Furnace Company: The Final Chapter
Almost three years to the day that Apollo Johnsen’s Day and Night Furnace Company (now also known as The Furnace Company) left me with a nonfunctioning air-conditioning system, the ordeal is over — not really resolved satisfactorily in my opinion, but the time has come to move on.
We were awarded the paltry sum of $500, far less than the $3,100 recommended by the CSLB expert witness, or the $5,100 as supported by comparable quotes from local contractors to perform the services recommended by the CSLB.
The entire response from the CSLB Arbitration Program was as follows:
The York Furnace and components installed by Respondent were in accordance with the contract terms, the code and acceptable trade standards. The Start Assist installed by Respondent on the condenser was not authorized by Complainant and did not work for a reasonable amount of time; however, after it was removed, expert testimony confirmed that the condenser still worked. Replacement of the condenser was not within the scope of the work of Respondent, but Respondent should have replaced the existing Freon lines to serve the system and properly charge the lines. Complainant is not entitled to the entire cost of the replacement of the condenser because it was not within the scope of the work of contract, but Complainant is entitled to part of the costs to replace the Freon lines and labor to properly charge them.
Unfortunately, the arbitrator ignored the following facts:
- the condenser unit is still not functioning reliably, as indicated by the CSLB expert witness.
- damage to the condenser was caused by the defective start assist.
- the CSLB-appointed expert witness attested both verbally and within his written report that the installation was not performed in accordance with acceptable trade standards.
- the contract right of rescission was deliberately and willfully ignored.
- the contract wasn’t even legal in the first place.
As they say in the trades, “You touch it, you own it” — but apparently that age-old common sense didn’t seem to apply in the eyes of the arbitrator. By installing the faulty start assist, Apollo damaged our condenser unit to the point that the motor has not functioned properly since. I still wholeheartedly believe he knew the part was faulty, and that the act was intentional in order to gain future repair business. 
Sadly, even if the Freon lines were the only items needing repair and recharging, recently obtained estimates put the cost at hundreds of dollars above the $500 award.
The most annoying thing is that he got away with the scam virtually scot-free — and he knows it. He doodled a smiley face on the $500 check he sent to us, along with a snide “LMAO” to the side.
“Any lessons learned?”, you might ask. I suppose I’d have to include (1) be more diligent about ensuring that everything is written in the contract; (2) don’t agree that it’s satisfactorily completed until I’m absolutely sure that it is satisfactorily completed; (3) trust no one; (4) don’t leave any contractors unattended; and (5) rely on Google more heavily than BBB reports or CSLB records, especially if the BBB and CSLB results appear clean (the BBB has financial incentives to ignore consumer complaints, and the CSLB does not display arbitration awards).
Above all, go after contractors that screw you over. File a complaint with the CSLB. Post your story online, either on a highly ranked website or register your own thefurnacecompanysucks.com site. I may not have received full justice (not enough to offset suffering through two hot summers without air conditioning, and certainly not enough to actually pay for needed repairs), but at least I got something out of it, and I kept him off the streets for a few afternoons — hopefully sparing one or two others an equally painful experience.
Well, Apollo Johnson is nothing but an ášš through and through. So if he’s laughed his ášš off there’s not that much left of him. At most, just a hole.
Small consolation, I know.
You are a very composed human being. Is it industry standard to be a complete and total jerk to own a HVAC company? We also had issues here in California when we did an addition to our home, they said in the contract we were getting a 14 seer unit, yet right on it it says it’s a 13 seer. Úšwìpë here said that because of the way they installed it, it “boosted” it to a 14 seer. I told him I didn’t care if that was true or not, it was not told to us nor was it in the contract. I’ve totally put the whole issue on the WAY back burner. We’re just tired. People are always tring to pull fast ones, we’re sick of it. I think because we live by the “golden rule” we expect that everyone else does the same….not the case.