Are you being told the truth when HVAC Companies Advertise?

Lifetime warranty on fireboxes

Lifetime warranty on compressors

99 Year warranty on compressors

10 year warranty on furnaces

10 year warranty on air conditioners

10 year parts and labor warranty

That really isn’t true. I don’t want to scare you, but I do want you to be aware of some of the scary stuff going on in the heating and air conditioning contracting world. You can browse through just about any publication and see guarantees and warranties that sound like you’ll never have another problem with your new central heating and air conditioning systems, but that only sounds like you’ll never have.

A Sucker is Born Every Minute - is a lie!

Those of P. T. Barnum's acquaintances who mentioned the subject were unanimous in insisting that he never said this. The closest thing to it that can be found in Barnum's writings is: "I said that the people like to be humbugged when, as in my case, there is no humbuggery except that which consists in throwing up sky-rockets and issuing flaming bills and advertisements to attract public attention to shows which all acknowledge are always clean, moral, instructive, elevating, and give back to their patrons in every case several times their money's worth" (the Bridgeport Standard, 2 Oct. 1885). Captain Alexander Williams, a New York City police inspector at the time, attributed "There's a sucker born every minute, but none of them ever die" to Joseph Bessimer, a notorious confidence trickster of the early 1880s known to the police as "Paper Collar Joe". See P. T. Barnum: the Legend and the Man, by A. H. Saxon (Columbia University Press, 1989).

Even culturally accepted facts need to be taken with a grain a salt.

Lifetime Warranties are Sales Mumbo-Jumbo

They sure sound nice don’t they? Lifetime warranty on furnaces and air conditioning equipment. It kind of gives you the impression that should anything go wrong, that you’ll have someone to rely on to take care of the problem and those problems won’t be impacting your budget.

It isn’t true.

The lifetime of an air conditioner is 12 to 15 years. If the components fail after 10 years the manufacturer may offer you a discount, or a credit, towards purchasing a new system towards them. This is in writing and I have read it on a multiple manufacturer’s warranty agreements. One of the major manufacturers even offered a $120 payout for a lifetime firebox guarantee after it was installed for only 11 years to a customer that called us out because the company that installed the system went out of business. That’s some guarantee, isn’t it?

If the central air conditioner dies after 12 years you have no warranty whatsoever as the air conditioner has aged beyond its normal life span. If the furnace survives past 20 years your warranty expires as that is the age limit of furnaces. If you move, the warranty expires or the new homeowners have to pay the manufacturer to keep the warranty alive and accept the new rules and coverage as dictated by the manufacturer.

There is Always a Catch

Whenever a heating and air conditioning warranty seems too good to be true, then it most likely is too good to be true. You will end up having to purchase something, pay for upgrades or pay shipping, handling, distributor fees and dealer fees. Someone is going to need to pay these people as the manufacturer only covers the actual equipment, not everything else.

What happens when it is under warranty

Let’s assume that you have a condensing unit, that’s the outdoor air conditioner, fail under warranty. Its 6 years after the installation and the compressor shorted out burning out all of the controls. The manufacturer asks for your records proving that the central air conditioning system has been maintained each year. (Yes, they do require you to keep records. We keep all of our records for a minimum of 14 years because of IRS regulations and are completely computerized so we can retrieve these quickly and easily) If you cannot produce the records then your warranty may have just flown out the window. You produce the records and the manufacturer honor all provisions of the warranty. The best case scenario is the manufacture gives you a condensing unit and says have at it. You then hire an HVAC company, authorized by the manufacturer (unauthorized HVAC companies void the warranty the same way that purchases made online void the warranty), and proceed with the installation.

Stop. You can’t just install a new outdoor unit coupled to the old indoor evaporator.

The HVAC mechanic tells you that you must change out the indoor coil to meet the manufacturer’s specifications for SEER and cooling performance and to maintain your existing warranty. The warranty never starts over again, it only continues if you do everything perfectly. There is nothing wrong with the indoor evaporator coil, except that is cannot be used with the new outdoor air conditioner, so the manufacturer says thank you very much for the extra $1,000 or so. You still end up paying when it is under warranty.

You should be concerned, but now you know.

The 99 year warranty on compressors is trash and is meaningless. This warranty is on Goodman, Janitrol and Amana equipment, same equipment, different stickers. The warranty is against manufactures defects. If the compressor lasted 10 years, there is no manufacturer’s defect. If the compressor lasted 5 years there is no manufacturer’s defect as the number reason for failure in air conditioning compressors, more than all the other reasons combined, is liquid flood back. That is the industry term for “too much Freon” in the system which is a defect in installation and maintenance, not manufacturing. This situation, liquid flood back, can also be caused by a lack of airflow across the evaporator coil which is usually caused by a dirty coil or a dirty filter. The defect is clearly not a manufacturer defect so 90%+ of those claims are not warranty at all.

