McAtee Plumbing, Heating & Air

McAtee installed a 4 ton Geothermal unit, as well as a 5 ton coil. The additional parts and labor required to install a 4 ton system are the same as needed to install a 5 ton system. The only cost difference is the actual cost of the Geothermal unit itself. As verified by a third party brought in by the homeowner, the system that was installed by McAtee is sufficient for the property in question. The system was inspected by the local municipality, and approved. We met at the property with the homeowner, as well as the local inspector to address concerns the home owner had after the system was installed and operational. The concerns were addressed, and approved by the homeowner as well as the inspector, and performed at no additional charge to the homeowner. McAtee did indeed refund the customer $2500 for drilling 4 holes instead of 5, despite the additional cost incurred by using 1" piping instead of 3/4" piping for the well loops. McAtee is offering to refund the homeowner the cost difference between the 4 ton Geothermal unit and the 5 ton Geothermal unit, which as shown via previous documentation is a total of $92.12.

In response, although the work performed by McAtee did resolve the pooling and runoff issues, in effort to meet or exceed your expectations of McAtee and to ensure the level of customer service we are known for we are prepared to reimburse you $2014.00. Please feel free to contact our office to make arrangements.

6.14.16 Revdex.com received notification from company that payment was made to consumer in May 2016.

This customers experience with McAtee in no way reflects our business practices. Our Director of Operations has already been in contact with the property owner, and resolved the complaint to the customers satisfaction.

Our tech went to the call and found the capacitor on the unit was bad he replaced the defective part and the unit ran properly as the owner said in her complaint.  the blower motor that she describes is a part that is on the furnace that is used to move the air during air-conditioning....

this motor could have gone bad at any time when she called in we were willing to go out at no cost to determine what the issue was. As she said she first was willing to allow that to happen which we were glad to as a company we warranty all of or work. we are willing to do whatever it takes to take care of all of our customers. If there is anything we can do to helpout this customer we certainly are willing to. thank you

The dissatisfaction with the time frames as mentioned above are completely understandable. We did perform a service call to the residence, at which time we determined the control board to the A/C unit needed replaced. We immediately contacted the supply house, at which time we were informed the part...

was on back order. We continually called the supply house to inquire about an expected delivery date, each call resulting in no guaranteed time frame as it was on back order. Considering the inconvenience caused for the customer by the part being on back order with the supply house, and McAtee having no means to speed up the process we will immediately reimburse the customer the $85 service fee charged by the customer's service provider.

In reviewing the complaint made. we have reached out to the warranty company to get a resolution. they have advised us that the customer has not had any coverage since 2013 after the repair was originally made . We did return to the site in 2013 and added additional soil to accommodate this...

customer. In the spirit of keeping all parties involved happy Mcatee will visit the site once again to see if there is anything we can do to accommodate this issue within reason.

As before they refuse to refund the cost of piping for the 5th hole and 5 ton coil. As previously pointed out. They installed a 4 ton system without permission after being paid for a 5 ton system. They will never take responsibility for their actions. They can say whatever but fact is they signed a contract for a 5 ton system and installed a 4 ton system and where paid for the 5 ton system. It took hiring a third and 4th parties heating and cooling companies to come evaluate the system to find out the truth about what they did. All this is well documented. They took advantage of me and my wife, knowing we were busy moving from Virginia while the new house was being constructed. They never told us what they did, we had to pay another company to fix the system and that company informed us what what McAtee had done. Again we signed a contact for a 5 ton system and paid them for a 5 ton system. They took advantage of our being busy moving from Virginia and changing jobs and not being able to be at the site. They got paid for a 5 ton system and installed a 4 ton system and did not tell us. Again this is all well documented, including witness statements from the main contractor who built the house and the 3rd and 4th parties heating and cooling companies. They will never take responsibility for their actions.
Regards,
[redacted]

Upon the first visit to the site the home owner complained that during heavy rain fall the neighbors yard would get water run off and have a pool of water in their yard. Also water was coming in through the walls in the basement. We investigated that problem and found that there was a gutter issue...

