I want to start off by saying the staff has been very friendly and tried to be helpful. I never encountered anybody rude. That said, there are some major problems in the way this business operates.
I have American Home Shield, which is a home warranty company. My old AC finally kicked the bucket. AHS sent out Carolina Air. They analyzed the problem, said some major component was cracked and that it needed to be replaced. AHS authorized replacing with a brand new unit.
A week passed and I never heard from anybody. Carolina Air indicated that AHS would contact me. I got tired of waiting and called AHS and they explained they were waiting on Carolina Air to give them some paperwork so they could send out a new unit. Apparently AHS maintains their own inventory. Well since Carolina Air isn't using a normal supplier, maybe it was just a minor snafu. If only.
Another week passed, no calls. I called Carolina Air, they confirmed they received a unit (apparently they didn't check until I called), but it was the wrong size, it was too big for my house and would cause problems, so they needed to send it back.
Several more days. No calls. I called again. The correct unit came in, but they didn't bother to call me. I asked if we could discuss upgrades outside of the AHS coverage. I wanted to add a whole-home humidifier and break my duct into two zones (upstairs and downstairs) to maximize efficiency. In addition, I wanted a fancy internet-connected thermostat to control it all. No problem, they said. They would send me a quote. They also needed to get a permit because of all the changes.
Several days later, I didn't hear back, so I called again. They were working on it still.
Couple more days, called again. It will be in my email inbox soon. Finally got it. Looks good, approved.
Week later, no calls. Called again, waiting on permit. Week later again, no calls. Called AGAIN, waiting on permit.
Finally a few days later, I called again, permit was ready to begin. Great. Let's schedule this for a few days later.
Installer comes out VERY LATE. Supposed to be there early and ended up getting to the house around noon. There's a ton of work to do. I get home around 6pm, still not done. I talked to them and they said they'd be done in 90 minutes to two hours. OK, fine, makes sense, it's a lot of work.
It's all done, supposedly. I will hear from them in a few days with paperwork (instruction manuals, warranty cards, and so on) and they are scheduling the city inspector to come out.
Few days later, nothing. Called again. Oh they were supposed to get an inspector out? We'll work on that and call you later.
Next day, inspector arrives (no call). Few minor things, like I needed an extra CO detector since I have gas heating. Cool. Inspection failed, but it's all easy fix.
Called again, asked when they could come out to do the few things for the inspector and also install my new internet thermostats that just arrived (they agreed to install them at a later date). They'll call me back.
Few days later, nothing. Called again. On the schedule.
Comes out, puts a cheesy CO detector that plugs into the wall like a nightlight. I could have done that. I was looking for a professional installation, but whatever. Don't care. Did not hook up my humidifier.
Called again to schedule for that. OK, they'll call back. They didn't. Called the next day and got on the schedule.
They hooked up the thermostats. Great they work. BUT, my humidifier is not hooked up. Huh? I can't control the humidifier. Call again. They didn't realize they installed a humidifier. SERIOUSLY. Missing paperwork, excuse excuse. What? We'll call you back.
But they didn't. Few days later, called again, okay found the paperwork, get you on the schedule. Comes out for the purpose of hooking up the thermostat's controller to the humidifier. On the paperwork when I get home? It says "ran water line to humidifier" and then that's it. Wait, what? Shouldn't that have been done like two months ago?
Called again, asked about that, didn't know, call me back.
THIS TIME THEY CALLED BACK. It's a miracle. Sending somebody out to hook up the humidifier to the thermo. I made sure my wife told them to call me when they were done so I could make sure it was all done and completed.
I got a call. Turns out the humidifier isn't hooked up! It's installed, but no ductwork going anywhere. Tech told me he needed to schedule an installer to come out to finish the work. Is this real? WTH?
And here I am. Nobody called me so I just called them and they see what the tech wrote are going to call me to schedule later today. Want to take bets if they do?
BTW, I never received any instruction manuals or warranty cards or maintenance plans or anything.
I'm going from memory, there may have been more calls. it's been 3 MONTHS since they started.
When they are finally done, I'm hiring somebody else to come out and verify it's all hooked up correctly, because honestly who knows at this point? read more