Heating/Cooling Maintenance and Replace Heat Exchanger
Untrustworthy, Unprofessional, Undependable and Overpriced We have been a customer of Jack Lehr’s for a couple years and after this last visit, we decided to go elsewhere. First off, we were never able to get our heater or cental air unit scheduled for maintenance before the start of the season. Normally mid December to January for the heater (even if you call in October) and August for the central air if you call in May. This year we were scheduled for mid January maintenance on our heater and they called and bumped us up to December 7th because there was a cancellation. After being here for hours, and calling in a third technician who was extremely rude, they shut down the heater because it was leaking CO and over firing. They told me that there might be a problem with the warranty of the heat exchanger because the furnace install was not in my name and even if it was there was only a 12 year warranty, so they would have to check all that out. They said it would be better for me to get a new furnace, even if the part was covered, because this is an expensive repair. The salesman showed up and tried to sell me a furnace, my husband is at work and it is a Friday evening. We needed to wait for options and I wanted to call Trane about this warranty. After calling Trane, I find out that the part is covered for 20 years not 12 and it is a base warranty meaning it does not matter whose name it is under. Jack Lehr quotes a price of almost $1800 for just the labor to fix this covered part. They say it will take 2 techs almost 8 hours to complete this job. We decide to shop around. We found another servicer who confirmed the heat exchanger went. It was so bad around the 2nd exchanger the zinc was burnt off and flames were shooting out of the front of the heater. Their price, with the service call to confirm it was the exchanger, $1200. One tech did the job in 4 hours. The tech discovered, before he replaced the exchanger, the hi/lo settings on the heater were set way too high. Lo should have been no higher than 1.4 and it was at 2.0 and the hi should have been no higher than 3.1 and it was at 3.7. I asked if this could have caused the issue and was told yes because it could have caused a higher flame. I then reached out to Jack Lehr to find out why, and how, this could have happened. Why wasn’t this checked last year? I eventually ended up emailing with Ed Lehr who told me that last year the tests they ran showed the heater was not over firing. I asked him for these numbers. He did not respond to this, just kept avoiding the question. I told him that I am looking for these numbers or I would register a complaint because these numbers are very important and we were paying for a service for them to be making sure our heater was safe. He told me he would get back to me after the holiday. He did but with the same WO I already had and with the same test he was already talking about. Nothing with the hi/lo settings recorded. I told him that I would reach out to Trane but had surgery coming up so it might take me a bit to get back to him. After speaking with Trane they confirmed the settings were too high and could have caused this issue. I reached back out to Ed Lehr and he said that he also reached out to Trane and a tech there said the opposite and wanted to know who I spoke to and why I ignored his emails (I responded to his email less than 30 minutes after he sent it to me). I figure out these were all stall tactics from him. He also stated that Trane told him that acceptable limits are .2 above or below the recommended. As you can see, we were above .6 on both the lo and the high. After a month of trying to get these numbers from him, we still have nothing but a slew of emails and a copy and pasted email that he sent me supposedly from a Trane rep saying about the heater was not over fired. I flat out asked him if he is willing to reimbursed any of the cost for this costly mistake on their part or show me the numbers of those settings to prove they were checked the year before like they were supposed to be and he claims they did nothing wrong. I gave them many opportunities to do the right thing and either produce the settings or pay for the damage and he could not admit fault. ****, after he accused me of ignoring his email and I pointed out that I responded and showed it to him he could not even apologize for that. I will never recommend them to anyone that I know and I would strongly caution you to use them for your needs. The owner is not an honest man. When that is the case, what can you honestly expect from a company that he runs. I have all the emails to back up everything that I am saying and I will share them with whoever wants them.
