RDI Heating & Cooling

We showed you and your son where the hairline crack wasWhen the customer called initially he said that he would be having another qualified heating company come and give a second opinionWe said that if another company did not see the crack we would refund the $maintenance chargeThe customer was given the opportunity for us to come back and pull there heat exchanger to show them again where the crack wasThe customer refused, and did not get another qualified contractor to give a second opinionWe also have pictures of the heat exchangerWe will gladly refund the $but we will not cover the cost of an non licensed contractor to do any repairs

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business' responseIf you wish, you may update it before sending it.] 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 Regards, [redacted]

We have contacted customer and are in the process of repairing the issue.will contact you when repairs are made

I apologize for the delay in responding to your email...please know that we are satisfied with the response from RDI and thank you for your help in this matter*** ***

customer has been refunded full amountDo not agree with complaint...but understand their position and will give full refundlet me know if further action is required

I am looking into thisThe Technician was ***We do not have a technician named ***His diagnostic report has readings on amp draws etcfor nearly all components so I do believe he did more than just change a filter
Regardless, it appears as if the problem was misdiagnosed which would
warrant a refund for the diagnosticThe cause that he suspected would have been very costly and that is why we make it company policy to give the customer all of their options including replacement so that they can make an informed decision as to if they would like to repair or notI am looking into the matter further to find out why he came to a misdiagnosis of your system so that we can make sure it doesn't happen againI apologize for this happening to you*** is one of our best techs and almost never makes a mistakeIf you will allow me the time to talk to him and try to prevent any future mistake I will make sure that you are refundedI understand how you feel but I hope you can believe that *** is not the type to "manufacture" a problemHe does his best to correctly diagnose problems and was trying to give you all of your options so that a fully informed decision could me made in your best interestI am confident that he had the best intentions but made a mistake on the diagnosisAgain, I am very sorry for the bad experience and you can expect a full refund shortly

We showed you and your son where the hairline crack wasWhen the customer called initially he said that he would be having another qualified heating company come and give a second opinionWe said that if another company did not see the crack we would refund the $maintenance chargeThe
customer was given the opportunity for us to come back and pull there heat exchanger to show them again where the crack wasThe customer refused, and did not get another qualified contractor to give a second opinionWe also have pictures of the heat exchangerWe will gladly refund the $but we will not cover the cost of an non licensed contractor to do any repairs

Revdex.com:
This is being resolved
Thank you,
*** ***
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business' response. If you wish, you may update it before...

sending it.]
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. 
Regards,
[redacted]

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business' response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
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. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Hello, My name is [redacted].  I have and open complaint against RDI heating and cooling in Hayden Idaho through the Revdex.com.  The reference ID is [redacted].  The matter is marked as closed with Revdex.com, however I wanted to inform you that the business has not yet refunded the fee as they indicated they would do in their communication with us.  Is it possible for the Revdex.com to reach out to the business manager and remind him that he has not yet settled the matter? Thanks,  [redacted]

The refund has been issued and everything should be resolved.

I recently had RDI come out and do a service on my furnace and A/C unit and after thoroughly testing the A/C, my technician explained that the poor thing was on it's last leg. The technician was nice enough to allow me to monitor the tests so I was able to verify the condition of the unit. Considering the A/C unit was nearly 30 years old, it was time for it to go.

I had RDI do the install of my new A/C and based upon the amount of work that was done, I felt the costs associated were fantastic. I also had a duct cleaning done the same day as the install and it went very well. All three technicians that were there to do the work were very personable and professional. I had no concerns when leaving them alone in my house to go run errands.

At the end of the day, they cleaned absolutely everything up and ensured that my wife was informed of everything that had been done.

Thank you to [redacted], [redacted], [redacted], and the rest of the team who made this all come together. I am extremely happy with the results and feel like I was well taken care of. It has been a please.

Review: I sent the statement below to RDI via email contact form on their website 2 separate times approximately a week apart before coming to the Revdex.com. It is now coming up on a week since my 2nd attempt to contact RDI with no response.

