Legal Question in Consumer Law in Florida

on June 30 I called a local Air Conditioning company (lets call it FH) to check my AC system as it stopped cooling. With temperatures soaring above 90 and with a toddler in the house, I call this company that seems reputed based on the advertisements I saw in the local magazines. The technician came by he estimated 1100$ worth of fixes with a caveat that once the system starts, if there are more issues I may have to replace the whole system. He got my deposit with a promise of July 4th installation. On July 3rd the company calls and pushes the installation out to the 8th. I have no chance to get another company to fix anything at this point due to the long weekend. My family gets stuck in one room that I bought a window unit for.

Out of suspicion I call a friend who is a technician in another company that deals with commercial systems. He identifies the correct problem in 5 minutes and fixes it in another 10 minutes. It was a simple blown up starter capacitor, a very common problem. This guy knows how FH operates and request me to keep his company out of any disputes that might follow with FH.

I canceled my appointment with FH and filed a phone complaint with the corporate office. No answer for two days, so I send a letter to the president. Matters get worse, they stopped piking up my phone calls. I filed complaint with BBB, the company is not willing to resolve the problem the complaint gets closed.

I initiated a refund on my credit card and the credit card issues a refund, but several months later FH provides misleading information to CC company and the charge gets reinstated. Basically FH has eaten my down payment and given my family a hell of a grief in the hottest time of the summer.

The company keeps on asking for invoice from my friend and I have refused to provide that information, siting his wish. I offered other options that would provide the same information that FH is looking for, but FH is stuck on one thing that I am unable to provide.

Not sure what my options are at this point. Its hard to see a perceived reputed company getting away with something like this. I only imagine how many other customers they rip-off every summer.

Thanks,

HP


Asked on 10/28/09, 11:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Eric Friday Law Office of Eric J. Friday

Keep pushing with your credit card company and ask for a supervisor. The credit card companies will usually come through for you. You should also file a complaint with the Florida DBPR. They control the license of the HVAC company and can sometimes assist customers in getting a refund. You can also consider a small claims suit for the return of your money since no service was performed.

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Answered on 11/03/09, 8:36 am


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