Aztil lied about the availability of a part in order to avoid paying the technician an overtime rate for weekend work. Aztil made the decision that I should continue to go without cooling for 4 days despite a service contract, in order to avoid work outside normal business hours. When I caught them lying they cancelled my contract. When I called the owner he wasn't concerned about the lying and had no interest in fixing the situation, he only wanted to know how I caught them. I ended up getting my neighbor to fix it. *Everything* was done to avoid fixing a warrantied part covered under a service contract that was in good standing. Their idea of a service contract is to take your money and lie to you delay any work to a time that is financially and logistically convenient for them. If you dare say anything or question their "1+1=3" attitude then according to their business ethics they can keep your money and not perform any service as required under the terms of the contract. Gory details below.
Details:
I have a service contract with Aztil and called on a Friday morning to get a tech to come out for a frozen evaporator coil. First technician came 4 hours later and said he could not work on the coil until it was defrosted. Next technician came 6-8 hours later and claimed to still not be able to work on the coil. Said he would be back next day.
Saturday came and went and the tech showed up late and now claimed that the expansion valve on the coil was bad and the he needed to order the part. He said I would have to wait until Monday because the distributor they use (Gemair) was NOT open. They would pick up the part and replace sometime Monday. The information above was communicated to me via the onsite tech and Lisa the service manager who was answering the emergency dispatch line that weekend.
At this point, I called my neighbor who is an AC repair tech and he immediately found "problems" with Aztil's story:
1] The coil was completely defrosted Friday night and should have been repaired then
2] Gemair *is* open on the weekend, its a 10 minute drive from my house
3] Gemair not only carries the part I needed, they had it in stock ready to pickup
When I called Lisa back and brought all this information to her attention, I was met with anger and reproached for knowing things I should not have known.
She was pissed that I caught her lying. No apology, no attempt to backpedal she only wanted to know how i knew all the things I was telling her.
Let that sink in for a second: Fixing my AC was not the company's concern, understanding how I found out they were lying was. She then told me to have the technician I was getting a second opinion from fix my unit. Again let that sink in, the company I paid to service my AC takes the position that them lying to me is the price of doing business with them and if I push back on that then they no longer have any obligation to render service. It amounts to eat dirt and say you like it or else.
She then claimed not to have the telephone number for Gemair. I googled it and found it immediately. It was surreal to hear someone in the AC business say they don't have the number for their parts distributor and even more surreal to see she had no desire to lift a finger to improve my situation in the slightest.
Noticing a pattern here?
*Everything* was done to avoid fixing a warrantied part covered under a service contract that was in good standing.
I had 3 visits from technicians and nothing to show for it despite the solution being a few minutes away by car.
I offered to pay out of pocket for Gemair to open the doors (time had since passed and they were closed for the day) and drive over *myself* and get the part. All the tech would then need to do is install it.
At this point any decent human being would have sensed my desperation and worked with me.
Guess what the tech said at that point?
"I'm not doing it, I'm done for the day".
I asked Lisa if there was another technician she could send.
Would you guess that onsite tired technician was the only in the my county? Yep she said she had no one else.
Further calls to Lisa were not answered, followup appointments were not made despite having advance knowledge of the need for them and voicemails from me communicating the need for action.
This continued for the remainder of the weekend and into Monday. You'd think they'd be ready on Monday given the games they played during the weekend. Nope. To spite me they now claimed it would be at least Tuesday before they had the part. Remember this part is sitting in a warehouse 5 mins from my house. They use that warehouse all the time.
I was now without cooling for 4 days, for something I knew was within their power to fix the first day. Now we begin the runaround where they play the he said she said game and transfer me to everyone in the company while still not coming and replacing the valve. Naturally when things got to this point, I called my neighbor back and had him listen in to the calls while they gave me the run around and he systematically repudiated each and every lie and miscommunication they lobbed at me for why the ball was dropped at every possible opportunity.
At one point, I kid you not, one of the service reps asked, completely sincerely and with fear in his voice, if we were from one of those investigative journalism type shows that embarrasses scummy businesses.
I felt bad for the guy. He knew deep down what kind of company he worked for and probably always expected something like this to happen sooner
Naturally I got nowhere and Lisa tried to deflect from her lying over the weekend by saying my unit wasn't covered since the previous owner bought it, I reminded her again that the coil was replaced by her company less than 2 years ago, was still under warranty and had a known issue with the valve. She got pissed screamed that my contract was now canceled and hung up. No refunds of course. Further calls went the same way, some with threats to send the police to my house some with threats to "service" my unit. She then said to have my neighbor fix the problem. Again, let that sink in: Even though I had a service contract with her company they refused service simply for being caught in a lie. Pretty sure that's not in the fine print of the contract for valid reasons to deny a repair.
Classy people.
Later that afternoon, I pulled the business records for the company (via SunBiz.org) got the owner's name and phone number and called him at home. I introduced myself and explained my issues calmly and politely. He had been informed of me already by his staff. He asked me if I knew that the calls were recorded, I called his bluff said I did and asked him to take the time to listen to them carefully, I had behaved myself. I knew he hadn't listened to them because he wasn't apologizing profusely.
Take a guess what he was most interested in knowing? C'mon take a guess.
All he wanted to know was: How did I know Lisa was lying? Was I a licensed contractor? How did I know Gemair had the part?
He then told me "he didn't give a sh**" and said he would give me pro-rated refund.
He sounded very tired and emotional.
That night (Monday), my neighbor went to Gemair and picked up the part and installed it in 30 mins.
I am now waiting on a pro-rated refund.
I believe all of the above was done to avoid paying the technician an overtime rate for weekend work and Aztil made the decision that I should continue to go without cooling, despite a service contract, in order to avoid work outside normal business hours.
