Hicks Heating, Air Conditioning, & Refrigeration, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/02/20) */
Attached is a summary we provided to the builder concerning Ms. [redacted]'s complaints about her hvac system. Please feel free to attach it to this file. We are an hvac and plumbing company, serving the Oklahoma City metro area for over...

forty years. We do sales, service, repair, and new construction on residential and light commercial buildings. On average, we install hvac systems in approximately 100 houses per year, and have very few complaints. It is extremely seldom that we cannot satisfy a customer, but it appears that this is one case where the customer, from the start, insisted they wanted extra work done, and no matter what the truth of the matter was, they would not be satisfied. By their own admissions, we made numerous trips attempting to address their complaints, which were basically that the air conditioner was too small and could not drop the home below 78 degrees, that the master bedroom was unbearably hot, and that their electricity bills were excessive. We attempted to solve the problems they described, but they were so sure they needed a return in their master bedroom that nothing we did would satisfy them. Finally, we sent two technicians to check every single aspect of their system, including taking temperature readings in every room. We scheduled this for an afternoon on a hot day.
When we arrived at the home, it was 93 degrees outside, the thermostat was set at 74 degrees, and the system had cycled off. Upon taking the individual room temperatures, we discovered that the master bedroom in question actually was 75 degrees, within a degree as the thermostat setting, and no individual room was out of range.
When it comes to energy usage, the information from OG&E makes it clear that their two large flat screen tvs and six fans, running continuous, were actually drawing MORE power than the hvac system did when it ran. The Shorts insisted to our technician that they have to run their tv's and fans for their dogs. That may be the case, but if the power draw on those appliances is larger than the hvac system draws, and they are on all day and evening continuously, perhaps their complaints about excess energy usage can be set aside as directly related to the energy consumption outside of the hvac system. Also, motors and televisions put out heat, so having large tvs and six fans on in the bedroom and in the living room all day and evening possibly could add to the heat load the hvac system has to eliminate.
Since the complaints had been about inability to cool the home, excessive energy use, and a hot master bedroom, we then realized that this was a "no-win" situation. Again, the actually digital temp readings we took proved that the home had no problem maintaining the set point on the thermostat and the bedroom was right in line with the thermostat set point. In our previous visit, we did agree that we had made a mistake in two ducts that were swapped. . . the one for the master closet and the one for the master bathroom. While although they are adjacent rooms, to be totally accurate, we did correct our mistake in those placements, and therefore, we would be willing to refund Ms. [redacted] the $70 service call she paid to one of the contractors who noted the swapped ducts. This, indeed, was a minor oversight on our part, and although technically not correct placement, the changes did not affect the "cooling ability" of the system or the master bedroom.
As for Ms. [redacted]'s complaints that the technicians were rude or refused to talk to them, we never would tolerate rudeness on the part of our techs, in fact, one of the main technicians was the son of the owners, and having over 18 years experience, would hardly be rude to a customer, no matter how provoked. Our company policy is, if a resident raises their voice or expresses resentment to the tech, the techs are instructed to keep their discussion with the resident to the absolute minimum and do their best to complete the task with minimal disruption. We often deal with builders, renters or family members of property owners, so we try to stay neutral in all disputes. In this case, when the technician did attempt to explain technical aspects of the hvac system or what he could do, they would became very sarcastic and rude to him, so he basically "clammed up", put his head down and attempted to do what he could without further antagonizing them. (Also, repeated threats to sue a company are not the best way to convince a technician to visit with you extensively.)
I can call any practically any hvac company and ask them to give me an estimate on adding a return, and they will do so. Not a single technician noted on their ticket that the existing return did not meet the manufacturer or code standards. Also, if you DO have a room that is out of temp with the rest of the system, (or if you insist that this is the case) of course, any tech will tell you that adding a return is an option, but if you add a return to a room that actually is the SAME temperature of the rest of the rooms, you will most certainly throw the balance off. In the spirit of good customer service, we did offer to add an "extra return" for the Shorts. We were willing to forgo the labor involved, and so offered this to the builder at a price of $175-$200, which was basically the cost of the materials. The builder also felt the return was not needed, so offered this option to the Shorts. I find it interesting that they would refuse to pay this drastically reduced cost to add the return, and then would insist that somehow we should be responsible to pay an exorbitant amount for someone else to do the same work we had already offered to do.
