ComplaintsforH.E. Neumann Co.

• Initial Complaint

  11/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On 7/25/2023 We had HE Neuman come out to our home to look at an air conditioning unit that had frozen up. after the unit was thawed out HE Newman’s representative, (after sitting in his truck for several hours) indicated we needed a completely new air condition unit. He not only damaged the floor around the air conditioning unit he left with the unit not put back in its original state. He also asked to borrow a phone charger while sitting in his truck for hours, and was very unprofessional during the visit. it was later, determined by other HE Newman representatives, that nothing was wrong with the unit and that it needed more airflow into the unit with vents opened. we were given an invoice in the amount of $864.42 after HE Newman admitted, nothing was indeed wrong with the unit. We spoke to Bob, and he confirmed nothing was owed further. The invoice continues to come in the mail. We have reached out to H E Newman on several occasions, and left a voicemail for Bob on 9/14/23. we also spoke with Cyle and Erica. We have not received a phone call back and need HE Newman to stop sending an invoice we do not owe. I very much appreciate your help in this matter and look forward to hearing from someone

  Business response

  12/01/2023

  I am offering a response to the above referenced claim.

  I would like to begin by saying that we will be celebrating our 100^th birthday of serving the community in 2024. I only share this, because we have built an outstanding reputation and are regarded as one of the most respected businesses in West Virginia. We have accomplished this with great service, honesty, integrity and customer service.

  Regarding the claimants' statements, I hope to answer them individually to the best of my ability. I have discussed this matter with our residential dispatcher, our service manager, and our VP of Construction. I hope the supporting documents shed a clearer and more accurate portrayal of the events than what has been asserted.

  Customer's statement of the problem:

  • "On 7/25/2023 we had HE Neuman (Neumann) come out to our home to look at an air conditioning unit that had frozen up." Our records indicate we arrived on site on 07/24/2023. Please see attached service report and service call summary report.
  • "After the unit was thawed out, HE Newman's (Neumann's) representative, (after sitting in his truck for several hours) indicated we needed a completely new air condition unit." This is an absolutely false statement, and this overly generalized claim is refuted by the technician's service report and service call summary report. The technician performed coil cleanings, electrical checks, refrigeration checks, pressure readings, etc. It is true that the technician's phone 'died' and went to his van and watched the readings via blue tooth from his iPhone in his van. Whether he watched them at the unit or his van, it is irrelevant and it was more like (30) minutes...not 'several hours'.
  • The above two calls were invoiced for $278.92 and the customer paid for these services. He not only damaged the floor around the air conditioning unit he left with the unit not put back in its original state. He also asked to borrow a phone charger while sitting in his truck for hours and was very unprofessional during the visit. Again, please refer to the corresponding service report and service summary report. To say that he damaged the floor around the air conditioning unit. This is a complete miss-representation. The air conditioning unit is outside

  of the house and is on a concrete pad or a plastic pad. If she is referring to the inside furnace / AHU — please refer to service call summary report (yellow highlight) where the customer reported back on the 01/06/23 call that water was leaking under the furnace! The damage to her floor was reported by a customer on 01/07/23 - BEFORE we ran the first call on January 9, 2023. Also, she now states the technician was very unprofessional, yet these residential technicians continually get praised by our regular customers for excellent customer service and problem solving.

  It was later determined by other HE newman (Neumann) representatives, that nothing was wrong with the unit and that it needed more air flow into the unit with vents open. We were given an invoice in the amount of $864.42 after HE Newman (Neumann) admitted nothing was indeed wrong with the unit. Please refer to subsequent service reports and service summary reports. Nowhere does it state what the customer is representing. The issue of the unit freezing up in more of a simplistic term — is caused by the extremely high heat and the unit has generally one of three issues (several more technical issues can arise, but these are four of the more common issues). 1. Dirty air filters restrict air flow. This was not the case. 2. Dirty coils— restricting air flow — coils were cleaned early on to eliminate this cause and effect. 3. Refrigerant charge being off. This was found to be the case based on the pressure readings!

