Home repair fraud is an on going threat that can take many forms. You can find it in anything from the unsolicited sales person to the fly by night repair company and can cover anything in your home from roof seal coating to your furnace and air conditioning system.
This is some general advice that works for more then just the Heating and Air Conditioning industry. Be wary of any of the following:
- Door to Door salesmen that arrive unsolicited at your home
- Solicitations from companies with no physical address, only have a PO box number, share an address with another company, or is run out of someones home. (Google maps is great for checking the location as you can use there street view feature to see the area they claim is their office.)
- Contractors that won’t or don’t provide a customer reference if requested.
- Persons offering to inspect your home for free without business authentication. When in doubt, never hesitate to call the company prior to admitting them to your home to verify there identify.
- Contractors who demand cash payment for a job or ask you to make a check payable to a person other then the company.
- Offers from a contractor to drive you to a bank so you can get money to pay for the work.
If you encounter any of these items, just slow down the process.
If your unsure of the company here are some easy ways to check up on them.
A quick spot check is to look in your phone book as a starting place, or even a 3-4 year old phone book. If they were not around even that long ago this should be another warning bell.
A better option is to check the BBB’s web , what’s their rating, and are they a member?
The BBB is a non-profit moderator. Membership shows that a company supports this organization and their ideals, plus is something you expect from established companies that have been around enough to see the value this organization can provide. You can also see how long the company has been in existence and number of complaints. (Here’s a link to the Four Seasons BBB page as an example)
The grading system from the BBB is a HUGE help in sorting things out. However there is a lot of other great information on their site.
Just remember, that start ups won’t have a track record to look at and that size does matter. Even the best companies get complaints, it’s just a question of what percentage of there customers complain and how they respond to what complaints they do get that matters. So a tiny company with one or two complaints may be much worse then a larger company with more complaints.
Finally, if something seems really fishy, do not hesitate to get into contact with the Attorney General’s office.
For Indiana and Wisconsin you need to go through their main web site. Illinois has there own web site.
Illinois: www.IllinoisAttorneyGeneral.gov Indiana: www.in.gov/attorneygeneral Wisconsin: www.doj.state.wi.us/agOther Related articles
- Protect yourself!
- Be a Smart Consumer
- 24 hour Furnace Repair
- Four Seasons Awards
- Being a new technician
Tags: Air Conditoining repair contractor, Consumer protection, furnace repair, Furnace repair contractor
This is so true I had a chimney cleaning company ring my door bell and ask if I had any idea when my neighbor would be home they told me that they were to clean her chimney and no one was answering the door. I had a cell phone number for her so I called her and told her the chimney company was looking for her she said, “what? I didn’t call anyone”, so I went to look out my front window to see if I could see a truck or something and they were gone. I later found out that they were robbing peoples basements while pretending to clean their chimney be very careful and use your head don’t get burned.
Regardless what service you need at home, plumbing, furnace repair, appliance repair etc etc be sure to have a good idea on who you are using, check the BBB OR attorney generals office or ask friends and family who they have used.
When ever you have a home improvement project what you are having done is just as important as who is doing the work. Take the time to research the different heating and cooling companies in Chicago as well as the surrounding suburbs to be sure you have a good company. My family has used Four Seasons heating and cooling for 20 years, it is just like a good doc or mechanic, when you find one you can trust hang on to them and spread the word.
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Thanks for the great post! You have a new fan.