Air con service/repair

Hi all

Just need your advice on some servicing/repairs on an air con unit in one of my ips.

My PM recently sent out an air con technician to service 4 air cons in one of my ips. Three of them were serviced but one was not working and the technican sent out a quote via my PM to replace a part/repair and carry out a major service. Repairs was about $150 and the service $200 (so total $350). I agreed to this and the tech completed the works.

Few days later the tenant advises that the aircon starts but turns off after 15 min. PM sent out the tech again. Now i have received an email from the PM advising that the technician has advised that the unit is old and parts are not available for this model hence the unit needs to be replaced. Also sent a bill for $60 for attending to IP.

Is this reasonable? $400 and the air con wasnt even fixed. If they had advised from the start the unit was old and difficult to fix i would have just replaced it!

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

$400 in total and you got 3/4 aircons serviced. sounds cheap to me. You must have split systems.

A new one will be $1500-2000 depending on size

 

Sorry to hear that Y-man. Did you end up having to replace the unit?

I guess my main gripe was that the technician first quoted a price for a fix and then completed a major service...one week later unit not working and they have advised to replace the unit.

 

$400 was for the one unit that wasnt working. The other 3 were serviced for a total of about $560.

 

Well that sounds normal. Would have been good if you had the choice to try and fix or replace the broken one before work was completed

 

Hi VK

Why did you request a service of the units? Was there a report from the tenant that they were not working?
There is nothing really to service on a split other that clean the filters . If not working it is either regassing or a module that needs replacing. They only really have a 8 year life span.

 

Tenant had advised mouldy smell coming from aircons. PM advised to get them serviced as a result. It was only when the technician went out there that I realised one was not working. Apparently needed a new capacitor.

 

I should have know better I suppose but so should the technician.

 

With PMs, most have limited understanding of what repairs are really necessary and their first response is to call a tradie, at your cost.
By the way were all 4 units working at last PM Inspection...
Sounds like the tech did not completely assess the problem with the unit and give you the true cost of the repair. Give him the option of installing the new unit at the quoted price less the initial repair cost if he does not come to the party give the work to someone else.
And I would set up a capex plan to replace the units every 8 years and claim the deductions...
Also have the PM include in your next lease a requirement to have the tenant clean the filters regularly with 4 units. That would have been the mouldy smell or a blocked condensate drain due to a bad install.

 

Typical PM get the expert there for whatever cost. As someone else said there isn't anything to service in a split system other than cleaning the filter which you could have done yourself by removing it and cleaning with a hose drying it and putting it back on

 

You are right. I think there are some PM's who just want the problem fixed. No care whether the landlord cops an unreasonable cost.

I'm not sure. The tenant has been in there since December and the previous tenant didn't report any issues, so I assume it stopped working recently. I will advise my PM of the option you have mentioned.

A couple of the aircon remotes were also not working. The tech tried to charge $120 bucks each for a universal remote plus $60 to program all three. I advised the PM to get them elsewhere and we got them for less than half the price this guy was asking.

 

Lesson learned I suppose.

 

Well that was a good save at least!

 

Feel like some of these trades just see dollar bills when they realise its an investment property.

 

IMO it's rare that "Good Tradies" will work for agencies, those prepared to will charge accordingly, or aren't good business operators.

Consider the mucking around tradies have to put up with to finalize a job via an agent, 4 way communication, organizing access time/s, keys, chasing payment etc etc etc, compared to more efficient time management dealing direct with an owner.