Comfenergy Reviews (%countItem)
Comfenergy Rating
Address: 45714 Oakbrook Ct Ste 180, Sterling, Virginia, United States, 20166-7224
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Bad experience with Comfenergy. After spending several thousand dollars the comfort level in the house has not improved at all. Basement still very cold. Comfenergy did bad job of diagnosing the problem. They have been unable to pin point the issue. Definitely they are no experts in home insulation.
This customer called us to make their basement warmer in the winter. During our evaluation we found there to be issues with the attic as well. This customer was proposed $7,196 worth of work, and they "right sized" it down to $2,898. So, they took 60% of the work away and we even changed our proposal to read specific tasks instead of it reading "Make basement warmer". The work they chose to do basically addressed the attic.....We explained this lesser amount of work would not perform what they wanted it to (make the basement warmer). We have gone back 2 or more times and explained that if the add back in what was proposed and paid for it we'd be glad to do more work for them. They refused and said they would post negative testimonials such as this, so we have chosen not to work with them further.
We spend approximately $3000 plus $1000 for the entire project. $1000 to cut up and put the dry wall back as per Comfenergy recommendations. Unfortunately, no results.
The primary goal when we started the insulation project was to make the lower level of house "usable" (i.e. warmer during winters). We had explained this to the Comfenergy representative very clearly. He spent several hours in our house diagnosing the root cause and proposed the solution to resolve it. It is obvious that an incorrect diagnosis was done.
In the $7196 proposal, Comfenergy had recommended to dense pack the rear wall of lower level. But, upon asked the Comfenergy representative specifically told us that based on his blower door and thermal camera testing "the rear wall was not the major problem". He said clearly "that he didn't see any problems with the rear wall". We have evidence of this conversation.
If Comfenergy felt that proposal we chose would be insufficient, then good business practice is to tell customer that issue would not be resolved, which they didn't.
I am not an expert to determine what insulation job would fix what problem and therefore relied on professional experience and advice of Comfenergy.
Our intention is just to share our experience with Comfenergy.
You spent $2,898 with us. We do not perform drywall work. Out of that $2,898 that you had chosen, $451 was targeted toward your basement. The rest of the work was in the attic. There was a total of $3,602 of work proposed to make your basement warmer but only chose $451 to make this happen. I'd be happy to upload both of the proposals here for review if I could. It's very simple. We showed you that to stop your boat from sinking there were 10 holes to fix and it would cost $7,196....You chose to fix only 40% of the holes and your boat sank. I honestly can't even believe we are still talking about this.
The drywall work was done by a vendor recommended by Comfenergy, so that Comfenergy could do the garage wall insulation work to block the open trusses. Other wise why would we cut the drywall. We are surprised that Comfenergy is are saying that attic work has nothing to do with the over all insulation of the house. The attic work was done to prevent "heat loss" and seal the house against air leaks. And it has not worked as well.
Yes, Comfenergy did offer rear wall to be dense packed. But, Comfenergy's own diagnosis was that rear wall was not issue and we explained in earlier message.
Exact words of Comfenergy representative in email, "I showed the evidence of cold air coming into the basement from the garage ceiling with the blower door and thermal camera". Based on this we accepted and implemented Comfenergy's recommendation to seal the open trusses to block cold air coming from garage into basement, but it has had no impact.
Truth is Comfenergy was not been able to pin point the root cause and made generic recommendations hoping that one of them would fix the issue. Shows very clearly that work is based on "trial and error".
We KNOW what it will take to make the basement warmer and less drafty. We offered this to you and you chose NOT to accept it. This is why our contract states that you "right sized" the project and chose NOT to perform some of our suggested solutions. If your doctor tells you to stop drinking and smoking, exercise more, and diet or you'll have a heart attack......and you have a heart attack, are you going to blame the doctor?
I first contacted Comfenergy in Oct, for air sealing issues in recently purchased home. I wanted to get ahead of winter & avoid a frigid house. The thermal camera weilding rep (CH) who came out recommended sealing the cantilevers above and below the kitchen to address problems with leaks in a back kitchen wall. The contract included can light covers to eliminate leaks & a proper sealing of my microwave exhaust duct. The duct was to end in a set up with butterfly damper/s that were to be oriented vertically, to ensure a default closed position. CH assured me that they had a vent with such an arrangement, that involved two opposing vertical butterfly dampers. Early Dec - the crew installed the can light covers, insulated the two cantilevers & extended the duct from my microwave, but did not have any clue about the vent that was promised. They did install a damper upstream, but the duct now ends in a butterfly damper that is installed face down, open at all times. Kitchen continued to be frigid and drafty. Called again, and asked for diff rep. BD came by late Jan, blower door test determined that the kitchen was very drafty and the cabinets against the back wall were at exterior temperature. I was assured insulating the back wall would solve the problem. Signed a contract for this & was assured speedy service. Deficiencies in the work performed earlier were also noted. The can lights were still drafty, as evidenced by the blower door test. I was assured these would be addressed when the crew came out to insulate the wall. Kitchen pipes froze over twice during cold spells after this visit, no service yet. Multiple calls later 3rd rep (installer AM) stops by, and says comfenergy does not insulate walls with Al siding, but suspects the drafts are from the cantilever. Says will look at job notes, discuss with others & get back to me. Multiple calls later, the position changed to, it might be the walls, which they have no solution for. It's Feb & my kitchen remains freezing cold.