My name is [redacted],

My family and I have been a client of RDI for several years having had relatively good experiences with your service technicians. Early this month, our air conditioner went out so I promptly called RDI for a service appointment on it as well as for our furnace. I was expecting a bill for $69 for each unit. A technician named [redacted] came out on August 6th while my husband was at work. He spent a short time looking around the AC unit, and replaced our air filter. After a short time he told me that our A/C unit needed to be replaced due to a possible leak. He quickly called the sales rep from your office to come out. Once the sales person came out, I was informed that it would cost us approximately $3,000. He then gave me an invoice for $158, (apparently for a diagnostic fee and a tune up) which was much more than we were expecting as we were expecting to pay only for the so called “tune up”. This was disheartening, but I paid. We decided to get a second opinion on [redacted]’s diagnosis. An independent HVAC contractor came out to service and diagnose the problem. He actually took the time to look at all the possible problems. He informed us that the service tech from RDI had not done anything in our system except for changing the air filter. He was quite confused as to what was actually done by your technician. The furnace itself was filthy and there were areas around the control panel that were leaking air, which as you know leads to inefficient workings of the system. This was upsetting to hear. As you can imagine, at this point I am quite angry with your company and am wondering what did I actually pay for? A filter change… I can do that myself!

What was further upsetting was that he diagnosed the problem entirely differently than [redacted]. It turns out that the problem was that the control panel was malfunctioning. He ordered the new control panel, and a few days later, he came back to replace the part. The new part immediately corrected the problem. The AC unit kicked back on, and our home is once again comfortable. My husband and I now realize that I have been taken advantage of by RDI. A company that I thought I could trust to help me in my time of need has become a company that I cannot trust nor will they ever be someone who I recommend! The RDI tech simply wanted to sell a new AC unit. We presume that new units bring more money than honest service. We are disappointed and surprised that this came from RDI since we have always had good experiences with your company. Your company has lost any future business from me and any of our friends. To rectify this, the least you could do would be to return our $158, minus the $5 that it cost for the new air filter, since that is all that was really done for us!Desired Settlement: Refund and no further contact .

Business

Response:

I am looking into this. The Technician was [redacted]. We do not have a technician named [redacted]. His diagnostic report has readings on amp draws etc. for nearly all components so I do believe he did more than just change a filter.

Regardless, it appears as if the problem was misdiagnosed which would warrant a refund for the diagnostic. The cause that he suspected would have been very costly and that is why we make it company policy to give the customer all of their options including replacement so that they can make an informed decision as to if they would like to repair or not. I am looking into the matter further to find out why he came to a misdiagnosis of your system so that we can make sure it doesn't happen again. I apologize for this happening to you. [redacted] is one of our best techs and almost never makes a mistake. If you will allow me the time to talk to him and try to prevent any future mistake I will make sure that you are refunded. I understand how you feel but I hope you can believe that [redacted] is not the type to "manufacture" a problem. He does his best to correctly diagnose problems and was trying to give you all of your options so that a fully informed decision could me made in your best interest. I am confident that he had the best intentions but made a mistake on the diagnosis. Again, I am very sorry for the bad experience and you can expect a full refund shortly.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business' response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

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.

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

Hello, My name is [redacted]. I have and open complaint against RDI heating and cooling in Hayden Idaho through the Revdex.com. The reference ID is [redacted]. The matter is marked as closed with Revdex.com, however I wanted to inform you that the business has not yet refunded the fee as they indicated they would do in their communication with us. Is it possible for the Revdex.com to reach out to the business manager and remind him that he has not yet settled the matter? Thanks, [redacted]

Business

Response:

The refund has been issued and everything should be resolved.

