Complaint Review: Alaskan Air Conditioning

On November 15 the Tucson branch of Alaskan performed routine maintenance on my heat pump, or so I thought. The tech said the VAD was not within specs and he strongly recommended that it be replaced. I tried repeatedly to have him explain what a VAD is but he just kept repeating technical terms about a vacuum something or other which I repeatedly said I did not understand. He stressed bad things could happen to my compressor and that would be thousands of dollars to repair if the VAD failed. He said I needed to sign an agreement on his computer tablet before he could proceed and the cost would be $589.00. I again asked that he please tell me exactly what a VAD is and he again gave me technical jargon about current and arcing. After acting sincere that the work needed to be done I agreed to the repair. I watched as he installed a capacitor in less than 20 minutes and then he began closing up the unit. I asked when he was going to replace the VAD and he said that is what he did. I noted that the box containing the capacitor was clearly marked “capacitor”.The capacitor he installed costs $12.87 at Home Depot. So for a part that retails for less than $13 he charged nearly $600.00...This was in addition to the maintenance service charge. His intent clearly was to deceive me into believing the repair was a complicated and expensive undertaking rather than being honest.

I called the Tucson office and was told no manager was available to speak with me. I called the Tempe office where it appears the corporate officers are located and was told I had to get back in touch with someone in Tucson. After making three calls to the Tucson office I finally received a call back from Gary the manager. He said the VAD is a voltage absorption device, I asked is that the same as a capacitor? He acknowledged it is the same thing. I asked why the tech refused to tell me that. Gary defended the tech's deceptive answers saying it is a VAD. He also acknowledged that he would have handled my request for a clear layman's description of a VAD in the same manner as the tech had. For what reason other than greed and deception would both the tech and manager object to telling a customer who requested multiple times a clear, and honest answer a response in layman's terms to his question? The reason appears to be that an honest answer would have cost the company a $589.00 pay day. It has a also cost them a customer.

I reported Alaskan to the BBB and on November 23 I received an email from BBB that the respondent (Alaskan) states they have no record of me as a customer.  Oddly, on November 15 Alaskan had emailed to me their invoice number 507852, the same day they cashed my check for $728.90.