Home Energy Experts, Inc.

I scheduled my 2 air conditioner units and 2 furnace units to be serviced in response to an advertised special on the Home Energy Experts website (http://www.nvenergyexperts.com/). The advertised special indicates $79 per unit for a 20-point "Super Tune Up & Power Cleaning." The guarantee in this advertised special indicates "No break downs this summer or this service is FREE!"I arrived in Reno on 05/01/2014 to perform general maintenance on my rental property. I was at the property for several hours and know the AC unit was not malfunctioning the day prior to this service visit.A technician came to the Reno property on 05/02/2014 to perform the service. After he left, I noticed one AC unit was left running. I was outside all day and simply thought the thermostat was left on. Once I was done for the day, I left the property. That evening (about 8:30pm), my tenant informed me that the AC unit was still running and the thermostat would not shut it off. Turning off the circuit breaker switch was needed to shut the unit down.On the morning of 05/03/2014, I called the technician that worked on the units to inform him of the problem. He immediately indicated that he is off for the day and if someone needs to come to the property, there will be a charge unless it is "obvious" it was "his fault." I called the main number and left a message describing the problem. I received a call about 2 hours later indicating that they would charge me to come out. I made it clear that I would not pay for them to come back to fix the problem they caused. Upon arrival and a brief inspection, the technician informed me it would cost $200 for him to fix the problem. The AC unit was not malfunctioning in anyway on 05/01/2014. On 05/02/2014, the only person that touched the units and the thermostats was the technician. I lived in this house (built in 2006) for about 5 years prior to renting it and have never had trouble with my AC or heat. My tenant has never had issues with the units either.Product_Or_Service: 20-point super tune up & inspectionDesired SettlementRefund of service per guarantee. Reimbursement of costs to repair damaged AC unit.Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted]Contact Phone: 775 323 5585Contact Email: [redacted]Our technician [redacted] notified the customer of the burnt wire that was connected to the contactor switch on the air conditoiner (the part that turns the air conditioner off and on) He did this by bringing the home owner out to the unit and visually showing him that the part needed to be replaced and that the damage was due to normal wear and tear of a 7 year old unit. [redacted] suggested to the homeowner that he should replace this part at this time because the unit could fail to turn on or off. The homeowner said that he did not want to repair the burnt contactor because he was planning on selling the house and didnt want to spend any money on the system at this time. [redacted] completed the preventative maintenance as per requested and also helped the homeowner with a dishwasher draining problem that he noticed he needed help with. The homeowner was extremely happy with [redacted] and his additional help with his dishwasher at no additional charge. The next day the customer called our on call emergency service department, this was a Saturday and our technician Mike that was on call responded to his call in 30 minutes and was at his house in 2 hours time. Mike also informed the homeowner that the part was a normal wear and tear issue not a cause of maintenance being performed improperly and that he could also replace the 7 year old part for him for a fee of which he refused.We pride ourselves on our high level of customer service, and I personally have called this customer and offered him a full refund for our service if he would meet with me at my office with my technician [redacted] to pick up the check.Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)Despite the statement above about contacting me and offering me a full refund, I did not speak to [redacted] until 5/20 @ 9:39am. At that time, we discussed options for resolving this dispute.A couple of notes about the above business response:- When [redacted] informed me of the burnt wire near the part, he indicated that the AC unit would continue to operate just fine. He said that at some point in the future it may have a problem, but it would be fine for the time being.- My comment about selling the home was in response to [redacted]'s sales pitch for the 3-year commitment on a maintenance program. NOT the wire. Given that this a rental property and the variables involved, I am not certain I will own the home after my current tenants vacate in 2 years. I am currently awaiting a response from [redacted] or the company to resolve this issue. During the phone call mentioned above, [redacted] gave me the option of having one of his technicians repair the AC unit free of charge. I indicated I would get back to him with my decision. On 5/23 @ 11:04am I left [redacted] a voice-mail indicating I would accept said repair. In this voice-mail, I asked to have the repair done sometime next week and would wait for a phone call from either him or a representative to schedule this repair.

