Do I have a legitimate claim on this Air Conditioning repair problem?

[krus54]

Do I have a legitimate claim on the issue below? What would be a fair compromise?

I have a yearly service contract with an air conditioning/appliance repair company. The contract pays for any/all service calls and equipment will be fixed or, if it can not be fixed, replaced.
The A/C system in my house was VERY OLD - the company that made it is long out of business. At the beginning of the summer we had a variety of (continuing) problems (freon leaks, bad compressor, etc) which caused us to be out of A/C for almost a month. I asked the manager of the service company if he could just replace the system since the cost of parts and labor were costing him more than a new system. They had been at my house continually over the past couple of years fixing a variety of problems (compressors, air handler problems, etc).

He said he couldn't put in a new system for free because the contract says that as long as he can get parts he can keep repairing, but he had a deal for me that would make me happy. For $800 - he would put in a 5 ton 12 SEER High Efficiency A/C. which was his cost. He said both of us would benefit since he already had the unit brand new in the shop because he ordered it in error for another customer and could not return it. He could recoop the money he spent and my benefit would be that I would be saving a lot of money in the long term in energy bills and I wouldn't have to keep calling in all year long to get the system working again.

Here's where the problem starts. They mistakenly thought I had a 5 ton unit when I really had a 4 ton unit. (I wouldn't have known one from the other). He put in the new A/C. 2 days later, there was no cooling again. That's when they realized my old unit was a different size...so they now had to put in a new air handler to match the larger unit. (didn't charge me for the air handler).

The technicians AND THE MANAGER told me I'd be much better off and I had a helluva deal for $800. (I'm NOT doubting that I got a good price). They said with this size unit for the house, my energy bills would go way down.

Florida Power (utility company)came to do an energy audit and immediately told me that the A/C system was oversized for our house. I told her the above story and she said I got a great unit for the price, but the savings were going to be eaten up by larger energy costs. An oversized unit is energy INEFFICIENT. True story. My electric bills have gone up between $50-$75/month.
I have also found out that the duct work was sized for the output of a 4 ton unit, not a 5 ton unit so the air flow to the other rooms is not good.

Do I have any recourse in asking them to replace the unit with an air conditioner that is sized correctly? They are experts and should have known what they were taking out. They had also been out to my house and worked on the system so often that they should have also known what size unit I had. I would not have purchased the 5 ton unit if I knew it was oversized and energy inefficient.

 

[JETX]

Some random thoughts....

1) Due to the variables of weather (temperature, humidity, duration of sunshine, etc.) it is very hard, if not impossible, to compare exact month bills to see if there is a difference due to the A/C sizing.
2) It is possible that the Florida Power and Light 'folks' are guessing that the A/C is the cause of the energy usage difference. So, I would certainly talk with a QUALIFIED A/C technician to see if anything that you have been told is true or not.
[A cursory look shows that an oversized unit is NOT good... but there are a LOT of issues about sizing. See the following:
http://www.homeenergy.org/guides.smallaircond.html
http://hes.lbl.gov/hes/makingithappen/no_regrets/airconditioner.html
http://www.energyguide.com/info/article1-1.asp
http://www.eren.doe.gov/erec/factsheets/aircond.html

Once you get your facts in place (and verified), you will be in a much better position to make a decision on how to try to handle this issue. I will point out though, litigating this type of claim will be EXPENSIVE and probably NOT subject to FL small claims court. They hear money cases only, and won't get involved in a contract issue like this (breach, error, failure to perform, etc.).

 

[krus54]

Thanks for such a quick reply! The woman from the Utility company (Florida Power) left me with several brochures about sizing an air conditioner for a house. The brochure is basically saying: "Bigger is not better." It's the same one that one of your above links pointed me to.

Also, she made some good comments telling me that there's a lot of factors in sizing a unit for a house. She said my house does not face east, is well shaded and that should always be taken into consideration. She said an expert should have known the 5 ton unit was way oversized for my 2200 sq ft house with those other factors taken into consideration.

In addition, in past years, I kept the house thermostat lower with the old unit than I am with the new unit. I have the house temp set at about 75 degrees now compared to 72 in past years. Also, it was cooler this summer than in past years. All these factors are showing that my bills should be lower, not higher.

One other point I wanted to make clear which I didn't in the original post. I asked Florida Power to do an energy audit, not because of my higher energy bills, but because I had poor air flow from the vents in the house. They offer 'rebates' or assistance if there's duct problems and I use one of the hvac people on their list of acceptable repair companies. But they have an 'expert' do an initial audit to see if there are leaks in the duct work or other obvious problems with the system. She told me a big reason we have poor air flow is because the duct work isn't big enough to handle the output of the new system.

Does this additional information help you out any more in offering any advice? Thanks again!
--Dave

 

[JETX]

Though it is obvious that your A/C is oversized and that it isn't cost efficient, the problem is now "what to do about it?". It also seems obvious that the contractors main concern was to recover some money from the 5 ton unit that he already had in stock.

My suggestions:
1) Write him a letter (certified RRR) detailing your findings and that, as an A/C contractor, he was or should have been aware that the unit he installed in your house was NOT properly sized and would incur a lot of problems. Ask him to respond in writing with his suggestions to resolve this problem. Give him a specific amount of time (14 days?? from receipt). Lets see what he offers.
2) If he doesn't offer satisfaction, then you will have to consider filing a small claims action to try to recover your 'damages'. The problem is in determining what those actual damages are and whether they can be considered as true 'monetary damages'. Get a couple of bids from other A/C contractors for installing the proper sized unit and handler. While your at it, ask if they would be willing to appear in court to support your argument of incorrect sizing.
3) Then, make your decision.