Auburn Heating Plumbing & A/C

On July 21, 2011 the new AC system began to fail. I called the company after hours and the technician on call, Matt, called me back promptly. After discussing the problem, he informed me that in his opinion the system did not sound as if it were working properly. He asked if I would like him to come out that evening, but that it would be late. I said that it was not necessary to have someone look at it that evening but if someone could come in the morning that would be great.

On Friday July 22, 2011, - Mike, another employee arrived about 8:45 am. He inspected the system and found nothing wrong. However the system was still not cooling the home to the temperature the thermostat was set to. About 15 minutes after he left my home, the furnace made a very loud noise that actually vibrated the floor of the home several times. This noise was so alarming that I questioned my safety. I immediately called Auburn Heating's office and my call was answered by the owner of the company . I explained that the furnace was making an alarming noise and that the technician had just left. The owner was a bit short with me on the phone asking first if my house was cool. I responded yes but that the reason for my call was the alarming noise and vibration. In an agitated tone, he told me that his men had already been to my home and they were now helping others who had no AC. I reminded him that I had just spent nearly $9000.00 with his company in the past few weeks and did not appreciate his snippy tone. This did not sit well with the owner who went on to be very agitated with me on the phone. Twice he said and quot;Do you want me to come over there and rip out the system and give you your money back/and quot; I found this to be very belligerent and attempted to ask him to allow me to speak but he would not. He ended the conversation by taking my cell phone number and telling me he would send someone over when he could.

He did as he said and Mike, the technician who had been out at my house earlier that day, returned. At that time, Mike heard the noise that I had heard and said he felt something was wrong with the unit. Soon another technician, Matt came to assist Mike in the assessment of the unit. Matt remained at the house and repaired the unit enough to keep it running until an replacement unit could be installed. Matt left me a voice mail message upon completion of his work and told me that if I had any questions to call the office.

That afternoon, I called the office to discuss the course of action in a permanent repair. After being told that the owner was not in the office and left a message, he called me back about 2 minutes later. He began is conversation with me a rather pleasant tone. He told me that the unit would be replaced free of charge sometime the following week. I found this humorous because the unit was obviously under warranty and of course it would be replaced free of charge - it had only been in for about one month! Regardless, I thanked him and then went on to compliment his technicians for the wonderful service that had provided in my home that day. I went on to then say that I was however and quot;not happy with the way our phone conversation had gone earlier in the day. and quot; This comment sent the owner into a yelling rage that I have never experienced from anyone before. He began yelling at me and telling me that he did not ever want to speak to me again and that he was only upset earlier because I reminded him of how much money I had spent with him. He stopped using my name and began only referring to me as 'lady'. He told me that if I did not appreciate him that perhaps he would not do me the and quot;favorand quot; of replacing the unit and should take my business elsewhere. I asked him if we could have a civil conversation and he said NO. I then ended the discussion with him by saying thank you and hanging up. I spent the weekend wondering if I would ever have the unit replaced.

Monday July 25, 2011 - Luckily I did hear from Mike, a technician with the company, stating that yes the unit would be replaced on Friday July 29, 2011.

Friday July 29, 2011 - The entire AC unit was replaced - compressor and coils - at no charge. The technicians that did the repair, especially Matt were again nothing but professional, prompt, courteous and a pleasure to work with.

Even though the actual repair issues were dealt with per our contract, I can not recommend this company to anyone due to the extremely unprofessional manner of the owner. Future potential customers should be aware of how this business owner conducts himself. He would be wise to take customer service lessons from his employees.