Karaco Heating & Cooling

Fantastic I am very particular about my car I consider it my baby So when I got into a fender bender in a parking lot, I wanted to find the best repair shop for a decent price After checking out xxxxx and the Revdex.com, I decided to try KC Starnes xxxxx and xxxxx took great care my car and me and finished the work when they said they would I also had them do some extra work outside what was covered by insurance I got my baby back looking all shining and purty I think she looks better than ever

Unicod #333333;">The business has responded, please see below: KARACO Heating & Cooling LLC performed a regular maintenance service at her residence on July *, [redacted] received a promotional postcard in the mail from us that was sent out during the end of April to the beginning of MayClearly stated on the promotional card is an expiration date of 6/**If she would have taken advantage of the promotion during the promotional period, she would have received the promotional price of $per system + taxShe has two units, so her price would have been $+ tax for a total of $ [redacted] was charged the non-promotional price of $per unit + tax resulting in a charge of $ A routine maintenance was performed on her units and at that time they were functioning properly as was indicated on her service ticketA couple of weeks later one of her units stopped functioning and she called us for serviceWe told her that we would come back but that we could not guarantee that there wouldn’t be a charge for the call depending on what we find because the units were working properly at the time of her maintenance checkOur card clearly indicates as well, that there are additional charges for problems and repairsOur mechanic did not find any problems during the check or there would have been additional charges other than routine maintenance on that day I explained several possibilities to her that could be causing a problem that didn’t have anything to do with a maintenance checkI did tell her that if the problem had anything to do with anything our mechanic had done, I wouldn’t charge her but after my refusal to guarantee without knowing what the problem was, that we would come out free of charge, she cancelled the appointment and called the original installer We have worked with this installer for over years providing excellent maintenance on his installations [redacted] has stated that the installer told her that in his opinion the mechanic didn’t check the freonWe have spoken to the mechanic and reviewed his workHe did everything that he should have done during the visit and it states on her original receipt, which she signed, that he had checked her freon levels and at that time everything was goodThere is no basis for the installer to tell her that the freon was not checked and he came to her house more than two weeks after our mechanic had been thereThe mechanic that worked on her unit has over years in the field and if the unit needed freon as the installer had indicated, this would mean that there was a leak on her system because a unit should never need freon unless there is a leakMore than likely if the installer did add freon when spring comes next year, they will find there is a leak on her s ystem We are sorry that [redacted] was disappointed, but we stand behind the mechanicHe performed all the checks that he was supposed to do during his maintenance check and found her two systems to be properly running when he completed the inspectionWe will not be refunding the money because as I stated above, [redacted] paid for maintenance only on units which were functioning properly after our maintenance check

Revdex.com:
At this time, I have not been contacted by Karaco Heating & Cooling LLC regarding complaint ID ***
Sincerely,
*** ***

Fantastic. I am very particular about my car. I consider it my baby. So when I got into a fender bender in a parking lot, I wanted to find the best repair shop for a decent price. After checking out xxxxx and the Revdex.com, I decided to try KC Starnes. xxxxx and xxxxx took great care my car and me and finished the work when they said they would. I also had them do some extra work outside what was covered by insurance. I got my baby back looking all shining and purty. I think she looks better than ever.

