My entire brownstone (4 co-ops) has old Carrier HVAC units. Two of the one's in my duplex garden apartment began to leak when we used the AC (not the heating) and we realized we had to get them replaced. On Angie's list Arnica had great reviews and was in our area so we called them in early October, 2015. The scheduled a visit to inspect the units but cancelled twice over the next few weeks. Then a man came, measured both units and inspected them, took the serial numbers/unit numbers/style numbers etc. took photos, made a date for 2 weeks later for 2 days for installation and left. The office sent us a contract with the costs listed and the work involved and we signed the contract, and a credit card approval form they required, and returned both to the company. Although my partner and I both gave Arnica our cell numbers, because he worked full-time in an office and I am a writer and work at home, we asked them to make my phone number the primary one, and to not call him but work directly with me.
The morning Arnica was due to come install the office called and said they were running too late on another call and would have to re-schedule but couldn't for another few weeks. By now it was early November. We rescheduled for mid-November but they called up a few days before and said they were having trouble getting the exact size for one of the units and so would have to re-schedule two weeks later in early December. Then they called and said they had to have another man come out to measure the units again. We were Very frustrated by then because two months had already passed, but said ok because obviously we wanted the units to work! The day before the second Arnica man was to come to measure again, the Arnica office sent my partner an email asking him if we wanted them to continue working with us...But since we already had the Arnica employee schedule to come to our home the NEXT day, he didn't return the email but figured someone had sent the email by mistake. As scheduled, the next day, a different man from Arnica came and said that the sizes of our HVAC units were not made any more. The only ones they made were much larger in size and came much farther out from the wall. This would work for one of our units but not the other, so the Arnica man and I agreed that they would only install 1 HVAC unit instead of two (the other room was too small and the larger unit would not work,) but that would be terrific, and that Carrier was going to "custom make" it to fit, and that they "did that all the time." However, as a result, the unit wouldn't be ready to install until the first week in January. The cost per unit would be the same so when they came to install the one, they'd take the cost of the other unit off the contract and we agreed.
When we didn't hear anything by the 15th or so of January, I called Arnica and asked when they were coming to install the two Carrier units in our apartment. T he woman who answered had nothing in her books or schedule about our job, and no one knew anything about it! Finally, telling them that 2 Arnica men had already been out to measure and we had a contract dating back to OCTOBER, I asked to speak directly to Simon, the President of Arnica. Simon called me back, and said that he found the file on us and reviewed it, and that the LAST contact with us was the email to David in mid-December asking us if we still wanted to continue working with them, and he couldn't understand why I was so angry that we had begun this process in October and it was now the end of January and no work had been done...So I had to find the paperwork and diagrams that HIS employee who came to the house and measured AFTER that email had left with me to show him that in fact Arnica had continued and promised to have built and install a Carrier unit in early January.
Finally Simon agreed to come to the apartment for himself, meet with me, and look at the units. He showed up, was very polite (as was I) and told me right off that ALL of his employees who had met with and spoken with me over the last 4 months had been wrong! because Carrier no longer made ANY units that would fit in our apartment!!!! So that for 4 months, Arnica people had been telling us we would be getting HVAC units that did not exist! Instead he explained that the existing Carrier units would have to be covered with drywall, and suggested that new Mitsubishi units be installed high up in the walls, with outlets to the backyard. I expressed my concern that in every yard/garden I have ever visited, compressers made a lot of noise but he said that he "PERSONALLY GUARANTEED that the MItsubishi condensers would be 100% SILENT. ABSOLUTELY SILENT."
So, I agreed in principle, depending on my partners also agreeing, to have Arnica put in one Mitsubishi unit with a condenser outside on the wall in our garden, based on his assurance that it would be silent and not bother us when we sat outside.
The very next day revised contract came from Arnica with the following statement in bold: "Arnica Heating and Air Cannot Guarantee Noise Level for Any Condensate Pump That We Installed All Pumps Could Possibly be Noisier Than Customer Would Prefer."
So, in summary, it has taken 4 months and 3 visits by Arnica employees (including once by the President of Arnica) to our apartment to finally be told that the units we were continually told WOULD fit, Don't EXIST at all! I have never experienced or heard of worse customer service, employees who give out estimates and schedule actual installations/have customers sign contracts, with less knowledge of their products, and a President who tells customers things that are directly contradicted in his own company's contract than Arnica. By now its become almost a funny story to tell over dinner parties...except we STILL DO NOT HAVE A WORKING AIR CONDITIONER IN OUR CO-OP AFTER 4 MONTHS!!!!! How anyone can give this company ANY stars is crazy....run away from these guys!