Bonney Plumbing

Review: BAM Plan annual service on my AC, tech appears to have left a valve open after testing refrigerant pressure, R410 leaked out

BAM plan annual service call 07/13/13 - tech [redacted]

- Everything tested fine

- He recommended $900 worth of work (fan motor and contactor) declined service at this time as it was not pressing or urgent

- Paid $99 BAM plan to re-enroll

About 3 weeks later noticed AC was not able to cool house, it was running all afternoon/evening with cool but not cold air coming out of vents. Called Bonney back out.

Service call 8/30/13 - tech [redacted]

- He found the system was low on charge. He said very low - almost completely out.

- He pointed out the oil on the refrigerant line on both sides of the test valve and said that oil was present due to leak. He did not make any mention of possible causes, observation that valve was loose or anything else.

- He recommended the following possible solutions to the problem

-sealant and moisture removal + up to 3 lbs $665 (not guaranteed to work, cross your fingers and hope was his summary)

-Leak detection w/ fluorescent dye $580

-Leak repair with evac and 5 lbs refrigerant $985

-2 lbs refrigerant $290

- He also said that I could not run my system until the problem was fixed as I could blow up my compressor due to low pressure. This was very bad news at 3 PM on the Friday before Labor Day.

With the outstanding $900 of recommended fixes and also the approximate $1500 of repairs, I asked to talk to a Bonney salesman to see how much a new system was. He also came out and looked at my system and recommended a replacement was about $5-6k.

You can see from the above that the cheapest option (one that was not recommended) was $665 on a system that is only 10 years old and never had any problems before. The full solution was over $1,500. I decided to suffer through a hot weekend and get a second opinion.

Second Opinion from independent AC company recommended by a coworker 9/4/13

- Her opinion was "leak" is pretty clearly a valve that was left open

- She put in about 1 lb of R410 refrigerant

- Total cost $110 to fix

- System is working fine, no more leaks

- She also pointed out that my system has a low pressure sensor so it shuts off automatically if there is danger to the compressor. That is how she know my pressure wasn't super low.

9/4/13 Talked to Clyde at Bonney, he passed along my complaint to [redacted]. He said [redacted] would call me - probably the next day. Today is a week later and no call or any effort from Bonney to make this right.

I am astonished that a company of Bonney's size has treated a long time customer so poorly. Your mistake lead to weeks of a non working air conditioner. 1 tech made an honest mistake. 2 other Bonney employees saw the mistake, but neither of them owned up to it and made it right. Both of them simply saw an opportunity to turn the screws and get some more money out of me.

Desired Settlement: Full refund of all money spent with Bonney.

Reimbursement for costs of repairing their mistake.

Reimbursement for time lost, discomfort caused by their mistake.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

After speaking with you on the phone, thank you for giving us the opportunity to come out and make things right.

I would like to update this report after we visit your home on September 27.

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

[redacted] gave me everything I requested and appeared to be truly sorry for their mistake.

Review: On August 26, 2015 we contacted Bonney to repair The A/C unit in our rental property. The technician arrived and inspected the unit, and advised us that the unit needed $3673.00 in repairs to make it operational again. Later in the day we met with another representative from who told us that the unit needed to be replaced at a cost of between $7800.00 and $9500.00. He also offered a financing offer that would have placed a mechanics lien on the property. On August 27, 2015, I contacted another heating and air contractor, who sent a technician out for a second opinion. The technician inspected the A/C unit and determined that the unit ONLY needed a fan motor and that the other parts that Bonney said NEEDED to be replaced in order for the unit to operate, were functioning properly.Desired Settlement: Refund the $ 54.00 service charge from Bonney

Business

Response:

After speaking with Mr. [redacted] regarding this concern and the communication involved between the technician and Brother-in-Law it is clear that there was a breakdown in the communication during and after this service visit. I regret that it got to a point that it did without the ability to clear up the details to avoid the frustration that the [redacted] experienced. However, I completely disagree with the allegations that we misled Mr. [redacted] in any way on this service visit or sales call. Regarding the service visit: The fan motor was over-amping and barely spinning. This was indicated on the invoice and was verified by the subsequent tech from second company. The compressor was also running at an extremely high amperage. The technician discussed this as possibly caused by the motor failure but he couldn’t be certain. The other components recommended are items that we recommend replacing when we replace a compressor (liquid line filter dryer and contactor). The only repair that was NEEDED to get the unit running was the motor for $625. This was detailed on the invoice and discussed with the Brother-in-law. Our technician offered to have a Salesman come out to go over replacement options on this 11-year-old system. This was agreed upon and they decided to do so before making a decision regarding the repairs. During this visit our Salesman offered replacement options. This was the reason that he was there. He was not there to verify if the unit “needed” to be replaced. The pricing is based off of what options that were chosen or what system requirements are dictated by the design of the home. The financing options that were offered included an option for the PACE financing program. This is just one of our financing options. It’s not for everyone, but many people find that this is a great way for them to qualify for a new system without tying up available credit from credit cards or other credit lines. This program is used all over California and is not unique to Bonney. The insinuation that WE would place a Mechanics Lien on the property is incorrect as we are not the provider of the loan. We get paid and our PACE financing provider will be the holder of the lien and the note. Again, this isn’t for everyone and was only one of the options that we offer for financing. I’m glad that Mr. [redacted] got his fan motor replaced and the unit is currently working to his satisfaction. I regret that we weren’t able to clear this up prior to this. Although our diagnosis of the failed fan motor proved accurate, I have refunded the $54 from the service call visit. Hopefully, we will get a chance in the future to work with Mr. [redacted] in the future. I’ll make sure that we continually work to improve our communications so that we more clearly lay out the consumer options and give a better channel for clearing up mis-understandings. Thank you,[redacted]General Manager, Bonney Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning

Scott K[redacted] is a winner! He answered all my questions and even though Bonney is now a paperless company, they mailed me a personal copy of my invoice in a timely manner. I really appreciated that! Not only did Scott take care of my system during the appointment but set a followup with me a few days later!

