Michael & Son
Complaint 361584 Details

On May 26, 2017 your technician Mr. ___ came to my residence to perform “Precision AC Tune up” on 2 AC units in my home. Upon his arrival, he asked several questions about issues or concerns. I told him that both units were working fine, but according to my spouse the upstairs takes longer to heat and cool. But I attributed that to the bedroom being over the garage.

When Mr. ___ arrived, the home was cool because the AC’s had been running. We went into the attic which has limited space, so I stood away to give him room to work. He placed a meter on an air hose and removed the panel to the unit. He informed me that some units have a drip pan and they sometimes fill up. I could not see what he was doing inside the unit but assumed it was part of the checking of the system. He replaced the panel, told me the gauge reading was a little low (14), but let’s see what the downstairs unit has.

We went downstairs into the basement, and it is a different unit and he removed (cut flashing tape to access the compartment). The unit checked out, and he said the reading for it was (16), a little higher than the upstairs unit. He went on to say that the unit upstairs was probably low on R22, and that it probably had a leak. But we needed to check the unit outside.

The first unit checked supported the downstairs AC unit, pressure gauge read between 40-50. He said that it was good, but the unit needed to be cleaned. I retrieved a hose and the unit was cleaned.

I rinsed off the second unit, and Mr. ___ removed the gauges from the other unit, bled the pressure out of it and attached the gauge to the upstairs unit. The gauges read between 40-50, I commented that they were almost identical readings. Mr. Thomas then said we needed to wait 15 minutes to get a good reading. I removed the hose from the area, and asked Mr. ____ if he wanted something to drink, he declined but asked if he could use the rest room. As I got to my front door Mr. ___ was lagging behind me, he said he was going to get the tape to seal the downstairs unit. I proceeded into the house, Mr. ____ came in a few minutes later, used the rest room and we went to the basement so the tape could be replaced.

After completing that, we went outside to check the gauge. The reading was at around 20! He unhooked the gauge, explained that I had a leak, was extremely low on R22 and that the amount the unit was low and could not be replenished. He also stated that he could test to locate the leak for several hundred dollars, but even after locating the leak the unit needed to be replaced.

I asked ball park cost of replacing the unit. He gave rough estimations and said that he could get someone out tonight to give me an estimate for replacing the unit. I told him, I would get a second opinion before replacing the system. His next statement should have been a red flag but I let it go. Mr. ___said “that he could get his manager to come out and test the unit and give me a second opinion as he used to be a technician and he could also give me an estimate”. I declined and we proceeded into the house.

We went into the sunroom and Mr. ___ reiterated that the unit needed to be replaced and that someone could come TONIGHT and provide the estimate, and possibly give me a military discount. I told him that I needed to discuss with my spouse. He asked when I would want the estimate and I responded next Friday.

Mr. ____ had me digitally sign his tablet; I paid $160.00 cash ($138.00 for the service, remainder for a tip).

That evening I turned the unit on, and no air was blowing from the vents. I went outside and the unit outside was running (fans spinning). I shut the unit off. The unit remained off until May 30, 2017 when another HVAC technician was available to check the system.

I explained the situation to him, and the recommendation from your technician. We checked the unit outside and it was running and showing signs of frost. I told him that it was not blowing any air inside, so we proceeded to the attic.

The HVAC technician opened the panel, summoned me over and pointed at 2 connectors with nothing attached to them. He stated that it was the capacitor to the indoor motor, and that it had been DISCONNECTED. He located the wires, reattached them and the system kicked back on, and air began blowing to the vents.

The AC unit is running as it did prior to your technician servicing it.


The service provided can only be classified as one of two scenarios:

1) Technician lacks experience and was complacent/careless and it was not done with intent to deceive/defraud.
2) Technician deliberately disabled equipment with the intent to deceive, to facilitate purchasing of a new HVAC unit.