Shawn Frey Contractor
Complaint 13664 Details

We must admit, our case has been on the backburner, due to personal, family, health and money issues and I'm not sure if the statute of limitations has expired on this type of case or not, but here's the story.

We moved into our newly built home in August 2004 and almost immediately noticed problems with our cooling/heating system (which had been installed in June 2004) and some electrical "quirks". The central air unit did not seem to be working very efficiently, however, being that it was summer and that it had been off, we weren't sure how long it would take to cool off the house. No information was left for us in terms of an operation manual, troubleshooting guide, name of HVAC contractor, etc., so about two weeks after we moved in, we called our builder and got the name of the HVAC/electrical contractor, Mr. Shawn Frey.

Mr. Frey came out to the house and put coolant into the unit, which he presumably had done only two months earlier. He apparently didn't think anything was odd about a brand new unit needing to be filled with coolant two months after installation, but it was the first of many, many, unnecessary dealings with Mr. Frey. Over the next 5 years, Mr. Frey came to the house EVERY spring/early summer to put coolant into this unit and if we had a warm early fall, he had to come back out a second time. Not once during the first 4 years did he admit the obvious, that there was a leak in the system, and not once did he attempt to find or fix the leak. When he came out in 2009 (the unit had a 5-year warranty) for his annual pilgrimage to sacrifice coolant to our AC unit, he then finally did a leak test. Guess what, it's leaking! However, he claimed he probably wouldn't be able to (or didn't know how to) fix it since he didn't know where the leak was and that was that. He didn't attempt to find it or to offer any suggestions at all. Actually it was all standard operating procedure for Mr. Frey. When we called him in August 2009, to fill it again, we were told that he would have to charge us for the materials as our warranty was up, and that actually it had expired in June 2009 since that's when he installed it. We thought the 5-year warranty started when we bought the house and the unit became our property. But being desperate due to the August heat, we agreed. We told Mr. Frey several times during the 5 years that the leak needed to be found and fixed and, if that couldn't be done, then this unit needed to be replaced; however, for reasons known only to him, he did nothing.

In spring 2010, we called another contractor to fill the unit and he mentioned that he could put dye in with the coolant so that as it leaked out, it would become evident where the leak was. He mentioned that if the leak was in the coils, it might still be very difficult, if not impossible, to locate or fix the leak, but at least it was a suggestion to try to remedy the problem. We paid the additional amount for the dye with the intention of having the unit fixed at a later date. I have no idea why Mr. Frey never suggested something like this. We called the same contractor in late summer to fill the unit again and told him that due to the recession (my hours at work had been cut), that we would be unable to pay him to fix the unit and asked that he just put more coolant in. He reluctantly agreed, however he stated that he couldn't do it again as he was not permitted to keep allowing coolant to be released to the environment from a unit that was known to be leaking. In February of this year, our hot water heater started having problems (it needed a new burner assembly) and I mentioned our cooling problems to the contractor who fixed the hot water heater. He said that there was a product called "Stop Leak" that is similar to "Fix-a-Flat" for flat tires. The material is put in with the coolant and seals the leaks. He stated that the product has been around for some time, certainly more than 5 years and that he has had great success with the product. However, it is somewhat pricey (we paid $169.00 for it to be installed with the coolant this year) which I assume is the reason Mr. Frey never suggested this either since he would've had to eat the cost. Last month, the compressor finally went on this unit and we were forced to borrow $2800.00 from my parents to have a new unit installed. It has been working better than the other one ever did. I can only assume there was so much stress on the compressor, from not working properly from the beginning, it set in motion the already malfunctioning unit's demise.