Consumer

Response:

I apologize for the delay in responding to your email...please know that we are satisfied with the response from RDI and thank you for your help in this matter. [redacted]

This place is the just horrible in my opinion! Where to begin... We called and requested someone to come out and give us a quote on a whole new heating cooling system (heat pump furnace and pellet stove) well the guy Rhett that came out was in a big hurry kinda rude and didn't even take my name down correctly, but since their price was right I decided to go with them HUGE mistake! Well 2 weeks later after putting half doe to secure the work they came to do the heat pump and furnace first... Super nice installer (Ryan) got the job done... Well AC seemed to work fantastic, then we decided to kick the heat on and give it a whirl well it kept kicking the breaker out a a shutting down... We immediately called RDI to come out and look at it as it was getting colder at night and it was our only source of heat since they hadn't yet installed the pellet stove.... Got the complete run around was told they were booked out but could have someone come out and look at it after closing hours the next night between 5-7pm I said ok great!! Well I waited and I waited no call nothing at all no one showed up at all!! Called the office first thing the next morning and was told that they couldn't find my house and tried calling me but I didn't answer and they couldn't leave a voicemail because my voicemail box was full my voicemail box has never ever been full. So that was a lie!! So they said well we can send someone out to look at it this afternoon I said ok... So next service guy named Phi shows up very rude attitude goes back looks at it says looks like it's a electrical issue so nothing I can do and out electrician is booked 2 weeks out (remember I have no heat pellet stove not in yet) so I said ok are you sure and he continues to look and finds that their installers wired it on completely wrong so he fixes that... Then I asked him if he could quickly talk to my husband on the phone and explain to him what was going on... He slams his tools down and says I guess and my husband had asked him to also since he was there check the heat pump as it seemed to not be running quite right he said that's not what I'm here to repair.... Ok fine whatever we said just get the heat running.... So now we had an install date set for the first of October for our pellet stove.... Well they didn't show up I called several times and was told they were having trouble getting the stove we had ordered mind you we ordered it a month prior! So I waited a couple days and went in to talk to the manager and find out what was going on.... And of course he knew nothing about it and got right on it said we will be out in 2 days to install and apologized for all the imconvience... So the install day arrives and I was happy to see Ryan show up as he was very nice when he installed the heat pump! So he gets all done and I'm missing my trim kit... So Ryan called The office to find out where that was at and was told they didn't have one and if I wanted it it would cost an extra 500 bucks and my quote clearly listed the trim kit in the bid! So I took that down showed it to them and they ordered that in came out 2 weeks later and put it on... Well next we decided to give the nice new pellet stove a good run and of course had a horrible smell which we figured ok paint burning on new stove breaking in phase yada yada.... So we continued for a few weeks to run it smell never went away so hubby gets down there to
Look it over and notices that the pipe on the inside of the house is leaking smoke and ash into the house that's what we smelled... So we call down to RDI and are told oh ok someone can come out next week and look at that for you... Next week?? Really smoke leaking into someone's house ain't an emergency situation with carbon monoxide poisoning well ok then... So another service guy shows up cannot remember his name... He's here bout an Hour cakes the pipe with silicone and leaves... So we run it that evening still smoking!!!! So we call RDI next morning and are told that someone will be out next day to fix the problem and at the latest it will be resolved by Monday since that was a Friday... Well Ryan shows up looks at it says we need to just replace the whole thing... But we don't have the parts until Monday ok fine so we are told someone will be out Monday... And wouldn't you know it nope no one shows up then we call are told someone will be out tomorrow (Tuesday) nope no one! So we call and finally get someone to come out Wednesday at 10am... So repairman Josh shows up replaces the whole thing runs it for a bit and says well that should fix it... And the smell of silicone was pretty strong naturally so couldn't tell for sure but figured replacing the whole pipe would fix the problem....WRONG Ran it that night out the flash light to the back of the pipe and it's still smoking so hubby calls talks to the manage Jacob the next morning and is told that he would come out personally this afternoon and fix it himself just to call when we were home so called at 130 pm was told he was out of the office but they would get ahold of him and have him call me immediately so I wait till 3 call back down there and get the run around again.. Finally he calls back and says can I come out tomorrow??? Very busy right now... SERIOUSLY I said well I guess... So now at this point we are waiting to see if he shows up tomorrow... It is now December 17th 2015 and we have been at this since September and still do not have a proper working pellet stove... At this point we don't know what to do.... So please beware when calling and using RDI they are not at all true to their word and actually are down right liars! And obviously don't care about carbon monoxide leaking into people's homes... I can't imagine what would of happened had we of not noticed the smoke and ash leaking out as it is hard to see at the back of the stove.... Seriously not happy at all from the beginning its been a nightmare.... And after spending 10,000 dollars you'd think we would be happy happy but nope!

