Troubles continue to mount for Keith Heating & Cooling, a Tallmadge company that earlier this month received a letter from Summit County threatening it with prosecution for not obtaining proper permits.
Owner Keith Goodwin went to the Summit County Division of Building Standards the following week and paid for 62 permits that were not taken out on previous jobs. The county is reviewing its records and won’t complete its investigation until after the first of the year.
Meanwhile, the local chapter of the Air Conditioning Contractors Association has filed a complaint against Keith Heating with the Summit County Office of Consumer Affairs, and that agency is investigating.
The contractors association says Keith Heating failed to return full deposits when customers changed their minds under the three-day “buyer’s right to cancel” law, which requires a 100 percent reimbursement.
Lynne Black, executive director of the group, talked to the Consumer Affairs office after two homeowners complained that Keith was trying to keep 6 percent of the down payments they made before canceling their purchases, calling it a “transaction fee.”
Since then, Black said, she has received five more complaints about Keith, and in each case the story was essentially the same:
A Keith Heating representative checks the furnace, declares it to be extremely dangerous because of a problem with the heat exchanger, and then signs the homeowner to a contract for a new furnace or a new furnace and air conditioner.
Because of the large amount of money involved, the homeowner has second thoughts and calls in another contractor, who examines the furnace and says the heat exchanger is not an immediate danger. The customer then cancels the contract with Keith.
State law says consumers have three days to change their mind about such a purchase and receive a 100 percent reimbursement. Keith, however, was keeping 6 percent as a transaction fee.
The wording later was changed to a “restocking fee.” But no matter what you call it, such a charge is illegal, according to the Consumer Affairs office.
Customers feel pressured
One of the complaints involved an 83-year-old Akron man who said he was told by company owner Goodwin, “You could die in your sleep” because of a heat-exchanger crack, and that he should replace both his furnace and his air conditioner.
The man brought in another contractor who said the heat exchanger was not a pressing problem. Still frightened, he called in a third contractor, then a fourth. All of the subsequent contractors said the furnace was not an immediate threat, and that his air conditioner did not need to be replaced.
The Beacon Journal has received emails and calls from former Keith customers who said they were told that if they did not replace their heat exchanger or their entire furnace, their lives would be in jeopardy.
Among them is Pastor Jean M. Hansen of Faith Lutheran Church in Fairlawn, who contacted the newspaper after the Dec. 7 story to say she was pressured to make an $8,191 purchase she didn’t need.
She said that within five minutes of arriving for a routine furnace check, a Keith technician said he found a “very large crack” in the heat exchanger. When she requested a quote for a high-efficiency furnace and an air conditioner, she was “shocked” at the amount and told him she wanted to think about it.
He warned her again about the urgency of the job and asked whether her cats had been “acting funny.”
She stuck to her guns, declined to sign the contract and called in another company, which said her furnace was running fine, had no crack and was not the least bit dangerous.
Hansen said that when she called back Keith Heating and talked to a manager, he admitted the diagnosis had been wrong because the tech mistook “dirt” or “something that had fallen on it” for a crack.
Said the pastor, “The tactics were obviously designed to scare me into signing a contract for a new furnace, and I nearly ‘bought it.’ Just think how many people may have done so, especially after being told that they should consider staying elsewhere or moving their pets for safety reasons until their new furnace was installed.”
Said Black, from the Air Conditioning Contractors Association: “These are high-pressure sales tactics that dirty the whole industry. And that’s the very thing we don’t want to happen, because most contractors are legitimate.”
Goodwin turned down a request for a telephone interview, saying he wanted the questions emailed to him.
When asked in writing why so many other contractors don’t share his company’s opinion of the severity of the threats — companies that presumably would all want to perform this type of work if it were warranted — he responded:
“To the best of my knowledge, Keith Heating & Cooling is the only HVAC company in the area that uses a high-definition digitally recording camera to inspect a customer’s heat exchanger on every service call. ...
“This process is far more detailed and sophisticated than visual inspections alone, and it may be the reason why other companies second-guess our recommendations to replace a failing furnace.
“In all cases, our recommendations are based on the guidelines established by the American Gas Association, which state that ‘any visible crack or hole in the heat exchanger is a reason for requiring replacement of the heat exchanger.’
