Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Advanced Custom Geothermal LLC's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Advanced Custom Geothermal LLC

  266 Cemetery Rd Kiel, WI 53042

• 

  Advanced Custom Geothermal LLC

  PO Box 255 Kiel, WI 53042-0255

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:01/03/2023

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  This is a summary of the complaint by ****** and ******************************* against Advanced Custom Geothermal, LLC. (ACG) and ***************************. Please see the attached document for a detailed timeline and photos.Complaint Summary:1. *************************** of Advanced Custom Geothermal misled us to believe that he had taken over for ******************* and was involved with the installation of our geothermal system. This was untrue. To this day, the phone number listed online for ******************* appears to be connected in some way to ****************** cell phone. 2. ****************** was repeatedly and excessively late for scheduled appointments and did not provide advanced notice or reasonable communication regarding his delays. These delays without notification were extremely inconvenient, wasted our time, and forced us to reschedule and miss previously scheduled engagements. 3. ****************** defaced our geothermal appliance by scratching off the data label and serial number information, in what appears to be an attempt to prevent others from filing a warranty claim on the damaged parts.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/20/2023

  On December 23rd 2022 Advanced Custom Geothermal was contacted by the ******* because their GeoComfort geothermal system was not working. In the complaint it states “Shortly after 8:00am ****** provided the contact info for ACG to Catherine, and she called and spoke with the administrative assistant. She gave Catherine the impression that she recognized our home address as a previous customer. She indicated that someone would be available to assist that day and would be in touch with us.” This is a false statement as my administrative assistant was not even in the office on the 23rd due to the blizzard like conditions that the area was experiencing that day and she could not make it into work as she lives quite a ways from the office. Our physical office in kiel was closed that day and all calls were forwarded to my cell phone. I personally took the call from Mrs. ******, there was no other person answering phone calls but myself. If the address sounded familiar to me, it's because I am from the area and live about 5 minutes away. I am familiar with all of the roads around the area as I have lived and worked here for my entire life. It the complaint it also states “****** asked Mr. ******* if they were the ones that installed the geothermal system, and he indicated that they were. He made it sound like he would be able to stop at our house to diagnose the issue around 11:00am.” This is also an untrue statement. At no time did I tell Mr. ****** that we were the ones that installed their system. We install WaterFurnace brand geothermal systems. Although we can work on numerous brands of geothermal systems and get parts, I would never tell a customer that we installed their system if we did not install it. As for the timing of the service call that day, The area was under blizzard like conditions and numerous “NO HEAT” calls had come in that morning. I work on a first call basis with customers in no heat situations and with the weather/road conditions being what they were and not knowing how long each call would take I have no way of knowing an exact time of being at a location. I can estimate a time, but with road conditions and previous service calls prior to their call, service times may be pushed back. When I finally arrived at their home and noticed that they had back up heat working, I did not want to shut their unit down to diagnose the issue with the geothermal unit in the below zero (with wind chill) weather. I told Mrs. ****** this and she indicated that she wanted the unit fixed as soon as possible because the family had sold their larger propane tank and they only had a smaller tank for propane for the back up heat. I cannot control when a customer decides to sell their propane tank and only keep a smaller tank on hand for backup heat. My main concern was that they currently had heat and I still had several calls to go on for customers that had no heat at all in the below zero weather. I told Mrs. ****** that I would be able to come back On Friday December 30th to diagnose the issue with the geothermal unit as I had previously scheduled calls to go on the following week. My main priority in the cold winter months is always customers with no heat at all. I January 9, 2023 Page 2 understand that Mr. ****** was upset that he had to keep filling his small propane tan

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/06/2022

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  Date of transaction was 08/11/2022 I paid Advanced Custom Geothermal $2026.00 for parts and $65.00 for service charge. This business was supposed to replace our central air unit. I have a home warranty through Choice Home Warranty. **** the contractor told us that he would not be able to order the parts until we paid him our share which was the $2026.00. We paid him on 8/11/22. We first requested a refund from ACG on 08/26/22 and then several times since because we had an appointment scheduled on 8/25/22 and ACG never showed up and never called. The company will either not answer or send us a text saying they will call us back and then never does. We have also caught **** the contractor in several lies. The first time we asked for a refund, **** from ACG told us that Choice home warranty has our money. Which as you can see below ACG cashed our check. The job has not been done. It has been almost a month since the company came out to look at the central air unit (8/10/22. I have been without central air in the middle of summer for over a month now. Choice Home Warranty stopped using ACG because of this awful experience, so Home Choice Warranty will not pay their share of the warranty if ACG would finally come out and do the job. This is why we need a refund.The company has not tried to resolve the problem. They will not answer Choice Home Warranty's calls or ours. We last received a text stating he will call us later and has not. We have sent several emails asking for our refund to **** himself and the office's email with no reply. I did not receive an account number from ACG.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/12/2022

  Yes, I was contracted through Choice Home Warranty To complete an ** service call located at ******************************************************** in ***********, **.  I completed the service call and determined that the owner would need a new ** unit.  I then filled out the appropriate forms online through Choice Home Warrantys online site.  When working with a 3rd party vendor, as is the case here, I cannot control when they request for more information on the job or when they say they didn't receive the appropriate information even after I sent it several times. I have spent numerous hours on the phone and on their online portal submitting, resubmitting and talking with them to straighten things out, all of which I do not get paid for.  There is also a process of negotiation for pricing and work to be performed when working with the home warranty company. I am not able to start a job until I have an authorization number from the warranty company approving the price and the work to be performed.  
  

