Atlas Butler Heating And Cooling

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!

In November 2018 we were without heat for 15 days and Atlas Butler customer service did not care. We called daily requesting information on when the repair would happen with no results. The repair was supposed to made be using warranty parts. The technician reduced our bill when completing the repair stating that the reduction was for the cost of the parts. We asked for but did not receive a discount to help with our high electric bill from running space heaters for 15 days in our three story house. We contacted owner of company Mark S via Linked In because there is no number on the Atlas Butler web site for escalating a problem. Mark’s admin responded to our Linked In request and we sent a detailed account of our experience with our inputs about what could correct the situation. We were referred to Jeff S, but he did not return our call to even hear about our experience or our request for help with our electric bill. We let Mark’s admin know that we had not been contacted, but did not receive any response from her.
This is the third time in eight years we have been without hear or air for more than five days under our service contract with AB.
We will not buy another furnace from AB and can only give an extremely negative review for their repair service.

I came home from out of town December 30th to find that my heater was not operational. I called the company and they sent someone out to do a diagnostic.. There was an $89 fee associated with the diagnostic trip. The person that came out was very nice and indicated that the blower motor needed replaced. He indicated that it was completely burned out. He further indicated the cost would be over $1,000 to order the replacement. He said it would take about a week to get the part. He indicated that it likely would be better to simply replace the furnace because of the age of the furnace.

My father drove three hours to get to my house and cleaned the the blower motor. He used no new equipment and the furnace has been working ever since. I called the company to get a refund of $89 and they indicated they will not refund the money despite the fact that they provided an incorrect diagnosis. They indicated that the blower needed replaced and this was temporary solution. The blower was clogged with dust and a piece of the filter. It didn't need immediately replaced. Regardless of whether it might need replaced in the future, it is fully operational now and we anticipate it will last all winter or longer. It was not completely burned out and to say that it was, and that I needed a full replacement was in a representation.

I'm very disappointed in the company for failing to refund the $89. The least the company could have done when they came out to diagnose the issue, was to provide a fix. All they had to do was take the blower apart and clean the piece. Instead, they were going to leave me for days without heat just so that they could charge for a replacement.

When I called and asked for a refund, the person I spoke with was very rude. He insisted that eventually the motor will need replace. Eventually everything might need replaced, but the company shouldn't indicate that replacements are immediately needed, when indeed they're not. They should do whatever is required to fix the issue and present all options to the consumer. They shouldn't make it seem as if a replacement is needed without even making a thorough assessment. No one even attempted to fix the blower. They simply said it was burned out. Clearly it wasn't.

The business caused flooding in my home during a routine equipment check-up on November 19. After filing a complaint with the Revdex.com, the company offered on November 30, through their representative Darren E, to furnish any necessary HVAC repairs free of charge (estimated at $800.00) in lieu of paying upwards of $1,200.00 as originally requested in the complaint. I also offered to accept the businesses' complaint response, which involved getting my homeowner's insurance involved, as long as the business paid my deductible up front.

I have repeatedly requested Atlas Butler to remove me from their service agreement. I am doing so because of the lack of professionalism and the high pressure sales to replace our HVAC system by one of their service techs. Each time I have called they have promised to refer the matter to another office and that they would get back to me. I have not heard from them regarding this matter.

I also had our HVAC evaluated by another HVAC service company and they did not find the condition of our HVAC system to be as serious as Atlas Butler diagnosed.

I had a leak in the basement calling. The plumber came out and said he had to replace the drain pipe up to 10 feet fittings straps and braces. He said it was a involved job and he could not do it for less than $546.00 He said he had to go to the store to get the parts. He was gone for an entire hour. Came back and only was here for 20minutes. All he did was put the plastic backer and 2 straps. I’m not sure he even glued the joints. Charging me the full amount. I’ve left 2 messages for the manager who has not called me back.

High prices, incompetent maintenance technicians and poorly installed systems are the Atlas Butler way. Stay Away!

Every time I have used their services I either been sent a tec that is not able to complete the job ( due to being the wrong type of tec) or a tec who Falsify’s the report, and is disrespectful

I signed up for an elite membership and requested for my first service. In the contract, I am supposed to have a tech within an hour of call and that didn't happen. fast forward as part of the contract I am supposed to have all my main plumbing work inspected that did not happen even after I requested for a plumbing service and the lead or supervisor I spoke to that night with the name I have on record said "he will schedule"...that did not happen. Fast forward....this company did not honor their part so I decided to part ways....fast-forward...Debbie kept harassing me via emails and I also replied via email explaining myself for why I will not pay for $267.20 which was the service calls I placed as an elite member? The night of calling for plumbing inspection work 3 days after my whole basement flooded. If I had that plumbing insection THE COST OF $5,500 payment to restore my basement would have been prevented....now I get a letter from Atlas collection for a bill of $267.20 ...for what I don't understand it and if they pay my $5k plus I will pay their @267.20.The help I need or my complaint is Atlas failed to honor their part of the contract and I lost money due to lack of preventative maintenance and a years supply of AC filters which was not supplied as per contract. I need the owner to explain since Debbie who is in charge of their account 1. IS DISRESPECTFUL TO A CUSTOMER. AND SHE FEELS I LUCK THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THEE CONTRACT ENTALES. NEED HELP TO HAVE THEM STOP HARASSING ME.