10 year warranty on furnace. 10 warranty on air conditioner

Most high end furnaces come with some sort of manufacturer’s warranty on the components that can extend to 10 years. The problem with this type of warranty, from the manufacture, is that is only covers the components. The majority of the time the component that fails is fairly minor and the time and effort required to fill out the forms and send in the request for reimbursement exceeds the cost of the parts. That’s some guarantee, isn’t it? Many manufacturers have now defaulted to using only certain listed repair providers for this type of work and, if you read the warranty, it informs you that they will not even cover the part unless their people diagnose and install it. You get to pay for the labor of course, and guess what? The labor charges cover the cost of the part. One of the top manufacturers in the United States has instructions for parts warranties in their fine writing that you have to remove the part and mail it back to the them for inspection and confirmation that it is broken. Only then will they mail you a replacement part. How long do think that is going to take? Great warranties, for the manufacturer that is.

10 year parts and labor. This one should scare you if you have one.

There are no 10 year parts and labor warranties issued from manufactures of heating and air conditioning equipment. This is an important so I will repeat it. There are no manufacturer issued and held 10 year parts and labor warranties on any heating and air conditioning equipment. I know what you are thinking.

The HVAC Company said I had a “10 Year Parts and Labor Warranty”

Sure, they said it or they gave you the impression that you’ll have it. After the system installation the HVAC company will need to fill out some paperwork and you’ll need to sign for that paperwork. Careful, read the fine print. The warranties are issued from third parties companies that are not located in California. None of them will located in California because the laws are much stricter here. The third parties companies issue a policy pretending to cover the cost of labor for the next 10 years. They do not cover any materials. They work in conjunction, but separately from the manufacturer. They will pay out up to a certain amount. Most are capped yearly and have a final cap on the costs as well. It is not a catch all. There are many more requirements to be reimbursed under the terms of the policy and these companies do not pay the HVAC company.

You have to pay out of your pocket

You have to pay the HVAC company and them argue to get reimbursed from the insurance company. Ever try to get money out of any insurance company? They have experts on staff whose job is to limit the amount of money they pay out. The single best method for limiting payouts seems to be to underpay for the work performed. They will have a flat pay amount for each item that breaks in a furnace or air conditioner. It will not cover drive time to the job, time at the supply house, downtime on the A/C or forced air unit, and they pay late and only at a flat rate that has been determined by a group of insurance company analysts to be a “National Rate”. Do think the going rate in Arkansas, New Mexico or North Dakota will be anywhere near the same rate as here in California? You are right it won’t even be close. $25 to $50 an hour labor will not pay the bills for a contractor here in Southern California, not by a long shot.

We don’t do any of that

We have real in house guarantees and we stick to them. It’s the reason why we’re still business as so much of our competition goes out of business each year. Here are the actual warranties written on our HVAC installation agreements. To ensure payment, even if we fail, we have bond posted that can be collected from. This is all to ensure that when you invest with the Empire Family of Services, you are investing wisely.

Our Promise to You, Outstanding Craftsmanship

These are your Warranties & Guarantees that come with your yearly maintenance. We just want you to know why we’re different.

____100% Satisfaction Guarantee

What our 100% satisfaction guarantee says is that if you are not 100% Satisfied with what we’ve performed, then we’ll make any modification necessary, any modification required, to gain your 100% satisfaction, up to and including replacing the equipment or refunding your money, all of your money. It’s not just our goal, 100% Satisfaction; it’s your right as a consumer. If you’re not satisfied, were not satisfied. To activate this warranty just let us know before you pay for the work performed that you are not satisfied. If we cannot satisfy you and your family simply allow us to remove the system, sign the damage waiver and allow us to remove the entire system within 7 days of the request. You won’t owe us one dime for the installation.

____No Lemon Cooling Guarantee

If your compressor, the heart and soul of your air conditioning system, fails two times in the first 5 years we are not just going to replace that compressor with a new one, something just about every company does (only they charge you for labor, handling, shipping and miscellaneous parts), we’re going to remove the complete outdoor condensing unit and replace it with a brand new complete unit and you won’t be paying us one dime.

____No Lemon Heating Guarantee

If for any reason whatsoever that heat exchanger, the heart and soul of your heating system, fails in the first 10 years we are not changing out that heat exchanger. We will be removing the entire furnace and replacing it with a brand new one and you won’t be paying one dime.