Review: RDI came to my home on 6/26/13 for a routine air conditioning inspection. As you may remember we have had many hot days before this date and the a/c worked just fine. This was a Wednesday and we were expecting temps of 90+ over the weekend. The technician looked over the a/c and turned it on. He came in and told me that the compressor in my a/c was going bad. He said it could last 2hrs or two years, but that it was on its last legs. Since our compressor was apparently outlawed in 2010 it had to be replaced rather than repaired at cost of approx. $2500 to change out or approx. $3000 to get a whole new a/c. He said he wanted to have his supervisor come out to talk with me. While waiting for the supervisor the technician was looking at the furnace and came up and said there was a crack in it and that there was also something wrong with a fan motor would also needed to be replaced. The supervisor showed up and went and looked at both, he concurred with the technician that the a/c needed to be replaced and then also told me that the furnace needed to be replaced as well, that it wouldnt make it through another winter. He verbally quoted me some prices and let me know that with the weather going to be as hot as it was they were going to book up fast and if we decided to have a new a/c installed we should get on the schedule asap. He left me with a credit application to finance the work and for me to discuss the options with my husband.My husband and I discussed it that evening and he was skeptical because the furnace is only 12 years old and the a/c was only 9 years old and both have worked flawlessly. We decided we would get a second opinion before proceeding. Two days later the temperature started rising significantly and I turned the air on. Miraculously the a/c would not turn on. Granted the technician warned that it could work for 2 hrs or 2 years, but I thought it was a little too coincidental. Luckily we were able to get another company out that afternoon. This technician went out to the a/c and did something to turn it on from the outside. He said, youre a/c is working like a champion. He did some further looking and found that a switch had been turned off and that was why I was not able to control the a/c from inside the house. He turned it on and I have had no issues since. He inspected the a/c and said he found nothing that would make him think it needed to be replaced any time soon. It cost me $69 to have the a/c turned off and to be scared to death of a large bill looming and $85 to have a/c and peace of mind restored.I have read previous complaints and they are eerily similar. Im sure the owner will respond to this complaint as he has the others saying that RDI is based on honesty and integrity and that they have this replace the furnace for free offer. The thing is, the equipment we are talking about is important to living and when faced with freezing/or melting and when time is of the essence, people are more likely to trust the experts and go ahead with the work they are told they need rather than getting a second opinion. And if the second opinion happens to be that the work is not needed after all, what good is the guarantee? Why would anyone trust a company who has misdiagnosed a problem to come in and install new equipment?Now, in all fairness the switch that was turned off may have been accidentally left off. The only problem with that is, if I had called RDI again on the 28th and told them my a/c wasnt working, based on the information they gave me on the 26th, I speculate they would have said ok, so do you want us to replace the compressor or put in a new a/c. Not, let us come see if we left a switch turned off.Desired Settlement: I truly don't expect a resolution, but it would be nice to have the inspection fee refunded. Even if RDI wants to stand by their findings regarding my a/c, they still left a switch turned off that disabled my a/c and I had to have someone come find and fix the issue.

Business

Response:

I have reviewed the complaint and the existing service records. The customer is absolutely correct about the charges needing to be returned. My apologies for leaving the switch off. I will have a check sent out this week.

