Another Bad Review of Metro Comfort Masters

I just saw all the problems you had with Metro Comfort Masters (MCM) and my experience has been eerily similar if not identical! Below is what happened to me:

My family purchased a newly constructed home on April 30, 2007. From the beginning we had problems with our HVAC system:

On May 4, 2007 I called MCM to let them know that I had a vent that was making an excessively loud noise whenever the air conditioning system came on. The MCM technician corrected the problem. He also replaced a thermostat in the master bedroom that was reading 2 degrees cooler than the ambient temperature.

On May 7, 2007 we spent the weekend with the air conditioner not cooling properly, i.e. none of the four cooling zones was cooling to 72 degrees and the HVAC system was running constantly. The closest room to 72 degrees was the Master bedroom at 75 degrees. I called the MCM service department to once again have the system looked at. I was informed a technician was not available until Wednesday, May 9^th.

On May 9, 2007, the same technician that provided service on May 4th showed up and said he thoroughly checked out the system and couldn't find anything wrong with it. However, he did move a sensor farther away from the coil as he thought this might have something to do with it not cooling. After he left the house continued to heat up with most of the rooms at 80 degrees and our bonus room near 90 degrees all while the air conditioner was running constantly. (I know it never shutoff because I wasn't able to sleep due to the heat.)

On May 10, 2007 I contacted the MCM service department again and they sent a different technician out somewhere around 7 pm. By that time the house had once again heated up significantly. The technician said he discovered a Freon leak at the outdoor unit. He re-soldered three connections and recharged the system. When he left at around 9 pm the unit seemed to be cooling.

On May 11, 2007 the unit once again appeared not to be cooling properly however the temperature of the zones was not quite as high as we had previously experienced and the air conditioner was not running constantly.

On May 12, 2007 I went out of town and when I arrived back in town on the afternoon of May 13, 2007 the house was extremely warm; all the downstairs rooms were 80-81 degrees and the bonus room was again near 90 degrees with the air conditioner running constantly. At around 3 pm I called MCM's phone number and the answering service said someone would call me back. At around 7 pm I called back as I still hadn't heard back from anyone. The answering service said they would notify the technician on duty again. Finally at 7:45 pm I received a call back. The technician stated that there was no one in my area and he would notify the service department first thing in the morning.

On May 14, 2007 after not receiving a call from the service department, I called and was informed they couldn't get a technician to look at my system until 5-7 pm. The third technician to look at my system quickly determined that I had a Freon leak in the same exact place where the 2nd technician attempted to repair it on May 10^th. After repairing the leak, adding Freon, and checking out the system the technician ended up leaving around 9:45 pm.

As you may know the lubricating oil for the compressor is contained in the Freon and since it was so low for such an extended period of time, i.e. the compressor ran pretty much non-stop for a two week period, I am very concerned that the life of the heat pump system has been significantly reduced.

All the way into July we continued to experience problems with cooling. MCM finally determined that the Freon line set was not installed correctly (it was kinked) and had to be replaced. In the process of replacing the line, the Freon became contaminated and after two more service calls for the air conditioner coil freezing up they contacted the Carrier representative who told them to completely evacuate the Freon from the system and then recharge the system.

With all these problems I took solace from the fact that the MCM Service Manager Scott Chewning assured me in several email messages from the middle of June 2007 to the beginning of August 2007 that MCM would honor the one year warranty and would not shirk their responsibilities.

In an email dated June 18, 2007 – Scott Chewning says that "MCM will honor any and all warranty issues for the first year I am in my home per their agreement with Colmar Builders. ….We will not shirk our duties." A copy of this email also went to the company vice-president, Jerry Johnson.

In an email dated June 19, 2007 – Scott Chewning agrees to provide me with a one year maintenance agreement at no charge due to the inconvenience of them having to repeatedly come to my home to correct problems. In an email dated June 22, 2007 Scott Chewning confirms the maintenance agreement will be following my one year warranty period. A copy of this email also went to the company vice president Jerry Johnson.

We continued to have problems with the system freezing up through July having MCM come out to our house on several occasions including one visit with the local Carrier HVAC representative (Reggie Vanhooser).

In two emails dated August 2, 2007 Scott Chewning first stated "We will insure your system is running as it should and uphold your warranty." In the other email Scott Chewning states "We will honor the warranty and continue to speak with the Carrier Rep until we make sure your system is operating as it should."

On January 2, 2008 I noticed a severe vibration with our furnace unit and I called MCM to come out and look at it. The technician made a temporary fix and said he needed to order some parts. The technician also wrote a work order to have one of our four thermostats relocated as it was installed in a poor location. After not hearing back from MCM for two weeks I called them on Friday, January 25, 2008. The customer service agent told me that they would no longer be able to honor the remainder of my one year warranty. I asked her why and she told me that Colmar Properties had gone out of business and owed them a lot of money for systems they installed but were never paid for. She then told me my system was never paid for by Colmar Properties. I have been waiting for several days to talk to the Jerry Johnson, MCM company vice president. He has not returned any of my calls. I did contact my closing attorney and she stated that MCM had placed a lien on the house January 31, 2007 but that it was removed on March 2, 2007 which is over a month before I purchased the house. I think any intelligent person would assume this meant that MCM had been satisfied with payment.

In addition, my outdoor unit has some sort of black substance covering the cooling fins. I noticed this shortly after moving in last May and I brought this up with Metro Comfort Masters (MCM) last June, on one of their many visits, and they basically blew me off and said it was normal and not to worry about it. I've had three other HVAC contractors out here and they all indicated that it appears someone (MCM?) tried to clean the unit and left the cleaning solution on too long thereby causing paint to dissolve and re-solidfy in between the cooling fins and reduce the efficiency of my 13 seer unit. One contractor said it might be possible to use a weak acid to remove the paint and restore the unit to full efficiency but he made no guarantee it would be successful. So the way it sounds to me is I need a new outside heat pump, Carrier won't cover it under warranty because it was done by the installation contractor, and MCM won't even talk with me much less fix anything.

There are others of us out here that have experienced the ineptitude of MCM and their blatant lies.