AtlasCare

We had a GeneralAire humidifier (model 1042) installed on our furnace on Nov. 22, 2013. The work performed was flawless. There was only one problem… the place where the unit was installed is totally inaccessible. You would need to be a very small man to be able to squeeze in there to do any work on the system (see attached picture). When I pointed this out to the installer, he shrugged his shoulders and said “well that’s the way it’s installed.” However, when I later checked the manual, it stated that: “the humidifier may be mounted on the warm or return air plenum with equal efficiency”.
In September 2014, my wife called Atlas to set up a yearly maintenance contract. The receptionist said that someone would get in touch with us. No one ever did. My wife called again two weeks later…. Same response, no one called back. So, we signed a contract with another company for annual furnace maintenance. Then in January 2015, the humidifier stopped working. When the repairman arrived and looked at the placement of the humidifier on the air duct, he said: “how the **** am I supposed to get in there??” He had to disconnect all the tubing to access the solenoid/strainer side of the humidifier to remove and unblock the orifice. He charged plenty. So, now I resign myself to changing the evaporator pad myself…. What should take about a minute to do, takes more than 15 minutes as I struggle to crawl in the cramped space and squirm about. If I were not so flexible (I weigh 160 pounds), I would not be able to get in there.
In any event, the company that I have a contract with refuses to include the humidifier in the yearly maintenance due to it’s inaccessibility. They say that they would have to switch the two sides so that the unit is accessible (for a price, of course).
So, obviously I am not a happy customer and I feel I was misled by the Homestars ratings for Atlas.