Complaint Review: Lindsay Company - Cypress Texas

I have a home warranty service with American Home Shield (AHS) and they selected The Lindsay Company (16536 Mueschke Rd, Cypress, Texas 77433) to replace my water heater. Lindsay came by on 6 December 2013, removed all the piping, etc., on the old, failed tank and tried to install the new one. Unfortunately, the new one would not go through the attic opening. In fact, neither would the old one so it could be removed.

As I have 2 water heaters, Lindsay repiped to bypass the failed one, giving us hot water while I resolved the access issue.

Lindsay returned on 11 December 2013, successfully installed the new water heater and removed the old one. Dustin, the lead tech, presented me with a bill for $365, a surprise to me.

My wife had talked with AHS to set up the appointment and the rep there said there might be some additional charges not covered under the home warranty to bring things up to code or provide access.

My wife relayed this information to me and, given the house was built in 2004, I did not expect there to be any code violations, so was not concerned.

I asked Dustin, the lead Lindsay tech, if any of the line items would be required to come up to code and he said 'no, those are just for installation'. It was a couple of flex pipes, a gas pipe nipple and a couple feet of PVC. Pretty high cost for that.

I told Dustin I needed to call AHS to confirm that I needed to pay the $365. He immediately started in on me that he is a working man, he makes no money doing work for AHS, etc. The words and tone were clearly not in the same frame as a congenial conversation and it was apparent to me that he was attempting to intimidate me.

I acknowledged his statement and again asked that he let me call AHS to straighten things out.

Dustin spouted off that he didn't have time to wait around, he is a busy man, etc.

Given that a simple phone call could have solved the issue and that Dustin was adamantly opposed to letting me do that, I truly thought there was some sort of con job going on.

In the end I asked what Dustin would suggest and he said, well, I'll just take it back out. Words and tone were again aggressive. I told him to go ahead.

Now, consider things from my perspective for a moment. I really needed the water heater installed. It was not in my best interest to have it removed after it had been installed. My experience is that consumers are ripe for con men when they are in dire straits so, as a senior citizen, I am on guard. This situation appeared to be a classic case of Dustin having me over a barrel, pushing for a rapid decision and attempting to intimidate.

In particular, Dustin was resisting my calling AHS due to how busy he was. And yet, he was willing to put in another unpaid 45 minutes removing the new water heater. For me, nothing was making sense in this encounter. I had the sense that there was something underhanded going on here given his refusal to let me make a simple call and instead take time to remove the new water heater.

I took this case through the BBB. There are a few areas in the BBB Standard for Trust where I see Lindsay coming up short:

1. Tell the Truth: Honestly represent products and services, including clear and adequate disclosures of all material terms.
• Lindsay did not review the service and costs with me prior to commencing work
2. Honor Promises: Abide by all written agreements and verbal representations.
   • While Lindsay, through both Dustin and Matt, promised to repair the hole in my ceiling, nothing has come of that.
3. Embody Integrity: Approach all business dealings, marketplace transactions and commitments with integrity.
   • Not following through on promises, misrepresentation of the situation by Dustin, stealing material from the home all combine to make it apparent that this is not a core value of the company as evidenced by Dustin.

Here is where things stand from my perspective:

1. Lindsay’s tech put a hole in my ceiling. The estimated cost for me to get it fixed is $200. Dustin promised Lindsay would call to schedule the repair but that has yet to happen.
2. Due to the hole in the ceiling, I am experiencing increased utility bills amounting to nearly $100 over the December-February timeframe so far.
3. AHS has a policy that when a policy holder refuses payment for service, they will not send another service company out on the same issue. At no time did I refuse payment but, because Dustin lied to AHS by telling them I did, AHS would not send another of their vendors. I had to go without their buying power and ended up spending $1000 to have a new water heater installed.
4. I could have been without hot water for over 4 days because Dustin stole the fittings from my home that would have enabled me at least partially restore hot water service. I picked up the parts from home depot for $65 and did the work myself.
5. Dustin lied to me by promising to take the old water heater away but instead left in on my front lawn.

This is all about extremely poor customer service, abusive and juvenile behavior coupled with a total lack of patience and compassion. The end result was increased cost to the consumer.

The BBB complaint was closed as unresolved as the only compensation Lindsay was willing to provide was $100. A similar result occurred when I reported this company through Angie's List. While I appreciate that Lindsay is at least making a legitimate offer of action, it is insufficient. Lindsay can pay the following to reconcile this issue:

1. Initial service fee: $100
2. Repair ceiling: $200
3. Increased utilities cost to date: $135
4. Cost of replacement fittings: $65
5. Cost of water heater replacement by another company: $1,000

Total: $1500