ComplaintsforHowe, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  07/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  A/C went out June 11. Called on 13th Came 14th. They came and looked at system and said it needed Freon, put in 2-3 units in and cleaned it. Was told it was fixed. Then asked pay $*** for bill. 15th not working. Called and was told I needed a new system. Sent me quotes & lowest was $***. My sons friend at (*************) told me to call them. Appt scheduled for Tuesday June 21st. Andy came out & found the pressure was low & had to take out the Freon. (was over filled) Part was broken he Ordered the part and said to keep the unit off until it was fixed. The part came in June 24th. Unit is fixed and working fine. Their bill for services was $********. Due to this my son (on my behalf) went to Howe on July 13th and told them he thought a refund was in order due to they did not fix it properly. They told him they could refund me $***. I received an email that day stating they were going to refund $*** to me. I thought they were trying to make it right by refunding the entire amount. I did look at my Credit Card statement and it was refunded on July 13th. I then received a call from them on July 26th telling me they they made a mistake refunding the $*** and that it was only to be $*** and I now had an outstanding bill for $*** and to call to pay with my CC or send them a check. I feel that this is wrong since 1. they did not fix my A/C. 2. They did not even come out a 2nd time to look at it and 3. They wanted to put in a new system I didn't even need. 4. I had to call another company to come and fix it. I have documents but there was an error when trying to upload them

  

  Business response

  08/19/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/07/29) */ AC service was requested by Theresa **** at 7:09 AM on June 13th, 2022. We were able to schedule a technician for the afternoon of June 14th, 2022. Harrison (technician) traveled from 5:09 pm to 5:21 pm, arriving at Theresa's home. His notes are as follows: No A/C Call. Found outside Cap getting weak/ replaced. Dirty outside Condenser and low on 410-A. Cooling as this moment. I reviewed the service call, and the technician did a very nice job of documenting the call with photos and instrumental readings. After replacing the failed capacitor and cleaning the dirty condenser coil, 7 lbs. of R410A were added to the system to achieve 11 degrees subcooling on a TXV metered system. This subcooling reading verifies that the system was properly charged with refrigerant. Adding this quantity of refrigerant also indicates a large refrigerant leak. This was explained to the customer on site, and she was aware this repair was likely a temporary "band-aid" to get her through a very hot weekend. We collected $****** for the services rendered on June 14th, 2022. The technician finished the service call at 7:37 pm. On June 16th, I contacted Theresa to discuss repair options and offer a replacement quote. The existing heat pump is 11 years old, has not been properly maintained or cleaned, and the low refrigerant charge indicated a large leak. She agreed this heat pump has been very problematic and was open to the idea of a replacement quote. She explained the heat pump was not keeping up again, and I explained to her that we would gladly come out and inspect the heat pump again. Theresa asked if she would be charged for this service call. I explained that if we found a warranty issue, she would not be charged for the call. She declined service at that time. I did not speak to Theresa's son in person, but I did speak with him on the phone ( I believe this was on July 13th ). He explained that a friend who works for another HVAC contractor in town was able to repair the system, but he could not tell me what they did or what parts they replaced. Theresa's son then requested a discount on the $****** payment that was made on June 14th. After a discussion and a review of the service call, I offered to discount the invoice down to $******. I feel this is fair as we cleaned the dirty condenser coil, replaced a failed capacitor, and added $****** worth of R410A refrigerant alone. Theresa and her son agreed to $******. I feel this was extremely accommodating on our end as we still do not know what the other contractor did, what parts were used, or if it was even done by a licensed contractor. On July 14th, in our error, we refunded the full $****** back on to Theresa's credit card. On July 26th, Rylee called Theresa to explain our mistake and request to charge the card for the $****** that was agreed upon. On July 28th, we received the complaint form from BBB. Today, July 29th 2022, we will be contacting Theresa again to see if we can come to an agreement.

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