Buchner Heating, AC & Plumbing

Really shady scam operating out of Aurora, IL area. Called them asking them to send a tech for furnace tuneup and who is qualified to install a T10+ thermostat kit to furnace, AC, and humidifier. It wasn't that I couldn't handle it myself, but rather to have Honeywell warranty the unit, a certified tech must install it.

Well, the tech they sent, Brandon, not only wasn't qualified to install the kit, but also had no knowledge of this kit at all. But after looking at the box, said it would cost about $20-$30 to install on top of the $149 furnace tuneup. I agreed saying I can afford the $200 total.

Since I had another contractor working on our 2nd floor, I let Brandon work in the basement on the HVAC equipment. When I came back down to the first floor a couple hours later, I saw the Buchner truck outside still. When I went to the basement, I found Brandon sitting on the floor reading the manual. Mind you, he never said he was charging more than the $200 I approved.

He had apparently been unable to get the humidifier to power on. It seems he had decided to change the humidifier to being powered by the furnace, which is not compliant with Honeywell authorized procedure for that unit. When he had Honeywell support on speakerphone, the specifically told him he couldn't power it from furnace, and to reconnect it to the transformer it was originally on.

After ending the call, he still didn't tell me he was charging me more than $200, so I went back up to the contractor two floors up. Finally, four hours later, I had to go to work. At five hours, he hands my wife an invoice for $900 for the work. But that's not all, he also tells us the humidifier board is dead, even though it had been running with no issue prior to Brandon arriving.

Of course I refuse to pay the $900 invoice and call Buchner. When they have the Service Manager call me, he tells me that Brandon never said it was $20-$30 to install the kit and that Brandon is competent and wouldn't damage the humidifier from working on it. The manager finally agreed to send his other tech, Tony, to diagnose the equipment, no charge only after I inquired.

Tony comes out later in the week with my wife home. He determines that "Brandon did not land one of the humidifier wires correctly and that the equipment is now online. But during conversation with my wife calls her a liar when she says that Brandon never said he was charging us beyond the $200 we agreed to until he handed her the $900 invoice.

About a week later, I get an updated invoice from Buchner in the mail for $181, which I called them to pay immediately. I figured they must have agreed that Brandon had made one or more mistakes, and was doing the right thing. Oh was I wrong!

A couple weeks later, I'm trying to clean up the loose humidistat wires that are supposedly not connected anymore because it is now wirelessly digital instead of wired analog. WRONG! As soon as two wires touched, I see an electrical arc, and my new thermostat goes dark.

I immediately call Buchner, but the answering service says there is a note in their system to not service our address. She tells me to call Monday, which I do. The primary secretary tells me they "discounted" the work they did and there was a note to no longer service our address and I would have to speak to the Service Manager, which I agreed to do. Well, several days, and no call from them to my phone and no call to wife's phone.

So I contact my contractor who is a licensed electrician and plumber, and also fixed a few pre-existing electrical issues in the house already. With his guidance, we identified the problem to be a blown fuse on the furnace board.

So to recap:

● Poor customer service
● Unqualified HVAC Technician
● Attempt to commit fraud (charging customer while they teach themselves how to do their job)
● Attempt to charge nearly 5x the amount they were initially approved for without renewed consent
● Dishonest techs and Service Manager