Day and Night Furnace Fraud

Not totally satisfied with my previous letter, and in possession of new information, I faxed the following to Day and Night Furnace Company at 9:38 p.m.:

I hereby cancel contract #2514 with Day and Night Furnace Company dated July 14, 2005. You are required by law to return within ten days the entire contract amount of $4,100 provided to you by credit card charge on July 16, 2005. Notice of the cancellation has also been sent via certified mail in a separate letter.

You can arrange to pick up your materials within 20 days, however you may not do so until the $4,100 has been fully refunded as I retain a lien on the materials, and you may not do so unless by appointment made with 24 hours’ notice. You may choose not to demand possession of the materials within said 20 days; in which case the goods become my property and I will dispose of them as I see fit. If you choose to remove the materials, you are required by law to restore the property to substantially as good condition as it was at the time the services were rendered — which means that you may not leave us without working furnace unit and evaporator coils. Whichever case you choose, you are still required to refund the full $4,100.

You will return to us the original Janitron furnace unit and evaporator coils you removed.

We have had a third-party air-conditioning contractor foreman inspect the work done by Day and Night Furnace Company. This expert categorizes the entire transaction as fraud on the part of Day and Night Furnace Company, and recommends that we contact the Office of the District Attorney of Santa Clara, the Better Business Bureau, and the California Contractors State License Board.

  • The repairs were not completed satisfactorily.
  • The existing six-year-old furnace unit was replaced although it did not need to be replaced.
  • The crumbling particle board underneath the old unit was not replaced before the new unit was installed.
  • We were grossly overcharged for bottom-of-the-line goods and materials.
  • No permit was filed with Santa Clara County.

I have also notified my credit card company (Citibank) of the contract cancellation. Any charges made by Day and Night Furnace Company will be considered fraud.

Sincerely, Richard D. LeCour

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Responses

17 Responses to “Day and Night Furnace Fraud”

  1. Response #1
    Sean (IP) on July 19th, 2005 at 9:55 am

    Looking forward, eagerly, to their response.

  2. Response #2
    Michael Francis (IP) on October 10th, 2005 at 7:54 pm

    Interesting. Just had a bad experience with the company today. Charged $970 for 1 hour work to replace what I’ve since found out was a $180 part. Company (Appolo) was very uncooperative about discussing it, saying he could charge whatever he wanted. Mistake made…not getting a second opinion…or seeing your site first!

  3. Response #3
    Sam (IP) on January 12th, 2006 at 11:09 am

    I have a Day & Night furnace that is 19 years old. It has begun cutting out mid-operation and then struggles to restart. Repair man was not helpful. Any suggestions? I hope everything works out regarding D&N.

  4. Response #4
    John (IP) on February 8th, 2006 at 8:02 am

    I got screwed by Sears selling me a two stage Carrier furnace that does not work properly. This came after a tech came in to check on my Rheem furnace for a tune up when if fact he came in to destroy my furnace in favor of a new one. He didnt get the sale but Sears did and they wont respond to my requests

  5. Response #5
    Michael (IP) on February 8th, 2006 at 11:19 pm

    Today we were ripped off for $560 for a $30 part and no more than 20 minutes of time fixing the furnace. So I feel a little bit of your pain.

  6. Response #6
    Anonymous (IP) on February 9th, 2006 at 10:35 pm

    About a month ago,I was ripped off $1040 for a $200 part and took no more than 10 minutes to replace. I heard exactly same thing from Apoll…saying he could charge whatever he wanted. Is there anyway to stop him?

  7. Response #7
    Anonymous (IP) on February 13th, 2006 at 11:32 pm

    I reported my experience with Apollo Johnsen to the Better Business Bureau and a letter was sent requesting him to resolve the matter with me. However, he has not responded and there are still seven other complaints from different customers which have not yet been resolved.

