As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
Air Conditioning Scam?
RT800
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my 76-year-old mother calls out some air conditioning repair guy cause her air conditioner is on the fritz. I guess she just found him on Google.
The guy comes out and spends three hours lookin' at the unit. Finally says the refrigerant is bone dry. Says he'll fill it for free.
So he does and then runs a test. Says the refrigerant is still too low. Must be a leak. Says he'll be back the next day to fix it.
Next day he sends his brother. Brother says he found the leak and patched it, but when he went to test the line (a copper pipe of some sort?) he accidentally blew it. Says he'll be back the next day to fix it.
So he comes back the next day and says he fixed it. But then he says when he went up to test the unit again, he noticed the fan motor has died. Now they want to replace the whole attic unit.
Says they feel bad for misdiagnosing and yadda yadda so the whole shebang will be just $500.
Mom says the unit they want to replace for just $500 cost $6,000 when she first bought it from Sears.
Unit wasn't working well when she called. Now it isn't working at all.
She's suspicious and so am I. You guys think this is a scam or just bad luck?
The guy comes out and spends three hours lookin' at the unit. Finally says the refrigerant is bone dry. Says he'll fill it for free.
So he does and then runs a test. Says the refrigerant is still too low. Must be a leak. Says he'll be back the next day to fix it.
Next day he sends his brother. Brother says he found the leak and patched it, but when he went to test the line (a copper pipe of some sort?) he accidentally blew it. Says he'll be back the next day to fix it.
So he comes back the next day and says he fixed it. But then he says when he went up to test the unit again, he noticed the fan motor has died. Now they want to replace the whole attic unit.
Says they feel bad for misdiagnosing and yadda yadda so the whole shebang will be just $500.
Mom says the unit they want to replace for just $500 cost $6,000 when she first bought it from Sears.
Unit wasn't working well when she called. Now it isn't working at all.
She's suspicious and so am I. You guys think this is a scam or just bad luck?
0
Posts
But she didn't watch them do it and says they could've just put a new case on top of the old equipment for all she knows. They also replaced the thermostat inside the house. As far as I know, they want $250 for what they've done.
Now they say the air handler in the attic needs a new fan motor. But they're offering to just put in a whole new air handler for another $250. The same price she says they said they would charge to just replace the old fan motor. I guess as a boon for all the trouble. Hence $500 for the whole shebang.
As usual, LWT has something on this:
We called another technician out. He said he didn't see anything fishy, except that the air handler fan was NOT broken.
The new technician said that the power switch had just been turned off. He flipped the switch back on and it worked fine.
So... I guess... basically the other technician was like a repairman recommending an appliance be replaced because he forgot to plug the old one back in.