Lamers Heating & Cooling, Inc.

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response If you wish, you may update it before sending it If you and the business have reached an agreement and compliance is set for a future date, we trust the business will comply Please contact us after that time if the matter is not resolved as agreed and we will review the complaint and proceed accordingly.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** ***

I was notified about this situation and called customer letting them know we were sending an $check to make this right Apparently he had submitted the Revdex.com complaint a few minutes before I was able to get a hold of him I was notified of the complaint from Revdex.com the next day after we
had already satisfied the customer. The $rebate was supposed to come from the manufacturer for a program the customer qualified for There was a change in the program by the the manufacturer shortly after his purchase and as a result his application for rebate was affected We were working with the manufacturer on his behalf but were not getting resolution so we provided the $rebate ourselves to make it right I apologized for the inconvenience and the customer stated he was satisfied with the resolution

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 10765433, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
[To assist us in bringing this *** to a close, we would like to know your view on the ***.]As to the response given from Arronco it sounds really sincere and fluffy but it didn't quite go that way After years of not getting Arronco to take any kind of interest in our issues and they know we had issues from the beginning with the system not running correctly as we have their invoices and having high utility bills we decided after doing the energy audit as suggested by Arronco which resulted in no energy looses that would cause the high bills, we chose to be proactive When I called Arronco's office on Feb 2nd I asked to have their best Geothermal guy to come to our home I waited longer for their best guy to come and evaluate the system Their best Geo thermal specialist could not find what was wrongI even suggested what the issue could be since I already knew but he couldn't still diagnose the issue or chose not to He did not find anything wrong with the compressor but he did put it on paper as needing replaced since he didn't know what else to say, he even told me that he would do that and to work with him Not sure what he was implying I just left as that with out question and waited to see what they were going to do We still have our system that was replaced and can verify the compressor was not the issue The reason for the new system bid that was stated was because the compressor that we had was not reliable and had issues The compressor that they said was an issue and needed to be replace was already replaced in As per the system that we have, Arronco did not order that system for us, we already know that the system per water furnace was ordered by Arronco before we contracted with Arronco to do the job As for servicing our system over the years, Arronco was the only service provider that did anything to our systems since they were the only water furnace company that we knew of at the time Even when we had other companies come out and diagnose the system we only allowed them to view the system to determine the issues and do not work. Assuming Arronco would blow us off as they had in the past nevertheless we decided to give them the opportunity the do the right thing which they did not do *** did ask to come view the home but we did decline since he lied to us about rewiring the system the day they did come to evaluate the system justifying why the system was wired wrong and making it look like it was just done that way when in fact they did noting of the sort nor did the invoice that I received for that day of service state anything about that and telling me over the phone suggesting our utility higher cost was from a leaky door There was no need for him to come since we had already lost trust in the company and our repeated request previously were ignored and to this day after sending him and the president of the company a certified letter there has been no effort or interest since May 15th to contact us regarding the situation The difference in the $was for the duct work that was corrected and the additional duct work that still needs to be done properly I also talked to the state licensing board and their comments were that they see this type of wrong duct work calculations and installs all the time and have for years he also stated that just because it was approved doesn't mean it was done correct As for the he said she said comments there really isn't anything they can dispute and what I have stated is correct and honest Every call and appointment we made was recorded or video tap by our whole house system We also have the information and dates to when the system was shipped from water furnace to Arronco and it was before we contracted with Arronco We contracted his company to install a system and never did we suggest cutting corners As finding out thru this process our loops in the ground are at best minimal We went on his recommendations as we thought we were getting the very best install but we didn't The system not running in the proper stage did put more wear and tear on our system It was noisy all the time and when the system would kick on the lights would flicker The system was expected to last years and the systems life was shortened because it never ran properly thus creating more stress on the system and that is why we decided to replace it He states that it doesn't ***er and had no impact with the system running incorrectly in one stage instead of the stages it was designed to do The first compressor was replaced in and them they stated the same compressor already replaced needed it again and it wasn't even the compressor in the system, why would they offer us a new system if being wired wrong and running in the wrong stage all these years did really ***er? Since our new system was installed our bills have gone down roughly 35% to 40% Our expectations were the expectations that Arronco had put in writing and suggested what to expect The expected amounts that was sold to us was roughly off by 50% and we still have the records that suggest that As for our humidifier never working it's really hard to explain away this issue since water was never connected along with the wiring since it was installed by them Maybe there annual service calls over the years was a waist of time and it appears that who ever came clearing didn't know what they were doing when they were there to check out all the systems Arronco knows that the improper wiring issues have cost us a lot of extra utility cost and years early replacement on the original system that was sold to us as getting every bit of years out of the system and we are justified in holding Arronco accountable for their mistakes A reputable company would have from the beginning when it was wired and set wrong and they so called corrected the problems would have reimbursed us as we requested for their mistake the one month bill we had that was $which they refused to reimburse us instead offering us a year service agreement that we now know was worthless
Regards,
*** ***