Unicode', sans-serif; color: #333333;">The business has responded, please see below:
KARACO Heating & Cooling LLC performed a regular maintenance service at her residence on July *, 2014. [redacted] received a promotional postcard in the mail from us that was sent out during the end of April to the beginning of May. Clearly stated on the promotional card is an expiration date of 6/**. If she would have taken advantage of the promotion during the promotional period, she would have received the promotional price of $94.95 per system + tax. She has two units, so her price would have been $189.90 + tax for a total of $203.91. [redacted] was charged the non-promotional price of $129.95 per unit + tax resulting in a charge of $279.12.
A routine maintenance was performed on her units and at that time they were functioning properly as was indicated on her service ticket. A couple of weeks later one of her units stopped functioning and she called us for service. We told her that we would come back but that we could not guarantee that there wouldn’t be a charge for the call depending on what we find because the units were working properly at the time of her maintenance check. Our card clearly indicates as well, that there are additional charges for problems and repairs. Our mechanic did not find any problems during the check or there would have been additional charges other than routine maintenance on that day.
I explained several possibilities to her that could be causing a problem that didn’t have anything to do with a maintenance check. I did tell her that if the problem had anything to do with anything our mechanic had done, I wouldn’t charge her but after my refusal to guarantee without knowing what the problem was, that we would come out free of charge, she cancelled the appointment and called the original installer.
We have worked with this installer for over 20 years providing excellent maintenance on his installations. [redacted] has stated that the installer told her that in his opinion the mechanic didn’t check the freon. We have spoken to the mechanic and reviewed his work. He did everything that he should have done during the visit and it states on her original receipt, which she signed, that he had checked her freon levels and at that time everything was good. There is no basis for the installer to tell her that the freon was not checked and he came to her house more than two weeks after our mechanic had been there. The mechanic that worked on her unit has over 30 years in the field and if the unit needed freon as the installer had indicated, this would mean that there was a leak on her system because a unit should never need freon unless there is a leak. More than likely if the installer did add freon when spring comes next year, they will find there is a leak on her s ystem.
We are sorry that [redacted] was disappointed, but we stand behind the mechanic. He performed all the checks that he was supposed to do during his maintenance check and found her two systems to be properly running when he completed the inspection. We will not be refunding the money because as I stated above, [redacted] paid for maintenance only on 2 units which were functioning properly after our maintenance check.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I do not wish to continuously rehash this matter, but I will say this: 
The three major points remain very conveniently unaddressed: a) any good business owner would have responded less flippantly when, a bare two weeks after having spent close to $300 on a routine maintenance of a four-year-old system, I asked if there would be a charge for the visit; b) as I had indicated on my original message, when Karoco indicated very flippantly that they "didn't buy my system" in response to my query about charging me for their return visit after the system malfunctioned, I called the original installer, who was good enough to install coolant -- and who indicated that, in his opinion, the coolant had never been installed. This point is very conveniently ignored; and, c) as I indicated on my original complaint, when I called Karoco to tell him what the original installer had said, he said that he would speak to him and get back to me. He never did! Of course I signed the receipt indicating that the service had been down! How was I, a novice to the HVAC world,  to know whether or not the service person performed the required tasks! What a silly and ineffective defense!
I am glad to move on from this unfortunate incident and am happy that I brought the issue forward.
 
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Review: After having had a somewhat routine problem with one of my AC zones, I contacted Karaco in 2013 and they fixed the problem, which was a frozen unit. At that time, they suggested a yearly maintenance service. In the spring of 2014, I received a post card from the company reminding me of the service and quoting a price of $98 per AC zone. I arranged for the service to be performed on July ** 2014. I was surprised to see that the bill was actually $279.12. When I asked about the promotional post card with the $98 price (per unit), I was told that that price was valid only for a limited time period, but I was never told this. (This is not my major complaint, however.)

Two weeks after having paid the company $279.12 for the yearly check-up, one of the unit zones stopped working. I called the company to ask them to come out, which they arranged to do. When I asked if there would be a charge, the [redacted] was snippy with me, saying, "Of course. We didn't install your unit. We don't own your unit." It should be noted that the unit is four years old. I canceled the service call and called the man who installed the unit for the builder.

He came out and said that the unit needed refrigerant. I told him that Karaco (with whom he is familiar) had just supposedly provided a yearly maintenance service two weeks prior to the tune of $279.12. He indicated that, in his professional opinion, the man who provided the service for Karaco did not check the refrigerant. He said that this should become clear within a couple of weeks. He said that, in the unlikely event that my four-year-old system has a leak, I would know in a few weeks, as the system would leak refrigerant and would require more. I waited several weeks (to see if the system needed refrigerant again) and called Karaco the week of August ** to tell him what had transpired. He indicated that he had every intention of speaking to both his employee who had provided the July * service at my home; and the original installer who indicated that, in his professional opinion, my refrigerant was never checked on July *, despite my having paid $279.12 for the service. Karaco said that said he would call me back after he spoke to both the original installer and his employee. It has been over 10 days, and I have never been contacted. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement.Desired Settlement: I believe that this whole situation has been handled poorly. Had it been my business, I would have offered to come out and check the system free of charge as a courtesy. After all, I had just received the yearly maintenance service that was recommended. I was never given the courtesy of a call back, and it appears that the installer was correct in his assessment that my system does not have a leak -- and therefore, it appears, as the installer suggested, that despite my having paid $279.12, my refrigerant was not checked. I would like a refund for the one zone.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Karaco Heating & Cooling LLC regarding complaint ID [redacted].