The indoor unit was not without problems either. During the winter of 2005-2006, the igniter on the furnace failed to work. Mr. Frey came out and put a "new" one in. Again, in the winter of 2007-2008, the igniter failed again. Mr. Frey came out and put a "new" one in again. During this visit, he stated that it was strange to have to replace this part, as he had "only ever had to replace maybe a half dozen" in the time he's been working. This past winter (2010-2011), guess what part failed again. Yep, the igniter again. It hasn't been fixed yet as it happened at the end of the winter and I just lit the furnace manually for the remainder of the winter. How could the same part, a part that he admittedly rarely has to replace, fail 3 times in 6 years? Bad luck? Maybe. Bad equipment? Probably. It does not take a rocket scientist to know there is obviously something making these igniters burnout. Yet, Mr. Frey never prevented or even tried to figure out why these igniters were malfunctioning. I am sure it is just easier for him to show up, do absolutely nothing, and then have the audacity to send invoices to us, when nothing he has ever touched has worked properly nor been fixed.

In our opinion, Mr. Frey did not act professionally in servicing this unit for us or responsibly in allowing coolant to knowingly continue to be released from this faulty unit. We have found out subsequently that the builder no longer uses Mr. Frey in any of his houses due to this kind of shoddy workmanship and service. There's no telling how many hundreds or thousands of dollars this inefficient unit cost us in electricity charges. We sent a complaint to the Better Business Bureau regarding Mr. Frey's service and when we complained that he never replaced the unit while it was under warranty, he responded that we "never asked him to replace it." First of all, that is untrue. We did ask him to fix or replace the unit. Secondly, he's the professional HVAC contractor. If he can fix it, he needs to fix it. If he can't fix it, then he needs to replace it or pay to have another HVAC company to come in and actually fix it. Mr. Frey finally admitted that there is a leak in the system on a phone message he left for me after the warranty was up (I still have this message on my phone). His solution? Keep filling it with coolant. After getting the Better Business Bureau involved, Mr. Frey did offer to install a new outdoor unit on the condition that I pay some past due bills totaling approximately $400. I had stopped paying Mr. Frey's bills after it became obvious that he was doing nothing to fix the unit. I saw no reason to continue paying him to do nothing to fix the problem. We also did not want Mr. Frey to install another unit, given his poor workmanship and past service issues. I don't think I've ever encountered a businessman that cared less about his customers than Mr. Frey did. He rarely showed up on the day he was called. He NEVER answered his phone. A message always had to be left that he usually returned the next day. At one point, we were battling extreme summer temperatures, my wife called his work number (we had misplaced his cell phone number). His daughter answered his work phone. When we were (again) in dire need of his service for this unit, my wife asked his daughter if she could give me his cell number, she told me he did not have a cell phone. This is untrue. I had been reaching him on his cell phone all along. I can only imagine her being instructed to say this. If Mr. Frey thinks he was extremely frustrated with problems this unit was causing him, he should have thought about the excitement of our very first home being unlivable all these years. On the very first service call, we shared with him the urgency to keep our home at a comfortable temperature. Both my wife and I have serious health problems. Extreme heat or cold is unbearable to one of us, in some cases, both of us. In addition to that, we had a therapy dog (St. Bernard) who could not tolerate extreme heat. We reminded Mr. Frey of this every time we placed a service call. As usual, he made a brief appearance and accomplished absolutely nothing. My wife finally told me, "I bet his family is enjoying the comforts of a cool home and sleeping beautiful tonight".

As Mr. Frey was also our electrical contractor, we have also had problems in our electrical system. The lamppost in front of our house has never worked properly. Any time anything is plugged in to the outdoor outlet, it causes the ground fault interrupter to trip, which in effect eliminates any type of outdoor lighting during the holidays. The fluorescent lights in the bedroom closets do not turn on when the switch is flipped (usually have to flip the light switch several times to get the light to turn on). The electrical outlet in the upstairs hallway had to be fixed within the first couple of months of moving in (I'm unsure what the problem was, but the plug of anything plugged into the outlet had to be wiggled around to get it to work). These electrical issues make us somewhat uncomfortable in that we feel an electrical fire could start at anytime.

I guess what we're looking for is to recuperate our expenses for the new AC unit since it could've been replaced while under warranty, plus the cost of the dye injected into the system and the cost of the Stop Leak plus excess electrical costs to bring the total to the maximum allowable in Pennsylvania Small Claims Court. Please feel free to e-mail if there are questions.