First I want to give further clarification on the warranty and offering the new unit The customers unit was in its last year of warranty that is provided from the manufacturerThe unit qualified for a no-cost repair of the compressor but the manufacturer had an enhanced warranty for certain
units This unit qualified for this enhanced warranty option to replace at a discount We clearly outlined both options and it sounds as if she chose to take the enhanced warranty option utilizing another contractor Regarding the wiring issue:I had requested a visit to look into verifying the wiring issue and to see exactly what the issue was but was not given permission to do this It is possible that the unit was operating only in 2nd stage, but if so I have no way of knowing for how long, who changed it or when it was changed Nevertheless, this would not have caused premature failure of the compressor as customer suggest It also would not have made any measurable difference in utility cost stage compressors are designed more for comfort and longer run times, this feature in itself does not make a measurable difference in energy usage though I was fully prepared to explain this in detail to the customer and inviting her to contact the manufacturer and other third parties so she could get further verification of what I was explaining but we were not given the opportunity to do this on the visit I requested with her Regarding the comment about pricing:In the complaint the customer states we were roughly $1,more than the contractor she hired She recently left a google review (attached) stating we were $higher than her other bids That being said I'm not sure how we compared She exercised her option to get other contractors to quote as the warranty and enhanced warranty is administered by the manufacturer, not us, and she had that ability There are many different options on the unit and installation, and many different pricing structures between individual contractors We are typically very competetive on apples to apples comparisons for installations Not knowing what the other contractor provided I'm not sure what the reason for the difference is I know our unit had a full year parts and labor warranty and other options included above a base unit I also know that we included the state mandated permits and inspections that were required and do add expense According the Boone county building department no permits were pulled and inspections scheduled for the replacement of the unit so it appears the other contractor saved some money there Regarding the ductwork:The hvac system and ductwork were sized utilizing local codes and national design standards including ACCA manual J and manual D We have the original system and duct design on file and it meets all local codes and national design standards There may have been a need for balancing airflow between rooms and floors with the change in summer/winter demands but the original duct system was designed properly and more than adequate for the home Regarding the extra energy use:I think the customer has unrealistic expectations of what her utility bills should be for a home of her size with hvac systems, swimming pool, etc In our phone conversation I had asked if she could send me copies of her bills so I could go through them and look at the energy use in the mild months compared to energy use in the high heating/cooling demand months and compare with historical monthly actual weather data, etc I offered to sit down with her and discuss findings and helping her understand how her home is using energy We even have systems that can monitor energy usage of hvac equipment alone over periods of time to compare that usage with whole house usage that we can offer She declined on my offer to do this for her In response to "I personally feel this was done because at the time Arronco came to the home to bid out the job you had a ton unit in your shop for several months and this was a good opportunity to get rid of the unit.":We provided a detailed proposal with system sizing, pricing and installation details on 4/15/ The customer accepted and signed this proposal on 4/23/ The unit described on the proposal she signed was ordered after she accepted the proposal in May It was installed during the rough mechanical stage of construction in June This was not a unit we had laying around in the shop - it was the one specifically designed and ordered for her home This design of utilizing a geothermal unit for the first floor and a heat pump for smaller second floors was very common before the tax credit became available as it provided a quicker return on investment by keeping initial cost down and still getting the benefit of geothermal for the large percentage of the house There are many contractors and homeowners that still do this today to keep initial cost down on multiple system houses Customer satisfaction is very important to us as reflected by our positive reviews and ratings from many different sources including the Revdex.com We tried to meet with the customer over months ago to go over her concerns and satisfy them to the best of our ability, but she did not accept our offer or give us the opportunity to do this Please let me know if I can do anything else for the Revdex.com to assist in this ***

I did some investigating on this and found that the equipment is covered by a 10 year parts and labor warranty through manufacturer for manufacturer defects/premature failure.    When our technician arrived he found the doors off of the furnace and zoning board, the transformer had been...

cut out and was laying on the bottom of the furnace and a lot of the wiring hanging loose and disconnected.  Upon further diagnosis our technician found the transformer to be bad, an equipment interface module board and thermostat to be bad also.  This is very rare to find as there are fuses for protection that protect the circuit in the event of one of these items failing.   In further conversation with the tenant at the property our technician discovered that the other service companies technician had brought in multiple transformers and blew several fuses (he actually ran out of fuses while on the call) while trying to fix it.  At this point our technician had a lot of data to reason that the other company most likely installed the transformer incorrectly, possibly bypassed the fuse and caused the failure on the thermostat and the interface board.   This is something that is not covered under manufacturers warranty.   I called the customer and apparently he had the tenant handling getting this fixed (not remembering that he had a warranty with us) and the tenant had the other company come out.   I had a good conversation with the customer and we agreed to an adjusted price that he felt was acceptable,  and I assured him his warranty is still good going forward.  Please let me know if you need anything else on this matter.

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.  If you and the business have reached an agreement and compliance is set for a future date, we trust the business will comply.  Please contact us after that time if the matter is not resolved as agreed and we will review the complaint and proceed accordingly.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  The representative who called me was very understanding and helpful. I will recommend their services to anyone who asks.
Regards,
[redacted]

I have spoken with the customer and verified that he does have the thermostat that he paid for us to install in January.   We discussed his concerns on how the system is operating, and will be reaching out to schedule another follow up visit to look further into his concerns about run times on...

the unit.  We will certainly stand behind the product and change the thermostat if it is found to be defective, but have not found anything defective in the follow up visits as of yet.  We now have more clarification on concerns and will work to address those.

I recently had a poor experience with a heating and cooling company. My experience with Lamers Heating and Cooling was a very positive one. I would definitely recommend using Lamers Heating & Cooling. Very knowledgeable and thorough.