All Year Cooling

When I had these problems, I called Anthony who’s the sales guy on the job. When I initially signed up for the financing, I pointed out that I was signing the wrong thing, and he assured me that we would get it right but we didn't. I then spoke to him and he said I had to speak to someone in the accounting or financing department. A young lady called me back and I explained to her the situation, and she said Anthony would be calling me but I never heard from him. Also, in the past I’ve had trouble with All Year in inspections. I used to own a house in Wellington and they put two units in the house in one year, and they never had the inspection finalized. Nonetheless, generally I’m happy with All Year. The install crews come on time and their jobs are done well for the most part. I know that if I call them, these problems can be taken care of.

But then three days ago, I needed them for service. My own thermostat broke (not the one they gave me) and a guy came to the house right away. I bought a new thermostat and he put it in. Then, I called them up and asked how much do I owe them. I was told nothing. So, the service was fantastic and there were big savings with them. Going with them has no downsides at all. In fact, there are two other people in my community who told me that they also went with All Year Cooling & Heating and said that they were just fantastic.

The installation crew was very professional also. The installation was more work than they anticipated because the salesman that came out didn't emphasize that the air conditioner is in a closet, and the previous one was installed too high so they had to move my tankless heater down lower so they can install it in the proper position. They wound up being here until 10:30 at night. It was kind of a long day for those air guys. All Year Cooling's unit is more efficient than the one that was in there. It cools off a bit quicker than the old one so it's gonna save me money.

One time, I had a problem with the unit and they came out. One of the motors went bad in the inside unit and they took the motor out, exchanged it and came back to put it in. It worked beautifully. When the aircon didn't seem to be cooling as it used to, a guy came out and checked it all out. He said that it probably just needed to be cleaned really good. He got the unit right for a week and it seemed to start cooling better again. But the next thing I knew, it was 90 degrees out and it was 85 degrees in the house. And it was running for 24 hours. It would be 78 when I get up in the morning and at 5 o'clock, it would still be running but it would be down to only 81 degrees. It was not cooling enough.

I called them again and they said it sounded like a replacement was needed. I called it in then they came out and replaced the unit. There was no problem. They were totally professional and the people were so nice. The technicians who came out were excellent people. They were very friendly and knowledgeable. They explained what they were gonna do and what they were doing. They were fabulous. In fact, everybody that I've dealt with has been wonderful. When you call All Year Cooling on the phone, the people would talk to you very nicely and they'd work with you. I'm totally satisfied with the company. If you know anybody who needs an air conditioner, call All Year Cooling.

I know they all make noise. And this isn't that offensive. It isn't a whistle or grinding or anything like that. It is just a loud whirring like a wood chipper or a jet engine. If it only came on for short bursts it might not be that bothersome. But the unit stays on for hours. I will see what happens to my electric bill. But my 28 year old unit would come on for 5, 10, 15 minutes at a time to keep this place at the same temperature this brand new unit takes hours to maintain. I am so unhappy and I don't seem to have any recourse except to let other consumers know of my experience.

We had to pay $1250 in July 2017 to have a new coil/evaporator installed, instead of it being covered by the warranty. Our A/C rep told us that our unit was apparently one of a series produced in 2011 that had failed as he has personally changed out at least 5 units with this production year. Over the past 6 months or so, we have noted several times that the A/C unit was not running. Each time we were able to get it to start again by cycling from cool to heat and turning the switch from auto to on and back to auto. We had two different A/C repair firms check out the unit but could not find anything wrong.

Last evening, July 1st, we came home from a dinner and found out that the A/C unit was again not running. This time nothing worked. When we set it to cool, the fan in the condensing unit outside kicks in but the fan in the air handler won't start working. As today is a Sunday, it is of course difficult (and expensive) to get a repairman over. Regardless, I called an A/C repair firm who, after checking the unit out determined the fan was defective and had to be replaced. Of course, supply stores are not open on Sunday so we will have to put up with another day and night with no A/C. Great, in sunny and hot southern Florida.

This latest repair will cost a minimum of $600-$800 and, together with the service charges for adding coolant each time it leaked out, bringing my total loss to approx. $2400. What I want to know is, why isn't my warranty valid? It is registered to our address. We paid $9,500 to have a completely new A/C unit, all new ductwork etc., installed but still have had quite a number of issues with the unit which has cost us money, money that we as retirees living on a fixed income, do not have to throw away.

