Bill in Etobicoke

Turned on my Spacepak air conditioning at the start of the summer and the blower in the air handler in the attic did not run. Called AtlasCare to diagnose the problem and fix it. The tech came on time, was very polite and took care to cover his work boots in my house. He spent a little time testing and informed me that the blower motor needed replacing and also that the unit should have a "wet switch" fitted. Total cost would be $3080 + HST. I questioned the tech about the cost since an AC motor of that size is few hundred dollars at best. He said it was a big job for two people and most of the cost was labour. I paid the $219+HST for the diagnosis and he left. I did my own diagnosis and found the following: The fan motor has no issues. There is already a float switch in the drip tray. The problem turned out to be a faulty relay. The relay cost $25 on-line. I did have to wait for the relay to come from China and replacing it was about a six hour job. The relay is soldered to the control board and not a straight forward replacement. A whole new control board would have been less work at a cost of $450. Luckily I am reasonably handy and able to do this type of repair myself. It would have been a different story for somebody who had no choice but to rely on the professional. My point here is that I paid for a professional diagnosis which came to completely the wrong conclusion. If I had allowed AtlasCare to do the work they recommended it would have cost me over $3000 and it would not have resolved the issue. I feel that in the this case AtlasCare let me down badly with what was an incompetent diagnosis. AtlasCare - overpriced and ineffective. Very disappointing. One star for showing up on time and being polite. I have just been contacted by the customer service manager offering to refund the diagnostic fee. That restores my faith in Atlas Care a little. An extra star for following up.