Atlas Butler Heating And Cooling

I asked Atlas , Tech Noel *** came out gave an estimate and told me that if I decide to get work done he would waive 89.00 service fee, we had work done two day later, gave me a bill of $639.00, we paid bill with no service fee as he said he would waive, Now two months later they are billing me for 89.00.. I explained to Debbie their rep and said I owed this why didnt you add to my bill at the time I paid, She said we cant combine but never gave me a second bill of 89.00.. Now she wants the 89.00. She came up with a story that my card was declined which it was not and iI paid the 639.00 with that card. Just such a shoddy excuse, and as I said two months later she wants this money from us. I have est that says I owe 0 amount.

On September 16, 2019 I call Atlas Butler to obtain a plumber to repair a couple of issues with faucets at my home. Mr. Kenneth O arrived at my home later that evening at the appointed time to discuss my service needs. I informed him that I wanted to replace the spray hose in a kitchen sink and replace the cartridges on two bathroom faucets. Mr. O proceeds to inform my wife and I that *** did not make a replacement hose stating, "*** does not make replacement hoses because they want you to buy new faucets". He suggested I purchase a new faucet from *** or ***. He also stated he did not have with him any of the cartridges for bathroom faucets. He provided me an estimate of approximately $450 to perform all work. He called his office and set up a time for the next day to perform the replacements and repairs. We proceeded that evening to *** and purchased a new kitchen faucet for $214.

The next evening on September 17, 2019 Mr. O arrived at my home at the appointed time window to perform the repair. He informed me at that time, he did not have any of the cartridges for the bathroom faucet repairs. I informed him at that time to disregard this repair and focus on replacing the kitchen faucet with the new faucet we purchased. Mr. O completed the repair in approximately 30-40 minutes. I paid for the purchase by credit card.

That evening I determined I needed to obtain the cartridges for the bathroom faucets. While attempting to locate these cartridges on the internet I discovered *** did actually make a replacement hose and would cost approximately $25. At this point I wondered why I was misled by Mr. O statement that *** did not make replacement hoses.

On September 18, 2019 at 11:46 am I called Atlas Butler at to discuss this with their management team. I was informed at the time they would take my concerns to management and someone would call me back. On September 18, 2019 at 1:14 pm I received a call which I missed from a Mr. Dave M asking that I return his call. I returned his call at 1:16 pm and was informed they could not transfer me to him and they would have him return my call. On September 18, 2019 at 3:17 pm I received another call from Mr. Dave M asking that I return his call. On September 18, 2019 I returned his call at 3:45 and was again informed they could not transfer me to him and that they would have him call me. On September 18, 2019 at 4:09 pm I spoke to Mr. Dave M and explained my displeasure with the information that was told to me by Mr. O on Monday evening and again on Tuesday evening. Mr. M at the time informed me that Mr. O did tell me the wrong information and wanted to know what I would want to remedy the issue. I informed him at the time I wanted to have my old faucet back with a replaced hose, wanted to return the new faucet to *** for a refund, and if *** would not take the return Atlas Butler would refund me the $214. Mr. M informed me he would have to speak to his manager and call me back. Mr. M called me back and offered to refund the cost we paid to Atlas Butler of $225. and we would keep the faucet installed. I informed this was not acceptable to me because we liked the old faucet and should have never had to replaced it if we were provided the correct information. He said he would have to speak to his manager again and would call me back.

On Friday September 20, 2019 at 1:16 pm I call and asked for Mr. M. I was again told they would have to take a message and have him call me back. I informed the person on the phone I was not please at all with the service I was receiving and wanted to speak to someone now. I was again informed she could not transfer the call. I voiced again my displeasure and informed them at that moment I wanted to cancel my service agreement with Atlas Butler and to have Mr. M call me back as soon as possible.

On Monday September 23, 2019 I called again to speak with Mr. M and I was informed they could have him call me. Out of pure frustration I asked to speak to the president or owner of the company. The person on the phone said she could not give me the name or transfer me to someone else. I proceeded to ask for the address to send a letter to the president and to please give me the name. The person (Teresa) on the phone would only give me the mailing address and the Executive Assistant to the Owner of Atlas Butler. I informed her I would like the refund I was offered last week and wanted to cancel my services with Atlas Butler effective immediately, along with Mr. M's supervisor to call me.