is correct in almost all of her complaint...except the part where we visited in October of 2018 to make her top floor warmer in the winter. We diagnosed through infrared camera and other highly accurate tools of our trade what was causing her top floor to be cold in the winter. We put together a proposal to make her top floor warmer and all of the tasks necessary to do so came out to be $10,084 to make this happen.
She decided to "right size" the job to fit a her desired budget by telling us what tasks she wanted to perform instead of what it would take to fix her issue. The entire scope of work we proposed got cut down to a $2,015 project, but still expected it to make a difference of $10,084. She took out many of the important tasks that would make the top floor warmer in the winter.
We have been back to the house several times to see if there was anything else we could do for her. We have sent two separate evaluators at no cost. We even added the task of dense packing a wall for her at cost, but we found out later that the siding we needed to remove was aluminum and it couldn't be removed and replaced without being damaged. We were not willing to take that risk so we decided for our sake not to do so.
I would be VERY happy to discuss this with her. Matter of fact it kind of bothers me that she wouldn't call and ask for a manager or owner before going to the Revdex.com.
Justin D
Owner of Comfenergy
[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 as Answered]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because,
1) I have called multiple times, asked multiple people to put me through to management, to no avail. They have my number, they can call back at any time, but they never have. I'd be happy to discuss convective heat flow with them.
2) The holes in boat analogy is a good one, I'll go with it. My can lights still leak, I had paid this company to seal them, and a subsequent test by one of their own showed significant leakage after their "solution". Why would I pay to have more holes in my boat patched, when the holes that were contracted to be patched have not been patched successfully?
3) The issue was that the kitchen was drafty mainly because there was a problem with the walls, as determined on the 3rd visit by company personnel. The company however decided they weren't confident addressing that specific problem. None of the other "solutions" in the original proposal was the main issue. Two big holes in the kitchen wall was never identified. The fact that the kitchen wall lacked any insulation was not identified. I finally hired another contractor to address the problem, and he was successful in patching the hole and insulating the wall. The original proposal was a list of some of the services that the company routinely performs, and were not tailored to my specific situation, despite being marketed as such. This false advertising has been the problem from the start. Some holes are more pertinent than others, and a tailored solution should entail identifying and patching those first.
I am very happy to visit the home to see what we can do for ***. I was under the impression that she had hired another firm to fix what we can't do. I will have my office call her to set up a visit from myself personally so that we can determine if there is anything else we can do.
Very professional and knowledgeable. Gave various options based on different budget considerations. Easy to schedule, called ahead to confirm, showed up on time. Had all the tools and equipment needed to check out issues in the house. Definitely recommend!
Thank you for the kind words!!!
On February 24, 2017 I hired ComfEnergy to resolve drafts coming out of two vents in my fireplace. Their proposed solution was to insulate and air seal the fireplace. Per the contract, the scope of work was "C1-4 - Air Seal and Insulate Fireplace Bump-out - Air seal and insulate around fireplace inside bump-out"
Their warranty on the contract states, "Limited Warranty – All Services will be performed with good or new materials in a good workmanship like manner. All Services performed and materials
supplied will be free from defects for one (1) year after the installation date. We agree to repair or replace, in our sole discretion, any defective Services or materials, if we receive written notice of such defects by certified mail, and we verify that such defect exists."
Before I signed the contract, the salesperson, *** stated in an email, "I have discussed this job with our production manager and crew chief, they feel pretty confident we can tackle this for you. They also reminded me of a fire rated foam board that we have, which is perfect for this!" Also, the person who led the installation last Spring was a company founder, ***
In January 2018 and within the one year warranty period, I notified ComfEnergy that the draft still existed. After limited response from them, I finally spoke to *** today and he claims that I was told that they didn't have experience with wood burning fireplaces and since I still hired them there is nothing more to be done. In fact, I was not told they didn't have experience with wood fireplaces and I had bid this job with a fireplace company and specifically chose ComfEnergy because they are an energy company who claims on the homepage of their website that air sealing leaks eliminates cold drafts.
A video of my draft taken January 30, 2018, the email expressing confidence in the job, and the signed contract can be found at
Re: ***
This issue has been resolved. Our agreement was for the homeowner to notify you, but obviously she has not. We refunded the amount of the job the she was not satisfied with per her request. I have attached a letter showing this was done with her signature on it. Please feel free to email or call me with any questions. Thank You, Justin A. D