Air Tek

Review: Sent as a service provider for a furnace under warranty. Did not fix the furnace over the course of two separate visits.

On December 10th our furnace began working intermittently. It was under warranty with American Home Shield. They scheduled Air Tek to come service our gas furnace. On December 11th I stayed home from work for several hours to accommodate the service visit. When Air Tek's technician and owner arrived the furnace was on. He looked inside and noticed the filter was dirty. I gave him a new one which he installed. He said there was nothing else to do. I asked him specifically if there weren't some diagnostic tests he could run to figure out what the problem might be. He said there wasn't anything he could do and requested his service fee of $75 (which is determined by the warranty). I paid the fee despite reservations. I asked what to do if the furnace stopped working. He said to call them back out. I asked if there would be another service fee. He said no.

Of course, the furnace stopped working that same day of December 11th. We called both Air Tek and the warranty company. Air Tek said they could not come out until later in the evening on Friday December 13th, leaving us without heat through Thursday. Considering he didn't fix the furnace, but took the service fee it seems unconscionable to take on new customers without completing the service of current customers. However, we said nothing and patiently waited in our frigid home.

On Friday December 13th the tech/owner came out once again. The furnace was not on at the time. After poking around a bit the furnace came on for him. As he was about to leave I asked what the issue was. He stated that he didn't know, but that he had changed the gas valve. I asked if that was really the problem, since I felt like given the symptoms it was more likely electrical. He said he didn't know what the problem was, but that the gas valve sounded like it was rattling, so he just replaced it.

Of course, after he left the furnace brought the house up to temp, turned off, and then stayed off, just as it had been doing for the 4th day in a row. I had to call a friend who is a trained HVAC tech to come over. Within an hour and with only one simple tool (voltmeter). He was able to narrow down that the problem was either in the air control circuit board or the pressure switch for the inducer fan.

Upon calling the warranty company again on Friday December 13th and asking for service again we were told that our request would be expedited. Air Tek did not contact us until 3pm on December 14th and only agreed to send the tech out on December 15th. This is the most inappropriate and unprofessional service I have ever received. Air Tek neither fixed the problem that was easily diagnosed nor worked to remedy the problem once it was explained that neither their initial service NOR their follow up service solved the problem. Desired Settlement: Bare minimum I would appreciate an apology. I took several hours from my own work to be available so they could provide their service. I was extremely cordial through the process even though I noticed the lack of diagnosis and was confident that the solutions offered would not solve the problem presented. I only became upset after their lack of effort to complete the task that they were paid to provide.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

We are sorry that your service was not convenient as one would hope. However, as you stated, upon arrival of the first visit, the furnace was operating and as you might imaging it is very difficult to "fix" something that is functioning.

Your Home Warranty precludes us from replacing parts that are functional at time of service, therefore, there was nothing we could do at that time.

When we returned on the 13th, the thermostat was not calling for heat(not set to the heat position) and when set to heat, the furnace started and functioned normally with the exception of the gas valve solenoid "chatter", therefore we could replace the gas valve as a part not functioning properly. When the furnace continued to function properly, we then could proceed no further.

You further state that you had a friend test the furnace and it was either a control board or pressure switch, but do not state which part was causing the failure. Again, your Home Warranty does not allow us to replace parts based on a "guess", but must be non-functional at time of service.

We were more than happy to return to further diagnose the furnace, until the person who answered your phone became verbally abusive to our office staff. We, at that point, contacted your Home Warranty to transfer the service call to another provider.

Again, we are sorry that your experience did not go as well as you or we would have liked.