I've been debating writing this for several days, as I am a firm supporter of small businesses, but…read moreit keeps bothering me and I want others to pay attention and not pay for unnecessary repairs:
I contacted Atlantic Air to do a heating system inspection for a rental unit, as required by Toms River Township. I have a 1000 sqft rental in Toms River. My first experience with them was excellent . I was unaware that the gas had been disconnected after the last tenant moved out and just prior to the inspection. I was there 3 days prior and it was still turned on. When Atlantic was there initially, they discovered there was no gas, and they promptly rescheduled with me for after I had the gas turned back on with no problems or additional charges. It was great.
On the day of the inspection, they were prompt and professional. My tenant had begun moving in and was there when they arrived and they were pleasurable to her. I had been in the space for the prior 2 weeks cleaning and doing some minor maintenance, and the thermostat and heat worked great as I was there on some colder nights and kept the place nice and toasty while I worked.
Within an hour or less of them arriving, they called and told me "the thermostat is funky - its kicking the unit on and off and they can't get a good read on the system. He's going to replace it ($195)." Again, I was just there, it was cold out, and I used the heat constantly and it worked great. But, it was a work day, I work 60 min north of Toms River and live 30 min north of Toms River, so I said fine - just change it. I'm not going to argue and I won't have a chance to come down and check it out. I thought it was odd that it had literally worked perfectly 4-5 days prior, but I wrote it off and moved on.
Fast forward another 20-30 minutes, and I receive a call from the office. "Your heat exchanger is cracked. This can be very dangerous. We can't issue you the heat cert until we do further inspections."
At this point, its important to note that the furnace (Gas fired hot air) was installed 7 years ago. Its only a 7 year old furnace.
I asked some questions. The woman on the phone was very polite and professional, and said she would get back to me. After hanging up, I did my research. I found out that the only way to determine if a heat exchanger is cracked is to either remove and physically inspect the entire burner assembly, or remove the entire blower unit and use a camera scope, or use a Carbon Monoxide monitor in the vents to look for leaking CO.
I spoke to the office contact again on the phone, and asked bluntly "please let me know which method the tech used to identify the cracked exchanger out of the 3 methods, and please provide me the video and photo evidence of the cracks." Again, she was polite and professional, and told me that this was their newest technician (only hired 1-2 months ago), and he wasn't used to their protocols, she was going to review the findings with Frank, the owner, and get back to me again.
Hang up.
30 minutes later the TECH calls me to collect the $195 plus tax over the phone for the thermostat that he put in. I pay him, since I agreed to the work, and ask him about the cracked exchanger. He informs me, (direct quote) - "welll....its about 8 years old, so its nearing the end of its useful life. Its not there yet, but its getting up there." I literally laughed at him and told him that the average gas fired furnace lasts 15-20 years. I guess he thought I didn't know anything about furnaces and didn't do any research. He further said "well, we have our A/C trucks on the road right now since its AC season, I'll need to come back with the heat truck with the appropriate tools and do a proper test of the heat exchanger to determine how much CO is leaking."
Hang up the phone again.
Finally, the office lady calls a final time - "Frank reviewed all the data, and it turns out there are no cracks in your exchanger. Just note that its burning a little hot. Also, the tech said the filters are really dirty and you need to change the filter."
I changed the filter literally 5 days before the inspection during my last visit to the property prior to scheduling with Atlantic Air since I knew they would be doing a full inspection of the heating system and vents. It was a brand new filter, with two spare filters sitting on the floor of the HVAC closet right next to the furnace. This was another lie from the tech.
I hate writing these kind of reviews, because I did my research and chose Atlantic Air because the reviews were all 5 star for honesty and value. If I were an elderly person, however, I could have very easily agreed to a new thermostat, a furnace rebuild (heat exchanger) or replacement for $4500 or more, and filter changes. It just seems like this "new tech" was out to gouge.
My final recommendation: question everything and make them prove there's an issue before agreeing to anything!!
