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The problem with buying online is the general lack of warranty.
And the problem with buying locally is the lack of a *labor* warranty. Read the manual - most high-dollar, locally-purchased units have a year of labor warranty, at best. So a hundred bucks an hour for labor & another hundred (or more) per pound of refrigerant (not covered under most warranties) & your "covered under warranty" repair might still cost a grand or more - even though the part was "free".
The fan motor on my Payne unit was replaced last year under warranty. This unit was not installed by a contractor.
Exactly - most repair-dudes will try to swap truly defective parts of any origin at the supply-house & have no problems. So many "installers" work without licensing that it's almost impossible to tell who bought over the web & who bought from jimmy-John on Craigslist. Legally, the manufacturer would get their butts handed to them in court if they deny a valid warranty claim & defending a $500-$1000 small-claims suit would cost more than just rolling over & paying anyway.
Further, most of the online supply-houses will exchange defective parts if you send them an RO from a licensed repair dude showing the part is defective - you can pre-pay for the part, & ship back the dead part & ro for a refund. A hassle, but not impossible to do.
Exactly - most repair-dudes will try to swap truly defective parts of any origin at the supply-house & have no problems. So many "installers" work without licensing that it's almost impossible to tell who bought over the web & who bought from jimmy-John on Craigslist. Legally, the manufacturer would get their butts handed to them in court if they deny a valid warranty claim & defending a $500-$1000 small-claims suit would cost more than just rolling over & paying anyway.
Further, most of the online supply-houses will exchange defective parts if you send them an RO from a licensed repair dude showing the part is defective - you can pre-pay for the part, & ship back the dead part & ro for a refund. A hassle, but not impossible to do.
Im not disputing your experience. However even as a licensed contractor, I have difficulty getting paid labor from the manufacturers. Even for equipment bought from the wholesaler. I have people calling me all the time trying to get warranty labor or materials on a unit that they bought online and installed themselves and It can be very difficult and time consuming for me to do. If at all. Then if the company agrees to pay, they only wants to pay $50 for the labor.
You have to apply for the warranty and send in the warranty card for the warranty to be valid. Many times they dont care but the homeowner rarely sends in the card so the manufacturer is not liable. The warranty cards always require dealer name, contractors name and signed by the licensed installer. No body really cares if you are licensed but they always win in court if you are not licensed if your jurisdiction requires it.
In my case it was the infamous X13 blower motor going bad, the Carrier repairman looked at it, wrote down the serial number on the unit, went back and called Payne (Carrier) and they replaced it. No questions asked about who installed it.
Im not disputing your experience. However even as a licensed contractor, I have difficulty getting paid labor from the manufacturers. Even for equipment bought from the wholesaler. I have people calling me all the time trying to get warranty labor or materials on a unit that they bought online and installed themselves and It can be very difficult and time consuming for me to do. If at all. Then if the company agrees to pay, they only wants to pay $50 for the labor.
You have to apply for the warranty and send in the warranty card for the warranty to be valid. Many times they dont care but the homeowner rarely sends in the card so the manufacturer is not liable. The warranty cards always require dealer name, contractors name and signed by the licensed installer. No body really cares if you are licensed but they always win in court if you are not licensed if your jurisdiction requires it.
The labor isn't usually covered by the warranty, so I'd understand them giving you a hard time about that. The last few warranty cards I filled out were online & for the installer, I just used a dba- no different than most installers would use. The warranty pops in the online system as valid & I doubt any humans ever even see it. In any case, we're only talking dead-to-rights, truly defective parts, anything I damage through my own negligence I'll gladly pay for myself. I've never had to push the issue myself & the dollars involved aren't usually even worth arguing about, but the "tough talk" from the manufacturers is pretty silly. If your company made a lemon, you need to pay for it, not look for a loophole.
As someone who spent a few years paying warranty claims & appearing in courtrooms all over the southwest to defend decisions not to pay claims, I can say from experience that they don't want to go to court over the issue - especially small claims court, which is where this issue belongs. If you've got a sincere customer, with a repair order that says "xyz part was defective", and you try to duck out of the issue by reading fine print & claiming that xx years ago, the part was installed (correctly) by the homeowner, it's just not gonna fly.
In a court in California a few years back, I watched a rep from Alaska Airlines try to present the "contract of carriage" to a small claims court judge. The contract of carriage, which the customer agreed to, was over a foot thick & basically entitled the customer to a kick in the behind & a pack of bubble gum no matter what the company did to the customer. The rep cited chapter, verse & paragraphs showing that the customer was entitled to nothing. The customer's complaint? On a first-class flight to Hawaii, their child's DVD player didn't work. The customer got a $7,000+ refund for all three passengers (the entire trip cost). A manufacturer's rep isn't going to get a fair shake in small claims court. Having worn those shoes before, the plan is deny,delay,deny & then settle before the judge rips you a new one if a customer actually pushes the issue.
Universal EPA 608 exam gives you the legal ability (without the insane $30k/day fine) to hook up gauges on an older R22 unit. As of now no certification is needed to work with 410a.
Installing your own HVAC equipment can be done by a DIY'er but unless you've invested a lot of money in recovery equipment, you'd need to pay someone to come over and discharge your current system. Alternatively, you could shut the HP valve and use the condenser unit to pump the refrigerant into the compressor and then shut the LP valve. You'd still have some left in the lines but it won't be much, technically you should recover it.
This will allow you to start taking out the old system and putting in the new one. That being said, most local code requires that a licensed contractor install all HVAC equipment.
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