where some of the underground lines were crushed. We told the customer that we could correct the issue of the water in the neighbors yard by digging a pit and filling it with gravel and repairing the gutter lines. After we made repairs the water was no longer in the neighbors yard . After the repair the customer called and said that there was still some water coming in through the walls. We sent out Jim B[redacted] from [redacted] and he spoke with the customer and explained that they may have done foundation drainage issue. At that point we left it between the customer and [redacted]. Within a few days of that meeting the customer had a sewer back up issue, they called out another company and had them snake out the sewer drain. The customer called us back and told us that the other company said that the sewer drain was broken and had been installed improperly when the house was built.    Our initial request for service was to stop water from pooling up in the neighbors yard which we did and repair the gutter lines underground. We only charged for the work that we agreed upon and completed . We also went as far as getting the customer help to try and resolve any other issues that there may have been when she called us to let us know she still had some water coming in through the wall. If we would have been called for s sewer stoppage we could have and would have been able to see the second part of the problem. Thus customers son called another plumber to clear the stoppage not knowing we also provide that service. We have no way of knowing about the second part since we weren't contracted to investigate a sewer stoppage issue.     In short we completed the job and the issue we were hired to do. And we're in no way involved with the second issue. Of the second part of the problem.

They are refusing to address the issue of not refunding the total cost of installing a 4 ton system, instead of the contract they signed to install a 5 ton system. They refunded $2500 for not drilling the 5th hole. Which my main contractor had to find out and bring to my attention. They did not refund the cost of the piping between the 4th and 5th holes and the piping to travel up and down the 5th hole or the other 4 ton components. The statement they made about the 3rd party certifying that the system was operating properly is false. In fact we hired the 3rd party to come and evaluate why the system would not function properly. They are the one who discovered that indeed McAtee had installed a 4 ton system instead of the 5 ton system I had paid for. They also had to do a $2900 upgrade to the system to make it preform properly. After contacting McAtee and informing them of what the 3rd party had found and done, they would not resolve the issue. After hiring a lawyer to help resolve the issue. My lawyer said we needed to bring in a 4th party to certify that McAtee had indeed installed a 4 ton system and not the 5 ton that I had paid for and to also evaluate the upgrade that the 3rd party had installed on the 4 ton system. The 4th party is the one who wrote the report that the system is working adequately after the upgrade made by the 3rd party that cost $2,900 and they also verified that indeed McAtee had installed a 4 ton system and not the 5 ton the contract had called for and what I paid McAtee for. These letters and reports are available for review. Bottom line is McAtee knowingly and willfully sold me a 5 ton system and because I was living out of a motel and covered up with a new job and could not monitor what was going on, they installed a 4 ton system, including 4 holes instead of the 5 ton system the contract called for and I had paid for. And at no time did they call and ask to change the contract or notify me of what they had done. My main new home contractor caught what they had done on the 4 holes and notified me and not until the spring of 2014 when out of desperation we hired a 3rd party to do an evaluation did the 3rd party discover that the entire system was a 4 ton system. This is when we fully figured out the fraudulent act McAtte had done. Again all this is documented and the main contractor and 3rd and 4th parties are available to verify what has taken place. I don't believe McAtee will ever admit what they did and will never fully refund the difference in what they did. Again, I signed a contract and paid for a 5 ton system, McAtee knowingly and willfully installed a 4 ton system without ever getting permission to do so. The 4th party stated in their evaluation and letter that they charge $5500 for the total difference in the cost of a 4 ton system and a 5 ton system. McAtee is attempting to ignore the real issue here. They knowingly and willfully violated the signed and paid for contract for a 5 ton system and installed a 4 ton system without permission. I feel they will never make this right and will continue to ignore the real issue.
Regards,
[redacted]

In response to the complaint filed by this customer, McAtee LLC did install the Geothermal heating and cooling system. We found that if we increased the size of the piping for the Geothermal loops from 3/4" piping to 1" piping we could eliminate the need for a 5th loop, and the drilling necessary...

for the 5th loop.  The property owner expressed concern in regards to the pricing of 4 loops over 5 loops. As a good faith effort to solve the customers concerns we refunded the customer $2500. We returned to the property on several different occasions to address concerns that were out of our control, and did not apply any additional charges despite these issues being out of our control. In an effort to resolve the concerns of the property owner I have attached a quote for the 4 ton unit, as well as the 5 ton unit. McAtee LLC is willing to refund the customer the price difference in the unit. Note there is no additional instillation, loop field, or parts costs in the 2 systems other than the actual cost difference of the unit itself which totals a difference of $92.12. On our last visit to the property the local municipality inspector was present, and stated that the system was installed to his satisfaction. The company that the property owner had evaluate the system after we installed it also states "the equipment installed is adequate for providing comfort conditioning during the summer and winter months". The local inspector, and a third party company both agree the system is installed appropriately, and is adequate for maintaining the comfort level desired.