I had a faucet leak in a shower. The faucet stem needed replaced. I had the faucet already removed and showed the service
technician old faucet stem. He had to get a new one and left for about 1/2 hour. He then installed the new faucet stem.
The bill was $389.00 and since I had no water I signed and paid the bill. I thought the amount was much too high and I
found out that the part was available at Home Depot (about a mile from my home) at a cost of $19.98 plus tax. I then called
Atlas Butler and requested an itemized bill and the said they don't use itemized bills, they use a billing schedule. They sent
me a copy of the description of work showing Task# 2 or 3 handle tub/shower faucet repair $300.00 and trip to get non stock
item $89.00. He only replaced 1 faucet stem not 2 or 3. I feel that the amount charger was vastly inflated.

Fraud is not a category but that is the issue.

A/C went out and water was leaking inside. They came out and tried to repair charged me almost $900. It did not work. Second repairman came out and said first guy screwed up and never should have done the repairs as the unit was shot and was leaking refrigerant and the refrigerant he put in was leaking and had spewed all over the unit and was in the air causing a stench and making our ducts dirty. Third guy came out (sales guy) and said second guy was right first guy screwed up and should not have done repairs and he would credit me. Then he wrote up a bid and credit was only IF I went with his 10,000 A/c only unit. I said NO.
Got ducts cleaned at price of $500 due to the stench caused by their defective work. Got new unit-of higher quality-for $6,400.
Manager called and said you are correct we are sorry.
His manager called and said you are correct we are sorry.
They were supposed to call me back and never did and charged my credit card for fraudulent and defective work violating all kinds of Ohio laws on fraud and home sales solicitations.

I called Atlas Butler for service regarding a thermostat not working for the furnace and air conditioner. A technician from Atlas Butler came to our home and checked the furnace wiring for possible problems. Finding none; the technician checked the electrical box and found the furnace circuit breaker had moved to the off position. He turned the furnace breaker on and that fixed the problem. The technician waited a few minutes to insure the furnace would continue to run. I was with him the entire time except for 3 - 4 minutes. The technician stated he would try to keep our invoice as low as possible and mention the amount of $31.xx. The technician restated this amount upstairs with my wife present. (Additionally, my grandson that lives in the basement next to the furnace room also heard that amount through the wall).
While upstairs (preparing to leave) the technician had me sign for the work and approve the invoice and had my wife sign for the credit card payment. The technician did not show us the invoice before asking us to sign.
The technician turned to leave; my wife asked him for a copy of the invoice; he declined and said he would email the invoice to us within 5 minutes after leaving. Again, we thought the invoice amount would be $31.xx.
The invoice arrived sometime well after the 5 minutes. Upon opening the invoice, the charge was:
$428.00 Gross Amount
$129.00 Deduction: For us being Members = We pay $399 for an annual maintenance contract to receive maintenance.
$299.00 Net Invoice To Us
Thus, in summary and round numbers, Atlas Butler charged us $428 for the value of the technician's work (PS: he was at our house 30 minutes or less; turned a circuit breaker back on and checked a few wire connections). My member discount was $130 netting the invoice to $300 ($299 unrounded).
I think we were mislead, taken advantage of - maybe due to our age, and treated unprofessionally by the Atlas Butler technician because the technician purposely 1.) did not show us the invoice amount (which was just above the *** screen where we signed the invoice. He could have very easily scrolled down one screen); mislead our thinking by mentioning $31.XX; and very importantly did not furnish services anywhere close in value to what the technician charges us.
We have done significant business with Atlas Butler over the past years and thought we could continue to place trust in them which lead us to above.
I have talked to a service manager (who said they would not change the invoice) and written a letter to the CEO around August 17 and have not received any communication from him.

