ORLANDO, Fla. — A Kissimmee man claims an air conditioning repair company turned a simple fix into a $4,000 bill. Instead of just replacing a broken part, the technician told the consumer he found mold, then installed a state-of-the-art cleaning system.
Steve Truchly's A/C shut down, so he called Harrell Home Services. Its technician replaced a capacitor, charged $170 and Truchly's unit was fixed. But it didn't stop there.
“He looked inside the fan and said it had mold in it and recommended we go with a UV light system," Truchly said.
The ultraviolet lights were supposed to keep the air clean. With financing, it cost Truchly more than $4,000. When the payments were higher than expected, he questioned it.
“I called (Harrell's) voicemail. That was full so I just gave up and called (Action 9)," said Truchly.
Action 9's Todd Ulrich contacted A/C experts to check out Truchly’s system. The expert found no mold inside the air handler.
PDF: Harrell's response
“As for the system itself, looked mostly just dirty, needed a maintenance cleaning,” said Stephen Thatcher with Greens Energy Services.
“Was this a waste of money?” asked Ulrich.
“Sure, sure. They did not need the UV lights,” said Thatcher.
Harrell Home Services has a B-rating at the Better Business Bureau, but it has an alert for a pattern of complaints.
Ulrich caught up with company vice president Nelson Zayas.
“That's a lot of money for UV lights a customer doesn't need?” said Ulrich.
“Well, sir, we'll have to find out what that's about, sir,” replied Zayas.
Later, the company's owner told Ulrich that Truchly only complained about financing but said the company would remove the UV devices and cancel the contract.
According to the EPA, ultraviolet lights for home A/C systems have limited effectiveness.
“I think they're taking advantage of unsuspecting customers,” said Truchly.
The company also denied it found mold and said it's rated A+ with AngiesList.
Harrell also said that many of the BBB complaints are not justified, and it has worked hard to eliminate the source of complaints.
Response from Harrell Home Services:
“….In closing, Mr. Truchly was happy with the products he purchased until Mr. Ulrich and his expert, Green Energy Inc., got involved. We stand behind the products that we sell and the training that we receive from the manufacturers of the HVAC products.
"Harrell Home Services feels that this was an unfair and biased opinion of the products and services we provide. We are rated a B on the Better Business Bureau, as you reported, but we are an A+ with AngiesList, 4.1 stars with Google, 4.8 stars with Facebook, and we are endorsed by a consumer investigator like you by the name of Dale Cardwell.
"We are sorry that we could not have handled this with our customer directly and hope this does not shed a negative light on Harrell Home Services….”
WFTV
