Ben's Air Conditioning & Heating Service

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: The technician named Bianca added 2 lbs of Freon in August 2013 for which I paid $180 and another $120 for a sealant to prevent recurrence of the Freon leak. Bianca told me the Freon just added should be sufficient for at least 3 years, and that an additional 1 lb of Freon would be needed between 3 and 4 years (assuming the leak was resolved).  I asked Bianca about the warranty period and he told me it was 6 months.  I mentioned that the air conditioner would used only for another couple months in 2013 and therefore kindly requested the warranty extended through the first couple months of the 2014 cooling season.  Bianca agreed.  I presume he requested and received approval from Ben for the warranty extension.  I asked for the warranty terms in writing, and Bianca said he would email or mail it to me, but he never did.  Thus, I have no written documentation on Ben's warranty, original or as extended.  I followed-up once or twice to no avail.  In early May 2014 the air conditioner once again would not produce cooled air and Ben's technician returned to the house and found that all the Freon had again leaked out.  The technician added more Freon.  I was glad Ben's honored its warranty for the Freon but I also asked that they try again to plug the leak using sealant.  Ben told he would schedule this job when things were not so busy.  I said okay, but in the end Ben refused to return to resolve the leak. 
Regards,
[redacted]

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you...

must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:  It is very much false and evasive.  It is an attempt to place the blame on me and it is entirely unfair and a complete misrepresentation of what actually transpired.  I was very patient with the representatives of the business entity, and was extremely careful when talking with its technicians and owner.  I had been requesting them to return to the house to proviode service under the terms of the warranty, but the technicians needed to get approval from the owner and kept telling me the owner would contact me, or to call back to get the owner's decision.  I patiently waited for the owner to call me but he never did so.  Not once did Ben call me to go over things.  So I was placed in an awkward positon to have to initiate the communication, otherwise there would never be the potential for the service under the warranty.  I clearly got the message the owner was "sending"....that he simply did not want to honor the warranty.  He never disputed the terms of the warranty, but was quite abrupt with me on one particular phone conversation last July in which he actually turn it around to point a finger at me for being disrespectful to him.  I was appalled.  I had in fact been very patient with everyone at Ben's and had very decent conversations with technicians Bianco and Carlton.  They seems to want to return to the house to provide the service, but of course kept telling me Ben needed to approve.  At one point in the summer one of the technicians actually agreed to schedule the return visit to search for the leak in the coolant line, inject more sealant (or a different type of sealant) and to see if the coolant level was again low due to the leaking and my tenant was waiting for the technician during the time window for the job.  But the technician was a no show, and no one from Ben's called to cancel.  This was very disappointing and I expressed such the day the Mr. Ben told me I was being disrespectful to him when I pressed him ever so slightly about the failure to show up for the schedule appointment.  Ben's anger came out of the blue and I was so surprised by his adverse posture towards me.  I clearly read between the lines that he simply considered me as an annoyance and hoped I would be gone.  Essentially he wanted to fire me as his customer since he did not want to do the additional, necessary warranty work.  Apparently  customer service is not important to Ben, at least with me, and he took the risk of agitating a customer to the point of complaint, which is where this has gone.  It is sad and unfortunate that Mr. Ben is not providing me with the professional respect and courtesty that is par for the course.  I never asked for anything special.  It's just that there is still a problem with the air conditioner (which was installed by Ben's) since the leak still exists and I am afraid next May when my tenant again uses the air conditioner the evaporator coils will once again ice over due to the lack of Freon. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: On June and August 2013 Ben's Air Conditioning & Heating Service provided service to the HVAC system located in unit 1 of this address. The service entailed determining the cause for the system's evaporator coils to ice over and no longer produce cooled air. Ben's technician determined the system lacked coolant (Freon) and that it must have leaked out of the coolant line. The technician re-charged the system with coolant and injected a sealant to hopefully seal up the hole where the coolant was leaking out. I paid in full for both services and inquired regarding a warranty. I was told 6 months but since the end of 6 months would be during the winter, I asked for an extension of time since the air conditioner would only be used for a month or two after the August sealant was injected. I was verbally provided the extended warranty through the middle of the summer 2014 and asked for it in writing and the technician and/or owner agreed to send it to me but never did. I re-requested the written warrant two times to no avail. In May 2014 the air conditioner once again iced over and failed to produce cooled air. I contacted Ben's and they did come out to re-charge the Freon under the terms of the warranty for the first of the 2 jobs performed in 2013. I also asked that they once again attempt to locate hole where the Freon was leaking to plug the hole or replace the faulty line, or to inject more sealant to hopefully cure the cause for the problem. They agreed to return to the house another day to apply more sealant and the job was scheduled but they failed to show, it was rescheduled and again the technician failed to show. I called and was told by the owner Ben that they were too busy to work my job request so it would have to wait until the slower season. In early November 2014 I called and spoke with the lead HVAC technicians who consulted one another and the owner Ben and it was agreed that a technician would return to the house to recharge the system with more coolant if needed, and to inject more sealant to hopefully stop the leaking. An appointment was set for Friday Nov. 7th but Ben's contacted my tenant to reschedule to the next day. On Saturday Nov. 8th the technician sent a text message to my tenant to say that Ben's would not not make it and that I should call another HVAC company to service my unit. This means they are not willing to honor their warranty. The warranty on the sealant job of August 2013 was that if the leaking continued the first couple months of the 2014 A/C season, that Ben's would return to apply additional sealant and to recharge the unit for any shortage of coolant at the time. They did return in May 2014 but failed to return to apply additional sealant.Desired Settlement: would like good faith apology and potentially warranty service to find and cure the leak, and to recharge any Freon that leaked out since May 2014.