Eddie arrived on time and went to work on the inspection of the HVAC. He was very easy to talk to, and knowledgeable about the HVAC system. The system is 40 years old and he gave it a thorough review.

Eddie reviewed the results with me and showed me pictures of the air system in the attic. Eddie is obviously an expert on HVAC. He answered all of my questions with easy to understand explanation.

Great Job!

Alex ** arrived on time, was very cordial and professional. He immediately diagnosed our plumbing drain problem, and cleared the drain so it was usable again. He then video scoped out the drain, both back into the house and down to the street, letting us see for ourselves what the condition was. We asked him to give us a quote on a fix that would last, and he came back with a quote on a method that would probably last indefinitely, but keep us from having to break up our driveway and re-paving it. He even took away the mass of tree roots he'd pulled out of our drain so they wouldn't stink up our trash cans. All of this took little more than an hour.

Nick K[redacted] was very knowledgeable. He was very clear and really took his time explaining the issues with my HVAC system. Extremely professional and polite. My only issue is with scheduling appointment times. Bonney's main office schedules a window of time for the technician to come out to your house and usually they are off by at least an hour or two. This is not the technicians fault. Calling the customer who is waiting would be a great way to improve the overall experience. That being said, I would still highly recommend Nick/Bonney!

Our HVAC Service Technician John M[redacted] from Bonney was very helpful, friendly and explained everything to us very nicely. I couldn't be more happier. Our family experience with John M[redacted] was such a success that we highly recommend Bonney.

The technician, David B., came out today to drain my water heater. He was very helpful and showed me the gas shutoff valve and the water shutoff valve. I had no idea where they were located. My water heater is only 3 years old and the original installers offered no such service. I was very pleased with this representative of Bonney Plumbing and will certainly have him again if any problems arise in the future.

Was surprised and delighted with the very professional knowledgeable information provided by Clinton R. We were very aware of the age of our water heater and the probability that it's time of affective operation must be limited. Clinton showed patience and expertise in explaining to general condition of our old timer water heater. We now know and understand that although it is functioning fairly well at this time we are now knowledgeable of the worming signs of impending need to replace

We have been most impressed with the professional and courteous service we've received, since becoming Bonney clients. It is a pleasure to have Vitaliy come to our home and service our heating and air-conditioning. We request him and will continue to do so! He is polite, extremely well-qualified, very professional, personable and a good communicator. His explanations are easy to understand. We'd give him an A+. He's an asset to Bonney.

technician was well trained and polite. he solved our problem and corrected .

Comfort Advisor is the right title for Mary. As soon as she walked in the door, she made me feel at ease. She is very knowedgeable in every technical aspect of the job, yet her amiable personality made decision making less stressful. All my encounters with Bonney personnel have been very positive (including the technician Nick who made the initial diagnosis), but Mary stands out as one of the best. Thank you Bonney for sending me such good people!

Nick showed up on time on a Saturday to evaluate our air-conditioning system, after we detected hot air blowing out of the register. He was friendly, courteous, and thorough in his explanation of the problem. He arranged for a followup visit later that day with a colleague. We have had interactions with Nick in the past, and continue to find him an exceptional representative of Bonney. I can't recommend him highly enough.

Bonney Plumbing used the scare tactic to try and scam my grandparents out of $7,250. Their service tech with 15 years experience claimed he had never seen a heat exchanger in such bad shape and said they were basically killing themselves because of all the carbon monoxide being dumped into their mobile home. My girlfriend runs the service department at a Union heating and plumbing mechanical company and had 2 techs look at the wall heater and there is NOTHING wrong with it. A tool called a fluke CO2 detector was used to walk through the entire mobile home and not a trace of carbon monoxide was detected. She then called for pricing on a new wall heater and found one could be purchased for $930 and the labor would be for 2 technicians for about 4 hours each to install a new wall heater. We then went to YELP and read numerous reviews on other people they tried to rip off or did rip off. We then posted a yelp review of our own and they tried to justify that everything is flat rate pricing to make it fair. How is it fair trying to charge elderly people over 7K for a job that another company would only charge 3K for? How is it fair to take advantage of elderly people and take their money when nothing is wrong with their heater? Nothing but lies and stealing if you go with Bonney Plumbing.

Very personable and professional. Took the time to explain what and why he was checking the things he was checking!

Adam J[redacted],Plumbing Service Technician,provided excellent professional customer friendly service in resolving my clogged drain issue.

Nolan did our annual air conditioning review. He was knowledgeable and efficient. Nolan is welcome to come back next year.

Steve was outstanding. Right on time, didn't try to talk us in to things we didn't need right now and did everything fast and efficiently. Always explained the charges if we asked for other things. His smile and customer relations were A+. We have used Bonney before but the serviceman wasn't nearly as nice.

Bonney Plumbing, Heating and Air has done a great job for us. They have replaced our water heater and heating and air conditioning. Their staff is friendly, courteous and knowledgeable. We are on their BAM (Bonney Annual Maint) plan and just had our heating and A/C maint. Brandon K. was not only on time, he was early. He was courteous and friendly and explained what he was doing and the overall status of our unit. He was done in about an hour and a half and cleaned everything after he was done. Brandon K. is a great example of the types of technicians you will encounter with Bonney. Professional, friendly and experts.

I got a $59 service to my HVAC. Eddie the tech was on time, friendly and honest. I was extremely pleased with my service.