the position of all parties, BBB determined that the business made a reasonable effort to address the complaint. However the consumer remains dissatisfied.