Then I had certain questions which were very important to me because I have children with asthma. I needed All Year to do air duct cleaning, but they never did and I didn't feel that they addressed the issue. But to be fair, they sent someone out to our house, but I wasn't there when that person came by. Then they went as far as doing a follow-up call. All Year has answered phone calls and, in fact, they have always reached out, so much so that I recommended them to my mother and they're working with her now. With the All Year unit that I've had for a month now, All Year efficiently did the job and it was quality work they did.

I had the installation done eight years ago. The technician came out when they said he was gonna come out and did what they said he was gonna do. In fact, I also had an air conditioner put in my girlfriend's home because it was ready to die and my neighbor also installed a unit because of my referral. I like to learn what the techs are doing and how they're doing it, just for learning experience and not being on the guy’s back but to raise any questions that I may have. And the tech was very polite and professional. Three months ago, my AC needed a repair and the same technician came out.

It was a holiday weekend so I figured I didn’t wanna be without air all weekend long. I initially thought there was no way a technician was gonna come out and not charge me an arm and a leg. I was still hesitant because you don’t know when a company is trying to take advantage of you. A friend of my friend is an AC guy so I figured I would get this guy out here and he would be honest with me. But unfortunately, or fortunately, he couldn’t make it because he was in New Jersey. So I went through my paperwork and found out that I had ended up getting the 10-year extended warranty, which I normally don’t do and which All Year no longer offers.

I called them and their office helped me in scheduling the appointment. They called me back to say that they could get out here a little bit earlier and ask if that was good for me. I said, “Absolutely. Get out here quicker.” The gentleman came out that evening and through striking up a conversation, I realized that he was the one who had put the unit in eight years ago. He looked at the unit and at first he told me the issue was the circuit breaker. I told him that my brother was an electric contractor and I could do that. He said that it was under warranty and, since he was there, to let him do it. He did that then we came upon two other problems.

He said that I was gonna need a fan but I thought that fans didn't go out just like that. He checked it and he said that aside from the fan, I was gonna need an LED unit which was the brain to get the fan engaged because it was a two-staged fan. I asked him to show me what was and what wasn’t working and why. He hotwired the fan up to show me that it was kicking on and cutting off. I believed I just needed the brain to engage the fan but I trusted him enough.

Then he pointed out that it was an older unit and that they didn’t have anything in stock for it. The part was gonna have to be ordered out and he said that although the unit was under warranty, those parts were universal and the supplier was gonna charge them to program it to my unit in particular. It was gonna be $80 out of my pocket. Realistically, I knew the supplier was taking what he can as opposed to a flat fee, but $80 was a lot better than what the cost may have been. In fact, out of curiosity, I asked how much all that would have been if I didn’t have the extended warranty and he said it would be about $1200.

He said that he would order the part and that it would arrive two days later, because of the holiday. A representative also called me up and told me they got the order and that they were gonna try to expedite it. Then the guy came back and put the part in. As I was signing off everything, I asked where it shows the $80 and he said that they weren’t gonna charge me the amount after all. I really appreciated that but I also had to ask him to show me where the balance due is zero and he did.

He left and I went in the house then I realized I didn't even tip the guy. His truck was leaving the street so I called the office and asked them to call him back. I told them he had left one of his tools. I had some money in my left pocket so I threw forty dollars in my other pocket. When he pulled up, he asked what he had left and I told him that he actually hadn’t left anything. It was what I didn’t do and I apologized. I handed him the money, which he cupped on his steering wheel and then he started driving off.

Then I looked at my pocket to see how much money I got left over for the next couple of days and I had $40. I had given him money from the wrong pocket. Fortunately, he was at the stop sign so I ran 20 feet up to him and banged on the window. He said, “What? What’s the matter?” I asked if he had seen what i had given him and he said not yet. I asked him to shut his eyes and to hand it to me. He did and I gave him the $40. He asked what that was all about and I told him that I had given him a 140-dollar tip. I asked him not to take it personally but I could not go short on $140. He smiled and said, “I gotta come here more often.”

All in all, the tech was phenomenal. On the flip side, my neighbor didn’t have a good experience with All Year and through talking to other people weeks later, I had other individuals saying that they would never go with that company. But people expect different things from different people. As for me, I can’t say enough good about All Year.

He said that it was not even worth touching and told me that there wasn't even air coming out on some of the vents. Anthony had a new unit and the guy in there the next day. Everybody was really knowledgeable and efficient. They did it in a couple of hours, and it was very thorough, so I was very happy. I've had the new unit since the beginning of May, and the difference was night and day when the unit was changed. The other person I spoke with, Richard, was on the insurance side. He broke down the whole comprehensive insurance for the unit for the 10-years and it was very thorough. Everything was easy to understand and I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.

