Empire Mechanical Services

Our company went to this customers location to look at an AC. She told her insurance company (Erie) the unit was stolen. We were to investigate the claim. Upon arri*** the Technician found the unit on site and in tact with no damage other than poor maintenance and improper repairs attempt. The findings were that the unit needed a leak check, repairs to suction line from someone trying to solder the line with the wrong solder, unit would need pressurized, vacuumed, and recharged. A quote was sent in to the company we completed the investigation for in the amount of $400.00. The customer told the Technician her brother who was not certified try to fix it which is where the wrong solder came from and that another company was scheduled to come out the following week to make proper repairs. This investigation was done in Sept of 2018. In Oct 2018 the customer called and asked if we could repair the unit at a discounted rate of $200.00 because that's all the insurance company gave her. We agreed to help the customer in this situation for the $200.00. The Technician went to repair the unit and made all proper repairs and told the customer her unit needed to be cleaned properly. This was not done as it was not part of the investigation but is poor maintenance on the homeowners side. The unit was pressurized for 3 days and here were no leaks. The Technician returned and vacuumed the system and the unit held at 500 microns which is good. The repairs were made and unit was in good working condition. The customer stated she wanted a new unit for the same price the Technician told her repairs are what was recommended. The customer contacted us in June of 2019 and stated her unit is not cooling properly when she tries to use it and that she should have had a new unit. There was miscommunication on scheduling due to our schedule and the customers schedule. At one point when texting the Technician and calling repeatedly she was not given a response asking if she just wanted all other jobs cancelled and hers done. While this is not how our Technicians typically respond the amount of phone calls and the fact that the customer said she has a very limited schedule during normal operating hours it seemed impossible to satisfy her. Our company sent 2 Technicians in August to again assess the unit and found the customer still had not had her unit cleaned and it was fully charged and operating properly. The unit was cleaned and some metal Duct tape was added to help with loss of air on indoor duct work. The customer told the Technician she still wants a new unit and did in fact receive the full $400.00 from the insurance company. She also stated she doesn't turn her unit on until later in the afternoon when it is already above 80 degrees in the home and expects the unit to cool the house quickly. She was told that the unit is working properly and works harder and will take longer to cool the house if she is leaving it off all day. The customer was also advised that the Technician did everything properly in Oct and a refund would have to be investigated since she already was paid more for the repairs by the insurance company then she paid the contractor.

The complaint filed with your office is one we believe to be an attempt for the customer to make money they are not owed. Originally in Sept 2018 Empire Mechanical Services was contracted to HVACI to do an investigation at this customers home. When we received the original investigation it was to as the AC unit at ***. The claim was for a stolen AC unit. Upon arrival the Technician (Paul) found the unit to be in tact and on site. There was a leak in the system and what appeared to be an attempt to fix it. The wrong solder was used and this is why it did not work to repair the leak. The customer told Paul that her brother who is not EPA certified tried to fix it. She stated she wanted a new unit and was told hers could be repaired. When being told it could repaired she stated she had another contractor coming out the next week to fix the unit. Paul submitted his findings to HVACI and from there it goes to the insurance company. Paul had a pleasant conversation with the customer on site and assured her that repairs could be made. In Oct 2018 the customer contacted Paul and stated she no longer was using Liberty Mutual for insurance and that they denied paying the total cost due to fix the unit but did however send her a $200 settlement and asked if he could repair the unit at this discounted rate as she could not afford to pay any more. In an attempt to help the customer understanding times can be tough he agreed to do the repairs for $200. When he arrived on site the weather was sunny and in the upper 40’s which can give a fluctuated reading so he pressurized the system and explained he would come back in a couple days (Oct25) to verify the pressure is holding and to charge the system. This way with the cooler temps proper pressure could be verified. Paul returned on Oct 25 and rechecked the system, pressures were holding and the leak was fixed so he recharged the system and it began cooling the home. The unit was shut off because it was not needed and *** was told if she had any more problems to give Empire a call. The customer stated again that she thought she would be getting a new unit and Paul told her he was only there to make repairs. Paul advised her that come spring she would need to have her unit cleaned and should keep up with proper maintenance. The customer did not pay the $200 on site like she was supposed to. Paul met up with her 2 days later after her giving him the run around on making payment to process her credit card in the amount of $200. Summer of 2019 after using the unit for sometime the customer contacted Paul saying its not cooling her home. The customer states she has a limited schedule and needed her AC fixed. She would call and text and there were conflicting schedules and at one point Paul sent her a msg stating the truck was on its way but that message was intended for another customer and was sent by mistake. Paul did grow increasingly frustrated do to the fact that the customer was not available during typical operating hours and responded inappropriately saying he would drop 3 or 4 other jobs and come