I am curious as to how CM got on to your comments here? Are they lurking about and doing damage control if it gets bad, or did you provide them with transcripts? Either way they were prompted into getting resolution for you, the customer. Cudo's to CM.
Eric

Tony I'm delighted for you that you got someones attention.
I do get negative feed back for hard nosed positions but know in life people share what they think is important- not necessarily all that is.
That said, many of the problems you indicated are not to be blamed on the addition. Warranties however can be voided by changes out of the influence of installing contractor.

May I suggest that all take note that too many fingers in the pie is not a good thing? Particularly if you are having trouble, don't give installing contractor an excuse to void warranties.
j

Good news.

Companies are finally cottoning onto the power of social media. A well-articulated complaint devoid of irrational ranting can go a long way to triggering a fair response.

I'm glad to hear you are in line for some satisfaction. Thank you also for posting the somewhat-mitigating missing info.

While I agree with posts detailing the limits of manufacturer / dealer / customer responsibilities, I reiterate my stance that manufacturers must police their dealer networks, whether directly or via distributors, to weed out the hacks. One horror show overshadows ten good installs.

Posted By engineer on 02 Nov 2011 08:16 PM
Good news.


While I agree with posts detailing the limits of manufacturer / dealer / customer responsibilities, I reiterate my stance that manufacturers must police their dealer networks, whether directly or via distributors, to weed out the hacks. One horror show overshadows ten good installs.

Frankly Curt I find more ignorance at the distributor than the dealer level.
Also have found zero support at the manufacturer level for some problems (Masouds problem for instance).
Much better for folks to carefully screen contractors than to expect manufacturer or dist. help when installer bails.
j

I have not yet had to ask my distributor a technical question.

I agree with your advice...due diligence selecting a contractor is of utmost importance.

Final update on my Tranquility saga.

As you know, ClimateMaster agreed to provide a replacement unit!! Thank you CM. Way to step up when you certainly could have ignored my request.

I contacted the installer that sold me the system, Climate Makers in Virginia Beach, VA, and explained to them that I had a new system being provided by the manufacturer. I asked for their help in installing it. In the spirit of sharing the pain in this bad situation I was hopping for them to help out on the installation costs. Who am I kidding. After our initial conversation on the replacement, it took 9 days to get back with me. $2,000 plus miscellaneous costs and they might be able to install it the end of next week.

I took Joe's advice. I found another installer. Late Tuesday afternoon, I called Kellam Mechanical since they also installed Tranquility's. The owner, Scott Kellam came out to my house that evening. He gave me a price right on the spot to do the installation. He quoted my a price $500 less. Two days later, Thursday morning, a crew of 4 guys showed up and installed my new Tranquility system. They were done by noon that same day.

Scott told me that in his office and his house he uses the Tranquility units as well. Scott did suggest that I purchase the 10 year parts and labor warranty available from the manufacturer. Wish the original installer had told me about that option.

Thanks, Kellam Mechanical. You stepped into a potentially touchy situation and did nice job. So glad I found a new company for my HVAC needs. Rest assured, ClimateMakers, I won't be calling you back.

VBTony

Sounds like a good place to end up Tony, thanks for the updates. j

Al l warranties have terms and conditions. People should be aware of that going in. Know what the limitations are and if you are not satisfied with them, find a new product or dealer. The only heat pump customers of mine that recieved a bill (other than for PM checks and filters) in the past several months were those who bought their system from someone else.

Machines break. Make sure you have good dealer support in case yours does.

I too have a VERY similar issue to VBTony and have gotten no where with help from AC Specialists to truly address my continuing failures and issues. I am new to this site but started to research others with similar issues because I am regularly paying for repairs to a system that has never worked properly.

Similar to VBTony I have had virtually everything replaced on my Climatemaster Tranquility 27 since it was installed 6 years ago. In fact the ONLY part not replaced has been the compressor; no joke! I have had more than one board replaced, the capacitor, the main fan and controller, the main eval coil/heat exchanger and found out just yesterday the TXV valve is bad. This after just last week my system failing because the Flowcenter pump unit leaked and had to be replaced at the cost of $1300! Add in some installation issues for the duct work and zones plus failed dampers and there is no part of my very expensive and complex 4 zone system that has not been touched on at least one occasion.

