ComplaintsforDuncan Home Services

• Initial Complaint

  03/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Duncan home services came out diagnosed our refrigerator problem and we paid them for parts. A week later they returned with the parts and took the parts out of refrigerator and replaced. We paid them for the rest at that time. Our refrigerator worked for 6 hours and the freezer never worked. I contacted Duncan home services and we scheduled another time for them to come back out. They came back out and fixed the problem but this time it only lasted for 30 minutes. I emailed and text the office staff. The owner called and I requested a refund for the second time. I requested a refund the first time on the third day of this transaction. With the answer being we will need to look at it and get with owner. So today owner called and got rude with me when I requested a refund. Told me they had done the job and I told them it never worked. I told him I would just turn him into the better business bureau and he threatened to put a lien on our house. He was yelling when he said that and scared me frankly. The service that I paid for was never rendered. We offered to pay a service fee and have them come and get the parts they put in but he kept yelling and threatening so I hung up the phone as that is not a professional way to handle this situation. Also today when the service tech came out knowing our refrigerator did not work tried to up sale me to spend another ******* to fix the freezer. I was never told that was a separate repair. I fell today was fraud because this company already knew i had requested for my money back.

  

  Business response

  03/15/2024

  We tried to resolve the dispute with *****************, but she was uncooperative, focusing on questioning our integrity, making threats of chargebacks and legal action, rather than listening. Here's what transpired: After ***************** approved a repair, we tested it thoroughly before leaving, as is our standard practice. A week later, she reported that the interior lights of the refrigerator had gone out. When we investigated, we discovered that there was no power reaching the refrigerator due to a shorted compressor caused by a dirty condenser coil that had not been cleaned in years. This issue was completely separate from her original complaint of the refrigerator not cooling. We provided an estimate for replacing the compressor, but ***************** declined the repair and demanded a refund. We declined her refund request for two reasons: she had approved the initial work, and the new issue was different from the original one. The original complaint was about cooling, while the new issue was about power loss and interior lights. ********************* desire for a refund seems to stem from wanting a new refrigerator, a decision she should have made before approving the initial repair. It is regrettable that the situation has escalated in this way, as we rarely receive complaints. We hope that ***************** finds peace and resolution in this matter.
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Duncan missed diagnosed our fridge issue and only made the issue terribly worse. The owner ******** (phone number: ************) yelled at my wife and said its not his problem anymore. They are unwilling to fix what they made worse and were extremely rude and unprofessional during their last visit. We called in initially because our water dispenser and ice dispenser were not working. Ice machine itself was working, only issue was the dispenser was not working. They originally came out on November 14th, 2022 Duncan originally came out and charged us approx $695 to fix our fridge. After paying up and the same issues were happening the next day, we called and they came out another time said we need to fix even more things and it will be another $400 to fix it. In the meantime we called in another company that is a certified Kitchenaid repair company and they said that Duncan was looking at the wrong components completely. And even the original $600 that we paid was for a part that didn't even need to be replaced! We notified the owner of Duncan and he apologized and said he shouldn't have sent an inexperienced tech. He said he will come back by himself and fix the problem once the parts arrive. He will not charge us any additional fees beyond the original $600 we already paid. On 1-10-23, this tech made the situation worse. Our fridge now is not working, no lights, water, etc. Even though our original problem (water not dispensing was fixed when the other tech recommenced by Kitchen-aid) fixed it more than a month ago. So now, we have a reversal of them problem and new problems on top of it. We informed him and he got aggravated and started yelling at my wife and said she is crazy and that he has already spent too much money on this project and its not his problem anymore. The new door that they installed is not working correctly either. They need to either finish the job to get it working or replace our fridge at this point.

  

  Business response

  02/15/2023

  ************** diagnosed failures upon initial visit; which were multiple control boards. We ordered the failed parts only to find later that the root cause of these failures was a short in the door caused by intentional flooding by their children. We never quoted them for additional parts, as this our policy; you never pay more than the original quote. We continued to replace parts at our cost due to the mis-diagnoses; which included a door where the short was located. In total we spent $1309.86 in parts; at wholesale, trying to repair an unusual problem that would have confused any seasoned appliance technician. We have also made four trips to their home and spent multiple hours labor; all totaling $989 in labor alone. Our total cost for this project is $2298.86. They have paid a total of $649, and we have not asked for anymore payment. Things escalated when the customer demanded that we continue to repair a problem that was being recreated by her children spilling water on the controls of this door. ********************* then continued to threaten us with poor reviews if we didn't do what she asked. Once we are are extorted we have a policy that we will not conform to the wishes of a customer as this is not what reviews are intended for, not to mention posting personal information, such as private cell phones numbers and such. We feel we have the defenses in this matter,  and feel we have done the best we can do for this customer; no refund will be issued. 

