York & JCI

[sargent york]

Jayfridge, they can't possibly win, they pulled that on me, but they didn't have any intel property they could show I was privey to! Our lawyer made them look very stupid. EMail me and ill give you more info. Address is byoung725@netzero.net

[basshound71]

Some new people come into power at York near the end that started to screw up everything. They pursued the national accounts(Family Dollar stores,Nextel cell phone sites,even Parrot Ice machines). They hired other idiots to run these accounts. They also started trying to push the local offices into installing new equipment competing with contractors. Some moron thought it would be a great idea to start a building automation systems business. They lost there a&% on that and made Siemans and JCI along with other customers that bought York equipment upset. Then there was the great handheld gizmo that cost 40 million bucks and flopped! Giving a customer some part or little a little labor causing the company to have a finacial problem? Bul#$%t! Who is John Galt!

I was in Nat'l Accounts and alothough it was the best job ever once you figured out all of the hoops you had to jump through there is no way you can charge 60 an hour and pay journeyman scale to change filters and do pms. Good gig while it lasted though.

[kreeger]

We had some chiller techs leave JCI and join our company. There was a threat to enforce some non compete agreements that they made everyone sign. Not sure if they actually followed through. Never heard of that before regarding a technician.

Talked to folks who were JCI and York pre merger and they all resent the takeover. Jci POV is that it hurt the stock price and the York POV was that the management and standards went downhill. None the less there are many outstanding techs still working for JCI and I suspect that the reputation varies greatly by branch.

[CraziFuzzy]

Purchases and acquisitions are just the nature of pretty much all industries at this point. It is good business practice to continually expand. The world isn't getting any bigger, so once a company is global, the only expansion comes at the expense of other companies. There are two options. Either company A expands in it's own right, completely wiping company B off the map, or company A merges/acquires company B, and integrates a few good things (like york's big chillers and R&D departments), and spits-out/reprocesses the redundancy (like York's controls line). This would have been common business practice for the last 200 years, if running a company the size of JCI was possibly 200 years ago. Modern communication systems are what makes the massive parent companies functional, which is why this practice has really increased in the last 25 years.

[JHM60]

In the State of La. JCI is a fading memory the only work they have in the Northern part of the state is their national account customers. The problem with JCI is they believe chiller tech are a dime a dozen but they have found out this is not the case in La. Corporate JCI's policies have caused their customer base and employees to walk away. I was a YORK chiller tech for 16 years and enjoyed the time I was there. 5 years after the JCI nightmare started I walked away with 4 other tech's they have lost many more sence then and have no chiller tech's left.

[acjourneyman]

I have been with Trane for 18 years and am lucky that we are still a franchise so there is no corp between me and my customer. I know that if JCI bought Trane I would not even work one day under them, that is how much I despise them.

[megohm]

The corporate JCI charges it branches interrest on parts and if the job is not complete within a certian time the whip as they call it eats all of the margin and you have to hear about it continuously, the nexgen craze also is a big flop that has costed the company a load, the big joke is that they have raised all of their labor rates in an area where competition is very fierce and have not listened to the local brances. I feel that eventully they will turn into a start up and warranty entity that will only have accounts by default. Very frustrating working for these jerks. I wish and so dose everyone want to return to the York days. JCI has a reputation of destroying companies it is just taking them longer with this one due to its size.

[york56]

The corporate JCI charges it branches interrest on parts and if the job is not complete within a certian time the whip as they call it eats all of the margin and you have to hear about it continuously, the nexgen craze also is a big flop that has costed the company a load, the big joke is that they have raised all of their labor rates in an area where competition is very fierce and have not listened to the local brances. I feel that eventully they will turn into a start up and warranty entity that will only have accounts by default. Very frustrating working for these jerks. I wish and so dose everyone want to return to the York days. JCI has a reputation of destroying companies it is just taking them longer with this one due to its size.

Agree 100% with you !

[chilbrig]

Not the first time that York has been bought out. I believe JCI is the third buyer. JCI has been looking to buy a chiller manufacture for a number of years now. York was the cheapest well know name that has a decent product line.

[chilbrig]

The corporate JCI charges it branches interrest on parts and if the job is not complete within a certian time the whip as they call it eats all of the margin and you have to hear about it continuously, the nexgen craze also is a big flop that has costed the company a load, the big joke is that they have raised all of their labor rates in an area where competition is very fierce and have not listened to the local brances. I feel that eventully they will turn into a start up and warranty entity that will only have accounts by default. Very frustrating working for these jerks. I wish and so dose everyone want to return to the York days. JCI has a reputation of destroying companies it is just taking them longer with this one due to its size.

Sounds just like another big company I know of.

[largetonnage]

I am extremely proud to have had the good fortune of working for YORK. I am extremely HAPPY I no longer work for johnson controls.(12 large tonnage mechanics in 14 months now gone)

[sargent york]

Will the last person out of the JCI system please turn out the lights!

[Random1634]

I was With York for 5 years, and stuck around for the past 3 or so years JCI has owned them, could not stand it any longer. Most inept company I have ever seen. They want to take an assembly line mentality (which is what they are good at) and apply it to service. It does not fly. 50% of our customers left, 50% of our techs left. All that is left there now are people who can't go anywhere else or are so close to retirement they don't care. I stuck it out because I told myself I would make it to 10 years. It was that bad I had to get out with only 8 under my belt. I picked up a job with the local Trane franchise here and am loving life.