meathead1
06-09-2007, 11:27 PM
Hope to get some advice here-kind of a strange story...
1999-Had Rheem system installed. Had issues with it after about 2 months. Very loud on start-up.Contractor came out, said freon could be migrating to compressor which could be causing loud start-up. 3 months later, still loud when unit cycled on, so called them out again and they installed a hard start kit to see if it helped the noise. It did a little.
One year later, still couldn't find why it was so loud on start-up, whenever they came out, the noise couldn't be duplicated.
3yrs after that, system wasn't cooling so out they came again, noted system was low on freon, located possible leak at the high pressure valve, charged with 6.5lbs of R22.
Last year, called them out again because system was not cooling, contractor out of business. Called another contractor in the area, he thought I had a blocked line and proceeded to clean it out then charge w/freon. I asked him to please check the condenser with his leak detector just to make sure and guess what? It beeped like crazy inside the coil. He then wanted to sell me a whole new system but I elected to wait on it because the summer was almost over and I figured I could get a better deal in the winter.
Now comes the interesting part...
Low and behold, as I'm contemplating trying to find someone to repair the leak this past Feb., I get a flier in the mail from a HVAC Co. with the exact logo from the guys who installed the unit with the name slightly changed. So I called the number and get THE GUY WHO SOLD ME THE ORIGINAL SYSTEM.
He remembered me and where I lived. He told me he had sold the business and the guy who bought it had run it into the ground. He offered to come out and take a look at the system, no charge. He said he wanted to get his old customers back and take care of business. So he comes out, finds the leak and said he thought he could repair it. He said the unit probably should have been fixed under warranty and he wanted to make it right. So he cuts a bunch of fins out to get to the leak and punctures about 6 more holes in the process. He told me "don't worry, if I can't fix this I'll replace it no charge to you".
That was in February.
In May, I found the insurance co. where he has his bond and sent for paperwork to file a claim. I found his email through kudzu and notified him what I was doing. I gave him the opportunity to replace the unit or I was going to have the system replaced and try and get his bond to cover it. He contacted me and told me there was no need for that, he would bring out a new unit that week. (3 weeks ago). Still nothing. I finally got a hold of him this week and he said he has no cash flow and as soon as the weather gets hot, he'll be able to shell out the money for a new unit.
I'm getting 3 bids from contractors and wondering do you experts out there think I've got a chance on collecting from his bond? The botched attempted repair wasn't invoiced as it was no charge. I do feel the coil may have been fixable before he screwed it up beyond repair.
Thanks for any help and sorry about the long post...
1999-Had Rheem system installed. Had issues with it after about 2 months. Very loud on start-up.Contractor came out, said freon could be migrating to compressor which could be causing loud start-up. 3 months later, still loud when unit cycled on, so called them out again and they installed a hard start kit to see if it helped the noise. It did a little.
One year later, still couldn't find why it was so loud on start-up, whenever they came out, the noise couldn't be duplicated.
3yrs after that, system wasn't cooling so out they came again, noted system was low on freon, located possible leak at the high pressure valve, charged with 6.5lbs of R22.
Last year, called them out again because system was not cooling, contractor out of business. Called another contractor in the area, he thought I had a blocked line and proceeded to clean it out then charge w/freon. I asked him to please check the condenser with his leak detector just to make sure and guess what? It beeped like crazy inside the coil. He then wanted to sell me a whole new system but I elected to wait on it because the summer was almost over and I figured I could get a better deal in the winter.
Now comes the interesting part...
Low and behold, as I'm contemplating trying to find someone to repair the leak this past Feb., I get a flier in the mail from a HVAC Co. with the exact logo from the guys who installed the unit with the name slightly changed. So I called the number and get THE GUY WHO SOLD ME THE ORIGINAL SYSTEM.
He remembered me and where I lived. He told me he had sold the business and the guy who bought it had run it into the ground. He offered to come out and take a look at the system, no charge. He said he wanted to get his old customers back and take care of business. So he comes out, finds the leak and said he thought he could repair it. He said the unit probably should have been fixed under warranty and he wanted to make it right. So he cuts a bunch of fins out to get to the leak and punctures about 6 more holes in the process. He told me "don't worry, if I can't fix this I'll replace it no charge to you".
That was in February.
In May, I found the insurance co. where he has his bond and sent for paperwork to file a claim. I found his email through kudzu and notified him what I was doing. I gave him the opportunity to replace the unit or I was going to have the system replaced and try and get his bond to cover it. He contacted me and told me there was no need for that, he would bring out a new unit that week. (3 weeks ago). Still nothing. I finally got a hold of him this week and he said he has no cash flow and as soon as the weather gets hot, he'll be able to shell out the money for a new unit.
I'm getting 3 bids from contractors and wondering do you experts out there think I've got a chance on collecting from his bond? The botched attempted repair wasn't invoiced as it was no charge. I do feel the coil may have been fixable before he screwed it up beyond repair.
Thanks for any help and sorry about the long post...