The All Year guys were very nice and they explained what they were going to do. They also explained what they found or didn’t find. We just had a little bit of plaster in the vents, but they didn’t find any bacteria or molds. They were very fast and neat, and they cleaned up their mess. We were very pleased and impressed with them. We’ve already bought a couple of air conditioners from All Year and we’ll continue doing the same. I've told my friends that we've had a very good experience with All Year and one of my neighbors that I've talked to had them in for an estimate.

Now, my Trane supposedly has a 10 year warranty on parts, but every time I call All Year, they say I don't have a warranty and/or that it is expired. I reference my contract, and again, send them a photo, in which they say that even though the contract says I have a 10 year warranty, I failed to register my unit with Trane, and so, I have no warranty. My unit was registered immediately after it was installed. I contacted Trane, who verified that my info is in their system. Now, my contract says I have a 2 year parts and labor, 10 year compressor (with manufacturer Trane), and a 10 year on parts only from All Year. They say that the 10 year parts is no longer applicable. What they base this on, I have no idea. I can only believe that they are hoping I won't push the issue, and simply agree, and pay them full price to fix my AC.

Anyway, first, I was told that I only had 5 years, and not ten, on the parts. So I had to send them a copy of my contract, yet again. After that, I was told the warranty was no good as I failed to register the unit. I then told them that it was registered, only to get a reply calling me a liar, where they said my unit was not registered. I asked if they were being reimbursed by Trane for parts other than the compressor, and I was told no, that they were responsible for the 10 year parts warranty, and are not be reimbursed by Trane, to which I asked, why does the unit have to be registered if Trane is not paying for the parts and this portion of the warranty is from All Year only? This question went ignored, and they simply repeated the statement that I have no warranty, which I can only assume they are basing this on the fact they simply don't want to cover their end of the bargain.

I argued that ONE... I registered the unit, and TWO, even if I did not, the contract says NOTHING about registration being a requirement in order for the warranty apply. I was told that my contract supposedly CLEARLY stated on the back side of the contract that registration MUST be done in order for the warranty to apply.

Upon looking and reading the back of my contract it says NOTHING about registration at all. Not a single word. The warranty is clearly stated, with no asterisks or any language stating registration as a requirement. And again, why does registration with Trane a requirement for a warranty that is solely between me and All Year? Trane has NOTHING to do with this part of the warranty. They are not involved in paying for any portion of the parts, nor are they even required to be there. When I went over this contract with the salesman from All Year, he specifically stated that this 10 year parts only warranty was from All Year, and not from Trane, and how All Year stands behind its warranties, and are there for you when you need them and so on.

Anyway, they finally come out, and say I need a fan motor as mine is bad. Now, I am NOT an AC contractor, but I am a retired state licensed building contractor, who knows his way around electricity and even used to work for an AC company many many years ago. I know how to diagnose an AC unit as well as diagnosing electrical issues. Furthermore, I am well schooled in how motors work, and when I tested the motor it showed as good. The bearings were fine, the motor was not locked up, and the continuity was fine, and when I put electric directly to the motor, it spun, no problems.

So, the problem was not the fan motor, but instead, no electric being sent to it. When I traced the problem, I came to the conclusion that the problem was the circuit board. Now, normally, I would fix this myself, but I still have a warranty in effect and would rather use that, than go thru all the issues of fixing my AC myself. So I call All Year to have them fix my AC under my warranty. I had no idea what I was about to encounter.

When the tech first came out, and without pulling out any gauges or electrical meters, or doing anything other than taking the panel off and spinning the fan cage, he says my entire AC is old and not worth fixing, and wants to give me a quote for a complete new system. Wait...What? I advised him that my unit is supposedly a top of the line Trane, that I paid a lot of money for, and that it is only about 8 years old, and is still under warranty. He sheepishly asked if it was his company that installed it new, and I replied yes. Oops, was the look on his face. He then asked, knowing the answer, if I wanted to fix this issue and use the warranty instead of getting a quote for a new system. I told him, “Yes please”.

So, when he looks at it, he says I need a fan motor. Again, the tech did NOT break out any gauges or a meter, or do anything else... he simply opened the cover, saw the fan not working, spun it by hand, and said I needed a new fan motor. I questioned him, and told him my findings, but he insisted it was the fan. So, I figured I would simply listen to the "professional". Besides, I have a warranty for all parts, so of course, it will be cheaper to have them fix it... right? NOT!