Description:
After receiving initial invoice date 10/16/2018 (Invoice #*** for $127.50), I was contacted by Bonnie
W*** at Atlas Butler (AB) on 12/6/2019. I told her before I paid the invoice I had a question/concern on
the invoice. She stated that she was not able to answer my question due to her job description and that
she would send an email to management so that they would call me to discuss. No one from AB
contacted me. On 3/27/2019, Kathie J of AB reached out to me and asked me to make
arrangements to pay my invoice. Again, I asked her to have someone contact me to discuss my
question/concern pertaining to the invoice (see email supporting document). To-date no one from AB
has contacted me that can answer question/concern. My question/concern is: on 10/15/18 Kathie
J*** was provided contact information for the job address to perform yearly PM on the furnace. I
prepaid $125 for the yearly PM. From my records, AB has been to this job address to service the
heating three times (from 2017-2018) prior to 10/16/2018. On 10/16/2018 (one-day later), a service call
was placed to AB due to the furnace not working. The technician charged 1.5 hours ($127.50) to flip a
switch to turn the furnace on and then performed PM. I continue to receive collection calls and emails
from Bonnie W at AB, when no one will return my call to discuss the issue.
Note: AB charges drive time from when the technician is paged and until they leave the job via GPS. If
the technician is delayed due to traffic (or other), the customer gets billed for the delay and no
documentation of travel time is provided.
Additional Note: I do not get charged travel time when a pre-paid PM is performed.

The furnace and air-conditioner were replaced by Atlas Butler in January 2016. The air-conditioner was not working in May 2019. Atlas Butler was contacted and a technician arrived on May 19 and determined that a bad fuse was the issue. He quoted a price of around $450 and we decided to purchase the one year service contract for about the same price. I received no email or paperwork regarding the contract. After this the fuse was replaced and when the air was turned on, the fuse popped. The tech was going to have a more experienced tech come out the next day, thinking it was a bad compressor. The new tech arrived on May 20 and determined that the compressor was bad, unfortunately this was only a three year unit. He quoted a price of $1800 and stated that with a service contract he could drop the price down to $1200, but paying for the service contract as well. I thought the price was high and my wife contacted her brother, who has been in heating and cooling for over 35 years. He said that Atlas Butler was price gouging us because the compressor was under warranty, the $1800 was for labor only. My brother contacted his employer and a tech came out on May 29 and stated that the compressor was bad and that their price was more reasonable. I contacted Atlas Butler immediately and canceled the service contract. Atlas Butler is still trying to get an $88 fee from us for the canceled service contract. The other company only charged us $1051 to replace the compressor, showing that Atlas Butler overcharges for the services. I also thought that since we spent over $7000 for a new furnace and air-conditioner they would have charged me less for our newer unit breaking down after three years.

After being advised via mailer that the filters would no longer be included in the elite membership ($32.95/month), I attempted to change my membership to the premier membership ($23.95). Was told I would need to wait until my current membership had expired and could then renew at the lower rate. Asked to speak to a supervisor - was told they were gone for the day and they would call me back the next day. They did not. I had to call back 3 times before I was able to speak to a supervisor and was told they would not refund my last payment.

May 2018 - Purchased new Furnace/AC system from Atlas Butler. As well as Elite level membership in their customer care program. Few months later the A/C stopped cooling house. Called their service department and technician was dispatched. Found A coil (inside coil) to be leaking. A coil replaced, however technician failed to replace condensation run off tube in pump. Hallway and living room received water damage. After numerous phone calls damage was addressed by Atlas Butler.
April 2019 - Spring tune up to A/C was completed. A/C did not work in May. Called Atlas Butler and requested another service call. Technician found that the previous technician did not place door correctly on unit causing system to have no electricity.
In summary every time I call Atlas Butler for service, there needs to be a follow up service call to correct what the previous technician tried to complete. Also the Elite membership in their customer care program is not much of a benefit if you have to argue with the customer service representative on the phone to get your "guaranteed" 4 hour response time.
Not a company I would recommend or do business with again!