I do pay for regular PM (twice per year) but still get NO relief from failures despite paying for the "best" and maintaining in properly with only the "best" service and parts.

I have finally taken to email Climatemaster personally since I have felt my unit was a lemon in the first year of repairs ranging from flow issues and temp differentials in the closed loop system, to the failures when switching from low to high pressure leading to the ultimate find that the main eval coil leaked (took almost 4 years to find that issue), burnt up main board, burnt up aux board, burnt up capacitor, burnt up fan motor and controller, and now TXV valve, etc. $800 to replace the TXV that is "covered" is yet another slap in the face. I hope that I can get some help because I cannot get the owner of the company that designed and installed my system to call me back even though he used to be a friend that was part of our boating community. Not a good business practice even though I have provided referrals in the past. FRUSTRATING!!!

PS - since i get nothing but more charges for repairs I have contacted two other local companies (Gildersleeve and Kellam) to give me quotes to replace the system or replace AC Specialists as the contractor who supports me and works on my equipment.

BTW - I'm not a hit and run forum poster. I just found this site and have the same issues... I am a regular contributor to other forums and a real consumer with this system and issue just looking to get some help.

DJGVB,

Sorry to hear about all of your issues. Like I have said in previous posts, Climatemaster has horrible, terrible customer service. Find out who your distributor is , and give them a call. My distributor has been the only saving grace through our CM problems. I am, although, happy to report that I have had no more issues with our unit since it was last repaired. Remember though, I had to have a distributor get involved and they found a COMPETENT technician to diagnose and make the repairs. Climate Master was no help what so ever.

If theres a common theme in these stories, it is dealer let down. All brands have had trouble. Whether that's a nuisance or a nightmare is up to your installing contractor.

Great advice. I'm guessing Virginia Air is my distributor since I live in Va Beach.

I've talked to a reputable service company about getting some help to address my issues. I am hopeful that he can help getting ClimateMaster to address my issues and replace the lemon that I got similar to the OP.

I dont believe I have ever seen an irrepairable flow center. Curious. I wish all help wherever they may find it.i continue ro ask however that you hold your contractors accountable. They have the biggest marfin in your job.

Glad to hear that you were able to get Climate Master to respond positively to your problems. I have had the opposite experience. My Tranquility system was installed in 2007; to date we have replaced two compressors, one condenser and one evaporator. After the last failure I contacted Climate Master asking that they pay for the labor for the last repair (the material on all of the failures was covered under warrantee). None of these components should have failed in such a short time period. Climate Master eventually sent out a Rep with our service company to survey my unit. The result was a report which stated that my unit was in excellent working order and that Climate Master would offer me a new unit at their cost (~$2K) but not pay for installation or I could accept a $400 credit for service labor. This was wholly unacceptable and I will spread this story on as many forums that I can find to warn people that Climate Master is not a reputable company in my opinion. I have the e-mail chain from Climate Master and a record of all repairs to my unit.

Will Museler

I am possibly looking at thousands in repairs to my GSHP. If my manufacturer offered me a new unit for 2K I would get it.

You can get the 30% tax credit on unit and install. Start new warranty.

2007 unit probably has r22 refrigerant.

Chris

Chris,

If Climate Master paid for the install I might consider their offer. At this point I look at it as putting good money after bad. None of those components should have failed, the service life on a scroll compressor is ~20 years with the heat exchangers being a decade longer than that.

Will Museler

need more background on why it failed and where is the installer?

Joe,

This was installed in Portsmouth RI. No fault has been attributable to either installer or service company, both were very easy to work with regarding issues. I was able to get in touch with the regional service manager for Copeland to see if their compressors had a recall or some other issue. His reply was that they would have to do a tear down of the compressor to determine the root cause of the failure. I informed him that the two failed compressors were returned to Water Energy ( the distributer for Climate Master) for analysis. I have not been able to get that detailed report of why these components all failed.

Will Museler