There are no words.

JakeCK

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/elderly-man-winds-up-with-19-000-hvac-system-that-he-wont-pay-off-until-hes-nearly-100-years-old?_amp=true

retiredguy

I have been in my house for 23 years and recently purchased a new furnace and A/C unit. The salesman was pushing for me to buy the 20 SEER or higher A/C unit. I chose the 14 SEER . I educated him on the payback price of the unit he wanted to install. I told him that at an operating yearly cost savings of about $100.00 my payback was "NEVER" since I could make that much money investing the price difference between the 2 units. The only thing that was a plus was that the 20 SEER unit was quieter when running. At 77 years of age I want to enjoy my retirement and not have to take a part time job to pay for a new A/C unit that for me has almost no advantages.

As for the furnace, I should have kept my old very quiet American Standard unit that had many more years of good service instead of buying the noisy, Goodman Model GMES920803BNAA furnace. This unit has a "noise" that should not be there but no one has been able to find the source of that noise. Had I have known just how noisy my new furnace would be I would have spent a lot more money if someone could have promised me a quiet furnace.

My 2 cents.

clammy

Typical of larger companies preying upon the older folks they should burn in hell. I see a lot of garbage done by larger companies and even smaller it’s truly sicken me., most never come back or do any service correctly just shows the shape of the future and where we are heading . Myself I keep it small try to be as honest and truthful about what I am doing at any job ,be up front w pricing and never lie . I feel if that approach doesn’t t work then let them be victim to the garbage men and live w there decisions . But I feel for a company to sell older folks a system or service which is out side most budget and not be completely honest about over all cost is a sin . I would image a lot of people just pay the bill and figure there not being taken advantage of while others are looking for the sweetest deal n cheapest price and are usually being screwed but they savedsome money and to them that’s the most important point . Just shows the side most if not all know about big business and those who hope to be a big business that some one some where is being taken advantage of to make there numbers good . A crying sin . It s hard enough in this day and age to make some money doing the right job correctly no less competing w amateurs in sheep’s work clothes and work trucks Peace and good luck clammy

SlamDunk

They don't just prey on older folks... I got a quote for an hvac system for an 800 sqft house in a rural area that would make your head explode. I played ignorant and let him do his assessment, which honestly, was very good but he took that as stupid and quoted an outrageous price. In hindsight, maybe he wasn't really interested in the job because he never followed up.

I really feel sorry for older, trusting folks. I have seen it dozens of times.

Jamie Hall

Very common. And a related trend -- which I've seen locally -- there was an HVAC company around my area (which, in fact, we had used for years). Not large, locally owned, very reliable, service at oh dark hundred in a blizzrd, that sort of thing. Got bought by a much larger company when the original folks retired. Serice? Whazzat. Price? Quote the moon. The problem is, they kept the name and a number of older folks who had been relying on them for years got taken by the new crowd, not realizing the change.

ratio

Looks like this was just a case of saying 'yes' to every question.

Where were his kids at? There's nothing that happens to my parents that I don't have my finger in, one way or another. They took care of me, now it's my turn to take care of them.

ChrisJ

ratio said:

Looks like this was just a case of saying 'yes' to every question.

Where were his kids at? There's nothing that happens to my parents that I don't have my finger in, one way or another. They took care of me, now it's my turn to take care of them.

Who says he has kids?

ratio

We really don't have enough data to do more than speculate. I speculated that there is more to this than a wicked company taking advantage of a sweet old man & offered the possibility of someone who has neglected their responsibility.

SlamDunk

And even if he has kids...maybe they arent in the same state.

Operations like above are so abundant that virtually every news cast on every network in every market has a troubleshooter to cover these scams.

MaxMercy

In case anyone didn't read the entire article, here's the last line:

"He's [homeowner] also asking the company to remove a lien the company placed on his home as part of service agreement."

I hope his problem goes viral.

WMno57

Donelsonair Air
2930 Sidco Drive
Nashville, Tennessee
https://www.donelsonair.com/

Donelson is owned by Service Experts
https://www.serviceexperts.com/

Service Experts is owned by Enercare a Canadian company
https://www.enercare.ca/

Enercare is owned by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookfield_Infrastructure_Partners
https://bip.brookfield.com/

BIP is 30 percent owned by Brookfield Asset Management (BAM)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Investment_Authority
https://www.brookfield.com

A major investor in BAM is Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund, The Qatar Investment Authority
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Investment_Authority

WMno57

@Erin Holohan Haskell
The text editor for the forum is not WYSIWYG and has turned me into the Anti-Clammy . I type a post single spaced and it posts double spaced. What can I do to control single and double spacing?

delcrossv

This sort of thing was an annual occurrence with my in-laws. and it's not limited to HVAC, although they seem to be the worst of the bunch. They see an 80 year old lady with a heavy accent and go to town.