I am writing to tell you of a concern I have with the business practices of one of your members, Atlas
Butler Heating and Cooling. The enclosed letter to President Mark S and an email from my tenants provide the details of the incident. The company's answer to my letter was a brusque "We won't charge you for our service call." The manager to whom I spoke implied they were doing me a big
favor.

As I reflect on this experience, I am still upset that the company was eager to replace my system at an estimated cost of $7,500.00 and unconcerned that they unnecessarily frightened my tenant with warnings of carbon dioxide leaks. I am equally upset at their cavalier response to my complaint directly to them.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely

Our system is fairly new (3-4 yrs). Every 6 mos. when you come out to ck the system there is always something wrong. Do we have a lemon?! Does the whole system need replaced? We are now into 2 weeks "waiting on a part" and my daughter's auto immune disease MCAD is acting up and she is miserable. Why do we pay every month for service when our system is always breaking down and then it takes weeks to get it fixed. A/C is an important tool in helping our daughter's condition. This is not helping. How much longer do we need to wait? Please solve this issue!

In January 2018 Atlas Butler installed a new HVAC system. On Saturday, May 18, 2019, I turned on the AC for the first time this year and it was not cooling. When the technician came out he said a part needed to be replaced and it was not in stock. He thought it would be in on Mon. or Tues. On Wednesday I called the company to complain because it was very hot and humid and asked why they had not requested the part be overnighted to them. They had a manager call back to tell me the part had to be manufactured and it could take 7-10 days. Because of the temperature I asked to have the whole condenser replaced, but of course he thought that was ridiculous. Now it's Mon., the 27th and the part is still not in. The company website claims to have technicians available 24 hrs a day with availability to parts 24 hrs a day. My family and I are hot and frustrated.

Earlier this month I contacted Atlas Butler to service my air conditioner. At that time I joined their Comfort Club Elite Membership which, quoting Atlas Butler, "Comfort Club Members receive priority status. Even if it’s the hottest day of summer or the first cold morning of winter, our technicians service Comfort Club members first". I then scheduled the service for May 20. I took that day off from work in order to be home when Atlas Butler arrived. Early May 20 I got a call from Atlas Butler during which they cancelled my appointment because others had broken air conditioners to be fixed. I assume Atlas Butler earns more fixing broken air conditioners then performing maintenance service on a working air conditioner. I told them that the cancellation was unacceptable and they then promised to send someone out. He ultimately arrived and serviced my air conditioner but did not clean it as required. I have pictures to prove that. According to the following from Will C <***> "Hi ***. I spoke with our Tech Nate about this issue and was told that he was instructed not to hose off outdoor unit because he would have to drag water hose through the house." This is a LIE! I did NOT give that instruction! Now I have to take another day off from work, May 23, so that Atlas Butler can clean my air conditioner. All this time off from work in expensive for me. All this frustration is painful given that I agreed to be an Elite Member and then disregarded as such. So being a priority customer I was cancelled, lied to and had to take costly time off from work. The service tech left my home quickly, without cleaning my air conditioner so that he could go fix someone's air conditioner, rewarding Atlas Butler with more income then my maintenance service.