  4. Improper sizing of the ductwork. This was validated by one of our technicians and our service manager— see service report and service summary report. Most residential ductwork is designed to handle 3, 4, or 5 tons of cooling— based on cfm sizing. Someone 'twinned the furnaces' and basically put (10) tons of cfm into the ductwork. This causes static air issues and the duct work simply is not sized to handle the (10) tons of load! Hence, the freezing of the coils. These units were NOT installed by H.E. Neumann Co. and someone did not perform a proper load calculation before installing twinned furnaces.

        The invoices continue to come in the mail. We have reached out to H E Newman (Neumann) on several occasions and left a voicemail for Bob on 9/14/23. We also spoke with Cyle and Erica.

  We have not received a phone call back.

  The invoices are computer generated. Until a resolution is settled or payment is made, they automatically generate. For the customer to say they have reached out several times without a phone call in return...simply is not true. Bob spoke to the customer about the situation and this was validated by Erica — who also spoke with the customer. The reference to Cyle — we have never had Cyle work at this company, so I am not sure who this individual is? Numerous conversations have taken place.

  I think it is very important to point out several other key factors that were omitted.

  1. The first time our records indicate we were ever on this customer's site was January of 2023. This is when the customer informed our previous dispatcher, according to te system notes, that the water was leaking under the furnace. Now, (10) months later we are being blamed for a pre-existing condition.
  2. We did not install this equipment. I would like the customer to provide details as to who installed this equipment and why she quit using them to service this issue? Was the contractor licensed? Was it a contractor? Was it a handy man that has no HVA certificates, factory authorized training, or even the proper certifications to work on this equipment? Is he EPA licensed to handle and charge cfc refrigerants — when clearly the system was over-charged.

  1. One of the units is possibly 15-17 years old and the other unit was recently installed. When you 'twin furnace' you must do all your load calculations on air flow (cfm) and refrigerant charges, etc. This apparently was overlooked.
  2. We never charged for our Service Manager and his extensive experience.
  3. WE have GPS on ALL of our field vehicles, The run time of the vehicles according to GPS substantiates my statement above and proves the customer is not accurate in the statement of 'several hours' sitting in his van. Please see the service summary report. He spent (22) minutes in the van linked through Bluetooth to his gauges / meters.
  4. The customer accused John ** of improperly diagnosing her unit and accused us of wanting to make money off of a new install. This is 100% false! We are one of the few residential companies in the area...or in the country, that does not pay our technicians a commission, bonus, incentive, or any form of extra payment in recommending repairs or a new unit. Our technicians are paid an hourly union wage and benefits...period. There is no incentive for the technician to do so! The customer is making a false and accusation claim that cannot be validated and is damaging in nature.
  5. The customer also stated that she has a family friend that would install new equipment. She direct purchases equipment — which is interesting because with the proper license, she should not be sold equipment. None the less, if you are not properly trained on refrigerants, sizing, coil selection, ductwork sizing, etc. — this is what can happen!

  In closing, the customer is apparently upset with the turn of events. We can / will assist her in selecting equipment, sizing her ductwork, performing load calculations, etc. But it is interesting that this issue existed before we were ever involved and I guarantee we can fix this issue. The problem lies in the fact that the customer wants a family friend to do it and our question is...Why hasn't the friend resolved the issue before getting us involved?

  If the customer no longer wants to interact with us, we respect this. But we 100% believe that our proper diagnosis and charges of $864.42 is valid. To say we didn't fix anything, you cant fix something until you identify the root cause of the problem.

  If the customer wants to part ways and end amicably, I will reduce the current outstanding charges down to $600.00. This is conditional on the request that the customer write a mutually acceptable review with BBB and clears up some of the miss-information of the claim. We have worked extremely hard to keep our name in good standing (WV contractors license # *******) and hope we can close this matter with a Good Faith Credit or a work to a resolve.

  Customer response

  12/11/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

  Better Business Bureau:

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I don’t want to drag this on any further.   I will wait for HE Neumann’s Mr. ****** to perform this action and send out an updated invoice reflecting the new charge and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. I will also reach out to Mr. ******  personally via telephone. 

  Regards,

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

*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. ↩