ComplaintsforMorris Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing

• Initial Complaint

  12/06/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I had Morris come out to look at a rental with a problematic toilet on June 16th. They came back on June 17th as it was still a problem. They said they couldn't really see a problem but they did a few things including watching the toilet flush multiple times. Each time they came there were two young men working, one of which was 15 years old. They appeared stumped as to what the problem could be and they called the owner of the company multiple times while they were there asking for advice on what else to try. They tried some things and said to let them know if that didn't take care of it. I gave it a week and then asked the renter if it was any better she stated it was not. I called them and they came back out on June 23rd and tried a few other things again, after calling the owner for advice. At that time they put some chemicals in the tank to try and clean out the small holes that allowed the water to come out into the bowl. They said they needed to let it set for a few hours and they would come back. They came back again flushing the toilet multiple times with the lid off of the back of the tank watching it flush. They thought that it was fine and again said let them know if that didn't fix it. The renter continued to complain that it wasn't working properly but she was going to be moving out and she wasn't there much. She said she would just deal with it. We had already paid a bill of $495 to not have the problem taken care of and the young workers were clearly out of ideas. The renter requested I not have anyone back as she was moving. After she moved out on Sept 15th we found that toilet handle had came loose which lengthened the chain which was allowing the flap to close when only half of the water was empty from the tank. This was a very simple fix. On September 15th I called and asked to speak to the owner to discuss how this wasn't caught on the first appointment. I called again on September 27th and November 10th. All with no call back from the owner.

  