____No Frustration Guarantee

If for any reason whatsoever the system that we installed fails to heat or cool your home within the first year we are going to fix it for free and if we don’t get it fixed within 24 normal working hours after notification in person (phone not voice mail or letter), we are going to show up with a check for $250, just for your aggravation and your frustration.

____365 Day Test Drive

Our Company is going to give you 365 days to think about it.* We call this our ‘You can’t be making a mistake – I want to think it over guarantee”. This is a 365 day test drive. We want you to test drive your New Home Comfort System through all four seasons to make sure that it meets and exceeds all of your expectations. You’ll be using your new Home Comfort System throughout the cold and clammy winter season, you’ll get to drive through the sneezing, sniffling asthma season, spring, you’ll get to cruise through the hot and muggy I can’t sleep at night summer season and finally your going to be able to triumph through the cold and flue season, fall. After you’ve passed through all of these seasons only then do have to make a decision. If you’re not satisfied with the performance of the system, if for any reason or if for no reason whatsoever you are not satisfied with this system, give us call and we will refund 100% of your investment and we’ll give you interest. You don’t get to keep the system and we must be allowed to remove every part of it within 7 days of the written request (email or letter) and within the 365 day time period and you must sign a damage waiver, but you just received a year’s worth of heating and cooling absolutely for free. We don’t believe you can possibly be making a mistake by having us perform this installation for you.

________Home Comfort Guarantee

What our guarantee says is that on a minus 10 degree day, your home will maintain, plus or minus 3 degrees of 70 degrees at the Comfort Controller. That’s right, we put it right here in writing. On a 95 degree day, your home is going to maintain, plus or minus 3 degrees of 75 degrees at the Comfort Controller. If it doesn’t we will do anything up to and including replacing the equipment, insulating your attic, resizing ducting or refunding your money, all of your money. The additional work will be at no charge to you whatsoever. You must have taken all of our recommendations for your system upon installation. Example: If we say you need insulation and you say no, this warranty would not be in effect.

________Property Protection Guarantee

If we damage your home through negligence or accident we will have it repaired professionally or pay to have someone repair it professionally. We won’t go to some parking lot and pick up illegal workers and bring them to your home. We only use properly bonded, licensed and insured professional craftsman for every repair.   *Foreclosure or threat of foreclosure voids this guarantee. We cannot remove HVAC equipment when the home is in foreclosure as this is a fixed appliance and fixed appliances cannot be removed and are considered part of the home.

________10-10-10 Warranty:

10 Years on Parts-10 Years on Labor
When We Perform 10 Years of Maintenance
Here Are the Covered Items on This Fantastic 10-10-10 Warranty:

Qualifications: This is a 9 year supplement to the one year parts and labor you are given with every installation and starts on day 366 after installation. You must have at all times a valid Ultimate Service Agreement. Any lapse in coverage for any reason can signify a loss of warranty. If the Ultimate Service Agreement Lapses, you must request, in writing, for continued coverage.

How this works. Let’s say the system is experiencing a problem. When you call us we are going to quote you a minimum service call and let you know that “if the item is covered, and it probably is, then there will be no charge”. You must agree to pay the service charge amount in advance. We then come out to diagnose the system giving you a typical 2 hour window of time. You must be present for the service call; failure to appear will entail a service fee. If it is covered, it usually is, we can nearly always fix it on the spot at no charge to you. If it is not covered, we will give you an estimate to repair the item.

Heating Only Systems: The thermostat must be changed out to an Empire supplied thermostat.

Cooling Only System: All condensers except mini-split ductless are covered. A new evaporator coil must have been provided and installed by Empire within the last year. Thermostat must be an Empire provided and installed thermostat.

Heating and Cooling System: All systems are covered except mini-split ductless and commercially used systems.

These are the actual warranties in writing on our invoices. All terms and conditions are always in writing in plain language on each and every installation agreement.

"I was very satisfied with all four of your employees, Bryan, Neil, Eddie and Tommy, and considered them to be very friendly, helpful and skillful. All four present a very good fare for the Empire organization. Please express my thanks to them and please accept my thanks to you for running a class organization"

Tom Fahg

"I was very pleased with the inspection of my old furnace and the explanation of work to be done. I have received very professional service by Tim and know that he was very knowledgeable. I can endorse his knowledge."

Mrs. T. Denyre

"Jonathon did a superb job and I am very impressed with Empire service. He even cleaned up the filthy water underneath and put everything back."

Mr. Woods