The next day, another tech comes out, installed a new fan motor, and charged me $350 for labor only. WHAT? The tech was there less than an hour, borrowed my tools, borrowed my step ladder, and I removed the fan housing for him, as he seemed to have no idea how to do it properly. I watched him for a few moments, removing brackets that were not required for a fan housing removal, until I then grabbed my nut driver and asked him if I could show him a more efficient way to get to the fan motor. I removed the unit myself in less than 5 minutes.

The tech seemed impressed, and after I set the fan housing on the floor, I let him take it from there. The reason I was able to do this, was that when the unit quit working, I diagnosed the unit myself, and removed the fan housing and motor myself in order to test it. I even removed the squirrel cage from the motor, as I figured I would clean it properly before putting everything back together. This had the effect of when the tech removed the fan, everything just slid apart easily, and nothing was "stuck" or difficult to remove, and was quite easy in removing the squirrel cage from the motor, which I know can be an issue on fans with some time on them. So, when the tech repeated what I did the day before, it was not difficult or time consuming for him.

Anyway, when he was done, of course, surprise, just as I predicted, the AC still did not work. I again offered up the circuit board as the reason I had come to, and the tech finally agreed with me, and said that he did not have the part, and that someone from All Year would contact me the next business day, to schedule someone to come back out to fix my unit properly. When he packed up my original fan motor, I asked him to please leave it, as I wanted to keep my old parts. I was told that he HAD to take it and he refused to allow me to keep it. I wanted that motor, as I knew it was still a good motor, but he refused.

Anyway, the next business day, no one from All Year called as promised. I called All Year three times that day, and left messages on a voice mail, and talked to someone as well, and was told someone would call me back by end of day. No one called back. I called the next business day, and again had to leave messages. Finally, at the end of that day, someone from All Year finally called me back. And would you believe it, the whole "THERE IS NO WARRANTY" became an issue all over again. I thought this was all but settled, but nope. I went thru an entire repeat of the previous arguments of my warranty was only for 5 years, I didn't register my unit, my contract says I have to register, and so on.

After some time of back and forth, and once that is supposedly resolved again, I am told that they will replace my circuit board. For the labor only price of $300. WTH? Now, I looked up the cost of a new circuit board (Part # C800796P01) and was quoted prices from $49 to $69 for a BRAND NEW one. Used ones go for about $20 - $30. And that price is for an end consumer... not an AC company in the business, who should be able to buy it for even less than I can. And as for swapping it out, it took me less than 10 minutes to remove it and put it back, as it is held on my simple plastic clips and a harness plug. It literally just pulls off and presses back on. So easy a caveman could swap one out in minutes.

I would have thought that the labor charge I already paid in the amount of $350, would have applied to this, and just by the sheer embarrassment of getting it wrong the first try, taking four days to come back out, not calling me when promised, or promptly returning my multiple phone messages, All Year would have replaced the circuit board at no extra cost to me.

After all, I was charged $350 for labor only for changing out a part I did not need, and did not fix my unit. I suffered 4 additional days because All Year failed to listen to the customer or diagnose my issue properly the first time. I do not believe it is fair at all to change out part after part, without first knowing what is actually needed to fix my AC unit, and continue to charge me over and over again, hoping to eventually get it right. Heck, I could do that myself and save a fortune.

I called All Year because one, I have a warranty, and two, they are supposed to be professionals and know what they are doing. Seems to me, the warranty means nothing to them, and they have no idea what they are doing. Any idiot can continue changing out parts until they get it right. I called All Year because I didn't want just some idiot. I wanted my unit fixed properly, and fixed right the first time. That is not what I got.

So, if we review here, All Year Cooling & Heating, now wants to charge me a total of $750 for LABOR ONLY, for repairs to a unit that is still under warranty. They want to charge me this much money for an hours worth of work, just to change my circuit board, and for the labor to replace my fan motor, a part that did not need to be replaced. I can only guess that their warranty is a complete sham, as since they could not convince me that it was NOT in effect, or find some stupid loophole to get out of honoring this warranty, they instead, jack up the price of their labor, and roll the cost of the parts into their super high labor charge, in order to not really cost them anything.