On 12/8/13, I called Home Energy experts because my furnace stopped working. [redacted], serviceman, responded and came to my home. He told me there was a $125 charge to respond and I said OK. He stated that the fan was going bad and I needed a new furnace. He said the capacitor, which runs the fan, was not working and needed to be replaced. It was replaced and the furnace restarted. He left and told me to call the office the next day regarding a new furnace. One hour after [redacted] left, the furnace stopped working and remained so. Just to mention, My wife and I lived through a very cold night. On 12/9/13, I called [redacted] and told him the furnace was not working; the capacitor did not work. [redacted] said that he would call me back. He never called back. On 12/10/13, I called [redacted] in regard to the charges for no satisfactory services and charging $226 for a $6 capacitor. He told me to call his office and talk to Eric. I did and left a message. On 12/11/13, [redacted] called and said the bill will be adjusted off $127 and a check would be sent to me. On 12/19/13, I called [redacted] and told him I did not receive a refund; told me to call the office. I called the office an left a message for Eric. I called the office on 12/20/13. There was no response to those calls. On 12/23/13, I called [redacted] that I was unhappy with the service and will turn the matter over to the Revdex.com. The total bill was $351; paid by credit card ($125 for coming out and $226 for the capacitor). I will be happy to settle for the adjusted credit of $127 as promised. Thank youProduct_Or_Service: CapacitorDesired Settlement$127 refund as agreed by the companyBusiness Response We have a specific three step process that we follow for the service that we offer to our customers. One, we always tell the customer when they initially call us for help that we have a 99.00 dollar response to their home and diagnostic fee, this fee increases for weekend after hour calls to 125.00 This gets us to the home to troubleshoot the customer's problem to find a solution that we may be able to offer them. Once we arrive at the home our technician will re-iterate the quoted 125.00 dollar response and diagnostic fee (this was a late Sunday evening) to the customer and ask them to sign in the first spot on top of our invoice. This does two things. One acknowledges that the customer agrees to pay for the quoted response and diagnostic fee, and two allows us to work on the customer's furnace. [redacted] signed our invoice in the first spot acknowledging that he agreed to this charge for the response, diagnostic fee, and to troubleshoot the furnace problem.Two, once our technicians have finished troubleshooting the problem, he will present whatever possible solutions, maybe this is none, one solution, or multiple options if applicable to the problem. In this case there was two options to first properly replace the fans capacitor to make sure the fan could actually run because the fan would not turn at all, and then once we had the fan running, to take an amp draw reading to determine that the motor would stay running without fail. [redacted] signed our invoice in the middle second position agreeing to have us replace the capacitor for 226.00 dollars and then see how the fan motor would perform. After replacing the capacitor, It was determined by our technician that the fan amp draw was higher than it should be so he recommended we then also replace the fan motor. Our technician quoted the customer a price to replace the fan for which[redacted] refused to have us replace the fan, telling our technician that he had a contractor friend he could call the next morning to have him help him for a cheaper price. Our technician also noted on the invoice that the fan could fail anytime. The fan was still running when our service technician left and the heat was on in their 23 year old furnace. Three, the very bottom of our invoice is presented again for a third signature authorization from the customer to acknowledge that "yes, I am satisfied with the products and services as performed above. This is when we ask to be paid for our products and services. [redacted] signed the invoice as he was satisfied with the work performed and paid us at that time with a credit card.Often times when we show up to a customer's home to help them with their heating problems, our customers have no idea what is wrong with their heating system. It is usually not until we professionally diagnose the problems and inform the customer that they become aware of what the actual problem really is. We always quote the price of the repairs and obtain a signature authorization from the customer before proceeding with the repair. We always ask the home owner right before they pay us "We are a C.O.D. only company." If they are happy with the products and services that we have offered them. We always ask them to sign a third and last time to acknowledge that. I have seen it a few times before where a customer will shop around after we have completed the service and repair to try and find parts either on the internet or locally from a distributor or possibly a friend or other company now that we have made them aware of what that particular failure was. Occasionally they may find parts quoted for less than we offer them for. We cannot operate in a home service business successfully basing our cost on what an internet company or distributor or friend may price their parts for wholesaling them out of their doors, not troubleshooting problems or installing them correctly and safely in a homeowner's home. We also do not price our products and services by the hour or by some percentage mark up. Our prices are determined by what it costs us to operate and stay in business. It is my opinion in this case[redacted] was able to contact his contractor friend for help the next day during normal business hours for help and have him probably replace the fan motor for him and now would like to penalize us for his money back. If[redacted] has a contractor friend that can help him with his heating needs, why did he call us? I think it was because his contractor friend could not be available to help him at his home late on a Sunday evening, but once he was able to pay another person to replace his furnaces fan motor for a lesser price, he then wanted to ask for a refund by describing poor service practices on our part. I do not think we operated unfairly and we followed our service procedures to make sure that[redacted] understand and agreed to everything we were doing for him before we did anything. We also showed him what was wrong with his furnace, and what needed to be done to repair it.Final Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)My response to [redacted]. You did not answer why I submitted my complaint to Revdex.com. It is simple; your serviceman called me on Dec. 11, 2013 and stated that I was overcharged for services and $127 adjustment was made He further said that I would receive a refund check by mail. After eight days, I called the servicemanRay Lyons, and said the check was not received. He told me to call the office and talk to [redacted]. I called three times and left a message for [redacted] to call me; He did not have the courtesy to contact me. A phone call probably would have solved this problem; not very nice way to treat a customer, especially a 90 yr. old WWII veteran. Thank you.Final Business Response I have reviewed the invoice, the customer approved and paid for the diagnostic, and response fee, and also the parts and repair. The customer states that our employee our service technician told him we would refund 127.00 dollars. Employees of my company do not have any authority to authorize any refunds or exchanges. I do not have any knowledge of such a refund being honored, nor did I approve one. Like I said I did review the invoice, and do not see any reason for a refund nor do I understand the 127.00 dollar request as it is not an amount that we quoted to the customer for a specific task. We quoted 125.00 dollars for response and diagnostic of his furnace, and then quoted 226.00 dollars for the required repair part and installation of the part.