May 21, 2019
Revdex.com of Central OH *** RE: Atlas Butler Heating and Cooling ***
To Whom It May Concern:
Your assistance is requested in regard to the following:
On April 4, 2019 I contacted Atlas Butler regarding my furnace which wasn’t working. The technician arrived in about 5 hours after. Upon arrival he removed the panel from furnace, spent 3 min examining inside the furnace, said the motor wasn’t spinning and I needed a new one. He said the price would be $737. When I asked about my 10-year warranty on the parts of the furnace he said that the parts were covered under warranty and the price is only for the labor.
When I questioned how expensive the labor charge was, he said he could reduce it to $415 if I agreed to sign up for an elite membership plan which was $39/m for 60 months. He then offered another plan for $29/m, but it wouldn’t reduce the price of the repair as much as an elite plan. He that went into an aggressive and “close the sale” mode, which I rejected. At that time, he left to go to the warehouse to pick up the motor. He returned within a half hour, then spent 15 min installing it. I asked him to leave the old motor and any other parts he replaced along with the box the new motor came in. Initially, he was very hesitant to leave the box telling me that nothing was in there, but eventually acquiesced to my request and parted with the box.
When he asked for my credit card to pay $737, I asked him about getting an itemized bill and warranty documentation pertaining to the new motor and labor. He replied that all of that was electronic and once he processed the credit card payment, I would receive 2 emails. One of the emails would be an itemized receipt and the other would cover the warranty.
After receiving no emails for 2 days I contacted Atlas Butler customer service, who advised me they do not provide itemized bills, their system reflects one-year warranty on motor and they don’t maintain any serial number or if the replacement part was new or reconditioned. When I advised that this information was crucial to me, she said she will email to technician and she would contact me via email.
2 days later I received 2 emails from a customer service rep. The first email provided me with the serial # not of the motor, but of my furnace which was installed by Atlas Butler in 2012. No info was provided about the newly installed motor or the service call. The second email reflected there was no charge for the motor given that it was under warranty, the newly installed motor has 1-year warranty, that I paid $89 for the service call and $638 for labor to install the motor. I responded to these emails, advising that I still required the model number, serial number, manufacturer name and documentation on the motor they installed. To date I’ve not received any response to that email, despite my making numerous calls to Atlas Butler and advising representatives, that I wanted a returned call from a supervisory or management person. Additionally, the invoice stated that Atlas Butler would charge a $30 fee for any returned check. This is contrary to the technician initially advising me that Atlas Butler doesn’t accept checks, when I expressed my desire to pay with a check given his inability to provide me with an itemized bill and documentation at the point of sale at my house.
The motor that Atlas Butler installed has a retail price of $194. For Atlas Butler to sell and install a furnace with a 10-year warranty on parts and then charge $737 labor to install a “free” part is unconscionable and highway robbery.
The standard fee for the work performed, based on internet information, would normally be $300-$400 including the motor, service call and labor.
I want a refund of $387 which is equal to $737-$350. This is based on splitting the difference of $300-$400, to arrive at $350. The $350 minus the $89 service call, minus the new motor price of $194 leaves Atlas Butler with a $67 labor charge for a repair, that took less than 20 min. This is more than adequate to cover the average HVAC technician hourly pay rate of $23.23.
We often hear that government regulation is a bad thing. Atlas Butler’s business practices are a prime example that regulation is more often the result of businesses being dishonest, untruthful, greedy, non-responsive and taking advantage of consumers; particularly, elderly, widowed, single women, which unfortunately I happen to be.

Cc: Atlas Butler Heating and Cooling
Cc: Ohio Attorney General

Atlas Butler performed the winter service check on our furnace. Told us we needed two parts that about equaled the cost of a new furnace. Got a second opinion from another company. No issues with our furnace. Atlas Butler wanted to chalk it up to “ difference of opinion” vs accepting that they were dishonest and employ high pressure sale tactics. We initially refused to pay the cost of the service as I did not think we needed to pay for dishonesty and that type of service. With no discussion we got a letter from a collection agency! We paid the bill but will never have them in our home again as there are simply too many other choices of honest, high quality companies to choose from.

Have brand new furnace and air - all under warranty. Atlas Butler came out to service the furnace and air for a yearly inspection. After the yearly inspection the tech used a variety of high pressure tactics to get me to replace parts that were under warranty NOW under the guise they could give out at any moment. When I explained the parts were under warranty. The response was the warranty would only kick in if the parts were malfunctioning, If I replaced them now (even though nothing was wrong) I would have peace of mind. I am not exactly stupid. If this be the case what would be the purpose of a warranty in addition to Atlas Butler's service membership. The high pressure was nothing but a ploy to convince me to pay for unnecessary services for the replacement of parts that were functioning well at the moment.

Saturday 3/16/2019 furnace stopped working. Atlas Butler’s number was posted on furnace so I made the call at 9:47pm. The representative quoted $89 as diagnostic fee.

Technician showed up an hour later at 10:45pm and started diagnosing, he was super nice and as he diagnosed I noticed he used all gadgets to pinpoint the problem. He inspected all the points and after an hour of inspection informed that the circuit board is bad and will cost $1000 to replace, and if that doesn't work will have to replace another component cost another $1000. He also scheduled and estimator come out next day. I thanked him and left at 12:04am.