"Your marble entryway that's been there for 100 years needs to go and be replaced by cheap import tile"
(remodelers). Made them put it back on their dime, but they broke one panel.

"You need a new boiler" 5 companies, 3 different buildings. ( No she didn't). Annual maintenance wasn't done, just looked at the old unit and wrote a bill. Word is that the techs are told to push new boilers by the bosses.

Can't get parts for a unit this old ( what? a themocouple?) 🙄

The best was your boiler is putting out massive CO- you're all gonna DIE! (didn't even do a combustion analysis nor give a printout)
(It wasn't)
and on and on.

Wellness

@WMno57. You win the Internets today. That's some impressive detective work.

STEVEusaPA

Yeah these private equities just gobble up all the companies beneath them, with the goal of a monopoly. Just think if they got all the companies, that would always be the price for everyone.

It's hard with the elderly. Despite growing up with hard knocks and street smarts, there is an inherent trust they have that people are being honest with them. I went thru this with my father before he passed.

I took him to all his doctors appts, took care of all his meds, arranged in home care, etc. A man with English as his second language, very hard of hearing, and because of health issues, didn't comprehend too well, somehow some health insurance company salesman got him on the phone and by asking questions to get him to say 'yes', changed his health insurance. All of a sudden I'm getting insurance bills and doctors telling me his insurance expired.

SlamDunk

@STEVEusaPA

That is awful! And expensive too! I don't understand how a "yes" or a "No" voice recording can be contractual. How could they prove they were talking to the right person?

Jamie Hall

SlamDunk said:

@STEVEusaPA

That is awful! And expensive too! I don't understand how a "yes" or a "No" voice recording can be contractual. How could they prove they were talking to the right person?

They can't. But -- they have the money and the lawyers to fight it, and the poor old man doesn't.

Steamhead

Yet another ripoff artist. Not unique to Tennessee. Reputable companies have to fight the negative perception they create every day.

retiredguy

Many years ago, when I wore a younger man's clothes, I occasionally worked for a man in Pittsburgh, Pa. who would assist a consumer advocate that received phone calls from people who thought they were being taken advantage of by a company. One particular call was for a very old woman who was sold a very old used furnace marketed as a brand new furnace that was delivered to her home, still in the shipping box. She lived alone, in a small house on route 8 (Butler Street) near the Highland Park Bridge. The heating company that came to her house was there to give her a "FREE" furnace check. The service puke called his boss, who came to this woman's home, told her her house was about to explode due to a faulty furnace. She was told that she had to stay away from her house until they could install a brand new furnace. I could have sent my son to medical school for the price they charged her. To pay for this furnace, she cashed in 2 life insurance policies that she had, emptied her savings account, and was paying this company monthly payments from her Social Security checks. Three (3) years later, she called this consumer advocate who called the guy I took calls from and asked if I would visit this woman. She was in a panic since she was now broke and the company threatened to foreclose on her house. The interest rate that they were charging her on the balance due was around 35%. She owed more than the original amount of the note. I went to the house to check this furnace and the rest is history. The company was sued and had to shut down it's operation. The owner and some of his employees were sent to prison. They had been doing this switch all over town. I found her "about to explode" furnace installed a few houses away from her home that was again sold as "new" for an exorbitant sum of money. They would look for an area where mostly older people lived and would remove their old furnace and install their neighbors furnace marketed as new. They never had to buy any new furnaces.

You can't make this up. I still remember this woman and her story to this day.

JakeCK

Sickening. My mother is inching towards 70. If someone tried to take advantage of her like that... Ya'll would probably never hear from me again. Or maybe ya'll would in 20 years or so.

Erin Holohan Haskell

WMno57 said:

@Erin Holohan Haskell
The text editor for the forum is not WYSIWYG and has turned me into the Anti-Clammy . I type a post single spaced and it posts double spaced. What can I do to control single and double spacing?

Sorry about that @WMno57. We've had some updates that altered our styling. All ok on your side now? Looks evenly spaced from here. Thanks!