“As you know, a cracked heat exchanger can emit carbon monoxide. I feel our technicians have a moral and ethical responsibility to protect our customers from this potential threat. ”
The Fairlawn minister said the second company she contacted used a camera and also measured the carbon monoxide level, which was zero.
Safety concern
Black, from the contractors association, says the heat-exchanger threat is overblown.
“Inevitably,” she said, “everybody’s heat exchanger is going to go bad, but it’s not life-threatening. The chambers are a little thin, maybe it’s showing some hairline cracks, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to die.
“We do a huge community project every year as an organization called ‘Heat the Town.’ We’ve serviced 700 homes in the last seven years in this community, and we’re lucky to have found five furnaces a year [with heat-exchanger problems].
“You’re talking about 5 percent of the time. And we’re dealing in low-income, elderly and disabled — people who can’t afford to get regular maintenance on their furnaces.
“The whole thing just doesn’t add up, for my two cents.”
Keith Heating is not among the 113 members of the Akron-Canton chapter of Black’s association. If it were, she said, the owner would be called before the ethics and standards committee.
“I’ve known him [owner Goodwin] for more than 30 years,” she said. “I’ve never agreed with the way he does business, and it just seems that he’s getting a lot more bold about what he’s doing.
“And if he’s taking these consumers for $150 or $350 or whatever, it’s thousands of dollars a week. ... It’s a real nice, clean profit.”
Goodwin said in an email he no longer is charging a “transaction fee” or a “restocking fee.”
Cynthia Sich, executive director of the Summit County Office of Consumer Affairs, confirmed her group is investigating Keith Heating. Although she said she could not go into great detail because the investigation is ongoing, she said she is aware of additional complaints about unnecessary work being done.
She encourages anyone who might have had a similar problem with Keith Heating to contact the agency’s investigator, Bill Miller, at 330-643-2879 or wmiller@summitoh.net.
At this point, the county isn’t finished with Goodwin, either.
Jason Dodson, chief of staff for Summit County Executive Russell Pry, said Goodwin met with Chief Building Official John Labriola on Dec. 14 and paid for 50 permits for locations where he had done work without taking out a permit, then came back the next day and paid for 12 more.
The county charges $85.85 for a furnace or air-conditioning permit and $121.20 for both.
Dodson said Goodwin also delivered a letter saying he “did not intentionally not pull permits.”
The county is in the process of checking its records and comparing addresses from Keith customers who have questioned whether a permit was taken for their jobs.
When asked via email why he failed to pull 62 permits, Goodwin responded that he has “put new systems and staff in place” to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
In another development, a disgruntled former employee quoted in a previous Beacon Journal story was told he qualifies for unemployment compensation.
Goodwin had said he did not fire Ryan Foster, but that Foster quit and was “on drugs.” Foster vehemently disputed that, and insisted he was fired for telling an elderly customer the expensive furnace he just installed was unnecessary because Foster had accidentally misdiagnosed a problem.
In finding for Foster, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services wrote: “Claimant has provided evidence that the assigned duties were unethical. ... After a review of the facts, this agency finds that the claimant was discharged without just cause.”
BBB ratings
Goodwin plans to appeal the ruling and said he could not comment further.
In yet another development, Keith Heating’s rating with the Better Business Bureau has taken a hit. Until an earlier Beacon Journal story, the company had an A+ rating. Since then, the BBB has changed the designation to “no rating” while it gathers more information.
BBB ratings can sometimes be misleading. Hansen gave the Beacon Journal a copy of the detailed complaint she filed with the BBB; because she did not seek compensation — telling the BBB she only wanted to warn others — the BBB considered the case closed.
Interim Director Christy Page says the original rating was based on a relatively low number of complaints during the past three years (eight) and the fact Keith Heating (which is not a member of the BBB) addressed those complaints. Seven of the complaints involved sales practices, and the other involved a contract dispute.
The BBB does not run investigations to determine the validity of a complaint, only whether the complaint is addressed or ignored.
Page said the rating was changed after the BBB learned through the newspaper story that Keith was being investigated about building permits.
She urges customers who have had problems with Keith Heating to contact her office (330-253-4590 or http://akron.bbb.org).
“If you have a complaint,” she said, “let us know about it, then the information we’re giving back out would be much more accurate.”
Complaints about heating and cooling contractors also can be directed to your local building department.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
