Home Efficiency Assistance Program

They helped us get a new HVAC unit and water heater. The service was good, and we had no problems with the equipment or people. We would use them again.

Review: First,their website http://homeefficiencyassistance.org is not a valid web address; from the business card I got from my mom, it's energyupgradeprogram.org; Review: This company has tricked my 76 years, single living mom into replacing her central heating system. (Yes, the heater was non-working at the time) The problem was, my mom speaks very limited English, cannot fully understand the whole job in DETAIL. The sales representative has tricked her into committed in a $5K job with a 10% interests, in a 10 years loan term. The sale representative mentioned to my mom that she could get discounts/incentive/rebate from PGE or the government since she's upgrading to energy efficiency equipment; HOWEVER, he never mention how much she can receive, what she needs to do to apply ( When I later spoke with him, he also mentioned the same thing) BUT, I found out that the contractor they hired for installation was not even a PGE energy upgrade participated contractor, that means she will never receive any rebate through PGE. The sale representative Sean Tingen claimed my mom can fully understand him in English when he explains the job to her.Anyone who speaks to my mom can verified that she could not fully understand English.She can understand basic terms such as her name,age,address,how long she been there & can tell time; but there's no way anyone can claimed she can fully comprehend in English. Since the guy mentioned that she could get incentive/rebate from PGE/Gov, my mom totally thought pge & the gov. is going to pay for majority portion of the job and she only needs to pay a small amount each month.I know it sounds ridiculous,but that's the problem with language barrier. Equipment: For a $5K installation, my mom didn't even get a good furnace.It was a 2 Ton,80% AFUE furnace. 80% AFUE was the lowest stage of furnace that barely passed for energy efficiency requirement.This is another area that this company tricked old personnel into getting since most often they do not understand Technology.Desired Settlement: I don't expect a full refund even though my mom should get it. I understand the heater has been installed & that's nothing we can do about it; but it will be nice if the company can offer some sort of discounts, the company's business practice is totally unethical & unprofessional.

Review: Mr. [redacted] came to my residence twice on the same day under program of doing an home efficiency review. His first visit he came looking for [redacted], which my daughter informed him he had the wrong address and no one by that name lived here. We have been here for 40 years. This was around 9:00 am. He came back around 1:00 pm and said he as there for a review with me. I allowed Mr. [redacted] into my home for the Home Efficiency Assistance Program. Once, I mentioned that I was interested in getting a walk-in tube. He was no longer interested in viewing my heating or air conditioning system. I asked him to look at the furnace and windows to see if I qualified. He stated that since my appliances were replace between 2005 and 2009 that there was no point in these programs. However, something could be done with the walk-in tub. He requested that I show him identification and made two phone calls during our conversation. He said the TV was distracting and asked for me to turn the sound off, but he made phone calls during our session, which I found rude. When he finally said I qualified for $3600 towards the tub,which cost $13500 and I would have to come up with $1600 upfront and finance $8,500. I stated that I would need time to think about it and it was beyond my income. He tried to pressure me stating I would go to bottom of the list and I needed to sign today. I said fine and he left. But, I did not expect him to punch a hole in the screen window of my garage. The hole was not there prior to his second visit and it was brought to my attention by the daughter on her way home. This was childish and in poor taste. It was clear that he was upset that I did not sign the papers and take the program, but I need time to digest financial committments.Desired Settlement: Repair the of the damaged screen window.

Business

Response:

We have spoken to [redacted] regarding this incident, and Mr. [redacted] was very insistent that he did not damage the premises in any way. He stated to us that he is a professional and not given to vandalism. He hoped to still conduct business with the owner as well, and damage to a screen would obviously spoil that opportunity.

As Mr. [redacted]'s supervisor, I have placed him on a 30 day probation period, where we will be monitoring his interactions with his clients, to ensure that his character is in keeping with our expectations as a respectable company.

While we do not have any factual evidence of wrongdoing on our part, we will still be replacing the homeowner's screen for them as a gesture of good will.

I used this service last month to replace an old Furnace and AC unit. It didn't cost me anything up front and the high efficiency unit that was installed has lowered my bill to by 53% saving me $89 every month less than my monthly payment will be. They offered me a program offered by GE with no interest for 12 months which could not have come at a better time since I'm just getting back on my feet. I'd like to thank everyone at the Home Efficiency Assistance Program you saved me big time!

The Home Efficiency Assistance Program is the same company as Syntrol Plumbing, Heating & Air on 2120 March Road, Roseville, CA 95747. Their phone number is 916-772-5813. The company is majority owned by Paul Bianchi III, former owner of Bianchi Plumbing. The sham front Home Efficiency Assistance Program operates an illegal robo dialing system to help promote sales for Syntrol. They try to run a 2 step process to close a home improvement sale. They first attempt to set up an appointment with a Home Efficiency Assistance Program representative for an energy consultation/evaluation. Then that representative will try to qualify the homeowner for bogus discounts to help with energy improvement recommendations. At that point the representative will either refer this to an "engineer" for further evaluation or possibly try to close the sale themselves. The Home Efficiency Assistance Program is ran by Angelica Amaya. If you ever have the misfortune of receiving a bogus robo call, you should contact either Paul or Angelica and complain. As well, here are some helpful links to combat this company and their illegal dealings:

https://www2.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/ComplaintDisclosure.aspx?...⇄ />
https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx

Review: This company has been calling and calling my CELL phone off and on for 4 or 5 months. They probably call 2 to 3 times a week. Each time they have called, I have selected the "remove number from call list" option, but I continue to receive these calls. So I got another one today and figured I would try another option. I called back the number [redacted] and it immediately sent me to voicemail. I have no idea why I continue to get phone calls on my out of state CELL phone. I do not own a home in the area so I'm not sure what energy savings I would qualify for.Desired Settlement: I just want the phone calls to stop. There is absolutely no reason that anyone should be contacting me on my CELL phone, which has an out of state number.

Business

Response:

To whom this may concern,

I have searched our database and was unable to locate this phone number. I have added this number to our do not call list to ensure our organization never calls this number in the future.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my concern, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

This company calls me about every week! I unsubscribed from their call list following their prompts, but they still call me. When I talked to them, and asked to remove me from the list, the girl was mean and hungup on me.