Seeking advice on how to proceed and what to expect after filing a complaint with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
I had a local HVAC outfit run by a guy with a TDLR license tear out my old 1980s Lennox system and put in a new furnace in the garage.
This did not go smoothly with lots of starting and stopping after I had paid in full, and callbacks for roof jack leaks, etc. Our last communication was over a condensation pump leaking onto the garage floor, and he blew me off. Obviously, this guy is not welcome on my property.
Soooo, I have had a couple of incidents where I had a small fire in my fireplace and within a few minutes, the combustion gases were coming through the heating ducts. Needless to say, I have not used the fireplace since, but my theory is the gases are being sucked into the intake through the fireplace ash cleanout vents. While tossing and turning at night, it also occurred to me that it seemed odd there is no air return duct inside the house.
Well, I had a local contractor helping me with drywall and new cabinets in the kitchen, and mentioned the HVAC concerns, and my guy put me in touch with another local gentleman who is both a licensed HVAC tech and a licensed electrician.
He came over yesterday to look at the furnace and discuss an air return duct and he couldn't believe what he saw, from the system design errors to serious safety violations such as an unsecured ash cleanout three feet from the intake, single-wall uninsulated exhaust pipe, unwrapped freon delivery piping, etc.
This will all have to be corrected and I was warned to be extremely careful with solvents and never to operate an internal combustion engine in the garage until this is resolved, lest I die of carbon monoxide poisoning in the house.
Part of this is on me for trusting the original contractor -- he was licensed, right? But I don't care to even speak to him at this point.
So I pulled up the TDLR complaint form and am preparing to fill it out and submit it. At the very least, I want the HVAC system to be made safe, efficient and in compliance with code -- at the original installer's expense. Does this sound reasonable? Might it be a likely outcome or is filing a TDLR complaint an exercise in frustration? Thanks for any thoughts.

https://ga.tdlr.texas.gov:1443/form/Complaints

Why not go back on his insurance, file a claim. I would think TDLR requires HVAC guys to insurance on file to operate legally.

You can also file a complaint with TDLR, he might get a fine for something like "Evading Responsibility" if he left the area unsafe.

The guy messed with the safety of you and your family. I'd release hell on him. Even if it cost me extra to get lawyers involved.

Looks like the moron is pulling return air out of your garage??? Besides all of the other stuff, that is an absolutely stupid installation if that unit is in the garage.

Nightmare installations like this are why I trust no one and do all of my own HVAC work.

Is the guy a drunk? Looks like work done by a meth head who is buying hardware under someone else's license and they are simply unqualified to perform the job correctly.

I would double check to make sure the man was actually licensed before accidentally filling a complaint against the potential real license holder.

Blkt2, yes, I ran his TDLR number and he came up as "him."
I wanted the furnace moved to the garage to reduce the noise after visiting a friend who had the same arrangement. But the return is in the house, of course.
I just ran this by my Safeco home insurance agent and he advises that installed air is not a thing most insurance would cover. He advised:
1. Get an estimate of what it would cost to remediate and meet code.
2. Contact the original installer and inform him that he must pay for the remediation or face a lawsuit.
3. File a complaint with TDLR.
4. Hire an attorney.

I think your Safeco guy is right.

A complaint with a state agency is just that ....... a complaint. I wouldn't expect any other action on their part. You'll probably never get a follow up.

Court is logical step but doesn't fix your problem. Any judgement won't be paid. An attorney may get you more relief but at additional expense. Document, Document, Document, everything.

Cut your losses, fix it right, move on.

The pictures are not real clear so I can’t tell if that is a filter base on the front or not even if it is it will NEVER heat or cool your house properly pulling the return from the garage. There is no way system was set up properly. I can’t make out the manufacturer of the equipment but I’m sure he didn’t register it for the warranty.

Filing the complaint with TDLR may get him a fine but they won’t make him make it right and you don’t want him back on the property he is a HACK. I would also contact the city as I’m sure a permit was not pulled if required in your municipal and they would most likely fine him as well and most likely red tag the unit.

I hate to see you in a bind. TDLR will put some heat on him. They have no leverage to force him to correct. They can and will administer fines. Failure to comply could eventually result in loss of license.

He should have left you the owner and installation manuals. Perhaps these would document your concerns for TDLR complaint. Drawing return air from unconditioned is almost unbelievable, not to mention space is garage.

I expect contractor bootleged in gas and electrical as well.

Wish you luck.