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

The business has responded, please see below:

KARACO Heating & Cooling LLC performed a regular maintenance service at her residence on July *, 2014. [redacted] received a promotional postcard in the mail from us that was sent out during the end of April to the beginning of May. Clearly stated on the promotional card is an expiration date of 6/**. If she would have taken advantage of the promotion during the promotional period, she would have received the promotional price of $94.95 per system + tax. She has two units, so her price would have been $189.90 + tax for a total of $203.91. [redacted] was charged the non-promotional price of $129.95 per unit + tax resulting in a charge of $279.12.

A routine maintenance was performed on her units and at that time they were functioning properly as was indicated on her service ticket. A couple of weeks later one of her units stopped functioning and she called us for service. We told her that we would come back but that we could not guarantee that there wouldn’t be a charge for the call depending on what we find because the units were working properly at the time of her maintenance check. Our card clearly indicates as well, that there are additional charges for problems and repairs. Our mechanic did not find any problems during the check or there would have been additional charges other than routine maintenance on that day.

I explained several possibilities to her that could be causing a problem that didn’t have anything to do with a maintenance check. I did tell her that if the problem had anything to do with anything our mechanic had done, I wouldn’t charge her but after my refusal to guarantee without knowing what the problem was, that we would come out free of charge, she cancelled the appointment and called the original installer.

We have worked with this installer for over 20 years providing excellent maintenance on his installations. [redacted] has stated that the installer told her that in his opinion the mechanic didn’t check the freon. We have spoken to the mechanic and reviewed his work. He did everything that he should have done during the visit and it states on her original receipt, which she signed, that he had checked her freon levels and at that time everything was good. There is no basis for the installer to tell her that the freon was not checked and he came to her house more than two weeks after our mechanic had been there. The mechanic that worked on her unit has over 30 years in the field and if the unit needed freon as the installer had indicated, this would mean that there was a leak on her system because a unit should never need freon unless there is a leak. More than likely if the installer did add freon when spring comes next year, they will find there is a leak on her s ystem.

We are sorry that [redacted] was disappointed, but we stand behind the mechanic. He performed all the checks that he was supposed to do during his maintenance check and found her two systems to be properly running when he completed the inspection. We will not be refunding the money because as I stated above, [redacted] paid for maintenance only on 2 units which were functioning properly after our maintenance check.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I do not wish to continuously rehash this matter, but I will say this:

The three major points remain very conveniently unaddressed: a) any good business owner would have responded less flippantly when, a bare two weeks after having spent close to $300 on a routine maintenance of a four-year-old system, I asked if there would be a charge for the visit; b) as I had indicated on my original message, when Karoco indicated very flippantly that they "didn't buy my system" in response to my query about charging me for their return visit after the system malfunctioned, I called the original installer, who was good enough to install coolant -- and who indicated that, in his opinion, the coolant had never been installed. This point is very conveniently ignored; and, c) as I indicated on my original complaint, when I called Karoco to tell him what the original installer had said, he said that he would speak to him and get back to me. He never did!

Of course I signed the receipt indicating that the service had been down! How was I, a novice to the HVAC world, to know whether or not the service person performed the required tasks! What a silly and ineffective defense!

I am glad to move on from this unfortunate incident and am happy that I brought the issue forward.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Review: Early May 2013 discovered problem/leak with the drip-pan in my A/C Unit. Called [redacted] for tech to come out & diagnose problem. At no time was I informed of service charge to send someone out nor the amount. 3 weeks later, we finally get a tech on 5/**/13. He spent less than 15 mins to tell us that we had a leak in the drip-pan (no kidding!). Stated he was unsure that he could get a replacement part due to age of unit but would check with boss and call us with estimate to repair or replace. Proceeded to then charge us $**0 for his visit!!! Told us that amount would be credited against repair or replacement later. Two and a half months later with no response to any of our numerous calls nor any unsolicited follow-up to the service visit we hired someone else to repair/replace the problems. This experience was not only unethical but a complete rip-off. Very disgusted and will never let anyone I know use them.Desired Settlement: The 2nd repair service came out to my home at NO CHARGE, diagnosed the problem, called me within 3 days to say what he had to do & what it would cost (exactly). Part arrived within 1 week and within 10 days total we were done & are completely satisfied with their service experience. I expect [redacted] to refund the service charge via check payable to [redacted]!