I am at a loss for how to respond to the other feelings we left with the Nichols. But please know that it was not our intention to cause stress or anxiety for you and again I apologize if we did that. We get caught in the middle of situation that go either way. An example would be repairing a system that may have future problems and not offering replacement options. I do not want to make excuses I just want to do what I can to make it right with the customer. I read through out previous years of Furnace & A/C Maintenance we have performed at your Home and wish we were not losing you as a Customer. Please contact me directly if there is anything I can do to restore your trust in RDI Heating & Cooling.

Review: Had RDI come out to our house th check our fire place. They said that they could put in an electric one to replace the gas. It would look very good.

We put a deposit down and waited. The service guy. Their service guy came out and came into our house and said that this electric fire place was designed to go into a mason built fire place and not into what we have. I really really applaud his honesty!!!! He also said it would not look that great

So we said no never mind just send it back as that is not what we were told by the person who came to look and measure said.

Now we are told that we have to pay a restocking fee!!!

They need to pay us for all our wasted time. They can pay that restocking fee we did not make the mistake!!! They did!!!!

I will also get ahold of my credit card company and dispute the original charge.

Thus is very very dishonest proceedure just to make a sale!!! Shame on you!!!Desired Settlement: Refund total. Make us whole again. Your error not ours

Business

Response:

customer has been refunded full amount. Do not agree with complaint...but understand their position and will give full refundlet me know if further action is required

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business' response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

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.

Regards,

Review: Unscrupulous sales tactics, Bait and Switch sales tactics.Falsely reported a defect using a saftey issue as a scare tactic to promote a sale.Desired Settlement: I would like to have the money spent on doing the initial maintinence call refunded as there was no maintinence done. They did not fix anything only created an opportunity to sell something.

Business

Response:

I have read the complaint and the desired settlement. I will immediately refund the $49.00 charged to the customer. by no means does this imply that I agree with the complaint. I apologize if our responsibility to Protect Life & Property came across as Unscrupulous Sales Tactics. I will error on the side of Safety everyday I am in business. We did offer the [redacted]s a brand new furnace at no charge if our findings were not correct and I have pictures to show that it is. All I ask is to be released of any liability upon acceptance of this check from the piece of equipment that needs to be replaced.

The check will be mailed out today 10-24-13

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I will add however, to the effect that not only has this company compromised my heat exchanger by putting water in it, but the owner has made the statment of showing pictures of my heat exchanger when non were taken. If he has pictures I would love to see them. Acceptance of the $49.00 does not relinquish this company of using unscrupulous sales tactics to make sales.

I am adding the entire story to this letter so that it is documented for any future purposes.

On Sept 26th I received a call from a company called RDI Heating and cooling. They were offering an annual maintenance offer of $49.99 for a furnace checkup and cleaning as well as $69.99 for an air conditioning checkup and cleaning

I played phone tag with this phone sales person for three days until we finally connected. I scheduled a date for our furnace to be gone through and cleaned for the winter on Sept 26th. A technician by the name of [redacted] arrived at our home and proceeded, to what looked to be, start looking at our furnace. [redacted] took off the gas coupler and the igniter device and said that this was our problem with the system shutting down prior to turning on and that it would need to be replaced. We agreed and stated that we knew there was something going on with it due to it randomly shutting off before it could fully start. I informed [redacted] that I had explained that information to the sales person on the phone and they stated that you would be able to fix it and add it to the $49.99 maintenance fee.

The technician, [redacted], very calm, quite, laid back demeanor, then proceeds to tell us that in order to do a full inspection of the furnace he will need to completely disassemble it, so that he would be able to see the heat exchanger and all of the inside components. We agreed with [redacted] and allowed him to take the furnace apart to make sure everything was in good order. Once [redacted] had everything taken apart he had laid it out to the side of him on a towel that stretch about three to four feet long. All the parts lying on the floor seemed to be in good order I did not see any holes or broken items or anything that would raise concern.

