In the span of 3 years, we've hired Siamak (Max) for:
- Furnace and air conditioner repair
- New furnace installation
- Ductless system installation
We consistently chose him because his prices were always fair and his work seemed good. So I put up with his generally grumpy demeanour. However, I'll no longer be using him or recommending him to any friends. Here's why:
Less than two years ago, we hired him to install a brand new ductless system with three indoor units. When he installed it, he positioned the outdoor unit on our front porch and ran the piping in relatively straight lines to the indoor units. So the piping cuts across the side of our house on diagonal lines and isn't great to look at. He said that it would be challenging to mount that outdoor unit on the side of our house (which is brick veneer) until we were able to show him the exact locations of the studs inside the house. That seemed fair, so I agreed. Later, I asked our general contractor to check the walls and mark the locations of the studs. When I showed Siamak, he gave a few reasons that he couldn't move the ductless unit; he was too busy, our house is too close to our neighbour's, etc. After I addressed each of his points, he eventually admitted that he simply didn't want to get involved with the task of moving our ductless unit. He will no longer be working with ductless systems because he doesn't want the danger of working on ladders. That's fair, it seems like a risky job. But I already paid to have my system installed and the job was never finished properly. So I asked for a referral to someone else that I can hire and still maintain the 3-year warranty that he gave me. He said no, I would need to find someone myself. And that new contractor will void the warranty as soon as they touch the system, so they'll need to provide their own warranty. What contractor is going to offer a warranty on a system that they didn't install? I pointed out that he was leaving us with zero options to get our system installed correctly and still maintain the warranty.
I was hesitant to leave this review because we may still need to call Siamak for warranty coverage on our furnace or ductless system (until we move it, that is). But I wanted to voice my strong displeasure at Siamak's broken promise, rudeness, and lack of support for a system that he installed. His pricing is good, but it's no longer worth the stress.
Lastly, some advice that I usually follow but skipped due to our positive history with Siamak before this incident: ensure that you get everything in writing so there can't be any dispute over commitments that are made for future adjustments!