We first noticed our air condition was broken on a Sunday morning. We saw that the appliances had a Fante's sticker on them, which led to the conclusion that Fante's likely installed them. I submit a request for service through their website and by Monday morning received an email and call to scheduled a tech visit.
I was told that Fante's charges a $109 dispatch fee, this fee does not go towards any services. I would then be provided with a quote and get scheduled for the repair. We were told our tech would arrive between 1 and 5 PM that Tuesday. Around 3 PM, I received a phone call from the Fante's office checking that I was home because they would be sending the tech over. Of course I was home, I had been waiting since 1 PM. I do understand why this might be necessary and so I appreciated the communication.
Our tech Bob arrived and was pleasant. He inspected everything and determined that it was the ECM Blower Motor in our Lennox appliance that needed to be replaced. The appliance is 9 years old, so luckily it is covered by the 10 year warranty. Fante's was able to get the part covered fully under the warranty, and we were quoted $395 for the labor.
Bob told us that they needed to track down the part, but that if he could get it that day he'd come back and fix it the next day. He said they would call me to scheduled the return visit as soon as possible. We paid the dispatch fee and he left.
Wednesday came and I was anxiously awaiting the call to scheduled the repair. It was well over 90 degrees outside and the inside of my home felt warmer than outside. Around 11:30 AM I received a call from the Fante's office. This was the first of a few different negative experiences with the office staff at Fante's that really frustrated me. The person I spoke to informed me that they had the part and were ready to schedule the repair, I said that due to the extreme heat my availability would be completely flexible to make it work with the soonest date and time a tech could come out. I was briefly put on hold while the employee looked at the schedule. When they returned, they told me the soonest they could come out was Monday. When my tech told me that he could return Wednesday or Thursday at the latest and now I'm being told Monday is the soonest available appointment, I was very surprised. I communicated this with the person on the phone and they said, "I'm not sure why the tech would say that, they don't make the schedule" and then proceeded to laugh.
That really tested my patience, but what could I do? This company was able to get part covered under warranty, something I'm not sure I would have been able to manage on my own. It made me wonder if visiting my home was less important because I was only paying for labor. The extreme heat did not help!
Monday came and Bob arrived promptly for the 8AM-11AM window. We let him in and he got to work. Once the repair was complete, we turned on the AC and noticed it was extremely loud. We also heard water. Bob said that the water would evaporate. We assumed that since it had been well over a week that the AC was off, and the inside of our home was over 80 degrees, that it might be loud due to how hard the unit was working to cool the place down.
Tuesday morning comes and it sounds even louder. I decide to do some investigating and find almost 40 gallons of water sitting beneath my AC unit. This was not the kind of water that could just evaporate. I called Bob directly (he had called me to notify me when he arrived, so I had his contact information) and told him what was going on. I don't think he fully understood the amount of water I was looking at. He apologized, said he should have wetvac-ed it up before he left but that he thought it would have evaporated by now. I told him it was over a foot deep and that the sound was similar to a jet engine under water.
He then told me to try to clear the water out myself, and if I couldn't manage to call the office and have them send him back out. At this point, I'll admit, I was pretty pissed. I had spent over $500 to still have problems with my AC. I called the office and explained the problem at which point the person I spoke to laughed as they told me that it sounds unrelated to the initial problem. I don't think that is an appropriate way to treat customers.
They said they would send Bob back out ASAP. I explained that I would not be paying another dispatch fee. They told me that if there was additional work needed, I would have to cover those costs.
Bob returned and found that there was a clog preventing the water from being cleared by our pump. Water was filtering through the system and pooling. He was very kind and apologized for not having checked after his visit on Monday.
The problem is now solved, and I did genuinely appreciate everything Bob did to help and educate us. I wish that the staff that manages the phones had more compassion for customers. It is unlikely that I would call Fante's again. read more