Complaints
Customer Complaints Summary
- 1 complaint in the last 3 years.
- 0 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
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Initial Complaint
Date:01/09/2023
Type:Customer Service IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Home inspection was completed for our property prior to purchase and home inspector failed to evaluate or report that the air exchanging system was no longer operational and requires replacement. There is no evidence that the unit was inspected. This issue just came up when we had an assessment by a ventilation company to move the air exchanger intake for a direct vent exhaust from a new boiler. They assessed the air exchanger and found that it is not functioning at all. Due to the amount of rust build up on the seized damper motor, they estimated that the air exchanger has very likely been broken for a number of years.
The ventilation company employees indicated that this is most often identified by home inspectors at the time of purchase. Now we are facing the costs of replacing the broken air exchanger (estimated to be approximately $2-3000, but we are awaiting quotes from multiple companies) and have missed our opportunity to bring this issue to negotiate with the seller at the time of purchase.Business Response
Date: 01/09/2023
Thank you for your enquiry. Please see my response to your queries respectively.1. The air exchanger was indeed inspected and working at the time of the inspection on the 31st of May 2022(atleast a year after, when this equipment should have been cleaned atleast four times). Evidence can be seen with pictures of inside and outside of the unit in the report under the interior photo section.2. HRV units like any electronic equipment can stop functioning for a number of reasons. Very likely in this case would be lack of maintenance because of the lack of cleaning by the home owner.See my note in the report under heating, cooling, fireplaces and ventilation section."This building has a heat recovery ventilator system for fresh air control. This is a high quality and energy efficient fresh air system for the home. Most of these systems require cleaning air filters every three months and annual servicing. I recommend inquiring with the seller about owners manuals and other control and maintenance information for this system. Many homes that employ a heat recovery ventilator are air tight homes and proper use of the fresh air system can be critical in maintaining healthy indoor air quality. As a general rule try and keep relative humidity below 50% during winter months to reduce risks from condensation."So clearly this unit was not cleaned in one year and now rust, moisture, debris has built up and caused the unit to stop working(according to complain). Again, see pictures in the report of the interior of the unit as evidence that the unit was checked, working and clean during the inspection in May 2022.3. This unit was clean and operational at the time of the inspection. Whether or not a replacement is required to restore functionality is another question. I suggest getting in 3-4 other contractors to evaluate for proper service/cleaning or replacement part to restore functionality, since maintenance may have lapsed and the motor may have seized or damaged due to lack of cleaning as and when due.Unfortunately, maintainable items can break when they are neglected. Often the complete report is not read and customers could miss important actionable items.I recommend reading the inspection report in entirety.You can contact the office at ********** if there are more questions.Best regards,********Customer Answer
Date: 05/09/2023
I am rejecting this response because:
In reviewing the inspection report there is no evidence that the damper motor on the air exchange unit was not at that time rusted shut. In the photographs provided it appears shut. All that is provided are pictures of the open unit saying "HRV was clean today", despite the obvious evidence of dust and dirt in the unit's filters. And a picture of the exterior of the unit with the caption "HRV was working". There is no objective evidence that AceTech proved that the damper valve was moving normally at the time of the inspection. While the explanation provided by AceTech that this malfunction has occurred in the last 16-17 months is quite possible, the estimation from the technicians from Good Air is that the damper motor has been seized for a number of years. This is at least partially based on their knowledge of the air exchanger unit being one that has been subject to recalls for seizing. The technicians unplugged the unit because they assured us that attempting to run the unit can cause the damper motor to overheat and is a fire risk. This is something that either AceTech themselves were unaware of or was withheld on the final report.We will seek the opinion of several more ventilation companies regarding this issue, but the evidence as far as we can see was that a malfunctioning unit was most likely missed by AceTech. We will wait to see if multiple other companies have a similar assessment of the air exchange unit or if they would agree with the assessment of AceTech. However, we do not find that there is adequate evidence in the reports provided to us that AceTech did their due diligence on this matter.
Business Response
Date: 09/09/2023
1. The customer does not acknowledge they did not read the report in entirey or action its contents. If they did, they would have read that this unit needs cleaning and servicing every 3 months at which time any problems would have been picked. The customer has completely ignored this fact and completely blames Actech for their own maintenance negligence.
