DO NOT USE ARTIC AIR!!
DO NOT USE ARTIC AIR!!
In 2020 Artic Air installed 2 mini splits. In 2021, one of the units was already malfunctioning and required service. Part of the installation was not done correctly, and water was backing up into the unit. I have the invoice where the tech stated same. Labour was still under warranty, and we were not charged.
During the recent heat wave, Monday, the 23rd, the main unit would not turn on. Artic Air sent a tech, Tony, to fix it. It was 99 degrees that day. Tony tried several things to get it to work and was not successful. He said it was most likely a blown circuit board inside the unit. It was late in the day, and he said he was too old to be climbing on a ladder to take it apart and would call his dispatcher and have them send another tech the next day if possible. When it was 6pm and no one had reached out to me, I called and was told they had reached out, but for the second time, had used an old number no longer in service, despite specifically being advised of same and given the correct one TWICE. By that time, there was no availability until Friday, the 27th. Given the amount of service calls during this heat wave, I could understand and didn’t complain.
On Friday, they sent Eric. To both of our surprise, the unit turned right on. I had tried turning it on Thursday night and it did not. He opened the unit, and decided it was moisture and pet hair causing the switch to trip and not letting the unit come on….but it just had come on, moisture and pet hair notwithstanding. During his time, he was on his cel to another tech, walking him thru a repair that he did not know how to do. He spent very little time working on our unit. He claimed the unit was ok, despite a history of it not being able to maintain a set temperature and not always turning on. When I asked him for the bill, he claimed it was showing no charge as. He asked if I paid Tony on the Monday visit and I told him I did not. He then thanked me for my honesty, as the office had made a mistake, and I paid him $149.28 for the visit. One of our remotes was not working and he said it was not fixable. He advised getting one from Amazon. I asked him if it was not covered under the 12 year warranty for parts as the unit does not work without it. He said he would replace it and have it sent to us. I got a text from him later that evening saying they would not cover the remote. He would have them send an invoice for a replacement if I wanted one from them. The invoice was for $259.84. The same remote is $59 direct from Mitsubishi and runs about $20 on Amazon.
I had shut the unit off right after Eric left as it was 70 and no need for air. When I went to turn it on Saturday morning…IT WOULD NOT COME ON AND HAD A FLASHING RED LIGHT!!!
Needless to say, I am LIVID! It was bad enough that the company would not honour the warranty for the remote, as the contract says NOTHING about it not being covered. I can’t imagine it not being as THE UNIT DOES NOT WORK WITHOUT IT. It is mounted on the wall at almost the ceiling and there seems to not be manual controls…plus a disabled 73-year-old with a serious health issue should not have to deal with climbing a ladder to turn it on if it was possible. The price for their replacement seems to show that they fleece seniors who they think won’t realize they are being cheated! I have requested a call from a manager on Monday to further address this issue.
Needless to say, we will no longer be doing ANY business with Artic Air. If you can’t depend on a company to honour its promise, warranty and obligation over a small part, I shudder to think of what lengths they will go to not to have to replace a bigger part. If this is how they resolve a smaller issue, you can’t trust them to be honest on a larger one. Since the “repair” they did didn’t fix the problem, I can only imagine there is something much more defective with the unit and we are just being given BS excuses. Horrible customer service. There are so many other companies out there that do not do this and take pride in their customer service. I can’t image this one continuing to be successful with this business practice. I strongly advise not using this company as in my opinion, it is not dependable, honest or trustworthy!!