  8. Response #8
    richard marlais (IP) on March 28th, 2006 at 6:32 pm

    My 19 year old Day and night furnace will not come on It is a model 396J. The pilot light will not come on. I am afraid of getting ripped off by a repair man. Would you please share the wisdom you have gained through your bad experience with me. Have you found a repairman you can trust? I live in Fremont Calif.

    thanks

    rick Marlais

  9. Response #9
    richard on March 28th, 2006 at 7:36 pm

    I’m pretty sure that the Day and Night Furnace Company in Campbell, CA has no relation to the old Day and Night Furnace Company that actually manufactured furnaces. Unfortunately, I can’t help you in the repairman referral department; just assume that anyone who works on it is likely to rip you off. If you walk into it knowing that you’re getting ripped off, it should be less painful when it comes to fruition.

    Recently, our washing machine stopped working. When I rolled it out to take a look at it, I noticed some shavings on the ground that had obviously resulted from some parts rubbing together and wearing down. We immediately headed over to Sears and bought a new washer/dryer set, later junking the old nonfunctioning washer and arranging for the Salvation Army to pick up the working dryer. Our next-door neighbor, who in a previous career was an appliance repairman, said we absolutely did the right thing; repairman are often obligated to manufacture additional nonexisting/unrelated problems out of thin air in order to make money. Both the construction and repair industries are farces.

  10. Response #10
    Wendy (IP) on April 17th, 2006 at 4:06 pm

    So far with our Day & Night Furnace downstairs, we replaced last year the circuit board and now today for $631 the induction motor, part and labor. Our upstairs furnace has also burned out. This house is 13 years old.

  11. Response #11
    Bob (IP) on April 17th, 2006 at 4:57 pm

    I was also ripped off by Day & Night Furnance Co. I was charged $593 for a $20 part.

    Apollo Johnsen asked me if I was against a business man making a profit.
    How do we sddtop people like him.

    Does anyone have an address for him?

    It appears that most of his listed addresses are no longer valid.

  12. Response #12
    sally (IP) on April 21st, 2006 at 10:54 pm

    Day and Night Furnace Service is different from the Day and Night Furnace.
    I think we are talking about Appolo Johnsen here.
    I am sorry to see your posting ,Bob.
    According to BBB, he has 11 complains for the past 36 months and responded none of them.
    BBB suggested me to check if he has a valid license.
    I hope nobody has a problem like me any more!
    Richard, DO SOMETHING!

  13. Response #13
    Sean (IP) on April 26th, 2006 at 2:36 pm

    Richard has already done a significant amount in posting his blog and hosting all of the comments made here. So how about sally, you do something.

  14. Response #14
    passer-by (IP) on June 2nd, 2006 at 4:19 pm

    If this guy has a valid license, you can file a complaint to the license board.
    I’m sure if there are too many complaints, they will void his license.

  15. Response #15
    Clement (IP) on January 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 am

    Day and Night AKA “The Furnace Company” per business license number located at 2464 El Camino Real #249 Santa Clara, CA 95067. Also listed at 1177 Cherry Ave, San Jose CA 95135.

    Called Day and NIght Saturday Dec 30. They came out. Check my furnace and in two minutes said I needed a controller and that it would cost $750. I asked for labor cost, they said $140 to install plus $70 for diagnosing problem. I asked if they controller cost $500.00. They said it cost $750 minus the labor fee, whatever that was.

    It sounded fishy, so I declined. They disconned a wire to the controller (I found out later) and left. It later turned out that the pilot light had blown out. That was it! I will submit complaint and possibly take to small claims court. I have a witness, my tenant.

  16. Response #16
    JK (IP) on January 7th, 2007 at 10:12 am

    They are at it again. On January the 3rd “Day and Night, the Furnace Company” came out to my rental unit (my tenant is a senior) and pulled the same scam exactly as Clement”s $750.00 for a new controller. He also refused to give me a receipt for the service call $70.00.
    We declined the furnace company bid, and called another repairman .He came.came out and determined there was nothing wrong with the unit but loose wires and charged us $55.00 for a service call.

    We are in the process of contacting the BBB, the Cal. Lic Contractors Board and the police fraud department.

    We need to stop these scam artists.

  17. Response #17
    richard on May 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 am

    I’m closing comments on these older pages in the series. Read on, and save your comments until the last current page. Thanks!

    [Just FYI, another company called Day & Night Heating & Air Inc. has surfaced in the Bay Area that is owned and operated by a couple with the last name of Wood, and appears to be completely unrelated.]