Customer Reviews for Patriot Mechanical
Tom Engdahl on 10/2/2015 7:37:15 PM
Herewith, a little history: Last winter, our heater began working intermittently and eventually stopped heating altogether; we called Patriot Mechanical because they had installed the original system in our house (in fact, in our entire development), and set up an appointment for a technician to come out. First long story short: the tech, Ron, showed up 5 hours late (I kid you not!), spent 10 minutes 'troubleshooting' the problem, then declared that he would have to come back the next day because it was late and had been a long day for him... (On a separate but related note, before he left, I asked Ron to take a quick look at a downstairs heating duct that appeared to have become detached; he looked and said he would have to mention it to "...a different tech who handles those things..." Okay, fine).
Anyway, the next day Ron came back, looked at the heating system again, and this time determined that it needed a new control board. He replaced the board, we paid the $400 bill, and off we went, happy that our heater seemed to be up and running again. As he left, I reminded Ron about the separated duct, and he said he would arrange for someone to call.
Not only did someone NOT call, but a few weeks later our heater reverted to intermittent heating again (aaaaagh!); however, by now the weather was warming up and we didn't really need heating, sooooo...yeah, we kinda let it slide off our radar.
Fast forward to Summer 2015, which had to be one of the hottest on record around here. On one particularly warm day, I switched on the AC; it made its usual start-up sounds and then started running normally. For about 5 minutes. Then it started making weird sounds as it continued running. After an hour I switched the system off because no cold air was coming out. Second long story short: I called Patriot Mechanical; several times; got Voicemail, left messages, no one called back. On my last call I finally reached someone who set up an appointment for a technician to come out. The tech who showed up was my buddy, Ron. As he troubleshot the AC problem (for all of 10 minutes), I casually mentioned that last winter's intermittent heating problem appeared to be back as well, and he said the two issues might be related as the one furnace serves both functions. He showed me a 'blown' fuse and said it was caused by the upstairs AC unit overheating because of a faulty blower motor. He said we needed a new blower motor which would have to be special-ordered, and that it would cost $500 - $600 for the part, plus labor. I said that I would do some price comparisons and then make the decision as to whether or not to use Patriot or another company. That evening, my husband climbed up into the attic to look at the furnace and asked if Ron was coming back; I replied that I didn't think so, why? And my husband said "...Well, the cover is off the furnace and there are parts lying around on the floor..."
The following week I received a bill from Patriot Mechanical for Ron's 'service call'. I called and spoke to Julie in the office, and crisply informed her that I would not be paying the bill. I explained in great detail about a) the unsatisfactory service; b) the fact that it was like pulling teeth to reach someone on the phone, and c) getting a return call was an exercise in futility. Julie was very apologetic, said that with the hot weather they were overwhelmed with calls, and that she would write off my bill. She also asked if we would be willing to give them the opportunity to make amends. Okay, sure; would you please send someone out to check on the separated duct that I previously asked Ron about. She said she would check to see if anyone was available and call me back. Julie never called back. Ron retired. So, there it is. I'm sure the company was, in fact, overwhelmed with service requests when our normally mild summer weather turned sub-tropical, BUT, that doesn't excuse poor customer service and failure to follow up and/or return calls.
And you know what the worst part was? We ended up calling another company, who came out within 24 hours, and diagnosed the problem: it wasn't a faulty blower motor at all, but a wire that was attached to the wrong terminal, causing the furnace to draw between 17 & 19 amps! (It's supposed to draw 7 - 9 amps).
As I stated at the beginning of this review, I am not impressed with Patriot Mechanical.
