This review is for the owner of this company, Rick, who is truly one of the rudest, most aggressive business owners with whom I have ever had the displeasure of working. My GC and I had previously worked with a different HVAC contractor in Napa on a different project who sadly passed away in 2018. As a result, we needed a new company to install a new HVAC system in a renovation home.
From my very first contact with Rick on the phone he threatened to place mechanic's liens on the property if I did not do exactly what he demanded of me in terms of payment to SM. Rather than be happy and excited about the over $13,000 job he was about to get, he seemed angry. He kept saying that he had been "burned" before by other customers and therefore it was his way or the highway in terms of paying the first half of the payment for this company's services. Rather than get into it with him about his negative treatment of a new customer, I did what he asked and paid the first $6,600 of the cost for the new system. I had hoped to not have to deal with him again.
When my contractor informed me that the system installation was completed, I immediately paid the final 1/2 of the bill. Approximately 2 months later during final inspections on the home, we found out that the new system would not pass final inspection because of problems with the duct work. At this point, SM had been paid in full for 2 months. My contractor contacted SM and had to make arrangements for them to come out and fix their work which included destroying some of the new construction on the home to get to an area that needed duct repairs. The system finally passed inspection but now we were left needing to complete repairs to the home and also paying for the second inspection.
I called SM and was put through to Rick yet again. There was no apology from him for the problems he had caused us. Once again, he seemed angry to be force to deal with a customer (or maybe just a female customer?). I told him that because of their failed work, we are going to incur additional expenses. He kept saying that they would pay for the additional expenses as a credit on our final bill. I told him I had paid the final bill 2 months ago so how exactly would we get paid back? He was really hot by now so I said I was considering reversing the charges on my credit card until we resolved this dispute. This comment got him even angrier so he then said if I do that he will put a mechanic's lien on the home! After going around and around on the phone with him about his threat to do this, I finally hung up the phone on him because I was getting no where.
Who treats their customers like this? Why does this person feel it is appropriate to threaten customers from the start of the relationship and then when something goes wrong their work, threaten them again?
I worked with a garage door contractor on this same house and there was also a problem with their work because they installed two different glass garage doors instead of matching doors. Like with the HVAC company, I had already paid them in full for their work when we realized there was a problem with the doors. Instead of yelling and threatening me when I pointed out the fact that they had already been paid in full, they profusely apologized. They were contrite, admitted it was their fault and even said that they would understand reversing the charges until they corrected the work. They were so nice and confirmed their plans to fix the problem in writing so that I felt comfortable enough that I did not reverse the charges. They fixed everything and offered us a discount on the doors because of the inconvenience they had caused us.
Rick's solution is to bully the customer, not apologize for errors and then threaten legal action if the customer does what every customer has a right to do which is not pay until the work is satisfactorily completed. If he hates his customers so much then he should not be in business. I am going to reverse the charges until he provides some sort of concrete financial offer to pay for the damages that we incurred because of the defective ducting that was put into the house. Since we don't owe him any money at this point, my only remedy to ensure we get paid back for the damages is to reverse payment to his company.
I understand that mistakes happen, but he needs to take ownership of the mistakes his employees made, treat his customers with respect and stop threatening them with legal action! Bad form, bad attitude and bad business! read more