Business

Response:

First we will address the accusation that they tried to call us for three weeks before they got an appointment. All records for incoming and outgoing phone calls from the period of April ** to August ** were pulled from our cell phone carrier and our land line carrier and I had the office staff go line by line specifically targeting the dates that they indicated that they called our office. They went through each call and identified where each call had come from. They also did a search of all incoming numbers from that time period with the phone numbers that the [redacted]s had provided to us. Not one phone call came into our office from the [redacted]s on those dates that they indicated on their complaint. Following is a breakdown of the ACTUAL calls that came in to us.

Their first call to us came in from the home number that they gave us on 5/**/13 at 6:1*PM (after hours). The duration of the call was for * mins at which time they stated that they had water in the pan under their unit and an appointment was set up for the next day not 3 weeks later as they claim. The only other call between the [redacted]s and KARACO was an outgoing call from me to their house on 5/**/13 at *:06PM when our service mechanic was at their residence. There has been no contact or attempts on their part to contact us from that day forward. All phone numbers that they had given us have been researched in both carriers’ records for the time period indicate above and all other incoming calls on the specific dates of 6/*, 6/**, and 7/* have been identified and verified. We have all the hard copies as proof to this.

When they made the appointment for the service we were told that they had a water leak. This leak could have been from anywhere on their system. Our mechanic went to the house on a service call to diagnose the problem. They were aware that it was a service call. At no time were they told that we would come to the house for “FREE” to diagnose the problem. We do not nor does any other company go to houses for “FREE” to diagnose service problems and they were never told that we would. This was a service call not a free estimate for a problem that had been previously diagnosed. The time it took for the mechanic to diagnose the problem considering that he had to dismantle parts of their unit and had also checked their condensate line and pump is completely inaccurate when they say 15 mins. The service call was the standard fee of $2**.00 plus NYS sales tax which brought their bill to $2*1.5*.

The mechanic that provided the service is highly skilled with 30 years experience in the field and he went through all proper procedures to diagnose exactly where the water was coming from. Our ticket clearly states that the leak was in the A-Coil pan. The pan was cracked due to the age of their unit. Our mechanic informed them of his findings and told them he would see if we could get a replacement part at which time he called the office to let me know of the findings. I called their house at *:0* PM that day while the mechanic was there. I told them that due to the age and condition of their unit which was at least 18 to 20 years old, that it would not be cost effective to try to find a coil and with the amount of labor that would be involved in replacing a coil into a unit that old, that they would be better off replacing the unit. They were also told that there would also be the risk of a refrigerant leak that could be created during the repair due to the age of their system. During this call they were also given an approximate quote as to how much it would cost for a new system which would have been an exact quote if they had gotten back to us. We told them that we would credit them the service call toward the cost of the new unit if they decided to go ahead with a replacement.

They had the option to shop around which they obviously did because they did not opt to go with a replacement unit and decided not to go with our recommendation and had a repair done by someone else. We gave them a price based on our expert opinions and over 30 years experience in the field. We felt that replacing the coil was putting a band aid on a bigger problem. Their unit will not last long enough to make it cost effective to spend money on a patch job and they run the risk of future refrigerant leaks so the repair would be a temporary one due to the age of their system.

Our company has been in business for over ** years and we provide quality and honest service to our customers. It was the [redacted]’s choice to go with another company to replace their defective part but we were the company that actually did their diagnosis and what they paid for was our diagnosis fee. They made a choice to go elsewhere based on the fact that they did not agree with our recommendation not to repair but to replace the unit because of its age. We will not be refunding the service fee because our mechanic did exactly what he was paid for. It was their choice to go elsewhere.

It’s a shame that they are trying to defame us with their false accusations. We have the proof in the printed out phone records and the documented service ticket. There was NO further contact with them ever because they obviously didn’t want to replace the unit. When we do a job for a customer we choose to do it the right way. They chose to repair which in our professional opinion and experience was a mistake and we feel that they will have a problem with that repair sooner than later and in the long run it will have cost them significantly more money than if they would have gone with a new unit.