I contacted several other AC companies, and asked for a quote to replace my circuit board, and gave them the part number of the board. Almost all of them stated that my cost would be the cost of the service charge plus parts. I got quotes over the phone of $89 plus the cost of the part, $150 for parts and labor, and $39 plus the part, which included a complete inspection and cleaning as well, since they were running a special. Mind you, these are AC. These are companies that did not make a fortune on me with installing an entire new AC system with only a few years earlier. These were all companies that I have NO WARRANTY with, and just cold called. The company that I supposedly have a warranty with, is by leaps and bounds, the most expensive. All Year thinks $750 for labor only for swapping out two parts that take less than a single hour total, is completely fair. Am I wrong in thinking I am being taken advantage of here?

And, for the record, as I stated above, my unit, my 8 year old, top of the line, most expensive Trane unit that I bought from All Year, brand new. This AC system has been plagued by problems since the day it was installed by All Year. It broke down multiple times. When my compressor blew up, I found out, after contacting Trane, and bringing in another AC company, that the reason my unit was blowing capacitors every 2-3 months, and required a hard start, and eventually blowing up the compressor in its 4th year, was due to improper installation. What happened was whoever installed the unit, allowed metal filings to get into the copper line, and clog the filter/dryer, which caused the compressor to have to work REALLY hard every time it started up, thus requiring a hard start just to get going. After only 4 years, the compressor couldn't handle it anymore and it blew up.

And why was this not caught by All Year? When they installed the unit brand new, and I paid them in full, and they left, later that same day, the unit quit working. It blew the capacitor on its very first day of use. A brand new, one-day old unit, installed by All Year... broke. It took them 3 days to get it running again. Then, when they installed the hard start, it finally worked. However, every 2-3 months for the first 2 years of my parts and labor warranty, I would have to call All Year out to fix the unit. And every single time, I would ask why this was happening. I was told they had no idea and to not worry about it, as the warranty covered it, so why should I care.

I replied by stating that this may be okay for now, but what about when the warranty was up? I was given no answer. And when my 2 year warranty was up, I bought capacitors and hard starts by the case, and every 2-3 months, I would replace them when my unit quit working. This ticked me off, but what could I do? All Year didn't seem to care, and I wasn't about to call another AC repairman to fix a unit that was still brand new and under warranty. I simply lived with it. This problem persisted until the day the compressor blew up. Completely destroyed itself after only 4 years. I knew this was not right, but what could I do. And when it was replaced, (NOT BY ALL YEAR as they wanted over $1,800 to fix it - labor only), is when it was found out that the installation by All Year was improper.

It was discovered that when All Year installed the unit new, and cut the old lines from the old compressor, metal filings were left in the copper line. This caused the filter/dryer to clog, which put a huge strain on the compressor every single time it started up. So much so, that hard starts were required in order to just get the unit running. And when the compressor was replaced, this issue was discovered, the line was unclogged, the inline filter/dryer was replaced, and I never had to use a hard start ever again, and the unit never blew another capacitor. For the first time, no thanks to All Year, by AC was running properly and not killing itself every time the compressor kicked on.

Why was this not fixed by All Year? Why, after coming out for the umpteenth time under the first 2 year warranty period, and my questioning over and over again, what was wrong, did ALL YEAR not try to determine the actual issue and fix it? The answer is easy. It was too costly and/or the techs had no care to even bother trying. It was easier and cheaper to simply replace the capacitors and get thru the 2 year warranty and be done with me. After that, it was on my dime, so who cared. And of course, every time I would call in, All Year would send a different tech, so no one ever really bothered to see the pattern here, or get interested in helping fix this once and for all.

So, here I am. All Year has not called me back. They refuse to acknowledge my 10 year parts warranty at every turn, appear to be charging me incredibly high labor fees to offset the cost of the parts warranty, so that my warranty is really no warranty at all. Am I being taken advantage of here? Is this really seem fair? Is this what is to be expected from an honest AC company? Does it appear to anyone but me that my warranty seems to be no warranty at all? Any and all help is greatly appreciated. As it is now, I no longer feel I can trust All Year Cooling and Heating. They seem more interested in money money and more money than they do in upholding their warranty or actually taking care of their customer. What do you guys think?

The installers who came were great, too. They were professional, courteous and kept everything neat and clean. They wiped their feet and kept the door closed. It was indeed a great experience. After the service, I'm not slipping in a puddle of water anymore. It's negligible but I appreciated the wonderful service. Someone also texted me and told me that everything was going to turn out okay because we failed my first inspection from the city. All Year came right back out and fixed everything the city needed to be fixed. If others are looking for a good unit with courteous service and follow-up, they should go to All Year. I'll definitely recommend All Year.