I want to share my "questionable" experience with Flow Right and let potential customers know how disappointed and troubled I was with their recommended solution(s) regarding my furnace repair. My 16 year old Carrier brand furnace quit working early on the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving. I tried to self-diagnose the problem myself with no luck. I contacted the Flow Right service department on early Sunday afternoon. They sent out a technician by early Sunday evening. Within an hour, they had diagnosed the issue as a "blown diode" in the module on the blower motor assembly. The technician said they would need to contact their warehouse the following morning to get a price quote for the part to repair the module. I paid the $172 emergency service call. I was very satisfied with the technician's diagnosis and the service I had received up to this point.
The following day (Monday), I received a call from the technician saying that the warehouse had the part in stock but that it would cost over $6,900 to complete the repair!! He said that because of the high cost to repair and the age of the furnace, he recommended that a new furnace be installed. The technician scheduled an estimator to come on Tuesday morning to give me a quote to have a new system installed. On Tuesday afternoon, the installer gave me two different proposals of $17,024 or $21,844 for a new system!
At that point, I became very suspicious of the extremely high quote to repair and the technician's recommendation to have a new system installed at a cost of over $17K. I attempted to contact the Carrier warehouse here in Colorado Springs to get a quote for a new module and/or blower motor assembly for my model of furnace and they said that they could not give me a price quote unless I was a licensed contractor. I started doing my own on-line research and found a replacement module for $150! I immediately ordered the module. After receiving the module on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I installed the module and had everything reassembled in my old furnace and running within an hour. I consider myself to be handy but I am not an HVAC expert by any means. It has been working flawlessly for over 6 weeks.
After completing the repair myself, I contacted Flow Right and talked to the HVAC Manager to have him explain to me why I was quoted over $6,900 to repair my furnace when I did it myself for $150! I told the manager that I did not have a problem with the diagnostics they performed. The technician pinpointed the precise issue with why the furnace was not working. I told the manager that I was not dissatisfied with the diagnostic evaluation but I was very disappointed with their recommended solutions and asked him why they quoted a repair cost of over $6,900. He explained that they simply made a human error and apologized. He offered to refund the $172 emergency service call. I received the refund after 2 weeks!
Based on my experience with Flow Right, I cannot help but think that they were trying to take advantage of an elderly customer (I am 68 years old) in an emergency situation that lives in a nice neighborhood. That is the only plausible explanation I can come up with as to why they recommended what they did. In my opinion and based solely on my experience, their customer service recommendations were very questionable and suspicious. However, the HVAC Manager's offer to refund the service call expense was honored and the diagnosis was "spot on". But based on my overall experience, I want to alert other consumers to be cautious and wary of any work you have performed by Flow Right. read more