down if that is what she wanted Paul did not return to the site. Coming into the situation this year after all of this correspondence I was contacted by a representative from Liberty Mutual about the claim on Aug 29, 2019. I found that Ms. does in fact still have their insurance and was paid to get the repairs made. I spoke with HVACI and was told the claim was closed but believed to be through Erie insurance. After digging into the situation later on I found it was a claim through Liberty Mutual and that the customer received full payment minus her deductible. HVACI had submitted the findings and verified she stated she had another contractor lined up in Sept 2018 to make repairs and thought she had Paul mixed up with someone else. Due to the fact that Ms. was not given the greatest customer service and there seemed to be a lot of miscommunication I contacted her directly and agreed to send 2 Technicians out so there is a witness to the situation and to verify if there are issues with her unit. I stated that if it was found that Paul did not properly repair her unit I would look into getting her a refund for all the hassle. On Sept 4, 2019 the Technicians went to her home. This is within a week of my being originally contacted about the issue. The technicians called me from the site to let me know that the unit was checked and was still holding a full charge and working properly but had not been maintained and needed cleaned. The technicians did not need to add Freon but did hook the can up to verify pressures in more than one way. The customer again asked if she was supposed to have a new unit last year and that is what she expected. The technicians stated they are only there to check for proper operation. Since I was close to the site I stopped in to verify the findings and make sure there was no miscommunication. I had my Technicians clean her unit as a courtesy and verified for myself that the temp inside the home was coming down. There were a couple small spots on the inside duct work where air was escaping and shouldn’t be so the technicians taped those too. The technicians hooked their own hose to the customers outside spout after asking if they could use it and customer agreed she even helped them run the hose across the porch. It is standard to use the water source at the residence to clean the coil. The customer asked why it was repaired in Oct by Paul when it was cooler outside. I explained to her that Paul did not do anything wrong and was within guidelines of the repair. I said typically these repairs are made when its warmer outside but that is why he verified it was holding pressure for a couple days. I explained to her that if she sent me proof of payment that I would look into her refund but was not sure it would be issued because our Technician properly repaired her unit. The customer stated she only turns the AC on in later afternoon after returning from work and its usually already 80-90 degrees in the home and that it doesn’t cool down quick enough. It was explained to her in very simple terms that if she is turning her AC on when the home is already extremely hot and its hot outside that it will take a few hours to notice a difference in inside temperature. She was told doing this makes her unit work harder and that she needs to keep up with proper maintenance and she asked us if we could do that in the spring and fall and what it includes and how much it would be. I answered her questions stating it is something we do and that its typically $80 plus parts for her region for each visit once in the spring and once in the fall. The customers unit was running fine and the air coming into the home was 63.6 degrees the current temp in the house was 80 degrees that is a normal and sufficient difference for a properly operating unit. I told the customer to contact me in 3-4 hours and let me know what the temperature inside the home was. She contacted me 2 hrs and 45 min later stating it was 77 degrees the temperature dropped 3 degrees in a home where most air vents are covered by furniture etc and I told her that is good and she should have no more problems. When I left that day I told her I was waiting for information from the insurance company on payment she received and had to look further into the situation as she is not owed a refund since the unit is working properly and our Technician did nothing wrong. I found that Ms. did in fact receive the entire amount of a little over $400 for the repairs from the insurance company and lied about this to Paul to get a discounted rate. This seems like a possible case of insurance fraud or an attempt to get something for nothing. Also Ms. requested a refund from her credit card company to refund the $200 paid to Empire Mechanical Services and in addition wants Empire to give her $200 which is a scam. Ms. now is making more false conversations up and twisting words around in her response to the Revdex.com in order to try and get the money she is not owed. She made a false claim about work being done on her vehicle which we know nothing about and she can not seem to keep things straight. Ms. was given excellent service this second time around her unit was repaired properly the 1st time around and is claiming after not getting an additional refund that we may have sabotaged her unit. If we are such a bad experience for her why ask us to come back and do the maintenance? We are very sorry Ms. can not accept that her unit was repaired and not replaced but we are not at fault and wish her all the best. Empire Mechanical Services has a great reputation with many 5 star reviews and satisfied customers. Unfortunately Ms. did not get a new unit and some of the correspondence through all companies involved was not accurate and incomplete and resulted in confusion and miscommunication. The fact of the matter is Ms. never paid her deductible of $500.00 she received $217.84 over the amount she paid to Empire from her insurance company. Her unit works properly and was fixed in Oct 2018 and then cleaned and checked for free in Sept 2019. All together she has had no out of pocket expense since the $200.00 she did pay came from the insurance claim. We will not refund the money and are looking into other legal options to stop the false complaints.