[redacted] proceeded to closely inspect the heat exchanger, explaining that these old clam shell models are notorious for getting tears, holes and cracks in them. As I am watching him inspect this item, I am thinking to myself, I don’t see anything like that and it looks like it is in good shape, for being 23 years old, no holes, no nothing. [redacted] does not bring attention to any of the other items on the floor. He proceeds to pick up our heat exchanger and take out in my front yard and fills it up with water from our garden hose. I watched the heat exchanger fill up with water and couldn’t seem to find any gaping holes or tears. Water began to leak from the seams where the two clam shell half’s are crimped together as well as very slowly start to leak from the rivets where the two clam’s shells are riveted together. I visually witness these very slow forming water droplets starting to slowly come out of where the rivets are. I think to myself, well ok logically I suppose if metal heats up some gas could escape through this non sealed area but outside of that there is no real problem, no holes or tears or breaks anywhere on the exchanger.

We return inside my house and the tech proceeds to inform me the he is going to have to get his supervisor to look at the heat exchanger because it is leaking from around the four or five rivet holes.

My children and wife are preparing to eat dinner when [redacted]’s supervisor arrives, (very quickly for that matter) within ten minutes. He enters our home and proceeds to say how he can see that a lot of water has been lost out of the heat exchanger.

[redacted]’s supervisor’s name is [redacted]. [redacted] proceeds to state that our furnace is dangerous and by law they cannot turn this furnace back on. [redacted] also states that this furnace is unsafe and that I am are putting my family’s life at risk. He states that code 108.1 states that they are not allowed to turn the furnace on if it is a hazardous situation. [redacted] then begins to apologize and he is sorry and he knows that this is never a good time but our furnace needs to be replaced. I informed [redacted] that I told his phone rep as well as his technician that we were not ready to buy a furnace and that we need to plan for a purchase like this and now I will tell you ( I said to [redacted]), we do not want to buy a furnace there is nothing wrong with ours it has ran fine, less the limit switch issue, for years. [redacted] apologizes again and states that he understands and knows it is never a good time, however he is more than happy to write us up a quote and they do offer financing for the purchase of a new furnace.

At this point I am absolutely in awe as well as furious. I tell john he needs to put my furnace back together the way it was and yes I will look at his quote. [redacted] writes us up a quote for two furnaces. 1. An 80% efficiency furnace. The same thing that we currently have but new model for $1800 and 1 year labor warranty and 10 years parts warranty and 20yrs on the heat exchanger. The other quote was for $3445 for a 95% efficiency model with the same support. [redacted] apologizes once again and leaves our home. The technician [redacted] is left behind to put the furnace back together with my wife and I standing there watching him, feeling angry, upset, mad and in shock. When [redacted] finished putting the furnace back together I confirmed that is was back to its original state and that we could use it if there was for example an ice age tomorrow and he stated that he was sorry but he was not able to turn it on and that it is against the law and that I should not tell him that I want to run it in case of an ice age.

The next morning I went to work thinking all day, about how these people just came into my house and tore my furnace apart and told me I need to buy a furnace when all along I knew there was nothing wrong with it in the first place less the intermittent limit switch. One of my coworkers recommended I call [redacted] and have them come out and take a look at it. So I did jus that. I called [redacted] and set up an appointment to have them come out and give a price on the furnace(because by “Law” mine is broken and has to be replaced). A gentleman by the name of [redacted] with [redacted] arrived at my home and looked at the furnace and took a couple of pictures and verbally went over the different options I have with furnaces. I explained our situation and the experience we just went through with RDI and he was very apologetic and felt sorry for us and that we should not have had to go through that and that it is one of their sales tactics. [redacted] also told me that I had the right to call [redacted] and have them come out and check out our furnace to see if it was truly broken and dangerous. I ran through all the options with [redacted] in regards to a new furnace and we selected two that would be potentials. He stated he would write up some bids and email them to me and that there was no rush.