  I was scheduled to install the ** on Thursday, August 26th, 2022.  That morning one of my install guys did not come into work.  I texted ******************************* and let him know that one of my guys was out and that I would call him. So saying that I never showed up and did not let them know that my company would not be there is a false statement.  Also, while this was all going on, choice home warranty contacted the customer and told them they would need to pay more money for their portion of the install.  Again, I have no control over this.  I told ******************** that I would check into why they were requesting more money.  I spoke with Choice Home Warranty and got everything straightened out, and that's when the customer texted me telling me that they were going to go another route and cancel their policy with Choice Home Warranty.  I explained to them in a phone conversation that I would personally install their unit for them on Saturday, August 27th, 2022, and they declined my services for that date.  To say that I never called them or was not in contact with them is not true.  
  

  I would also Like to address the statement that ******************** made in her complaint stating, Choice Home Warranty stopped using **G because of this awful experience.  This is also an untrue statement.  I am still finishing up a couple of jobs for Choice Home warranty.  When I talked with Choice Home Warranty about the Brockmans job and another job that Choice Home Warranty is trying to claim the customer owes more money, a job I might add that is already completed, I told Choice home warranty that what they are trying to do to customers is a scam and I told them that I did not want to work with them any longer and I would just finish the jobs that had already been approved and started.  So, although I am no longer an active contractor for them, I am still working with them to finish jobs that had already been approved and started.
  

  Also, According to what Choice Home Warranty told me when I signed on to be a contractor for them, if I went out on a service call for them and then it was decided that my services would not be utilized, I would be paid my full hourly rate for any time that I spent for the service call and time spent for administrative purposes, not just a $65 service call fee.  Before I could refund any money to the Brockmans I needed to get in contact with the warranty company to confirm this and find out who in fact was responsible for these charges. Again, I state that when working with a 3rd party vendor, not everything is quick, easy and cut and dry.  You get one answer from one company representative and then a completely different answer from another.  I then talked to a manager in the vendor relations department at Choice Home Warranty and I finally received a straight answer.  Not once did I state that I would not issue a refund to the Brockmans, but as a business owner who is working with a 3rd party vendor, I also need to make sure that whoever is responsible to pay for my time actually pays.  
  

  As for not receiving emails from the office, my office manager does not have set hours in the office, and with the holiday weekend that we just had, nobody was in the office for several days.  I am not a small business owner that sits in the office and takes calls and does paperwork.  I am out in the field and on jobs sites almost every day.  So, if I am in a bad area or working on something, I don't have the luxury to just stop and take multiple phone calls.  Did Choice Home Warranty try to contact me one day and I didn't pick up, yes, they did.  I was in a bad area where reception wasn't the greatest, so I let it go to voicemail.  I called them back an hour or two later when I knew that I would have better reception and spoke with them then. In fact, I have spoken several times with Choice Home Warranty representatives in the last few weeks. Just because I don't immediately answer my phone or pick up every call that comes through does it mean that I am avoiding a customer or a situation, it just means that either I am unable to pick up a call or reception is not great in the area I'm in. I have in fact been in contact with ******************** several times in the last week by phone. 
  

  As of the date of this response, A full refund in the amount of $2,026.00 has been issued to the ********* and I personally dropped it off at their residence, taped it to their door and sent ******************** a text with a picture showing that it had been dropped off. ******************** then sent me a text back acknowledging receipt.
  

  In conclusion, as I have stated numerous times above, working with a 3rd party vendor does not always prove easy.  I have tried my best to make sure that Choice Home Warranty had all of the information that they needed on this job.  When I submitted information and they confirmed by phone that they had received it, I took them at their word.  When the warranty company then turns around and tells the customer that I havent submitted information for their job and essentially blames me for their job not being completed, I have no control over that. On the numerous jobs that I have completed for Choice Home Warranty, when I spoke with a representative who gathered all of the correct information and processed it immediately, I have had no issues getting the jobs completed in a timely manner.   Also, I have tried my best to stay in contact with the Brockmans.  Just because things are immediately not refunded does not mean that I am not working to get the situation resolved.  At this point, with the refund being issued and personally delivered to them, I consider this matter closed with the Brockmans. 
  

  My business is my livelihood, and it provides for my family.  So, to have a 3rd party vendor and in this case a customer, who takes it upon themselves to damage my reputation as a business owner, I take this complaint very seriously.   
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/26/2022

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  Advanced custom geothermal LLC was contracted by our home warranty company to install a new AC unit at our home that no longer worked. The first issue is that we took off 2 days of work and they didn't show up those days when they said they would. Then once the diagnostics were finally taken care of, we have had multiple days they have come over, only did part of the work and then left to work on a different project. It's been over a month and the project is still not completed and **** refuses to make us a priority. Our house has hit 90 degrees in temperature recently. We are fed up.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/01/2022

  Advanced Custom Geothermal was contracted through Choice Home Warranty to change out an ** unit for this customer.  There was a discrepancy with the warranty company as to the amount that they were going to pay so the job was not finished until the warranty company authorized the correct amount. 

  I received confirmation on the morning of July 26th, 2022 that the correct claim amount had been authorized. I was in contact with the customer and told them I would be there on Thursday July 28th, 2022 to finish the installation of the ** unit.  The installation of the ** was finished on Thursday July 28th as promised.