Unlicensed Air Conditioner frauds!

Extreme temperatures outside and your air conditioner decides what a great time to brake down. You call several companies and get told that they can schedule you in 4 days from now. Your buddy at work tells you that he has a cousin that works on air conditioners and can come out after work and fix the air conditioner. Great! You think to yourself, I can sleep tonight with ac, your buddy's friend shows up with a van with no signs, tells you that he works for someone that is licensed. You don't care, you just want AC. Now starts the nightmare, the AC guy tells you that you need a complete new central unit and that it's going to cost you $5,000 and he can install it first thing in the morning. You look shocked, but go through with the repairs. The next day you have your new central air condition installed, shiny exterior housing, awesome! 5 days later you have a county inspector issuing you a violation for work without a permit, you hurry up and call the tech, you tell him what happened and there is silence on the other end. Phone goes dead, you call back and it goes into his voicemail, days go by and nothing. You decide to call the inspector and are told that not only did the tech not connect the unit correctly, but the electrical is unsafe and you need to hire a licensed electrician and pull electrical permits for that work also. You are mad at the inspector who has nothing to do with your mistake, also the county inspector asks why would you install an old unit, the unit turns out to be stolen from another house. What a nightmare, but this happens more often than you think. It is becoming a nightmare for unit owners and worse for condominiums where don't see what was installed on the roof. Property managers are asking for licenses and insurance for any tech wishing to go on the roof of any building in order to keep the building safe.

Hire a licensed person with insurance and always pull permits for electrical and AC work. The county inspector can be your greatest advocate when it comes to holding the contractor to standards.

So, $5,000 lost, county fines, another new central air conditioner, days of frustration, thousand of dollars later and for what? Report unlicensed activity, help stop this fraud.