The next day I called [redacted] and had them come out to the house. An older fellow by the name of [redacted] came to our home from [redacted] and used his CO2 meter and poked the wand in the register, down under the home where the ducting is and in the furnace itself, all of this with it running and had been running. I was completely shocked to have him tell me that his meter read 0 in all instances and that when he did an ambient room check his meter read 0-1, but stated that was due to us using our oven an hour prior to his arrival, (Chicken Pot Pies…yummy). [redacted] also proceeded to tell us that RDI should not have done what they did and if there was a dangerous situation that they should have tagged our furnace with a Haz mat tag and notified [redacted]. [redacted] then would have to come out and test the furnace immediately and deem the furnace to be safe or not safe. [redacted] also informed my wife and me that we were the third house this week that he had visited to test because of this company. In one instance he stated that we should feel lucky , because they actually put our furnace back together and that they had left some little ole ladies furnace all torn apart. I cringed when I heard this and thought how horrible is this. This should be illegal and these companies need to be held accountable. I feel this is a false scare tactic that is inducing customers to purchase a furnace. This is also called a bait and switch sales tactic using their $49.99 furnace maintenance plan as the bait. [redacted] recommended that we get at least three bids for a furnace and to make sure they itemize every item that is being installed or changed out.

This is my experience with this company and I hope anyone that reads this will have enough foresight to avoid this company and save themselves the pain and anguish of having to deal with the sales tactics that are being used these days.

Regards,

Review: On 9/27/13 I had scheduled my regular furnace maintenance. NoteI have been a twice a year RDI customer since 2006. The tech was to be at my home by noon, however, around 9:30am that day, I received a call from RDI saying that an old couple was without heat and could I re-schedule. FYI, this was the second time I was told this when I had service scheduled. Said sorry cant reschedule as I had taken the day off to accommodate RDIs schedule.When the tech, [redacted], arrived it was nearly two hours after the scheduled time, but I was ok with that as I knew he would be delayed.Within minutes of his arrival, he came in and showed me a part called a flame rod. Visually showed me where there was some darkening and implied that it should be replaced. When I questioned him, he did hem and haw as to it needing to be replaced, but said it likely would go out when most inconvenient. Okd the replacement, but I was skeptical.During conversation, he also asked did I know [redacted]s? He said that my furnace was equivalent to the [redacted] and that some of my better off neighbors had already replaced this model of furnace. He said the developers buy these furnaces in bulkimplying not the best quality.I told him I have had service on my furnace, AC, water heater and fireplace done on a regular basis by RDI since 2006 and this is the first time a tech has ever told me this. I couldnt help but feel that his goal was to have me order a new furnace.At the end of the service call, he sat at my dining room table filling out the Service Record. Out of the blue, [redacted] said he used to do appliance repair and that if I ever had any questions on dryers, for example, to give him a call.I was stunned. He was totally unprofessional.The following Monday, I called RDI and spoke with operations manager, [redacted], about my service experience. I told him I was insulted by [redacted]s comments, not impressed by his lack of professionalism and could not believe he was then trying to get my appliance repair business on RDIs time.[redacted] did agree to take off the $79 service charge. I was very pleased. HoweverAfter [redacted] left that day, I noticed that he had left the old flame rod behind. I was suspicious that it really needed to be replaced, so I contacted a friend of mine whose husband works at a similar business and asked if he could take the part into work and have them check it out. On 10/24/13 around 7:51am, I called [redacted] at RDI to let him know that I had had the part looked at by a similar company and was told it did NOT need replacing. [redacted] was very nice and said he would speak with [redacted] and that they always take care of their customers. [redacted] said he would get back to me. Told him this isnt about badmouthing RDI, just letting him know and expressing a concern.Please note, that when the other company looked at the part and concluded it was just fine, their service manager questioned if the company was RDI as RDI is known for doing thisreplacing parts that dont need replacing.After hearing nothing from [redacted] for three days, I called him on 10/29/13. [redacted] was less than friendly. He said I was on his list to call today. One of five people.He said that [redacted] had been out, but that he had talked to the other service techs who agreed the part needed replacing. He also was finally able to speak with [redacted] said [redacted] had measured the parts performance with something that sounded like a magohmeter and it tested weak. He said there was the possibility was that it could go anytime. What I find strange is that, per [redacted], the only way to know the parts viability was to test it in situ via this magohmeter. So how could the other service techs know its viability having not tested the part in situ or visually seeing the part?[redacted] said he could schedule [redacted] to come and swap the new part with the old part. I told I am him not taking another day off for this and I certainly wouldnt want [redacted] anywhere near my furnace. He said he could send another tech and would accommodate my scheduleany time any day.I told him that it would not be acceptable as the point is that the part never should have been replaced.I told him that red flags were raisedfirst when I called on 10/24 and he didnt ask to see the part. Please note that [redacted] visually showed me the flame rod and the dark mark which he said indicated it needed to be replaced. I would have thought that [redacted] would have wanted to see the part to make a determination of its viability. If a similar business to RDI could see that there was nothing wrong with the part visually, so could have [redacted].The second red flag was that he hadnt called me back as he said he would. I am sure he was hoping I would go away.When I mentioned again about [redacted] promoting his appliance repair business, [redacted] said that that was ok with him and that if an employee had a special talent, they could promote it. This appliance repair business was just another service RDI offered. Really? Is RDI licensed to do appliance repair (for example dryers) in addition to service and repair of furnaces? I then asked to speak to the owner or manager, [redacted] placed me on hold for a short time when a woman came on the line and said that [redacted] would be with me shortly even though I had asked to speak with the owner or manager.[redacted] got right back on the phone, said that he was the general manager, and stated that he had spoken with the owner and the owner felt the same way [redacted] did. They would swap out the part and then refund my money. [redacted] said that he could show me that the part was going bad once reinstalled by using the magohmeter. I told him as Im not in the HVAC business, I would not be able to determine what they were showing me. Red flag three is that when I asked to speak with the owner or manager, I was not allowed to do so. Before the call was ended he became very sarcastic and said, too bad couldnt give it all to me for free. Red flag four is [redacted]s attitude the deteriorated as the conversation went oDesired Settlement: I would like my $134 back.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

