Bass Air Conditioning

"Well it's obvious this project didn't go according to plan. We contacted the member to see if his concerns could be resolved but there is too much water under this bridge. I would like to make some corrections as to the dates and costs though. The work in question was accomplished in June of 2006 almost 10 years ago. The cost of the contract was $3943 not the stated $12,000 or $6,000 number in the review. Being so long ago I can't say for sure what went wrong, it may have been a case of clashing personalities or poor communication. In any case we did try to make this right but to no avail. I wish I could say we're perfect and that all our customers were perfect but it is not to be. That being said our reputation in the community is exceptional and I don't think we could have lasted this long in business, 64 years if we were "crooks". An interesting side note, the member stated that he was called by Angie's List to provide this review."

"Thank you for taking the time to post a review. We value our relationship and are pleased that you had a positive experience."

"We are extremely concerned that [member name removed] is dissatisfied with our services. We train our people to be thorough and professional but sometimes we may not communicate as well as is possible. We did perform service on October 15, 2012, over 2 and a half years ago and informed the customer that the breaker for the air handler was only providing 88 volts and that an electrician needed to be called to repair this circuit. We also diagnosed that the compressor contactor was burned and replaced that item and charged him $220 for the diagnostic and repair. We do not know what customer was referring to when he stated that we "jerry rigged" something. Our technicians will not ever bypass or disable any components in a system because of safety concerns and company policy. If customer were to contact us directly I'm sure we could work this out to his satisfaction. But up to this point we have not been aware of any issues he may have."

"Thank you so much for your kind words. Ray has been with us for 30 years and we hope he'll be with us for many more. Again thank you for your comments."

"(deleted member name) has been a customer of ours since 1993 and a Planned Maintenance Agreement customer since 2011. The Planned Maintenance Agreement is a labor agreement and provides no parts or materials. The customer is invoiced yearly $ 175.00 and this agreement provides the following advantages. (1) summer clean and check inspection, (1) winter clean and check inspection, free labor for breakdowns or repairs between the hours of 8-5 M-F, preferential service, 24-emergency service, energy savings, prolonged equipment life, ability to charge and 10% discount on all parts. (deleted member name) stated that he was charged for coil cleaner to clean his indoor and outdoor coils and had never been charged before. Our program clearly states that we provide a 10% discount on any material used. On May 10, 2013 (deleted member name) unit was cleaned and serviced for the summer. At that time he was charged $ 16.00 for cleaning material, was given his 10% discount with the remainder being $ 14.40. (deleted member name) unit was serviced twice in 2012. He was charged this same amount on 7/17/2012 on our work order 580461 for summer system cleaning. His unit was serviced again on 12/6/2012 for the the winter on work order 584000 where the invoice clearly states the coils were clean and did not need to be cleaned. We only charge for any material when they are used. These invoices are available if needed. As for the filter inspection, both men indicated that they checked the filter and it is stated on the work order. We certainly do not want (deleted member name) upset, and a simple call to one of our service managers could have cleared up any concerns that he had. We will have a service manager contact him to apologize for any misunderstanding and explain his maintenance agreement in detail."

"We want to thank member for his comments about our good service and how our technician that repaired his unit was professional. However his comments about our accounting depatment are unfounded. Contrary to members accusation everything on our end was handled properly. Our technicians receive money, credit card slips and checks all week long from many customers we perform services for. These monies are turned in the following Monday along with weekly paperwork. It is up to the customer to deduct any money spent with a vendor as they make these entries in their checkbook. The only cost incurred by member was due to his attempt to spend money again that he had already spent. We did not blame him as the customer for anything; we simply pointed out to him how he caused his own dilemma."

"In reply to the above members comments I can only say that we regret the misunderstanding concerning the diagnostic fee and the quoted repair fee. We have used this rate structure for many years and feel that it is the most fair and easy to understand way to charge for our services. I do understand that some companies do say that if the repair is performed that they will waive the diagnostic fee, but the are simply combining the charges into one figure. The member complains that the service tech was trying to explain the difference between repairing the refrigerant leak and simply recharging the system with refrigerant. The tech in question has over 20 years experience and was doing exactly what he should have done by informing the customer that if the leak is not repaired the refrigerant "will" leak back out. This is not only an inconvienience to the customer but will over time lead to expensive compressor damage. The service tech did give the customer a printed sheet that we require the customer to initial showing the choice to repair or just recharge. We do this as a help to the customer to understand completely what they are requesting us to do. All of the charges for work proposed are printed and made available at time of service to the customer for explanation. In speaking to the tech about this visit he did indicate that the customer was somewhat agitated upon his arrival and he was having a hard time communicating with her. The customer states that the tech tracked dirty footprints into her house. It is our company policy that all service persons will wear shoe covers inside all customers homes. When questioned about this the tech admitted that he made a personal decision not to follow company policy because he didn't think it was nessesary in this instance. The tech has been repremanded and counciled concerning company policies and proceedures, this will not happen again. Bass Air Conditioning has been serving the people of Cumberland County for over 60 years and we constantly train our people to improve our service to our customers. In this instance this just didn't work out, for that we are embarrassed and apologize. Again I regret that the customer had a poor experience with our company and had she talked to the service manager or myself at the time of service I'm sure something could have been worked out to her satisfaction."

"To start with the member's air conditioning system was installed by another company. Last year his outdoor section was stolen and he had the original company replace the outdoor section. The system was then diagnosed with a refrigerant leak. It seems the other contractor was unable to fix the leak and that is how we became involved. We have established proceedures we follow when talking to customers about refrigerant leaks and these proceedures were followed. When our technician arrived at the member's home and diagnosed the problem as a refrigerant leak he informed the member that he needed a leak search to resolve this problem. He informed the customer of the different types of searches that could be performed and the cost of the work. We never recommend to a customer that just adding refrigerant will solve thier problem. We also never tell a customer how long adding refrigerant to an unrepaired and leaking system will last, because we don't know. The member declined any leak search and had us add refrigerant. The next day we received a no cooling call from the customer and dispached the technician back out to his home where he found the unit again had leaked out the refrigerant. The member was reminded of the leak search options available to him. We warranty all refrigerant leak repairs for (90) days parts and labor but because he did not have a repair made he was charged for a second trip to his home. Due of the time of day and part of his system being in the attic and the temperature being so high(June 29th approx. 4 pm 97F) the technician asked if he could come back in the morning to perform the leak search. He did tell the customer there would be an additional charge for him to come back. This is not our policy. Had the member gone ahead with the work the technician would have added refrigerant to the unit to get the customer through the night at no additional cost and there would have been no additional trip charge. We have instituted additional training for this technician. The member posting is confusing and looks like we are charging him a lot of money. We did exactly what he asked us to do and charged him only for the services he received while giving him all the options available to him to make an informed decision."