ComplaintsforMerlins A/C and Plumbing

• Initial Complaint

  12/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  1 1/2 half ago Merlins installed an entire system in my home as a snow bird when I arrive the heating portion did not work because they failed to install the heat exhaust pipe. They sent a quality inspector out and he corrected the condition and noted how bad the entire installation was. Fast forward to September and an installation p-trap failure allowed all the water accumulated out side of the tray to accumulate and destroy the ceiling. Not only did the new system fail but because of the incompetent installation it destroyed my living room. They also charged me $3300 to bring the faulty system to working condition

  Business response

  12/11/2023

  At the current moment everything is corrected with no further action being requested by the customer.

  Our company keeps records of all phone calls. text messages and emails associated with every job. As well we give a two year maintenance and warranty on all our work.

  This particular job was installed well over 2years ago which is outside of our warranty and maintenance period. There were numerous attempts to schedule inspections during the 2year period all canceled and declined at the home owners request. 

   

• Initial Complaint

  08/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  my air conditioner stopped working 7/26/2023 and i called for service. ******'s sent a repairman to the house on 7/27/2023 and he determined that the air conditioner needed a new condenser which he would have to order. with the weekend coming, i probably couldn't see a new part til the following monday, 7/31/2023. have been calling all week and no part had arrived. was told a serviceman would be a the house on 8/3/2023 to repair the unit. no ******* has showed up yet and i am very uncomfortable without air conditioning for this past week. have left messages with the company's answering service to inquire about repairs and have not received any answer.

  Business response

  08/14/2023

  We have spoke to the customer about this situation and have been told everything has been resolved and this complaint should be closed.  

• Initial Complaint

  07/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We have an air conditioner unit under warranty, installed less than 2 years ago, and it is not working. Called for air conditioner service with the original installer, ******'s, on Friday, July 28th (afternoon) and was told they have 24 hours to address the issue. Nobody helped or called back so we called them again on Saturday, July 29th, (three times before we talked to anyone) to determine when we could get service. ************ house temperature reached 94 degrees F, and we were told that they had "2 installs and would check to see if reps were willing to look at our unit afterwards." No call, and no show. They made an appointment for Monday morning, July 31st. They confirmed Monday morning appointment (no time given) via text. Nobody showed or called Monday morning. Tried to call them again and only reached a voice mail stating that nobody was available to take our call. We are being ignored. This company is not honoring their agreement for which we paid a premium. Even barring a premium, we are still under warranty for this A/C unit with this company, and they are not fulfilling an obligation for service to their purchasing customer. We now have to seek out a reputable company to help with our AC problem and shell out excess costs to pay for labor (which would have been covered under the warranty with ******'s) plus whatever service fee is charged for the visit. This also further extends our misery in unlivable conditions for the fourth day.This company is crooked and is trying to avoid their liabilities to us.

