Starr Electric Company, Inc

Requested repair downstairs air conditioner.Drained coolant from upstairs and downstairs units and left.Upstairs unit now needs to be replacedOn July 5. 2015, we requested repair of our downstairs air conditioner. As we have a HVAC Repair contract with PSNC Energy, we called them. They contacted Starr Electric. The technician said the ac unit was frozen and he would return the next day to replace coolant. Upon his return the next day, he claimed that a coil was jammed. At this point the upstairs unit no longer. The technician said we needed a new coil. Our units are 16 years old, the cost of the coil would run $1800 apiece. We contacted another ac technician who stated that the coil was fine. The coolant had been drained from the upstairs unit which was working when we called for the initial repair.The schrader valve had been intentionally opened to allow the coolant to drain out. We have spoken to [redacted] with no satisfaction.Technician was [redacted] and the Work Order number isXXXXXXXXXX.Desired SettlementWe would like for Starr to pay for the costs we incurred hiring the second technician. PSNC Energy was informed and they were not helpful.Business Response /[redacted]/Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXXContact Email: [redacted]@starrelectric.netDuring our second visit to the home to check the system, after it had thawed out, an electronic leak search was performed on the system, and it was determined there was a leak in the 16 year old indoor coil for the downstairs unit. Mr.[redacted] contacted me yesterday to tell me he had another company come out and add refrigerant to the system and it was working, but no leak repair had been performed on the downstairs. This is a sealed system. If refirgerant is missing, it went somewhere. Accordingt he EPA regulations, a repair has to be performed once a system has been determined to be leaking. As for the upstairs unit, it is not uncommon to find schrader valves loose in older equipment. we were never asked to check the second system for the upstairs. My technician also noted the systems were dirty, indicating a lack of maintenance. a maintenance agreement inspection should have caught issues like this to prevent them. During my conversation yesterday with Mr. [redacted], there was not any mention of compensation for them calling out the second repair company. At this time, the [redacted]'s have incurred no out of pocket expense from Starr Service Company.Consumer Response /[redacted]/The technician came to work on the downstairs ac unit only. The upstairs was working fine. When the technician left the upstairs unit did not work any longer. The technician could not answer questions such as the cost of replacing a coil. We were concerned as the technician' s eyes were very bloodshot and he did not appear very alert which made discussing the situation difficult. Final Business Response /[redacted]/The technician was unable to discuss pricing for the replacement of the coil, because all repair quotes are handled in the office. The tech reports via email to his supervisor his findings, and repair or replacement options are quoted accordingly by the supervisor.

Starr Electric installed a mismatched part to our existing AC unit in 2014. We have attempted several times to contact the company with no response. In February of 2014, Starr Electric Co. was dispatched to our home through HSA Warranty company to diagnose an fix our AC unit. Two technicians determined it was a faulty handler and replaced it with a new and "better" one. During the spring of 2014, there seemed to be no problem, the weather at that time did not require much use of the unit. When the end of summer came and the cold fall and winter came, our unit could not seem to maintain temperature. The unit was running, the air was always "cool" or "warm", but never seemed to blow at temp. Then, our electric bills were astronomical. We attempted to keep our home as cool as we could stand in the winter and we took our laundry outside of the home, hand washed dishes, etc to try and keep these bills down. The unit would get hot, but ran ALL the time. When we tried the AC in March of this year, it never cooled. At this point we contacted a company to check on and service our unit. They were immediately surprised to find that our handler had been replaced with a Lennox brand handler. Our unit is a Carrier. These parts according to this company, a written statement from a second company and the Carrier and Lennox companies is NOT and would never have been compatible. The professional opinions of these companies is that the pressures and components of the two separate pieces would have never matched and most likely shot our unit during the heating season, thus resulting in the unit defaulting to the heat strips. Heat strips are a VERY costly way for a unit to run and are not intended for regular use. In February of this year, we got an electric bill of $430.00! Guests can attest that we kept our home very cold and used outside sources to help minimize our electric usage, including keeping our upstairs unit completely off. Our last two electric bills with a new, compatible unit have been only $120.00 This mismatched part has cost us way more than we could or should have ever had to pay. We paid $495.00 of our money for this handler. The wrong handler. We have since paid crazy high electric bills (as referenced above), we have had to pay two technicians to find the problem and replace our shot unit with a matching Lennox. In March, we contacted [redacted] at Starr of Raleigh, the lead supervisor from the job performed on the handler in 2014. The conversation was a blame game. My questions of :why was THIS part used and not a Carrier?, why did your technicians not question the clearly mismatched part?, and what are you prepared to do to remedy the issue? were never addressed. In March, we sent a certified letter to Mr. [redacted] the owner of the company to notify him of the mishap and the conversation with [redacted] He forwarded the letter to a general manager who has yet to call/email or write. Our last attempt to contact was three weeks ago with said letter being sent once again to the owner, Mr. [redacted] and this time the general manager as well. All we have asked is attention to be brought to the problem and contact to be made. We have also notified the HSA Warranty Company who is appalled by the business practice of Starr. We have gotten neither. The lack of attention upon install in 2014, the lack of responsibility and response at this point has gone on long enough. This is is our final attempt at resolving this issue before being forced to file a civil suit.Desired SettlementWe are seeking the money that we paid Starr in 2014 for the handler replacement. We would also like some compensation of some of the electricity that using faulty equipment caused as well as compensation for what we paid two separate companies to come out and diagnose the handler problem.Business Response /[redacted]/Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Regional Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXXContact Email: [redacted]@starrelectric.netWhen the air handler was found faulty, we notified H.S.A. and start the approval process to get the item replaced. H.S.A. has a national account with Lennox, and the equipment was provided by them. Starr requested a Carrier air handler, but was not allowed any product selection. Starr no longer does business with H.S.A. based on this and several other factors. Why was Starr not asked to provide any diagnostics on the system?Consumer Response /[redacted]/HSA has also been contacted about the issue, and this will be forwarded to them. BUT at the end of the day, Starr installed the part KNOWING it was NOT a Carrier part, thank you for confirming that above. If THAT simple fact had been discussed with us, we would have handled the situation prior to install. Now, we have had to deal with the consequences of NO ONE informing US of the mismatch. It has taken months of electric bills, speculation, Lennox, Carrier AND two AC companies to confirm that this mismatch led to the demise of our system. Starr was not contacted for diagnoses for reasons NOT disclosed in this complaint. We can disclose those reasons here, or via contact. We were trying to be polite and stick to the facts of this situation, but can elaborate on other factors from that work/invoice if needed. We have a baby due any day. The expenses that we have endured directly related to the handler directly have put a large financial burden on our family for months. We trusted the work, we were assured it was done right and thus endured the bills NOT knowing our equipment was "broken". At what point Starr do you take responsibility for KNOWING that HSA provided a mismatch part and NOT just install it???? At what point do you question them and bring these concerns up to us the HOMEOWNER that also PAID YOU to do this work???This could have EASILY been avoided the day of install had the conversation happened between us, the homeowner, Starr and HSA. If WE had chosen to continue the work knowing what you knew, this would have been on us, not you. Instead, a Lennox part was put in, nothing said. Sorry, but this is NOT a resolution, this is an excuse, and we will not settle for it. Final Business Response /[redacted]/The work performed meet the guidelines of the agreement with H.S.A. The out of pocket exspense would have been approved by you to an HSA representative. We were not allowed to disclose that information to the homeowner directly. HSA made certain that our contact with the homeowners was limited. As previously stated, we no longer do business with HSA, based on this and several other factors. Final Consumer Response /[redacted]/Starr contacted us and resolved the issue as of 9/10/15. Thank you!