  Customer response

  02/15/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

  We never threatened them with ANYTHING, let alone reviews. This is a complete lie. We gave bad reviews after they yelled at my wife and said they will not resolve our issue, but absolutely never said anything prior to the issues at hand or threatened to do so. We were in absolute shock with how they reacted after they were the ones that messed up. They took months to fix a simple issue that was misdiagnosed. The children were not the problem for the water issue, as a true professional company, ***************************** diagnosed our issue right away and knew what the problem was. They said this was a common issue with this fridge type. When water is dispersed and some spills, over time it does get into this other compartment. Also this was the ORIGINAL problem to begin with, not an issue that arose later as they are trying to say. They misdiagnosed the issue originally and purchased parts that we didnt even need. So if they are down money for this, thats their issue of misdiagnosing issue at hand -  not ours. They had us pay $649 for parts that were not even needed. They said 2 switchboards needed replaced and when that didnt work, they ordered 1 more switchboard which was not even needed. When they said we had to pay more money for the other switchboard, we then called ****** for a 2nd opinion. When ********************** told us what was going on, we informed Duncan appliances and they apologized and ordered a different part. They were also upset with us they we got a 2nd opinion and said they dont conduct business this way. Had we not done that, we wouldve been done close to $1,000 + not having our issue resolved because they wouldve installed the 3rd switchboard which was fine.
  

  Finally, we NEVER posted their personal number on a review -  we only put that with you guys (the BBB) so you had reference to whom we spoke to. He used that number to call us, so we wanted to be thorough on whom we spoke to and they number we spoke to. How are we to know if this is a business number to cell number? They used this number to conduct business and call us?

  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

   

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The installation of a control panel for my ** washing machine was installed Nov 9, 2022 in which I paid $250 prior to that date for them to order and then $250 on November 9th as payment in full when it was installed which took less than 10 min. I was told this panel has a 90 day warranty. I reported mid December that the control panel did not correct the problem. They in turn sent out an employee who said it needed shocks. They returned the last week in December asking for $159 for shocks which I refused to pay explaining that the panel had not made a difference and I was not going to pay another amount until I knew the shocks made a correction to my problem. The owner called immediately saying if I did not pay his company would never do work for me again. I started to explain about the control panel and he hung up on me. I called today, Jan 3, 2023 asking for a refund on the warranted control panel which they are refusing. My washer is not spinning out on smaller loads. It starts to spin then fills with water repeating over and over. I physically have to stand over my machine when it starts to spin and stop it as soon as it starts to fill repeating until the 13 min spin cycle is complete. This was the problem to begin with and it still does not work properly.

  

  Business response

  02/15/2023

  ************************* washer is repaired and working, and she simply failed to pay ** an agreed amount for additional parts needed. She ignored our phone calls and appears she planned not to pay from the beginning of the appointment. We have waived the balance, she agreed to pay, of $159 as a concession; for any misunderstandings that *** have happened.We do everything we can to please our customers, and are disappointed in the outcome of this relationship. No further refund will be given.

  Customer response

  02/15/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The complaints, we think the wrong more expensive service was pushed on us, they would not provide us the cost of the part, the problem was not solved, and the company was unwilling to come out and fix for free while we were under their warranty. We would like proof of the cost of the part, and all other costs refunded to us.On November 2 2022 I had Duncan home services come out to fix an oven that had an "F2" error. We have 2 ovens and were told the circuit board controlling both had to be replaced and that part from GE was very expensive making the bulk of the close something they could not control. The board was ordered, replaced, and we paid $988.35. Before ordering the part we talked to technician that we had read only the temperature sensor needed to be cleaned or replaced.After service we asked for an itemized receipt to see the cost of the part and labor. The business refuses to provide this, and says they never provide itemized receipts. The technician was in our house an hour, so unless the part cost over $700 it seems the labor cost was greatly inflated. We had a death in the family and were not in the house most of December. On December 29th we saw the F2 error again (on a GE oven) and contacted Duncan home services by text. We asked them to come out and fix since under warranty. They said we would have to pay $129 for the technician to come out even though under warranty = "We will not come out unless you agree to pay this fee. ... We will only accept cash when we arrive for the $129". They quickly became heated on the text thread, Im happy to share it in its entirety. During text thread they: refused to give me their name (i scrolled up and saw earlier they identified themself as *** at the phone number ending in **** (contact me if you need full number); They ended the text thread by trying to threaten us into silence with legal action "Any more posts, phone calls or other correspondence from you and I will call the ******** County Sheriff and file charges against you for harassment."

  

  Business response

  02/15/2023

  It's unfortunate when the way we charge for repairs is misunderstood. We are a flat rate company and charge by the job. They were quoted for the repairs and agreed by signing the invoice that they attached; and did not disagree until months later. We did make a return trip to investigate the issues at no charge even though that part of the warranty had expired; which they threw ************** out of the house. Our standard operating procedures after a repair is as follows: after repair is completed we make a follow up phone call with our customers to make sure all is ok and working properly. We have on record that on November 16th, 2022 we called Mr. ***** and asked if the unit was working ok, he said, "everything was working fine." This was nine days after the repair, so if the product had failed I'm certain he would have told us. He did say he had an issue with the cost of the repair, and we explained to him how our pricing procedures work, and that they approved the repair prior to work being done. He bullied our CSR over the phone and she had no other choice but to hang up on him. We have a policy against the public threatening our staff and I explained to him that if his threatening phone calls did not stop that we would report him to the authorities. We tried to reason with him to resolve this amicably, but could not. we would be happy to refund the our service fee of $59 to them as a concession for the possible misunderstanding. We as highly rated and ethical company do all we can do to please our customers; which our public reviews confirm.

*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. ↩