Avis Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint Please note the following:Though Avis representatives have suggested they had "fully investigated" the issue with all parties, they do not appear to have talked to the installer who did the work as he no longer works for the company Their response fails to note that their in-house inspector, [redacted] never went into the attic to perform the inspection when the ductwork was installed nor do they mention that the ductwork installation was not executed per industry standards Installation issues include: Some ducts are of excessive length Bend radii do not conform to minimum duct diameter bend radius Ducts are crimped against joists and rafter ties reducing air flow Ducts straps are greater than 4' apart and sag exceeds more than 1/2" per footAvis installed a new "3-ton Lennox heating system" in the residence in November of Scope of work included "Rebuild(ing) Plenum" per the work order, for the sum of $4, In February of 2015, Avis representative, [redacted] recommended replacement of the ducts in the attic: "Found original metal ductwork with fiberglass insulation, no asbestos, the plenum around 90's and start collars are falling apart, recommends replace ducts, R-duct runs." The work order goes on to say,"R-duct runs, reseal plenum around 90's and start collars, and clean rat feces from top of plenum."It is curious there was no recommendation to replace the ducts when the heating system was installed months earlier Why would the plenum needed to be resealed so soon after it was installed? Avis's response about the feces is puzzling since cleaning up the rat feces was listed on the 2/23/work order by [redacted] *Avis notes in their response: "the original technician revisit(ed) the property on 3/8/and he was now told that it was the installer who said he would clean the feces and repair three 1xboards in the attic." It is true the ductwork installer said he would clean up the rat feces and he actually asked for a shop vac to do this work, but he never mentioned the broken rafter ties to anyone as far as we know On 3/8/16, [redacted] suggested that the 1xboards were not structural and the installer most likely broke them because they were in his way [redacted] is now denying he said this We were unaware of the broken rafter ties until March 1st when my brother [redacted] went up into the attic to see if he could figure out what was causing the cracks in the walls and ceiling on the west side of the house That's when he discovered the broken rafter ties No one had been up in the attic since the ducts had been installed Since the broken rafter ties were only discovered in March of 2016, Avis's suggestion that [redacted] told [redacted] the installer said he would fix them is not accurate It was [redacted] who suggested he would repair the 1xties.We contend that Avis agreed to replace the rafter ties because [redacted] *felt the original installer had most likely broken the ties [redacted] *acknowledged that the ductwork installation was substandard and would need to be fixed He also suggested the original metal ductwork should have been removed as part of the original scope of work Since Avis's in-house inspector, Mr [redacted] never actually went up into the attic to verify the work had been done correctly, we don't believe Avis management was aware of the substandard installation, the trash, or the broken boards until [redacted] informed them after being in the attic on 3/8/The field supervisor, [redacted] , who we understand is the company in-house inspector, did go to the house on or around 3/22/16, but once again did not go up into the attic We agree there are an abundance of cracks, but the cracks are new Based upon the engineer's report, it is our understanding that the broken rafter ties allowed the roof to settle and that is why the cracks began occurring since the date of the ductwork installation My mom and stepdad have lived in the house for years and have never had any drywall work done The tape and texturing around the cracks appears to be the original tape from when the house was built I can attest that the cracks are recent and there have been no repairs attempted in the entire time my folks have lived at the house.When I told my brother [redacted] that [redacted] had said the ties weren't structural, he suggested we have an engineer look at itThe engineer confirmed the rafter ties were structural, and were required by code because the ceiling joists in the house run perpendicular to the rafters The report did not say seven boards were broken as Avis states, but noted: "There were seven rafter ties that were either broken or severely dislocated from their horizontal position." Some of the rafter ties had been forced from their original horizontal position down to the top of the ceiling joists We are unaware of any photos taken of the attic before Avis installed the ducts, but we do know the cracks appeared since February of We concur with ***'s assertion that the installer "probably" moved the rafter ties out of his way Evidence in the attic seems to support this: Cracks have appeared since February of It appears the rafter ties (which are installed at 48" on center) were forced down to make it easier for the installer to move around in the attic The rafter tie adjacent to the plenum, which one would assume was horizontal when the original ducts were installed, has been forced beneath the ducts exiting the plenum The broken 1xrafter ties are laying across the ceiling joists in the attic, relatively close to where they were once attached The splintered edges point to a downward force as cause of the breakage It appears the ties were broken AFTER the metal ductwork was disconnected and flattened Sections of the flattened duct lie underneath the broken shards of the fallen 1xties.And finally, Most of the attic floor is covered with debris from when the roof was replaced a few years ago However, there is no debris on top of the broken ties Also, the splintered edges where the cracks occurred expose fresh wood, the sign of a recent break It is clear the ties were broken since the roof was replaced and the only people that have been up in attic were the men from Avis There is indeed speaker wire in the attic but it was installed when my mom