Business

Response:

We responded to [redacted] with a phone call to make set an appointment to try and solve the problem of the leaking refrigerant.During the phone call [redacted] was very disrespectful and rude,so we asked him to take his business elsewhere.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: It is very much false and evasive. It is an attempt to place the blame on me and it is entirely unfair and a complete misrepresentation of what actually transpired. I was very patient with the representatives of the business entity, and was extremely careful when talking with its technicians and owner. I had been requesting them to return to the house to proviode service under the terms of the warranty, but the technicians needed to get approval from the owner and kept telling me the owner would contact me, or to call back to get the owner's decision. I patiently waited for the owner to call me but he never did so. Not once did Ben call me to go over things. So I was placed in an awkward positon to have to initiate the communication, otherwise there would never be the potential for the service under the warranty. I clearly got the message the owner was "sending"....that he simply did not want to honor the warranty. He never disputed the terms of the warranty, but was quite abrupt with me on one particular phone conversation last July in which he actually turn it around to point a finger at me for being disrespectful to him. I was appalled. I had in fact been very patient with everyone at Ben's and had very decent conversations with technicians Bianco and Carlton. They seems to want to return to the house to provide the service, but of course kept telling me Ben needed to approve. At one point in the summer one of the technicians actually agreed to schedule the return visit to search for the leak in the coolant line, inject more sealant (or a different type of sealant) and to see if the coolant level was again low due to the leaking and my tenant was waiting for the technician during the time window for the job. But the technician was a no show, and no one from Ben's called to cancel. This was very disappointing and I expressed such the day the Mr. Ben told me I was being disrespectful to him when I pressed him ever so slightly about the failure to show up for the schedule appointment. Ben's anger came out of the blue and I was so surprised by his adverse posture towards me. I clearly read between the lines that he simply considered me as an annoyance and hoped I would be gone. Essentially he wanted to fire me as his customer since he did not want to do the additional, necessary warranty work. Apparently customer service is not important to Ben, at least with me, and he took the risk of agitating a customer to the point of complaint, which is where this has gone. It is sad and unfortunate that Mr. Ben is not providing me with the professional respect and courtesty that is par for the course. I never asked for anything special. It's just that there is still a problem with the air conditioner (which was installed by Ben's) since the leak still exists and I am afraid next May when my tenant again uses the air conditioner the evaporator coils will once again ice over due to the lack of Freon.

Regards,

Business

Response:

In response to [redacted] claim to a warranty is totally false,I want to make it clear that he has no warranty with our company and to say that he does is a mistake or a lie.We will no longer respond to his complaints,we will not be bothered with his false complaints anymore,we hope he has a wonderful life.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: The technician named Bianca added 2 lbs of Freon in August 2013 for which I paid $180 and another $120 for a sealant to prevent recurrence of the Freon leak. Bianca told me the Freon just added should be sufficient for at least 3 years, and that an additional 1 lb of Freon would be needed between 3 and 4 years (assuming the leak was resolved). I asked Bianca about the warranty period and he told me it was 6 months. I mentioned that the air conditioner would used only for another couple months in 2013 and therefore kindly requested the warranty extended through the first couple months of the 2014 cooling season. Bianca agreed. I presume he requested and received approval from Ben for the warranty extension. I asked for the warranty terms in writing, and Bianca said he would email or mail it to me, but he never did. Thus, I have no written documentation on Ben's warranty, original or as extended. I followed-up once or twice to no avail. In early May 2014 the air conditioner once again would not produce cooled air and Ben's technician returned to the house and found that all the Freon had again leaked out. The technician added more Freon. I was glad Ben's honored its warranty for the Freon but I also asked that they try again to plug the leak using sealant. Ben told he would schedule this job when things were not so busy. I said okay, but in the end Ben refused to return to resolve the leak.

Regards,