CB Lucas installed a brand new heating & AC unit just over a year ago. This year is only the 2nd time the unit will have been used for A/C. The unit did not work at all when we switched it over to A/C last week. The unit is under warranty so we called CB Lucas since they were the original installers. The tech said that the contact shorted out, blew a fuse & burned up the main board. He mentioned that even though the unit was under warranty, that ONLY parts would be covered. That came as a surprise but it needed fixed & we didn't think the labor would be very expensive. He also mentioned that many of these units have had the same problem. The repairs took 25 minutes and he wrote up a bill which totaled $457.00 for LABOR ONLY, NO PARTS. Most service companies provide pricing for approval prior to the work being done. This tech DID NOT! Very unhappy, we questioned this so called warranty that just cost $457.00. No luck. We then went to the main office & questioned the bill & were shown a book of flat rate prices per task and told "too bad". Each task took 5 min but each task bills out at or over $100 a pop. I told them I would never use them again & they were fine w/ that! They apparently do NOT do hourly billing & screw customers over w/ this flat-rate billing. I contacted the manufacturer (Goodman) and explained the situation. They were very unhappy w/ CB Lucas's billing practices & warned me to never use them again. Instead they said to find another contractor that does hourly billing. They also said I can use any state licensed company & DO NOT have to use them for warrany work. They also told me that if we had purchased the Extended Warranty, the labor would have been covered also. However, CB Lucas does not offer Goodmans Extended Warranty - just another reason to NOT use them. Unfortunately, the extended warranty has to be purchased from the installing company & must be done so within the 1st year. So we are screwed for the life of this unit. The only thing we can do know is use another company for warranty work that offers hourly billing. Goodman said to submit a complaint w/ all the supporting paperwork to Goodman & that their Consumer Affairs unit may be able to provide some assistance, unlike CB Lucas. They may have lots of business, but I guarantee you that it is NOT repeat business. Would NEVER use again!
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