Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:20/06/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  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.

  I would like to file a complaint against Climate Experts Heating and Cooling Inc (CEHC). My husband *** spoke to Robert on June 12th, 2023. During this discussion, *** asked about the cost to add a gas line to our kitchen. They verbally agreed on the time of work which was between 4:30 – 5pm on June 13th. During the conversation, terms and conditions were not explained and there was never any mention of a cancelation fee. Robert also failed to explain that the company was going to send a confirmation email or text.
  
  On June 13th, *** received a phone call which he assumed was CEHC, indicating that they were able to come earlier to perform the service. The company arrived and began working. Around 11am the doorbell rang and the service crew from CEHC arrived to work. We quickly realized that the wrong company arrived that morning and as a result, the services from CEHC were no longer required. This is 5.5-6 hours before their scheduled arrival time.
  
  We do feel bad about the misunderstanding, but given that the work was completed prior to the start of either of the disputed scheduled times, we would have had enough time to contact CEHC to cancel. To validate my time stamps, the cancelation fee invoice was generated and received at 11:53am. This means that the installation crew arrived at my residence well before either of the disputed scheduled start times.
  
  I don’t think it is ethical to charge a customer a cancelation fee without fully explaining or having us agree to the terms and conditions. Cancelation fees were not verbally stated or agreed to by ***. In addition, I don’t understand how this company justifies their cancelation fee. The minimum charge is $150 for the first meter and an additional $20 per foot. I could have understood a cancelation fee closer to the $150 minus materials but I don’t understand how you can ethically charge me $350.00. It would have been cheaper to have a second gas line added than to pay a cancellation fee.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 26/06/2023

  As a professional
  company in business for over 10 years we respect our responsibility to live up
  to our obligations.
  We scheduled a
  crew and reserved the time for Mr *******’s job as promised – causing other
  customers to have to wait his job was scheduled first.

  We sent 2 separate
  notifications that the appointment was set as noted at the bottom of this response.
  
  The Crew arrived
  on site because Mr ******* failed to cancel the appointment with us, when he
  allowed others to do the job. We could have scheduled another job for
  the crew had they let us know that someone else was doing the work. As Mrs
  ******* stated to us on the phone and in her description above – they did not
  even know what company they allowed in their home to do the work.
  
  The invoice sent
  to Mr. ******* is for 1 hour for a crew of 2. This is a minimum charge for any
  crew arriving for an installation – so we never would have quoted $150.00 for
  the gas line installation as described by Mrs. ******* – who was not a part of
  the original conversation and/or booking.
  
  All discussions were between our Service Manager,
  ****** ****** and Mr. *******. The appointment conversation did in fact happen
  on June 12, 2023 and at that time a price of $950.00 + HST for the 1st 20 feet of gas line was given. This is our standard pricing and has been in
  effect for well over 1 year. The appointment window was given verbally as arrival
  between 11:00 – 2:00 PM the following day as – Tuesday June 13 2023. We do not ever
  schedule any type of installation to begin at 4:30PM.
  
  Once the appointment was agreed upon it was then
  called into the office for scheduling. Our scheduling software sends out 2
  notices – 1 by email, 1 by text confirming the scheduled window for the appointment
  (see Below).
  Also, a notification was sent when our crew was enroute
  to them. This notice includes the crew leads name and picture (if the customers
  Text account allows it). We do this so that our customers know who to expect
  and can clearly identify our staff.
  
  From HCP:
  Job scheduled SMS sent to
  ***** ********
  Mon 6/12/23
  1:34pm  Web
  Hi ***, Jim C. from Climate Experts Heating & Cooling Inc is scheduled to arrive Tue, Jun
  13 between 1:00pm-3:00pm.
  HC
  Housecall ******
  Job scheduled email sent to **********@*****.com
  Mon 6/12/23
  1:34pm
  6/12/2023 1:34pm
  -- sent
  6/12/2023 1:35pm –
  delivered
  Jim
  C. is on the way to Job #14309
  Jun 13, 11:25 AM
  Hi ***, Jim C. from
  Climate Experts Heating & Cooling Inc is en route now.
  Sent to customer on
  behalf of your company
  
  
  Mr *******’s choice
  to allow others to enter his home and perform the work is not a problem we can
  resolve.
  The invoice sent
  is a reasonable result of his choices and if it is not paid it will be placed
  in collections. Our crew lost a half day of wages and the company lost the
  ability to book another job.
  
  Regards
  Beth M.
  Office and Scheduling Manager
  Climate Experts Heating & Cooling Inc

  Customer Answer

  Date: 28/06/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  In response to Beth
  
  1. The arrival time varied in each email and response from Beth. It seems the company cannot validate or keep a constant time on when the work was scheduled.
  - On June 12th at 1:34pm we received an email from Jim which stated:
  “Hi ***, Jim C. from Climate Experts Heating & Cooling Inc is scheduled to arrive Tue, Jun 13 between 1:00pm-3:00pm.”
  
  - On June 14th at 8:10am Beth stated in an email that the arrival was between 12-5pm. As per e-mail: “There was no change. Your husband was verbally told 3 times in 3 separate conversations with Roberet arrival would be between 12- 5pm. This is the last I will address the issue. The invoice is due to your choice to allow another company to arrive and begin the work. Payment is due and payable.”
  
  - In the response to the BBB, Beth indicated that the arrival time is between 11-2pm.
  
  2. The company sent reminder text messages to ************ which is my personal landline. This phone number is not setup to receive text messages. Climate Experts should confirm what type of phone number they are receiving from there client if they want to hold them accountable for receiving scheduling updates. I gave them my home phone number; they should have known not to send text messages and call us instead.
  
  3. There is no formal contract and the total cost verbally stated over the phone was $150 for the first meter and an additional $20 per foot. I don’t know where you are coming up with the $950.00 plus HST. We would never have scheduled your company for the work if we were originally given this price and again there is no contact specifying the cancelation fees. In addition, as per your website, a diagnostic service call is only $69.95 + HST. Therefore, if two service workers came to my house, I would expect the cancelation fee to be much closer to $69.95 times two.  
  
  To recap, we do not monitor our emails that frequently and
  were not advised by Robert that we were to expect any text or e-mails with any confirmation.
  Since we did not respond to these emails confirming the times your company should
  have called the phone number provided to state that their crew changed the time
  and was arriving before our verbally agreed time of 4:30pm or any of the times
  stated in your emails. Lastly, I don’t understand why Beth indicated in her response
  to the BBB that their minimum charge is $350.00 for 1 hour for a crew of
  2. As shown on the company’s website Climate Experts will arrive at your destination
  and perform a Diagnostic Service Call for only $69.95 + HST. There seems to be a
  lot of discrepancies between what is being told to the BBB and the company is
  just looking to be paid in full for a job they did not perform.
  
  I understand that this error is
  partly our fault, and we are willing to be reasonable by offering to pay
  $100.00 plus tax even though no contract was signed, and no terms and
  conditions were explained to us.

  Sincerely,
  

  ********* *******