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:08/05/2022

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ****** ******** , there are so many faults accusations in this the company told me over the phone it was $100 fee. There was never discussed of a diagnostic fee. My friend would Never curse anyone out nor did he.  There was No Discussion about replacing the unit until they call back on Monday and told me. This company should tell you that they have an additional diagnostic fee and it’s so much per hour before they come out. They did no work and I agreed to the hundred dollars service fee that I was told over the phone on Friday,  they scheduled the following morning for Saturday. I think they should give me back my $284 . if I fixed it it would only last about a year really troubled I didn’t know what to do I asked if I could wait until I had the money for a new unit he told me yes I asked if I could get my money back he said yes I could come pick it up he called me back in a few minutes later and said that I owed $100 service fee and an additional $284 for the repair man‘s time I was shocked there was no work done that was outrageous to me it had I had had nearly everything worked on in my home from the whale to the fridge raider and I have never paid more than a service man fee if no work was done I did go bye and pick up my money and asked for a detail receipt showing what I was paying for . They had taken out the $384. From the $1000 cash I had given them . On the receipt they claim that their regular fee was $135 for their service fee I discounted it to 100 that was not true they told me on the phone that it was $100 service fee. And beside the $284 that they charged they put labor for 80 minutes

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/11/2022

  Bentley’s Heating and Air was called out to the home of ****** ******** on July 30^th, 2022 to address an issue with her air conditioning. During her initial phone call with Jim N****, the technician who went out to her, she was made aware that we have a weekend service call rate of $135. She agreed to this amount, and Jim went out to her home. After diagnosing the unit, Jim determined that there was a significant amount of mold present in her system. She also had a fan motor and module that needed to be replaced to make her system operational. Jim provided her with a price for these repairs and gave her pricing for a maintenance plan and UV light installation to improve the amount of mold present in the system. The homeowner was also made aware that we recommended quoting a replacement for this system to completely fix all issues and offered to schedule a free estimate with a sales representative. The homeowner declined a replacement quote and decided to move forward with repairs. This quote also included the cost of the service call as well as the hourly rate for diagnosis. The total time spent on the job was 80 minutes. [See repair quote attached.] At that time, she paid Jim half down with $1000 in cash.  The following Monday morning, Jim turned in her down payment to the office and informed us that the necessary motor would be available for pickup by Tuesday morning, so we promptly scheduled her for an appointment on Tuesday afternoon for us to perform the repairs, her maintenance visit and UV light installation. On Monday afternoon, the homeowner called and spoke with Mr. Bentley (our owner) and expressed concerns about the mold issue and asked if we could guarantee complete mold removal from her system. Mr. Bentley explained to her that there is no way possible for us to guarantee 100% removal of the mold even with UV light installation and maintenance. He then explained to her that for this reason, we strongly recommended scheduling a free estimate on replacement so that she would be aware of all her options. We even offered to rearrange our schedule to make sure we could quote replacement without having to reschedule her repair appointment. She informed Mr. Bentley that she would like to stay on the schedule for repairs and wanted some time to think about whether she was interested in a replacement quote. She then called back later that afternoon and stated that she wished to cancel the repair appointment and requested a refund. Upon further review of her charges, Mr. Bentley called her back and informed her that she would receive a refund but would still be responsible for paying for the service call fee and the time spent on the job. ($135 plus 80 minutes of billable time). She became upset and requested a detailed breakdown of the charges, which we did provide her with. The homeowner then stated that she was told by Jim that her service call cost would be $100. Mr. Bentley agreed to reduce her service call fee to $100 since she felt strongly that this was the original amount presented to her. (Please note: Bentley’s uses a flat rate pricing program and the technicians do not dictate the pricing. She was quoted $135 for the service call price as this is what the program states. The technicians do not have the ability to change this in the field.)  She continued to be irate and said that she was sending a friend of hers to pick up the refunded money and hung up on Mr. Bentley. Her gentleman friend called 5-10 minutes later and spoke with Mr. Bentley on the phone. Mr. Bentley was cussed out and accused of taking advantage of this homeowner. He was also told that this man was going to “come up to our office and show us right from wrong” and wanted confirmation that Mr. Bentley would be there so that he could “deal with him personally”. Mr. Bentley informed him that he was not welcome on the property and that the authorities would be contacted if he did show up. The homeowner was contacted and made aware that her friend was no longer authorized to pick up her refund. She was told that she could pick it up or that we would make arrangements to bring it to her. She agreed to pick up her refund and reiterated that she feels that “we don’t care that her air isn’t fixed” and “we just want to take her money that she doesn’t have”. The next day, the homeowner did come and pick up her cash refund minus the reduced service call and billable time.  She was provided with a detailed invoice as requested. As a service company, we do have to cover our operating costs and are still entitled to be paid for our service call fees and time spent on the job.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/12/2022

  Bentley's feels that we have done everything we possibly can for this customer to help her and address her concerns. She contacted us after 5:00 on a Friday and rather than being directed to a voicemail, her phone call was answered by a technician. We went to her home on a Saturday which is outside of our normal business hours. The technician was not able to change the dispatch fee amount in the field and would not have quoted her a different amount than what is preset in our flat rate pricing program. Our owner reduced this charge for her since this is what she insisted she was told. The quote given to her on the day of service states how much the service call was. It does not have an hourly breakdown because it is a flat rate price and the homeowner agreed to the repair on the day of service. The reason why she has been charged an hourly rate is because she cancelled the repair. We still spent 80 minutes in her home diagnosing her unit and explaining the problems. We failed to mention in our first response that the customer's daughter left us a bad review on ******** and stated that they were able to get the repairs done for $700. The reason why they paid just $700 for this repair is because the company who did the repair did not have to diagnose the issue as we had already done this. If you look back on our quote from the day of service, you will see that the price quoted for the motor was $1,011.09. This is a flat rate price that includes diagnostic of the failed part, the part and the labor. If you subtract the amount we charged for the diagnostic time spent from this amount, our price is in line with the other company. When a service professional performs work at your home, they charge a dispatch fee just for coming out to the home. This covers gas and wear and tear on the vehicle. Anything after the dispatch fee is extra. This includes the labor of the service professional, the parts, etc. Bentley's agrees to have the Better Business Bureau assist in deciding the proper resolution to this complaint. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/15/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ****** ******** The other company came out looked at unit made there own diagnose decision by removing the bad part telling me that the unit was only eight years old. Order the part and came back the next day to put it in . They said it was mostly dirt and I didn’t need to replace the unit . The total cost was $750. He told me that they Never charge for a diagnostic fee on my house orNever charge for a diagnostic fee on my house or anyone else’s. I have never been charged for more than a service fee on anyone coming to check out a problem with my home . Like I said if this company is going to charge on top of the service fee the Customer should be told in advance ! What is the service fee for just to say you came out? They should refund $284. The Service fee should cover him coming out and looking at it telling me what’s wrong and how much it’ll cost to fix it . I’m a retired grandmother on a fixed income and I don’t Think what they did was right .