  Business response

  01/01/1900

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/12/16) */ We received a phone call from the landlord for two issues. The first was a slow draining sink and the second for a toilet not flushing completely on 6/15/21. We sent a lead plumbing technician who has been with us almost 4 years and an assistant out the next day. We have tried to assist the local vocational school in past years with job placement and hands on experience for plumbing and HVAC students. The owners grandson assisted our technicians last summer with plumbing and HVAC. We have been short staffed and been looking to hire at least 2 additional technicians since the start of COVID but have been unsuccessful. Our technicians appreciated having an extra set of hands when it was needed. The lead plumber on this service call checked the toilet tank components first. The fill valve, flapper, flapper chain and handle were all functioning properly. It was draining slow. The technician called the owner to determine if this building was on the city sewer or if he knew where an accessible cleanout was. The technician augered the toilet, flushed the toilet several times and it appeared to be working properly but he told them to let us know if they had any other issues. About a week later the landlord called and said it still wouldn't flush right. The lead technician went back out and checked everything inside the tank again and noticed it still not draining properly. He pulled the toilet and put a new wax ring underneath and reset the toilet to make sure it was sealing properly, he also ran drain cleaner through it to loosen up a potential blockage, augered the drain and flushed it several times to make sure it was flushing properly which it was. A few weeks later the landlord came in and paid her bill and didn't mention anything about it not working properly. The invoice she was sent was for one service call, labor for one technician, the drain cleaner, wax ring. I advised the landlord when she called in September that the owner was currently out of the office due to illness. He had been vaccinated but still caught Covid and developed pneumonia. He was out of the office for several weeks. We are issuing a refund for half of the cost of the original invoice. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/12/17) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I do not find the owner's response acceptable. I'm actually quite confused at why the owner of a company would not return a call to hear a customer's concerns. Especially since the owner himself was not at the call. The first time I called after they were there was to tell them the problem had been discovered and that it was a simple fix. I felt that my money had been wasted for a plumber to have missed this problem. I was told the owner was out sick and she would have him call me when he returned. The second time I called, I was told again the owner was still out sick, which is understandable. The third time I called I was told that the owner was in fact back to work and had been back for a while and he was just busy. The secretary stated that she just couldn't understand why I waited so long to call and make the complaint after they had been there last. I informed her that the renter was moving out she was not there often and just told me to forget it at that time. So I waited until she moved out to take a closer look at it. I had spent $495 for some young plumbers to have no idea what the problem was, and they tried several things none of which helped. So to me, it was very evident that they did not have any other ideas. I didn't see a sense in calling them back. The first day I called to inform them of the problem, was a day I was at the apartment working on getting it ready for the next renter. I took the tank lid off to watch the toilet flush from the tank at the request of my husband and realized that the flap closed when half of the water was still in the tank. At that time I did not know why that happened other than that the chain needed adjusted but my husband came to look at it the next day and found that the handle was loose which allowed it to twist in a direction that allowed the chain to essentially be longer which allowed the flap to close too soon. As I stated in my original complaint the plumbers that were sent out watched the toilet flush with the tank lid off multiple times and did not catch this problem. I informed the receptionist at that time that I was anxiously awaiting to speak with the owner about the concern and that if he did not return my call I would be filing a complaint. Weeks went by again with no call back so I filed the complaint. We have used this company in the past for an old furnace that we had in a rental years ago. I even still had the names saved of the two guys that would come out to work on it. It was ****** and ***, and they did great work. They were experienced plumbers worth the money they charged. I understand that it's hard to find help these days but to charge someone $495 for something that should have been a simple service call with no needed supplies is unacceptable. At least I should have gotten a call back and been allowed to voice my concerns. I believe the inexperience of the technician that came out led to additional attempts at fixing things that should not have occurred. The toilet didn't need to be taken up and a new wax ring did not need to be applied. The chemicals didn't need to be ran through the toilet bowl either. The technician and his helper were extremely friendly I had no complaints at the time that they were there. I only became concerned after the issue was found to be such a simple fix and I had paid $495 to still not have the problem taken care of. As for the company's response, some of the information in it is incorrect. Had the owner ever actually called me back so that we could discuss it he would probably have more of the correct details, however I received a check in the mail for a partial refund a couple days ago after filing this complaint. Still with no call, no explanation, no apology, no chance to even explain what was and was not done at the property. How does a person know what to even refund if I haven't even been allowed the opportunity to explain to him what happened. I even told the secretary the last time I spoke with her I had a video of the problem once I discovered it and I would be glad to show it to them. Still absolutely no response. I did not go in to pay the bill as stated. I mailed it. They did not have to call me about finding a clean out I was there to let them in each time they were there and stood in the doorway while they worked on the toilet. They said they couldn't see a problem with it. We ran water in both apartments and they watched the water flow through the clean out and said everything looked fine there. The renter was saying that the toilet didn't flush right and that she had to plunge it often. When they watched the toilet flush multiple times they said they did not see a problem. So to say that it was working better when they left is not true as they couldn't see any problem before they started. They were simply taking stabs in the dark at what could be causing a problem because they could not see a problem while they were there. As stated in original complaint they were also calling the owner and asking for advise on what else to check or try. In the other apartment in this building in regards to the slow draining sink, they did tear that apart and clean some hair out of it. That was not the main reason for my calling them. I called them because of the toilet issue in the other apartment, but when the toilet issue started to happen I asked the other renter in the building if he was having any trouble to see if it could be related to the main sewer line as the 2 apartments eventually tie together and go to the city sewer. He had said that his bathroom sink was draining a little slow but he had no other problems. I gave all this information to the plumbers and they chose to look at that sink and did some cleaning of it. So any charges for that particular job would have been warranted as they did work on it and got it draining better. As for the toilet though, my husband fixed it in a matter of under 2 minutes. Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2022/01/05) */ The business owner informed BBB that he has spoken with the consumer since her last response. The business has refunded the consumer approximately $200 and does not feel further reimbursement is due the consumer. Consumer Response /* (2000, 13, 2022/01/06) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) The owner finally called me so that I could explain the situation to him. No apology was ever given. He simply said "I don't know what else you want me to do. I already gave you a $250 refund." I told him the refund of $250 was sufficient. I just expected a buiness to have better customer service that to just refuse to call a person back who had a complaint.

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