TRI COUNTY MECHANICAL & ELEC

Tri-County installed an air conditioning system in my home. The cost of the entire system was approximately $2500. The $537.67 cost includes the initial Tri-County service call of $93.96 and the final repair implemented by a second air conditioning company of $443.71. When the system stopped working, Tri-County was called. The service technician determined that a motor starter capacitor had gone out thus, according to him, causing the failure of the compressor. He gave me a verbal estimate in the neighborhood of $400-$500 to fix including the cost of new compressor at approximately $257. I asked for and later received a written lump sum estimate of $1143. I requested a detailed breakdown of the estimate. None was forthcoming so I travelled to their office and requested the breakdown in person. While waiting for a reply, I contacted another air conditioning company and learned there was a protection device that should have been installed to prevent this situation from happening, and second, these compressors typically are warranted for ten years. I finally received the detailed estimate which included $567 for a new compressor. The second air conditioning company verified the compressor was in fact still under warranty and would be replaced free except for shipping and installation. I attempted to negotiate the price with Tri-County taking out the $567 for the compressor. Tri-County refused to negotiate and I authorized the second company to accomplish the replacement. The second company ordered the replacement compressor on the assurances to me from Tri-County that the compressor was bad. When the technician from the second air conditioning company came to install the new compressor, he determined that the compressor did not warrant replacement. He also showed me the wiring diagram and installation instructions that were on a label affixed to the compressor housing that clearly showed the protection devices that were to have been installed at the time of the initial installation. The diagram showed that the protection devices were to be supplied by the installer. None had ever been provided or installed. The second company technician replaced the start capacitor and installed and wired the missing protection devices. The second company’s bill included $99 for shipping the replacement compressor back to the manufacturer. I sent a registered letter to Tri-County asking them to participate in these costs. Tri-County did not respond within the two week time frame specified in the registered letter nor to this day which is four weeks after the letter. In my opinion, Tri-County showed little professionalism and refuses to admit it’s errors and, further, it does not employ knowledgeable, qualified, and properly trained technicians to install and troubleshoot what they sell.