Aztil Air Conditioning Reviews
Aztil lied about the availability of a part in order to avoid paying the technician an overtime rate for weekend work. Aztil made the decision that I should continue to go without cooling for 4 days despite a service contract, in order to avoid work outside normal business hours. When I caught them lying they cancelled my contract. When I called the owner he wasn't concerned about the lying and had no interest in fixing the situation, he only wanted to know how I caught them. I ended up getting my neighbor to fix it. *Everything* was done to avoid fixing a warrantied part covered under a service contract that was in good standing. Their idea of a service contract is to take your money and lie to you delay any work to a time that is financially and logistically convenient for them. If you dare say anything or question their "1+1=3" attitude then according to their business ethics they can keep your money and not perform any service as required under the terms of the contract. Gory details below.
Details:
I have a service contract with Aztil and called on a Friday morning to get a tech to come out for a frozen evaporator coil. First technician came 4 hours later and said he could not work on the coil until it was defrosted. Next technician came 6-8 hours later and claimed to still not be able to work on the coil. Said he would be back next day.
Saturday came and went and the tech showed up late and now claimed that the expansion valve on the coil was bad and the he needed to order the part. He said I would have to wait until Monday because the distributor they use (Gemair) was NOT open. They would pick up the part and replace sometime Monday. The information above was communicated to me via the onsite tech and Lisa the service manager who was answering the emergency dispatch line that weekend.
At this point, I called my neighbor who is an AC repair tech and he immediately found "problems" with Aztil's story:
1] The coil was completely defrosted Friday night and should have been repaired then
2] Gemair *is* open on the weekend, its a 10 minute drive from my house
3] Gemair not only carries the part I needed, they had it in stock ready to pickup
When I called Lisa back and brought all this information to her attention, I was met with anger and reproached for knowing things I should not have known.
She was pissed that I caught her lying. No apology, no attempt to backpedal she only wanted to know how i knew all the things I was telling her.
Let that sink in for a second: Fixing my AC was not the company's concern, understanding how I found out they were lying was. She then told me to have the technician I was getting a second opinion from fix my unit. Again let that sink in, the company I paid to service my AC takes the position that them lying to me is the price of doing business with them and if I push back on that then they no longer have any obligation to render service. It amounts to eat dirt and say you like it or else.
She then claimed not to have the telephone number for Gemair. I googled it and found it immediately. It was surreal to hear someone in the AC business say they don't have the number for their parts distributor and even more surreal to see she had no desire to lift a finger to improve my situation in the slightest.
Noticing a pattern here?
*Everything* was done to avoid fixing a warrantied part covered under a service contract that was in good standing.
I had 3 visits from technicians and nothing to show for it despite the solution being a few minutes away by car.
I offered to pay out of pocket for Gemair to open the doors (time had since passed and they were closed for the day) and drive over *myself* and get the part. All the tech would then need to do is install it.
At this point any decent human being would have sensed my desperation and worked with me.
Guess what the tech said at that point?
"I'm not doing it, I'm done for the day".
I asked Lisa if there was another technician she could send.
Would you guess that onsite tired technician was the only in the my county? Yep she said she had no one else.
Further calls to Lisa were not answered, followup appointments were not made despite having advance knowledge of the need for them and voicemails from me communicating the need for action.
This continued for the remainder of the weekend and into Monday. You'd think they'd be ready on Monday given the games they played during the weekend. Nope. To spite me they now claimed it would be at least Tuesday before they had the part. Remember this part is sitting in a warehouse 5 mins from my house. They use that warehouse all the time.
I was now without cooling for 4 days, for something I knew was within their power to fix the first day. Now we begin the runaround where they play the he said she said game and transfer me to everyone in the company while still not coming and replacing the valve. Naturally when things got to this point, I called my neighbor back and had him listen in to the calls while they gave me the run around and he systematically repudiated each and every lie and miscommunication they lobbed at me for why the ball was dropped at every possible opportunity.
At one point, I kid you not, one of the service reps asked, completely sincerely and with fear in his voice, if we were from one of those investigative journalism type shows that embarrasses scummy businesses.
I felt bad for the guy. He knew deep down what kind of company he worked for and probably always expected something like this to happen sooner
Naturally I got nowhere and Lisa tried to deflect from her lying over the weekend by saying my unit wasn't covered since the previous owner bought it, I reminded her again that the coil was replaced by her company less than 2 years ago, was still under warranty and had a known issue with the valve. She got pissed screamed that my contract was now canceled and hung up. No refunds of course. Further calls went the same way, some with threats to send the police to my house some with threats to "service" my unit. She then said to have my neighbor fix the problem. Again, let that sink in: Even though I had a service contract with her company they refused service simply for being caught in a lie. Pretty sure that's not in the fine print of the contract for valid reasons to deny a repair.
Classy people.
Later that afternoon, I pulled the business records for the company (via SunBiz.org) got the owner's name and phone number and called him at home. I introduced myself and explained my issues calmly and politely. He had been informed of me already by his staff. He asked me if I knew that the calls were recorded, I called his bluff said I did and asked him to take the time to listen to them carefully, I had behaved myself. I knew he hadn't listened to them because he wasn't apologizing profusely.
Take a guess what he was most interested in knowing? C'mon take a guess.
All he wanted to know was: How did I know Lisa was lying? Was I a licensed contractor? How did I know Gemair had the part?
He then told me "he didn't give a sh**" and said he would give me pro-rated refund.
He sounded very tired and emotional.
That night (Monday), my neighbor went to Gemair and picked up the part and installed it in 30 mins.
I am now waiting on a pro-rated refund.
I believe all of the above was done to avoid paying the technician an overtime rate for weekend work and Aztil made the decision that I should continue to go without cooling, despite a service contract, in order to avoid work outside normal business hours.