A final note, the builder actually has the exact same system in her own home, which is actually slightly larger than the [redacted]'s house, and has had no problems. We have done approximately fifteen houses with this or an almost identical floor plan and none of them have expressed similar complaints.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/03/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
First of all I have the documentation from OG&E stating that the output from our televisions & ceiling fans would in no way impact our bill to the extent that it was. I will gladly send them to you, the Revdex.com & Hicks. There was only one television running w/a small standing fan in the master & the ceiling fan. When the techs came to work I would turn on the television in the living room in order to have entertainment & stay out of the way while they worked. This appliance is seldom used by us. Hicks stating is was a "no win" situation is correct in the fact that we were always left feeling that we, the customer, were not going to be made happy or that we weren't being heard. No to address the "techs" saying that we stated we would sue, that is 100% incorrect. Those words were NEVER said at all. My father did mention for me to speak w/our attorney about our warranty issue with our builder, but never said "sue" or even mentioned Hicks. Now to talk about how Hicks offered to put in the 2nd return at a discounted price, our builder told us that if that is what we did we would have to sign a document first. Under advisement from our attorney we did not do so seeing that it was a way for her to void the warranty that we had on the house for repairs. She asked us to give Hicks the chance to try other solutions to the issue and we did give them the benefit to try it. It did not work. After having three, documented, companies come out to look and advise us that we did in fact need the second return we felt as though Hicks was only giving us the "run around" by request of the builder so she would not have to uphold the warranty and pay for the repair. We have looked in to another house built by the builder in our neighborhood, her sisters, and that home is only 38 square feet bigger than ours and she does have two returns along with a 3 1/2 ton unit. We do have a question for Hicks though. How is it that three other companies all whom came out to check the problem we were having all agreed that we needed two returns and they are all wrong? It doesn't make sense to us. We firmly believe and stand by the fact that we should not have to pay out of pocket for the expense of having other companies come out and another company do the job that Hicks should have done in the beginning. Hicks and the builder should have to cover the expenses. I also have the documentation showing that Hicks came out to our house five times, not three as they stated previously. Please let me know where I can send my documentation on this matter.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2014/03/25) */
We read the letter the [redacted]'s provided "from OG&E" and it stated clearly the same thing our technicians observed when it came to ceiling fans and televisions. However, on 3/10/14, we called OG&E, the utility company, ourselves, to see if we could verify that the letter provided to us by Desire [redacted] was actually from OG&E, since it is not on official letterhead and was not signed. Our office manager spoke with an OG&E representative and the representative stated they had no official record of a visit to that home. The representative also stated that they would never enter a home for an investigation of a high electric bill, but would simply test the electrical loads at the main. The representative asked what the letter actually said, so our office manager read the letter to the customer service rep. After the office manager read the letter to the representative, the rep also stated that they would not typically make statements about the heat/air system even at the customer's request.
Even though we already proved that the rooms were in balance during hot weather, and that the unit was maintaining house temperature at set point on the thermostat, we offered to add an extra return at "material cost". The builder actually offered to PAY for the return herself, if they would agree that they would be satisfied with the airflow and balance, and they refused even that. Attached is a statement from the builder that makes it clear that the ONLY warranty that would be "voided" was the air balance warranty for the home, and that was if she paid for the extra return herself.

Again, we offered to pay for the one service charge from an HVAC contractor who observed a duct issue with one duct, and we feel that we and the builder had done all we could do. The Shorts chose to pay four times the cost of our quote, much less the fact that they could have had the return for free, so we still feel it is unreasonable to ask us to refund what they paid.
We are deeply troubled by this incident, as we truly strive to satisfy each and every customer, within reason, but the facts are here and available and it is clear that we have tried to meet their needs throughout the entire process. We stand by our offer to refund them $70 for the original service call.