Steel T came out to diagnose an issue I was having with an AC unit and blew out the compressor during diagnosis. They then refused to resolve the issue. While they were diagnosing things the tech specifically stated it wasn't the compressor after he checked it out and the readings were all good. He then continued to test things. While testing, or whatever he was doing, he changed out my fuses to non-standard ones and somehow shorted/arked the line and blew out the compressor. After which he then packed up his stuff and left, leaving me with a quote of $1500 for a new compressor. Thinking something was off, I called another company out to look at it and possibly fix the problem. They told me that they would not do any work on the unit because Steel T blew out clips and caused a short somewhere that could likely result in the same thing happening again. As I have never seen a company turn away business in such a manner I immediately called back Steel T. They, instead of coming out and resolving the issue, chose to try to up sell me into a new AC unit. They also offered reducing their fee for a new compressor by 20%, a compressor that they blew out. While on the phone with the owner he chose to ramble on for over an hour about how their techs don't make mistakes and that these things happen. However, after discussing the matter with 4 more HVAC professionals from different companies, I have discovered that, as I suspected, this shouldn't happen if the diagnostics are done in a particular manner. When they are done the way Steel T has done them, there is the chance of a blow out and when that happens, the company should replace the unit, no charge. As the compressor was not blown when they arrived, they should've known what to do or what not to do. When I told them I had outside bids on a compressor replacement – since it was now August and I needed it fixed - that were far cheaper than what they had offered, they simply badmouthed the competition and said you get what you pay for. Well in this case, I paid Steel T to diagnose what was wrong with my AC unit. Instead of getting what I paid for, I got a unit that doesn't work at all and an up sell of $1500 in labor. Rediculous! As a longtime businessperson within Colorado for over a decade I expect more out of the service companies I call. Mistakenly breaking someone's AC is one thing - assuming that is what happened and it wasn't purposely blown out - but to not acknowledge the mistake and to try to charge someone $500 an hour to repair the mistake is yet another. I will not stand for it. The AC unit has been repaired by another company since, and at this point I can only hope that my words here help others avoid the ordeal I went through with a very suspect and poorly serving Steel T Heating, Inc. As there are many options out there for AC and Heating services, avoid Steel T, no matter the price, no matter the circumstance. It will cost you far more than what you expect.
Steve Reister is Pres. of Steel T and is a liar and is about the most unreliable human being I've ever met!
He says one thing and does another -- Leaving me to wonder how the company stays in business. :(
As expected Steel T didn't address any concerns and would rather spend time debating the obvious and confirmed validity of my complaint over the internet than to even attempt to contact me to resolve the issue they caused. I have said my piece and now can only hope that it did some good. AVOID STEEL T AT ALL COSTS, or it'll cost you a great deal, as it did me.
Christopher from Steel T stated that they offered to reduce the costs of installing a new copressor at a significant discount, (20%) which is true. What he failed to mention was that his bid was almost twice that of any other company and therefore his "discount" to make me happy didn't even get his company - who broke the thing in the first place - equal with his competitors bids.
He laso stated that the competitor I had initially bid the repair didn't have an account with Carrier, which was complete bull. All you need to have an account is to go to the warehouse and sign up using a license, as I confirmed later. And as I said, I had three others come out and tell me the same thing - that they should've repaced it becuase they broke it, by diagnosing it improperly. They all said the same thing, and they ll were from companies I called out of the phone book.
Why would I agree to have one of his friends come out and tell me something I already heard from him? Why would I trust a company to send out another "company" to confirm what they told me over the phone? Do they think I'm that ***? Of course they do.
Instead of them sending out their friends, I called 4 other companies, three more after they trashed on the first one, to confirm my fears, that STEEL T IS A SHADY COMPANY! They arked my system, blew out my compressor, and failed to repair/replace it...and it was even under warranty. A job that took another company a matter of minutes of actual work to repair - granted they were here standing around for another 2 hours while they waited for everything, but regradless minutes of actual labor - Steel T was trying to make me pay $2300 to repair or replace...AFTER THEY BROKE IT!
If I were you I would avoid this company as best you can. Go with someone else, it's ust not worth the headache or cost.
We have done everything we can to make this customer happy including offering to pay a reputable competitor to come out and validate our diagnosis. If we are wrong I told him i would replace the entire unit free of charge.
He refused and said he trusted the contractor that came out and said we caused the failure. The contractor who said we caused the issue is not a factory recognized dealer and we can't even find them in the phone book. He told them he was not even comfortable fixing the issue because he didn't know if it would work. No reputable qualified contractor would say that.
I offered to not only replace the compressor at a discounted rate but to even extend the labor warranty the three years he had left with the manufacturer to give him further piece of mind.
We didn't cause the issue but showed him what was wrong and how to fix it. It is a very unfortunate situation and I understand why he is upset but there is nothing more i can do if he won't let me fix the problem or at least have a good contractor validate our diagnosis.