2. The customer and their technicians are misinformed about the working order of the unit during the inspection. I am surprised a professional company will make an assumption of the working order of a unit 1 year ago where they were not present. What predictive analysis technique did they employ? Are they reliability engineers? what failure rate approach or operations research methodologies proves to a conclusive degree that as a matter of fact the unit was inoperative 15 months ago whe the inspection was performed? Do the hired technicians have ulterior motives or intentions to persuade the customer towards a preferred outcome or to make themselves appear they have a certian level of expertise which they are unable to prove? Are the technicians being misquoted?
3. Initially the customer asserts that the unit was not inspected and missed altogether, after photos were presented that the unit was indeed inspected, the narative has now shifted to a lack of proof of inspection actions in the pictures. If this is the case, then everything else we inspected and shared pictures of in the report would be useless becasue it does not prove actual checks? Is the accusation now that the inspector simply just opened and closed the HRV without any checks at all and took pictures? The customer would trust the word of mouth of a technician who was never present over actual picture evidence of a unit present and received the inspector's attention?
4. There was no significant or noticeable rust or any adverse materials in this unit. What is seen in the picture is the black insulation material with some adhered to the cover. The pictures are attached. This is a used unit showing normal operation and age. If the unit has stopped working it is due to lack of maintenance and cleaning over 15 months.
5. Based on the signed inspection agreement, "Any action arising from this agreement or from the inspection services or report must be commenced prior to ONE YEAR from the date of inspection" - This inspection was performed and delivered June 1st, 2022 and the customer is making a report or complaint 15 months later for a maintainable electronic equipment which the inspector SPECIFICALLY stated needs to be cleaned and serviced every 3 months.
6. According to standard procedure of inspection(nachi.org/sop cited in the signed agreement. Our SOP does not require we inspect the HRV but because we are very thorough we still inspect them and provided the working condition and guidelines to the customer which they did not fully read the report, agreements, nor guidelines and now blames Acetech without any proof despite we have provided proof on our end.
Respectfully, I ask this case be closed. We have gone above and beyond to perform the most detailed home inspection and delivered an industry unmatched detailed report. The customer has failed to read our agreements, SOP, reports and did not follow our recommendations for maintenance, yet believes we failed in our duties. We would have been glad to deal with this if it was reported three or even six months after the inspection. HRV do not stay working if they are not cleaned and serviced as needed.
Unfortunately due the reasons above, we are unable to provide further responseson this case nor resolve this in the suggested approch of the customer by refunding fees. The inspector did a very fine job going above and beyond the requirement according to the agreement and SOP which the customer signed.
We thank all parties for their understanding and hope that our time and effort to provide two detailed, responsible repsonses is appreciated.
We remain a trusted and reliable home and property inspection service provider with dedication to thoroughness and transparency.
Best wishes
******* on behalf of Acetech Home Inspections Inc.
Customer Answer
Date: 11/09/2023
I am rejecting this response because:
The purpose of our complaint is to request that AceTech provide an explanation as to what was precisely done to ascertain that the HRV system was working at the time of the inspection. The cleanliness or lack of rust on the unit does not demonstrate that the damper motor works. The photograph provided is no difference from the appearance of the current HRV system. This has not yet been addressed. The photographs provided to not answer that question. If Acetech can provide that explanation then I am happy to close the complaint and acknowledge that the HRV system most likely ceased to work in the interim time as Acetech has claimed. Particularly if that is explanation is corroborated by assessments provided by other ventilation companies assessment of the unit.To address some of Acetech's points, in the inspection report provided to us, it was claimed that the HRV unit was operational. The report and SOP were in fact read in completeness. Whether or not inspection of the HRV is "above and beyond" the SOP provided is beside the point of our complaint. The fact that it was inspected was appreciated at the time. Once the information was provided in the report, we acted on that information. We would assume AceTech would take professional responsibility for the information they provide, regardless of whether it is in the SOP or more than a year since it was provided. We have already acknowledged the plausibility that the unit does not function due to lack of maintenance in the interim period at the fault of the owner, and would apologise for the waste of time and energy this complaint is causing.However, given that we have conflicting information provided by ventilation technicians, it is necessary for us to understand the reasoning for the conclusions drawn on both sides of this conflict. If at the time the inspector had stated that he could not state that the HRV system was working, we would have accepted that and had it assessed by a HRV experts. But it was included in the report and acted on. We simply want to understand the basis for our inspectors claim that the unit was functioning at the time of inspection. If that is provided satisfactorily, then we would wave any refund or restitution and apologise for the inconvenience.
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