TDLR will go after him, but it will most likely take time...lots of time. I've known some complaints that have taken over 18 months for them to get to them. Granted, those were not in HVAC, so they may have more investigators for that area of licensing.

Fines are relatively small

I would be surprised to see a fine more than 1k

I would get it fixed by a licensed guy and pull a permit, and then file a claim against the originall installer insurance

My feelings as well. TDLR can fine him and/or suspend his license, but they can't get any restitution for you. Even if they could make him fix it, the last thing I would want is him putting his hands on that system again. Unfortunately, your best bet may be getting a competent company to fix the problems and suing him for the extra costs. You may or may not get anything out of him, but you'll almost certainly get a judgement against him on paper. I would definitely file the TDLR complaint too.

Gentlemen, I can't tell you how much appreciate the advice. Here is a closer look at the equipment:

Sorry to hear that, hope you get full and speedy restitution!

I had a small (compared to yours) problem with a HVAC company Dragon out of Plano. Was having problems with my heater igniting the burners, their service guy who seemed really sharp came out, hooked up his hand held computer to check everything and said it was my Solenoid. He said I could either replace it or simply tap on it to engage the burners. So I went the cheap tapping route and paid the $125.00 service call and thought that was pretty cool of him to show me that little trick (tapping on the solenoid) and saving me $$.

Well I started having issues again and the tapping was not working, so they send out the same guy out, he gets up in the attic pulls the cover off and ask me to turn the system on, low and behold it fires right up and works?? So another $125.00 service charge. He said if I had problems again he would not charge me a service call next time.

3rd time is a charm. Yep it stopped working again and the same guy now says over the phone that it is the gas valve (which he early was saying was the solenoid) and it would be around$425 * $450.00. Got to have heat so I said fix it. While he was in route to our house I looked up the price of gas valves and they were anywhere from $70 - $120.

It took him about 45 minutes to install it and said it will be $437.00, so I told him about the pricing I found and why was he charging me so much for labor when he was there less than an hour?
He said the distributors mark their price up 3 times that amount when they sell the part to them. I respond so your telling me that $437 is for the part only because you told me last time you would not charge me a service call. He replied that he did not charge me a service call but did charge me for labor?? Now I am almost $700 into this repair. Heater works fine for about a week and starts doing the same thing.

Well I call this old HVAC repair guy that I used once before who was great but stop servicing our area because it was to far away from where he lived (somewhere around lake Ray Hubbard) he is back servicing our area. He says it is the igniter that is out and charges me $150.00. He also commented that in his 40 + years working HVAC he has only replaced 4 or 5 gas valves, he also said there were some loose wires??

This Dragon company is real close to the house, so I drove up there to speak to the owner who was not there, I told the employee there what had transpired and I needed to speak to the owner asap what is his number? He said it is the number on the front door, about 3 minutes later I called his number and he answers, says he has already heard what happened and what I was wanting to have happen.
I told him give me $150 and were done, he said okay ( Dang it I obvious left $ on the table) meet him 30 minutes later and he is from one of those European east block countries, he also tells me that the service guy was confused, the distributors do not mark it up, they mark the part up two to three times of what they pay for it. What was also weird to me was he said on small jobs they mark the part up two times their cost on big ones three times their cost.

All licensing means is that some point a test was passed, annual CE is maintained and insurance premiums are paid. Beyond that a TDLR license is, for all practical purposes, basically irrelevant other than it's issued by the typical bloated state agency perpetually attempting to justify it's existence and recently playing musical chairs at the executive level.

It means nothing so far as ethics and work quality are concerned - the first you either have or don't, the second you either want to provide or don't (unless you're too dumb to know the difference).

Find a good contractor and stick with him. Yeah, he'll probably cost more and should.

Stories like this disgust me (as an HVAC and electrical business owner).

So if I have this correctly it was in the attic with the original house design and was moved out to the garage for noise reduction purposes? I would get a good contractor and have them place the unit right back up in the attic. Aside from any contaminants in your garage being pulled into the house as mentioned above, you are pulling return air straight from the garage which is going to be 90-100 degrees in the heat of summer and thus only providing a 68-78 degree supply of air... and is not going to cool your house. Good luck with TLDR... we received bad gas from a gas station that caused $1500.00 of damage in our service truck... we MIGHT get a 68.00 refund for the gas. Send me a PM with where you are located... I can probably find you a reputable company through our distributors.

OTL, no it was a nasty old hall unit with the little short door about 15 inches above the floor just outside the MBR -- never in the attic. The AC condenser was on a small pad right outside the MBR window. I can't imagine the thinking.