Next afternoon, estimator shows up and quoted $3200 for the entire furnace and if I needed a nicer quieter furnace would be $4200. When I asked him about the diagnosis he said he will needs to look at notes. I thanked him… end of conversation.

Next call was made to another heating and cooling company, the technician showed within an hour 1:45pm and in 5 mins he found faulty fuse, he replaced fuse, reset furnace and it started working. Total cost = $139 (Diagnostic + fuse + Labor)

Called Atlas butler back and requested refund $89 for providing incorrect diagnosis. I was informed that the manager is out today and Monday, will call back Tuesday (two days from today).

My mother called Atlas Butler for service assistance when her water heater failed. They scheduled next day and there is no complaint about the work completed to replace the water heater. The issue is Atlas Butler charged her over $1800 for the repair and refuses to provide an itemized description or invoice which is absolutely ridiculous. "We have standardized book pricing and do not give itemized information. " A 40 gallon Rheem gas water heater can be purchased for under $450, leaving my elderly mother charge approximately $1300 for a bit over an hours time for qualified repair person. The average cost for this repair is approximately $900 and my mother was charged double that amount. This type of price gouging of people in an emergent situation is an unethical and fiscally irresponsible business practice.

In my opinion Atlas Butler has significant deficiencies when dealing with customers and their technicians do not consistently meet a high bar of quality one would expect. I was an Elite member, who paid a monthly premium to have what I thought was a higher tier of service and response when dealing with my HVAC needs. Here has been my recent experience.
On January 14th I called in for service. I was told I would receive a call back right away. 30 minutes later, still without a call, I called again, and was told I would receive a call soon. 2 hours or so later, still without a call, I got through to the office, and someone was promptly dispatched. My furnace was then repaired at a cost nearly double the competition in the local area. As an elite member I am given a 35% discount on parts, so to find that I was still paying nearly double is disturbing. Regardless, my furnace was working again. I called the next day to share my poor customer service experience, and was told that a manager would contact me back within 2 business days. That never happened. Which means, that 3/4 phone calls resulted in no results - clearly showing Atlas Butler cares very little about the customer experience!
Again, I had to call for service on February 11th. I gave instructions on the phone to call my number which was the first number, and not the 2nd number on my account. Explicit instructions so that my sleeping partner was not unnecessarily woken up. However, my partner was called 3x and my phone was called 0x to let me know someone was en route. Technician arrives, and he was quite pleasant. However, he was very poorly trained, if trained at all. He didn't know basic functions of the furnace, and in fact told me to call an electrician because my gas furnace was only getting 120v. A comedy of errors ensued, and let's just say I am beyond thankful he was able to call a more experienced technician on the phone because this guy had no business opening my furnace to begin with.
Again, on February 12th, I called the office to recap them of my customer experiences. This time a manager did call me back and was quite apologetic, which is always nice. However, all she offered was an apology for this comedy of errors I had experienced. Not acceptable for someone paying $30+ a month and not receiving any quality. She also offered to make a note on my account to only send good/senior technicians - which in my opinion is so frightening. Here she is openly acknowledging that portions of the staff are not capable of performing simple duties - why would I ever pay for this? You should not pay for it either. This is one star, low level service that people should avoid. There are better options in Columbus, and those options are also cheaper. Avoid Atlas Butler.

I was told by one of Atlas Butler's techs that certain "metal" parts in my furnace were corroded and that a new furnace was needed. I had two other companies come out and they confirmed that the corroded parts in question were not metal nor were they corroded and my furnace was NOT in need of replacement.
The technician from Atlas Butler also left my system overridden and left my home, meaning I had no way of turning off my unit as it would not respond to my thermostat. I had to have a different individual who was not a technician, remove the override. When I asked for a refund from Atlas they refused, even though they admitted that the technician's oversight of leaving my system overridden was wrong and accidental, they would not refund the service call. Such an oversight from a technician is dangerous!