I filed a formal complaint with BBB. Here is an excerpt from their website: |http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/business-reviews/air-conditioning-contractors-and-systems/shaws-air-conditioning-and-heating-in-saint-michaels-md-90130424/complaints | |BBB found business made good faith effort to resolve complaint but customer not satisfied with business response (1 complaint) 07/19/2013 |Complaint: Deceptive billing forcing customer to agree by telephone before event, then refusing to disclose labor costs and invoicing that conceals them. The business practice of Shaw's, Inc. of St. Michael's, MD, a heating and air conditioning company, is characterized by what appears to be extremely high prices and a billing system that may be deceptive and unfairly manipulative. |Here are some facts leading to that conclusion.1. On June 4, 2013 I called and asked for an urgent appointment to service a one year + old Bryant 5 ton HVAC system, previously installed by another Bryant dealer, which had failed to operate at all in the cooling mode. I was told at the time there would be a "minimum service" charge of $75 to set up an appointment. After a six day delay, a technician arrived on the agreed date. On June 10 the technician spent approximately 1 ½ hours on site checking the system. He left after saying they would have to order parts to repair the system. I was present during the visit and no repair was made at the time. The charges for this were $75 for "service call" and $294 for "Nonspecific". When I asked the technician about the service call charge, he replied it was standard for coming to the house. Later when I called the office I was told the additional charge was standard for "diagnostic" service. The $75 charge incurred on June 10 was apparently simply for driving the truck to the site for the initial visit, a drive of half an hour from St. Michaels. And the labor rate (no repair or parts involved) for evaluation approaches an hourly rate of $300 per hour. 2. On June 14, 2013 he returned and installed a new thermostat, which I observed taking approximately 15 minutes. He then replaced a valve called "TXV". This required several hours of replacing refrigerant and checking the system in operation. The entire repair visit took approximately 4 ½ hours. On July 8, 2013, I received an invoice for $1,093 for this repair, of which $175 must have been a labor charge for installing the thermostat. The $918 charge for the valve replacement could not have included the replacement valve because both of these parts were covered by warranty. No detail about parts and labor was provided, but the labor costs appear to be extraordinarily high. |When I called the Shaw's office to inquire about details of these charges I was told, "We charge by flat rate and we do not identify labor costs." When I expressed the opinion that their charges appeared extraordinarily high for the amount of time involved, they said, "You agreed to these charges by telephone before the work." The Bryant unit is now cooling, although the new thermostat is not controlling the temperature very well and often is in error by 4 degrees. The Shaw's person with whom I spoke flatly refused repeated requests to identify either the details of their billing or their standard labor charge. She claimed that my repair charges had been "reduced by 15%", not shown on the invoice, because I had bought (unfortunately) an annual service contract. She went on to say if I was unhappy, they would immediately cancel my contract and raise the repair costs even higher. I explained that this telephone call prior to service forces the customer to agree to something where the amount of time, and therefore the labor cost, is completely unknown to the customer before the work. Now with arrival of the invoice without any detail whatsoever, the time involved suggests labor costs in the realm of $200 per hour or more. This billing method seems to be a deceptive business practice. Force the customer to acknowledge something by telephone that they have no way of evaluating before the event, and then refuse to disclose labor costs while hiding defensively behind an invoice that conceals them. |Business' Initial Response I have received your letter in reference to Mr. *****. At this time, we consider this case resolved. Mr. ***** was given a quote BEFORE the work was completed, he gave verbal approval, and currently his system is operating. Since he received our invoice, there have been a number of discussions about the original quote that was given. I have explained to him repeatedly that we are a flat rate company and the price given was what the price is to complete the job. |Consumer's Final Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I discussed my complaint with the business owner who insisted on "stone walling" defensively by refusing to see my perspective and simply stating over and over, "You agreed to the price before the work was done." I tried to explain that a brief telephone call before the work saying "the repair will probably cost $1,200" is forcing the owner to agree to something without any information about the number of hours of work involved. This is especially manipulative after the company had removed part of the HVAC equipment at the first, diagnostic visit therefore making it difficult for the customer to refuse. Later, after it became apparent that the hours of work involved were few and therefore the apparent (undisclosed) labor charge must have been close to $200-300 per hour, as I outlined with careful details in my original complaint. I asked repeatedly more than one employee what the labor charge, or shop rate" was. The company simply kept saying two things: 1. We will not disclose our labor charge and 2. You agreed to the amount we quoted before the work was done. Their invoice was simply a total charge figure with no explanation as to labor charge and what was materials. So now I am forced to pay their charge without any understanding of what was labor charge or what was parts and materials. They claim this charging method has to be paid because they had forced agreement by a phone call prior to the work being performed. I believe they are hiding exorbitant labor charges and manipulating the customer unfairly. |Unhappily I will pay their bill rather than get further involved with a company that is indifferent to customer concerns. |