Our Reviews
BBB Reviews
Steve Y
06/24/2024
5 stars
I called John Waters regarding an HVAC problem this morning and they had it fixed by this afternoon. The tech (Marcus) was pleasant and efficient. I explained the problem and he knew immediately how to correct it. The repair took 15 minutes and the price was reasonable. I have used John Waters for other work (HVAC/furnace and electrical) in the past and have always been satisfied. I have recommended John Waters to others and will continue to do so.
Complaint
On Friday 4/27/2018, I hired John Waters to inspect a GE Zoneline PTAC unit to diagnose why there was no power going to the unit. The technician mentioned that it was simply the cord that was bad and that it needed to be replaced. The total billing for this visit and diagnosis was $181. My…understanding is that this took only a few minutes to make the diagnosis as the cord was quickly identified as being the culprit to my problem. I went out there the following day, on 4/28 and used a cord from another unit to make sure that was the issue. The different cord did not change anything. The cord from upstairs and downstairs both worked on the PTAC unit downstairs, but neither worked on the upstairs unit. I called back and left a message explaining that they misdiagnosed my problem and I was not very happy about spending so much money only to be wrong. A technician came back out the following Monday (4/30) and diagnosed it again saying that the circuit breaker was bad, however they proceeded to charge me another $102.44. I do not feel that it is right to charge for another service call and labor when it could have been handled quickly on the first visit, had the issue been properly diagnosed. At the end of the day it cost me $283.44 to replace a simple circuit breaker, and a lot of that cost was due to the company not properly diagnosing the issue on the first visit
Desired Resolution
I would like to receive a partial refund. I think it is reasonable to pay for the cost of the initial visit (for $181) and the part itself, which was a cheap circuit breaker. Ultimately, I could have simply replaced the circuit breaker myself had the problem been diagnosed correctly on the first…visit, so in my mind this should cost $181 and not $283.44. I do not feel that it is fair to charge to come out again for another visit after misdiagnosing the issue on the initial inspection.
Consumer Business Dialog Business
I have reviewed the complaint and agree with Mr. ******* that he was overcharged due to the misdiagnosis of the original problem. Had we diagnosed the problem correctly at the beginning Mr. ******* would have been charged for a Service Charge ($ 51.00), a diagnosis ($ 130.00) and for the circuit… breaker (19.80). Mr *******’s charges would be a total of $ 200.80. We will contact Mr. ******* to refund the amount of the overcharge. To Mr. ******* we would like to provide our apologies for this error and inconvenience.