and her husband moved into the house years ago, long before the ducts were installed.Though Avis may have an A+ rating and experienced technicians as they claim, the installer on this project was clearly incompetent and [redacted] has admitted such Photos show the installation does not meet industry standards as noted above The installer failed to remove the original metal ductwork from the attic and appears to have removed the metal ductwork for an exhaust fan without replacing it(The fan now exhausts air directly into the attic.) And to top it off, it appears Avis's in-house inspector signed off on the installation without even going into the attic.The evidence clearly shows it was Avis that broke the rafter ties and the Engineer's report states the broken rafter ties led to the cracking:"The crack emerging in the ceiling and walls were likely due to the broken or dislocated ties due to the ductwork installation."Since Avis appears to have broken the ties, we feel the company should be responsible for remedying the situation per the Engineer's recommendations listed in his report.We also think the company should be required to perform an in-house review to determine exactly what led them to replace the original metal ductwork with inferior flexible ductwork The metal ductwork appears to be in good condition, (except it's now flat as a pancake), and we cannot understand why [redacted] would have recommended replacing the metal ducts when resealing the plenum (that they had installed months earlier) and fixing the start collars would have been a lot more cost-effective approach.In the event Avis cannot provide a good reason why their salesman recommended replacement of the metal ductwork, we propose the poorly installed fiberglass ductwork be replaced with a new metal ductwork system of equal or better quality than the original metal ductwork that was original to the house, and the $2,charged for the ductwork be refundedWe also feel Avis should be responsible for replacing the exhaust fan ductwork that seems to have been inadvertantly removed by the company's installer during demolition.Regards, [redacted] ***

In response to Mr***’s complaint about work done at the home of his mother, [redacted] in [redacted] by Avis, we have fully investigated the issues with all parties and offer the following time line and attempts at resolution We did install new HVAC duct work in the attic of the home We received a call on 3/3/from ***, our customer’s son saying that we didn’t remove some of the old ductwork in the atticHe also complained about rat feces in the attic and the fact that he believed our technician had committed to cleaning up the fecesWe had the original technician revisit the property on 3/8/and he was now told that it was the installer who said he would clean the feces and repair three x boards in the atticAs that installer is no longer with our company, we cannot ask him if he made this commitment IF he did, he did not mention anything about it to his dispatcherThe technician took multiple pictures of the attic area and provided them to management The technician met with the owner of our company and he approved a “good faith” move to replace the three boards as a courtesy and remove any left-over trash in the attic as we could not confirm what, if any, promises had been made to the homeowner by the installer a year earlier Repair and clean up was scheduled for 3/with [redacted] *** On 3/21, [redacted] called us and cancelled the repairsHe began accusing us of causing cracks all throughout the home, in ceilings and wallsWe immediately set up for our field supervisor, ***, to go to the house the next day (3/22) to investigate the complaint of the cracks He arrived at 10:17am per GPS records***’s visit provided us with ten photos of cracks, in various areas, most with attempts to have fixed them long agoHis best estimate is that there are about twenty cracks in this home, in various locationsThey had been taped, mudded and had texture coat applied over themThese repairs had given way with continued shifting of the home [redacted] said he had had a structural engineer out who said that it was “all of the roof ties that AVIS broke” that caused all of the rooms to start cracking [redacted] asked for a copy of the report from the engineer The engineers report was dated for that exact same day and generated from a firm in [redacted] *** It said that seven boards were broken and that the “dislocation of the ties” due to duct work installation could have caused the cracking to begin [redacted] called him and asked him to clarify how he knew the extensive damage had been caused by Avis and he said that he was “going by the homeowner’s opinionHe can’t be certain that it wasn’t an earthquake or the house settling that began the cracking processThe homeowner told him that we broke the ties”In truth, it was the son of the homeowner who does not live there and was not present when AVIS did the installationIn addition there is clear evidence that others have been in this atticThere are sound speakers that have been added and the wiring goes through this exact area in the attic AVIS maintains we did not go through this attic dislocating all of the tiesWe have been in business for forty-three years next month with an A+ Revdex.com ratingWe have experienced technicians and installers on staff and we never have had a damage complaint like thisAs a courtesy and our commitment to customer service, we offered to replace the three boards our technician noted broken on his investigative visit, but in no way was it an admission of any guiltMrs [redacted] has been a long time customer and we were only offering to assist her as we could not verify any commitment made by the installer who no longer works hereWe are adamant that our goodwill gesture was just that, a goodwill gesture and not an admission to having done anything that would have caused damage to our customer’s home We have not been able to speak with the actual homeowner during this process so we do not know what she desires as resolution [redacted] has said that he does not want us to clean up the attic nor replace the boards until all of the cracks are fixed As that is not something that is our responsibility, we are at a stalemate / [redacted] Style Definitions */