This company does not care about customers. My father has been using Atlas Butler for 7 years and seemed happy with his service. When my mother moved we started using Atlas Butler, she signed up for Comfort Club Membership, which cost $ 240.00 a year. This service was done twice a year before turning on air unit and heating unit for the season. The one complaint that we continued to have was that the unit is located in the attic, and this required the service person to bring a ladder. This past month the service person came to do the air unit check, he did not bring a ladder. The unit in the attic was not checked. Three weeks later the air unit was not cooling the house. We called Atlas Butler to remind them that a ladder was required for the service in this home. A serviceman showed up without a ladder and used a kitchen chair to climb in to the attic where he found that a screw was loose on the unit. The service call cost $89.00. This was an issue that should have been caught during the earlier unit check. A call was placed again asking for a refund of the $89. The office manager returned the call three days later, it was explained that the serviceperson that did the air unit check, did not do the required service. He would have needed to go into the attic. The office manager said that it did not matter he would not refund the money for the service call.
Facts:
Paid $240.00 a year for services not performed.
Recommend this company to neighbor that had to have his unit replaced.
This company does not care about customers.
The major difference in my father's service calls and mother's calls are that my father understands and can see that work is completed. My mother was suffering from a health issue and was taken advantage of from this company.

They advertise no overtime charges for nights, weekends or holiday's. I called to have air conditioning
checked. They told me there would be an 89 diagnostic fee and I agreed. Then they started pressuring
me to accept there maintenace contract etc for 32.95,I assume dollars, monthly, I refused. The
technician shows up and states there was a bad capacitor which I already knew as I have general
knowledge about HVAC units. He said that the cost would be 89, 426 for 517. No dollars or hundreds
stated. I didn't hear the 517 but thought he was referring the capacitor at $4.26 but he meant $426 to
either install it or whatever as my invoice doesn't state a reason. I paid and I signed that I assumed the
prices and completion as it was temperate weather and at 80 years of age and treating cancer, I couldn't
afford not to have the air conditioning. I believe that the charge of $426 to install a capacitor is borderline
criminal. A 10 minute job and $5-10 part. I checked reviews online for this company and saw several
complaints like mine, gouging and scamming. Should have looked there first.

On 5/3/18 I contacted Atlas Butler to service an inoperable air conditioning unit which is 4 years old. Atlas Butler dispatched a service technician to diagnose the issue on 5/4/18. Upon arrival, the technician took some voltage readings, and attempted to start the unit. At this point, the technician determined that the fan motor failed and likely caused the compressor to fail. The technician quoted me a repair of $3,000, but suggested that the entire unit be replaced due to the cost of the repair. The technician advised that I could request a second opinion and only pay Atlas Butler for the trip charge of $89. At this time, I informed the technician that I would be seeking a second opinion, and paid the $89.

Shortly after Atlas Butler left, I contacted *** (License ***) to diagnose the issue. On the evening of 5/4/18, R *** investigated the issue. The fan (previously diagnosed by Atlas Butler to be inoperable) was given a nudge and started up as expected. R and quickly determined that the Starting Capacitor was faulty. The capacitor was replaced, part cost $46, and the air conditioner was running and cooling as expected.

I received a survey from Atlas Butler and let them know about my experience. On Monday 5/7/18 I was contacted by Atlas Butler customer service. They apologized and informed me that if I provided the invoice from my repair, from a licensed professional, they would refund the $89 trip charge. On 5/15/18, I emailed Atlas Butler the copy of my invoice. I received a response on 5/17/18, which is pasted below:

"Good afternoon B. Sorry for the delay, we have been quite busy here in the office. After reviewing the document you attached in your previous email, it does not appear that this second opinion came from a licensed contractor. In this case we would have to stand by our initial diagnosis of your system and not grant you a refund of said diagnostic fee."

I replied to the email with R *** HV license credential, and have yet to have resolution. A quick search could have been done by Atlas Butler to avoid any confusion.

Not only was the diagnosis incorrect and predatory, Atlas Butler has failed to stand by their refund of the trip charge.