I'm sincerely sorry that you feel you've been taken advantage of. That is never our intent. However, we do believe in preventative maintenance and the replacement of failing parts prior to the parts actual failure. Often times, the best thing for our clients is to change-out a failing part while we are on site performing an annual maintenance or tune-up. It helps our clients avoid the dreaded 'break-down call'. Generally, if a part breaks down there is a diagnostic fee and a cost to replace the broken part. If we perform the preventative replacement of a part prior to its breaking down we save the client the diagnostic fee, and any afterhours fees, etc.

Originally, I had offered to refund Ms. [redacted]'s money if she would allow us back to get our 'new' part and reinstall the 'old' or 'existing' part. While that option seems perfectly fair and just to me, it has been deemed unacceptable to Ms. [redacted]. At this point, I will agree to refund Ms. [redacted]'s credit card in the amount of $134 and allow her to keep the 'new' part we paid for and paid the technician to install. Based on the simple fact that I feel this has gone far enough and if that is the only acceptable resolution to [redacted]...then so be it.

But she will need to phone the office and give us the #'s so we can run do the refund...... as we do not keep any credit card #'s on file.

Just to be clear here: Ms. [redacted] originally disputed the annual maintenance fee of $79. Which we refunded. Now she has disputed the charge for a new part in the amount of $134 which she agreed to have us replace. All said and done, we've spent two hours at her residence giving her a free tune-up and installing a new flame sensor. I've spent at least an hour listening to her side and trying my best to help her, as is evidenced by my waiving the original tune-up charge upon her first call to me.

On a personal note: I am truly sorry that our six plus year relationship has ended in this manner.

Respectfully,

RDI Heating and Cooling

Hayden, ID 83835

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[redacted]

Experience The RDI Difference!

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

I am willing to accept this $134 refund on my credit card. I will call RDI with my credit card number.

Regards,

RDI installed my original HVAC system when my home was built in 2010. Their workmanship was excellent and since that time they have gone above and beyond to assure my satisfaction with the installed product and their workmanship. Kudos to [redacted] for his commitment to customer satisfaction and to [redacted] the technician!