Glendale homeowner says repair company installed wrong air conditioner

GLENDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Carl DesJarlais is a single homeowner and acknowledges he’s not exactly a “jack of all trades” when it comes to home repairs. “Are you a handy guy?” On Your Side’s Gary Harper asking him jokingly. “Uh, no,” DesJarlais replied. “Although I recently changed out my garbage disposal and realized that doing that was fairly easy.”

So, last year when DesJarlais’s rooftop air conditioner stopped working, he knew he needed someone qualified to fix it. That’s when he contacted his home warranty company American Home Shield, a company he’s been with for 16 years. According to DesJarlais, the repair company said his air conditioner was shot and American Home Shield agreed to install a brand-new unit.

“It felt pretty good because I finally felt I was getting my money’s worth after being with them for 16 years,” he said. “That’s the main reason why I had the warranty because I know how expensive AC units are.” DesJarlais’ new unit was installed, but he was forced to pay the installation fee, which he disagreed with. “It was $2,300,” he said. “You had to pay $2,300?” Gary asked. DesJarlais replied, “Yep.” He says he reluctantly paid the money and the new air conditioning unit was installed. His home started cooling right away.

That was last summer. However, when fall approached and DesJarlais turned on the heat — bad news.

“I tried to turn it on and nothing,” he said. “It was blowing cold air. I tried for 15 minutes and it was never warming up.” Turns out the wrong air conditioning unit was installed. DesJarlais’ home requires an air conditioning/heat pump that blows cold air during the summer and warm air during the winter. But an air conditioning unit requiring a gas source was installed on DesJarlais’ roof and he doesn’t have a gas line. You can even see the exhaust vent, which is supposed to connect to a gas line, something the air conditioning company should have noticed but installed anyway.

DesJarlais says he’s been calling American Home Shield and the air conditioning repair company to complain about the wrong unit being installed but says he got nowhere. That’s when he says his friends told him to contact On Your Side. “They said you’re definitely worth having on your side,” DesJarlais remembers them saying. On Your Side got a hold of American Home Shield, which immediately got involved and discovered the incorrect unit was, in fact, installed. As a result, American Home Shield has scheduled to have the incorrect unit removed and the right one installed.

In a statement, a spokesperson for American Home Shield says, “In Mr. DesJarlais’s situation, we did not live up to the standards we set for ourselves. We sincerely apologize for the delay and frustration this has caused him. We are covering the cost to replace Mr. DesJarlais’s unit... We are also reimbursing him for the costs he incurred throughout this process related to his unit, as well as his service fee.”

American Home Shield was very responsive and quick to resolve the issue once it was brought to their attention by On Your Side. Once DesJarlais gets his new air conditioning/heat pump unit installed and receives reimbursement, On Your Side will let you know in a follow-up report.

The company’s entire statement to On Your Side can be found below.

We take great pride in providing quality service and valuable protection to our customers. If we fail to meet these expectations, we work to do the right thing and ensure the situation is properly resolved.

In Mr. DesJarlais’s situation, we did not live up to the standards we set for ourselves. We sincerely apologize for the delay and frustration this has caused him. We are covering the cost to replace Mr. DesJarlais’s unit, as well as the necessary modifications. We are also reimbursing him for the costs he incurred throughout this process related to his unit, as well as his service fee. Our customer care team will continue to stay in close contact with Mr. DesJarlais to ensure that his situation is properly resolved, and the unit is working properly.

We deeply value our relationship with Mr. DesJarlais and look forward to serving him in the future.

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