The HVAC Fraud Triangle: Commissioned Technicians, Inflated Costs, and Corporate Deception

The BIG NEW YORK BANKS are in your home now. Sounds crazy? Keep reading.

What I’m seeing in the trades today is truly unbelievable. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed more blatant examples of fraud in the State College area than I have recently. When did this start, and what's really going on?

It sounds wild, but the private equity arm of one of the largest investment banks in New York bought a company in Philadelphia that owns several heating and air conditioning companies up and down the East Coast. One of these companies is right here in our town, and they’re causing serious damage to our community. Over the past few years, I’ve heard from other contractors who couldn’t figure out how these guys were getting away with such blatant fraud and unfair business practices. Well, now we know. These investors have no real connection to our community—they’re only focused on one thing: squeezing as much money out of this area as they can for as long as possible, all while hiding behind their massive budgets and expanding into new territories once their reputation inevitably tanks.

Chances are, you’ve already heard some of the stories I’m talking about.

Here are a few examples of what I’ve seen when I’m called in for a second opinion after these guys show up:

• Bad fan motor or capacitor that’s not really bad, or they try to convince you that you need to spend $18,000 to replace the entire system or $1,200 to fix a minor issue.

• Low refrigerant that they claim will cost $5,000 to refill, when the actual cost is less than $1,000.

• Rust or water damage they say is proof that you need a new system, and then they try to charge you up to three times the market value.

• Noise they claim means you need a new system, again, at up to three times what the real cost should be.

You get the idea—sales, sales, sales, with no regard for what’s actually wrong with your system.

Don’t be fooled by flashy advertising budgets or marketing programs designed to cover up or remove negative reviews.

Here’s a tip: Look at Yelp reviews and sort them by negative reviews. Yelp does a much better job at filtering out fake 5-star reviews and those generated by marketers. Google, on the other hand, doesn’t care—they just want contractor money and whatever generates ad revenue (they make $300 billion a year). You have to filter by negative reviews to get an honest picture of what’s really going on. Ask around at work or on your local social media groups. You'll quickly learn who you're really dealing with.

If you want an honest assessment of what's wrong with your HVAC system, and a real price for what it will cost to fix it—give me a call. And don’t just take my word for it—ask around about how I do business at JBN Mechanical. I own the company, I don’t work off commissions, and all of my reviews are 100% real.

Don’t get scammed.

– John