California Industrial Electric Corporation

The customer contacted Mills Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. on September 8, 2014 stating that he had "cut some wires to his heat pump while weed eating." We let him know that our schedule was full however, we had a technician ([redacted]) in the area and that we would work this call...

into to the schedule to help them out. The technician ([redacted]) responded at 1:45 pm and departed at 3:00 pm. Per his service invoice he spliced the thermostat wires back together(matching wire color to wire color) and checked all cycles of operation to ensure working correctly in cooling mode and all tested okay. The technician ([redacted]) spliced the wires at the bottom of the line set (near the ground only) where the customer had cut them with his weed eater. With this repair there was no need to access the inside of the outdoor unit, thus the technician did not open nor make any additional changes. The technician did zip tie the thermostat wire to the line set to prevent the wiring from sagging and being cut again and used blue wire nuts, based on the gauge of wire. to secure the connections at splice point, again near the ground only, which should have been secured at the initial install of the unit. The cost of this call war $212.00. (see attached invoice)On December 7, 2014 the customer called asking for a routine tune up of their system.  At this time the customer did not state to our dispatcher that they were having any issues with their unit. Since there were no issues reported by the customer we scheduled the call with our tune up special¡st ([redacted]) for December 8, 2014. [redacted] arrived and performed a routine tune up of the indoor and outdoor unit. The cost of this call was $129.00 - Mills' standard charge for a heat pump tune up. (see attached invoice)Upon cycling the system he noted that at the indoor wall mounted thermostat the Auxiliary Heat was on all the time and after some limited troubleshooting ¡t appeared to be a possible compressor issue. When a Mills tune up specialist discovers an issue they are instructed to contact the office and schedule a time for the sen¡or technician to review and diagnose the issue(s).  Our dispatcher scheduled our senior technician ([redacted]) who is a Master Electrician and Master HVAC tech for December 9, 2014. The customer accepted this appointment and ¡t was added to our schedule.[redacted] arrived on 12/9/14 @ 9:30 am and departed at 10:30 am. He noted on his service invoice that when he cycled the heat mode at the outdoor unit, not at the indoor wall mounted thermostat, that he discovered the electric heat was running without a call from the thermostat or heat pump, which is not normal operation. He traced the wiring and found the heat/cool mode wire and electric heat wires were not wired properly at the control box of the outdoor unit from the initial installation. During his initial assessment he looked at the "splice repair' made by [redacted] and determined that this repair was performed correctly and properly. Clarifying that these (2) wiring issues are at separate areas and are unrelated. [redacted] contacted the office and reviewed the information from the previous calls and stated that this was not a Mills issue as this likely had been improperly wired during the installation of the unit. Given this system was installed in the summer, not by Mills Heating & Air, an Installation technician would have to turn the thermostat up high enough during testing as normal practice which would activate both stages of heat. This issue would not reveal itself if both stages of heat were running and/or system was in cooling mode. If the unit would have continued to operate as it was wired it could have placed excessive wear and/or stress on the compressor. [redacted] did not charge any additional diagnostic fee due to it being a follow up to the routine tune up. He did however charge $60.00 for the time to correct the crossed wires. (see attached invoice)Again this HVAC unit was not installed by Mills Heating & Air and until September 8, 2014 we only had (1) other service call related to this system on 08/15/12 that was the result of an extremely dirty filter. Given the incorrect wiring anytime this unit was calling for first stage heat it was running in cool mode.  Second stage would switch the heat pump to heat mode and bring on the electric heat. In heat mode this would result in more electric consumption especially in cold temperatures.  The amount of money ($1700+) that the homeowner invested in trying to "locate" the source of the problem was not the issue of Mills. We were their last call and only asked to perform a routine maintenance and the customer did not mention that they were having an issue with the electrical hill until we had completed the tune up and Mills noted there was a problem with the auxiliary heat.  The manufacturers require routine maintenance on these systems to ensure proper operation. With the system being 4 years old and this being the first maintenance check that Mills was aware of or involved in led to us discovering the issue.The customer originally thought that we made both splices and d¡d not or would not accept that the ones at the control box was a field connection.  This bundle of wires comes from the factory ready for the installer to connect to in order to complete the wiring portion of the installation. The blue wire nuts and ties trap are ubiquitous to the HVAC industry. Strapping up the wiring to the line set was Mills being thorough and does not indicate that Mills rewiredthe factory connections. As for the blue wire nuts not showing any wear or fading at the factory connect¡on, they are shaded by the back of the unit and are not exposed to direct sun.  We cannot comment on the performance of the unit prior to our visit and given the limited history that Mills has with this unit.  When reviewing the information sent to Mills by the customer the time period that is covered on the electric billing (10/16/14 - 11/17/14) was thefirst extended period of heating operation of which all heat pumps consume more power.The office administrator ([redacted]) did speak to the customer several times, in advance of receiving his letter, discussing the calls to his home and the tasks that each technician performed and charged accordingly. The customers initial request was that Ms. [redacted] speak with Ms. Mills and review all invoices to determine if the work performed by the technicians was done correctly. During the reviewing process Ms, Mills spoke to each service technicianinvolved and determined that it was not a Mills issue hut an issue related to the initial installation. We contacted the customer and in an attempt to resolve the matter Ms. Mills offered 1/2 off the initial invoice dated 9/8/14 ($106.00) citing this could be a compromise on the amount of monies that the customer had to spend and taking our existing business relationships into consideration. During this phone conversation the communication started breaking down when the customer became uncooperative, irate and threatening to slander Mills Heating & Air to everyone he knew. Ms. Mills asked for the photos to be emailed to her so that further discussions could be had with all of the technicians to verify all information once again trying to be fair and reasonable.  We received the information, had another meeting with those involved and telephoned the customer while [redacted] was still in the office. The customeragain did not want to accept our response even after speaking with [redacted].  He insists that all of this began after the initial repair of the thermostat wire in September which is totally unrelated to the issue that was causing his electric bill to be higher than normal.In closing Mills Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. can only guarantee the work that we have performed on this system. We addressed each need this customer contacted Mills about as well as found and corrected the situation of the incorrect wiring.  However, Mills is willing to compromise on the billings to salvage the relationship with this customer.We would be glad to offer any additional information that you may need to make a final decision or clarify any of the above listed details.Sincerely,Laura Mills, PresidentMills Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and while I do not agree with their assessment of the problem and or the communications I had with their employees I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.  The response states "..Mills is willing to compromise on the billings to salvage the relationship with this customer."  Refunding the service fees was ALL I ever asked for in this process.  However, they never actually followed through with the first offer.  Once full payment is received I will consider this closed but I assure all parties they can't salvage this relationship and we will utilize non-local companies in the future. 
Regards,
[redacted]