Don't believe everything you see or read. Homeowners lie too sometimes.

[HVACfor3Decades]

Felt like I had to share this. I just spent an hour reading 6 months worth of posts about a homeowner in Arizona that had an awful installation and his pictures showed the proof. I stumbled across it on Google while searching for information about our industry and instantly knew it was familiar.
All the while there were more than a few contractors engaged in judging the situation based on one side of the story and pictures that hardly told the whole story, even pictures of what the contractor removed from the last install that the h/o stated were pictures of the finished new install.
While I'm not the contractor in question, I'm intimately familiar with this job (I was one of the two "ridiculously priced" contractors to give a quote to "fix the job") - reason being in 30 years of contracting I knew what this guy was all about and I was having no part of him.Obviously the other ridiculously priced contractor has been around a while too - good for him! I also know the company he stated was "so awful" and the owner. He and his company is/are in my opinion one of the best in the country and he's done more for representing our industry in a good light then most.
I called him to give him a heads up about what this guy was trying to do to and he was well aware. The job had already been inspected by the local contracting board (and passed), the Lennox FSR (and passed), and so on.
Contractors talking with this h/o advised him to stop payment, sue the company, file complaints, etc. all based on what they believed to be truths. I saw the scene with my own two eyes and can say undoubtedly they were far from.
This brings me to my point of this, my first post. We all know there are hacks and rip-offs out there that make our industry look awful. We also all know there are consumers out there that are out to rip off us. This h/o used this forum in an attempt to "build a case" by telling one side of a story that had more fiction in it then most libraries. And the quick to judge respondents were like putty in his hands.
One even offered to fly to AZ and fix it for him for beer! While noble he only strengthened a case for the man telling all the lies. The respondent was baffled as to why the h/o didn't take him up on this. The real reason he didn't; his end goal was to threaten a good man and good company's name in order not to pay for a very expensive system and installation.
Contractors: be careful! It's great to showcase your knowledge and expertise in our great industry but be sure you're not the one being swindled.
BTW: The h/o said another company "fixed" his botched install by removing it from the garage and placing it in the attic. Well I saw and measured that attic, NO WAY TO CODE. MAYBE by cutting out a few trusses and completely hacking it in there without ever the possibility of servicing it. But forget the job. My message, a 30 year, third generation vet to this trade; don't let the digital age allow a few unethical consumers to use sites designed for us, by us to attack one of us.
As for the contractor, he'll come out on top I'm sure, good always prevails over evil.
I hope some of the participants of that 6 month string read this post and remember it, lest they be the ones who are the victims of an evil plot for financial gain by a crooked h/o.
I know their intentions were good but they were being duped and possibly at the expense of a man who would break his back to help one of them and more then likely a h/o who was REALLY being screwed by a bad contractor.
Be careful contractors, too many h/o's are using the internet out of spite, rage, or just plain ignorance and we all could fall victim to it. Know the facts before you jump in to help.

[wspascoe]

Hmmm.. I didnt remember one in Az with a long list I know theres one down here in Fl that having allot of problems. I have tried to stay out of that one because Im afraid it might be my company involved but anyway to reply to your post you are most certainly right I see it all the time when I am standing right in front of them. Everyones a victim and want something for free.

So what part of Az you from. I ran service from Prescott to Flagstaff for a couple of years till I moved to Fl last summer.