  Customer response

  09/01/2023

  Please be advised that ******'s A/C finally provided service on the same day that the complaint was originally filed with Better Business Bureau. The unit was finally repaired and operational after 3 days of unacceptable living conditions. The issue has been resolved.
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On April 25th, 2022, ****************************************** sent a technician to my house to do an air condition unit "tune-up" after having called me on the phone with a $75 promotion. My ac unit was working just fine but I wanted to make sure that my unit was ready for the summer so I accepted their offer. A technician came out who proceeded to sell me a "gold membership" for $3000 which would include 2 free tune-*** per year, 20% off labor & services, etc.. along with a few other misc. items that the technician said needed to be replaced & refilled (including Freon, although againmy unit was blasting ice cold air/made no noises/ran at will/etc..) before he touched it. He offered also a air purifier for my unit which I said I did not want or need but then said it was included in the membership. On June 25th, my ac unit started to not cool the house (for the 1st time in 8yrs since I purchase the unit in 2014), so I called Merlins *************************** to come out since I now had a membership with them for ac unit servicing. They stated that I had a Freon leak (???) and charged me $620 ($775 minus my 20% membership "discount"). I didnt understand how I would have a leak within the 2 months since they last came out to test my unit but I paid it. On December 1st, I get a call from ******'s that says I'm due for my bi-annual "free tune-up" so I schedule an appointment for them to come out on December 7th. On December 7th (my ac/heat was working 100% fine), a technician comes out, goes up on the roof for 5 minutes, & comes back down saying that my "amps are running at **** which is higher than the 21 amps that it should be running". He checks my air filter in the hallway (which I had changed out a month prior), says nothing & then proceeds to try to sell me some sort of $12,000 compressor that I can "finance thru ***** Fargo". WHAT??? I ask him how on earth can my unit (that is only 8yrs old & cost less than $6000 new) possibly need a replacement part for $12,000 when an entire new unit would cost less AND when the average lifespan of an ac unit is supposed to be 15-20yrs ?? He leaves & "wishes me good luck" with my unit. The next day, I try to turn on my heater & the unit turns on for about ***** seconds then turns itself off. So I call Merlins to tell them that now my (perfectly-good-before-their-technician-touched-it) ac unit doesnt run for more than 30 seconds! So they send out the SAME technician on 12/10 who goes up on the roof, comes down 20 minutes later to tell me that my motherboard is completely blown and my unit doesnt work at all! He then tries to sell me a $2000 motherboard? On both visits 12/7 & 12/10, the technician had me sign a consent to send me their estimates via email (or so he said) which I never received. I told both the technician AND the girl named ****** at the office that I have not received any kind of invoice or paperwork as to what the technician had done or was estimating for either visit. Please note that I have left messages for the general manager at Merlins now as of 12/7 & 12/10 (with ****** in their office who stated her boss would call me within 24hrs on 12/7 or "as soon as possible" on 12/10 though I heard back from NO ONE either time), another message was sent 12/11 via ******** messenger for the manager to call me, & again 12/13 with a gentleman named "******" at their office @ ************ to please call me back, and lastly again today 12/15 with ****** at their office. I am told the managers name is ****** with no last name (they stated that they dont give out last names) and that he is (again) in meetings and he will return my call as soon as possible. Now I have a non-working unit that did not get a tune-up as scheduled on 12/7 at all, that WAS working perfectly fine prior to that scheduled tune-up appointment, instead of getting service to my ac unit, I have been sent over pushy salesmen who fix ************ unit goes from working 100% great to not working at all? If I had known that I was going to be swindled repeatedly by this company, I would have NEVER paid $3000 for their "gold membership". I cannot imagine how many people that they are doing this to! I have since had to call another company to come out to fix my ac unit that (previous to Merlins technicians touching it) worked perfectly well. So Ive paid $3000 for a bunk membership with Merlins *************************** & now Ive had to get my ac unit serviced elsewhere since it no longer works. I would like the owner to cancel my membership & to reimburse me the cost of the membership so that I can use those funds to pay for my new unit with a different vendor. I also think that the general public needs to be warned about the ethics that the technicians (and manager) at Merlins lack. On 12/13, I had a technician from a different company come out to see why my unit was no longer working at all. The technician stated that the compressor & the motherboards were just fine but that it appeared that my unit had somehow been sabotaged by someone who poured a green substance into the unit that was now clogging the indoor/outdoor TVX. The cost to fix the unit at this point would be close to $6000 which would not be worth the cost to pay when I can get a whole new unit for $8300 with the new company. I ended up having to purchase a whole new unit (from the new company) due to the damage that I am convinced was done by the Merlins technician in order to force me to pay for either ridiculously expensive repairs or as a way to have me buy a whole new (overpriced) unit from their company. This experience has completely traumatized ****** feel that I was completely taken advantage of. As a single mother of 3 boys on a very tight budget, this entire experience has left me feeling extremely violated & victimized. Let me re-iterate: Merlins *************************** came out to do a tune-up each time on a perfectly great working name brand unit that was only 8 yrs old (avg lifespan is 15-20yrs) & with each visit, I was told thousands of dollars in repairs (or full unit replacement was needed)? Does that sound right to ANYONE?

• Initial Complaint

  04/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Merlins AC and plumbing called me and sked if I would like a free eval on my AC unit. I said yes Adran rep cam out and stated after looking I needed am patch on a leak and told me how old unit was.He stated he could sell me service plan of 5 yr coverage called Platinum plan for 36 a month for a total of 2400. and he would then proceed to repair the patch and no charge since I was purchasing 5 yr plan which would include AC yearly check up plumbing and water heater and electical in my house. I agreed. He never gave me a service agreeement contract of what I would get fro 2400 5 yr service plan in writing> I recd bill in mail from another Co Merlins apparenlty collected money 2400 from Co who then in turn charged me 1300 in interest to stretch my 36 mos payments to 8 yr now. I never agreed to this and felt was bait and switched. I was willing though to pay the monthly serivce fee if I could get in writing what my 5 yr service plan would cover. I see comp;aints on this Co with BBB not livign up to contract agrrements with service plan and the owner was in the background yelling while I spke on phone to britney rep who stated why are you just now asking for the written service plan. as the rep had been to my house 3 mo sprior. Adrin rep in jan stated the co would send me the written servie plan and exactly what was covered for the 2400. I have mad numerous calls to Merlins Bri who stated she would send service contract and never did as never did Britney who only sent a flyer that had nothing aIll about this platinum plan that was marketed to me for 2400.00.The Co rep told me the total charge was 2400 for a 5 yr serivce agreeement that would include particular yearly check ups. The electrircal has never come ot my house 3 mos since I signed up wiht Merlins plan.Can BBB please help me get the service agreement please ? of what I bought I am attaching the flyer I just now have had sent by Britney which has no statement of PLATiNUM plan that Adrian marketed to me.

• Initial Complaint

  01/10/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We had the plumber come out and look at out plumbing issue. the initial quote we were given was $24.99. we also explained we had a flyer that says that. initially they said no problem. however that was not the case as we were over charged as they demanded we pay $49.99. they also quoted us for some pipe damage in which we had someone else look at it and said they were wrong as you do not need to spend $4700 to replace any pipes they were trying to ******* us out of money.

  Business response

  01/11/2022

  We do apologize if there was a communication and billing issue with our company. We do see that we ran a Service Call for you this Saturday off of a add we had out. Our normal fee to show up is $49.99 for a Service Call where there are issues, the coupon you had was for a Tune-Up for $24.99 which is a separate service that we schedule during normal business hours Mon-Fri. It should have been communicated that this was a different service requested outside the hours we honor the coupon. There are managers available by request if any issues that pop up during the weekends which were not requested in this issue. We do record our calls for quality assurance and will find out where the ball was dropped. We have no problems honoring you a refund on your $49.99.

  Customer response

  01/11/2022

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************
  
   
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