I have been a member of the Atlas Butler monthly program for nearly 2 years. Recently when they went through a billing update and where unable to retrieve my payment information for their new system I received several calls to provide the payment information. I contacted the company and provided them my payment information again. At the time the gentleman asked if I wanted to upgrade to the elite membership for $23.00 more a month I said sure since it included additional benefits. Well I had a technician come to my house and advise that I had a leak of some kind and that due to the age of the equipment I would probably be better off replacing it. He of course couldn't give me an estimate so I had to wait for a sales rep to show up. That gentleman ended up being nearly 2 hours late. The cost of the replacement was extremely high so I decided get an estimate with another company. I ended up purchasing my equipment with the second company. Since I have an entirely new system that is under warrant there was no need to keep my monthly maintenance with Atlas Butler. I called them on 5/20 to cancel my upcoming service appt. as well as my membership since it would not benefit me in anyway. The nice gentleman on the phone advised he would cancel the apt and send the membership cancellation request on. I receive and email on 5/22 advising I owe the different of the monthly membership and the cost of the diagnostic. I felt that since I have been a customer for almost 2 years and never received any terms or conditions documents prior to being notified I would be penalized for cancelling my service that I should not be charged the $56.02 difference.

Dear Sir/Madam:
This letter is to alert the Revdex.com and the citizens of Central Ohio that the above company in my
experience is conducting deceptive and unethical business practices.

On April 16, 2018, I arrived home late after all day at the hospital with my wife to find that our furnace
was not operating. The thermostat indicated 63 degrees on a night when temperatures were expected to
drop into the 30s. I called Atlas Butler based on their ad that no extra fees would be charged for an after
hours emergency visit.

The technician arrived about an hour later, which was appreciated. I told him the furnace tried to cycle
but it was not producing heat. Within a few minutes after removing the furnace cover the technician
said the inducer fan/motor and the vacuum switch would have to be replaced at a cost of $1500.00. I
was observing during this time and I noticed that no testing was performed to confirm these claimed
parts failures, although it was apparent that when the furnace tried to cycle you could hear water
sloshing around. I was left reeling at the enormous cost of replacing these two pats.

The technician then proceeded to demonstrate using a borescope how my furnace heat ex-charger was
somehow damaged although I saw no convincing evidence. He also drilled a hole in the plastic flue
pipe and said the flue temp was too high, all apparently demonstrating the need to replace the furnace.

At this point the technician pointed out that
I might as well invest in a new furnace since the repair
costs would be half the new cost and the fact that our furnace was 15 years old. He also suggested
replacing the air conditioner. He said he could have someone come out that night (it was already after
11:00 pm) and he said the furnace and a/c could be installed the next day for somewhere between
$6000 and $8000.

I said I am not going to spend that much money without another opinion. My main concern was,
getting the furnace operating that night since my wife was due home from the hospital the next
morning. Recalling a similar repair on my furnace a few years ago I suggested why don't we try and
remove the water and see if the furnace will at least operate through the night. The technician
reluctantly agreed pointing out that the fan may not produce enough vacuum, etc.
-2-

Upon removing the inducer fan housing a bunch of water was dumped out. On re-installing the
housing the furnace cycled normally. I paid the technician the $89 service fee and said I would get
another opinion the next day.

Six days later the furnace continues to operate normally. With further research I have learned that
water in the inducer fan housing is a common and easily fixed problem. With the help of qualified
people I discovered that the drain outlet in the plastic flue and the drain hose were clogged causing
water to backup into the inducer motor housing. After cleaning everything in the drain system all
indications are that the furnace is operating normally and has no discernible problems. The plastic flue
is now at a normal temperature because the inducer fan is operating at full speed. The Atlas Butler
technician never offered to do any of this cleaning, which was the root cause of the failure!

One other issue: On researching the cost of replacing the inducer fan assembly and the accompanying
vacuum switch I learned that these parts together generally cost in the vicinity of$300, nowhere near
the $1500 quoted by the technician. Was this a scare tactic?

My complaint is that the technician was much more intent on selling me a new furnace than he was fixing my immediate problem. He actually never offered to fix the furnace until I suggested removing
the water. It looks suspiciously as though Atlas Butler uses commissioned repair people to sell new
furnaces rather than making less expensive repairs that fix the immediate problem.
Although Atlas Butler as of today's date has not cashed my $89 check, I would appreciate the return
my money since the technician apparently did not want to fix my furnace and I only got my furnace
working based on my suggestion to remove the water. That should have been the first thing the technician
did! I And I had to have another technician clean the drain system! I think this incident
should be on file at the Revdex.com to warn other unwary consumers.
Thank you for your time and attention.

*** PS.. Enclosed find the Atlas Butler email follow-up to which I responded and expressed my concern as stated above. I have received no response from the company.