Air Con Installer - Part 4

In this second last part of my "Air Con Installer" series posting, I'm going to write about the company that we first choose to do the installation for us and why we subsequently decided to switch to another installer. Guessed which company did we choose first?

*drum rolls* It's Star Cool Air-Condition Engineering - Aron & Ah Boon! Do note that they are different from StarCool Aircon Singapore. I read many good reviews about them on online forums and even individual blogs. They quoted the same price as Cold Engine (CE) except that they only provided 1 year warranty for workmanship. I did ask Aron if they could match the warranty offer but he replied "we believe in good workmanship and materials use for the installation at the very beginning, that is why we give only a year of workmanship warranty."

While I was planning the renovation schedule with my ID, I thought perhaps it's good that the installer could remove the old piping/aircons but without installing the new piping before painting starts. I was thinking in long terms, in case, I need to remove the old piping due to unforeseen circumstance and need to install new piping via another route in the future. If there's no painting on the wall where the piping (or trunking) is going to mount against, that part of the wall would look very ugly after the piping is removed. Not forgetting that the trunking used nowadays is quite big as compared to the current trunking that was installed 16 years ago. Hence, I asked Aron if they could do three trips for me instead at no extra charge. First trip is to remove the old piping/aircons, second trip is to install new piping and third trip is to install new FCUs/compressor. He replied that they could do so without extra charge. He asked me to arrange a site survey with Ah Boon as he was not in town, which I did, and the site survey was done quite fast. Ah Boon said he would confirm with me again on the piping route when the actual installation starts.

When I met Ah Boon during site survey, I asked him when would Aron be back, he replied that he's in Malaysia as he has another business there but he would still reply to emails. To be fair, Aron was quite responsive to my emails, which he usually replied within a day. After discussing with hubby, we decided to get them to do the installation based on the following considerations. 

1. They could do three trips at no extra charge.
2. Ah Boon, the head installer, who came for the site survey, would also be the one doing the installation for us.
3. They have many good reviews.

After informing Aron that we would like to engage their service, he asked me to liaise with Ah Boon on the installation and so I did, which was when my "nightmare" began...

My correspondences with Ah Boon via iMessage:

• On a Monday 8+ am, I informed him on what Aron and I have agreed, and my proposed installation schedule, which he replied that day noon time, saying that he would check and update soon. 
• On a Wednesday 12+ am, Ah Boon finally replied me after I prompted him twice and emailed Aron that Ah Boon did not get back to me. He proposed to install piping / dismantle old unit on another date. I messaged back to tell him that I could reconfirm with my ID about removing the old piping/aircons on his proposed date. However, I wanted the installation of the new piping on another day after the painting has completed and that was why I asked Aron for three trips. Ah Boon didn't reply me. Hence, I messaged him again on that same night to let me know if he could make the necessary arrangement and could call me the next day if speaking over the phone was easier.
• On a Thursday 7+ pm, he messaged saying that he called me but could not ring me. I didn't quite understand what he meant, so I replied asking him what he meant because I had been receiving a few phone calls on my mobile that day but none from him. My phone also never recorded any missing call from him. He replied saying that he called me at 7+ pm but could not contact me, maybe due to line problem. At this point of time, I had actually started to look for another installer as I felt very uncomfortable with Ah Boon's response time. Now, I could understand that he might be busy during the day doing installation works. However, I felt that he should be able to confirm with me on the installation schedule, can do, cannot do, etc, within 3 full working days, which I think it's quite a reasonable time frame. After he failed to contact me via phone call, he did not follow up with any message to say anything about the installation schedule, even up to this point when I was blogging this post, which today is a Sunday with 2 full working days passed by. That's it, I gave up!!! Luckily we didn't place any deposit, nothing to lose on our end except for time loss but I'm glad that it happened earlier so that I still have enough time to find alternative.

For those considering to engage them, do think thrice, not just twice! I do believe that their response was much faster in the past when Aron was still doing this full time with local presence, and hence, all the past good reviews about them. No doubt Aron's response to my emails was quite fast but the lack of his presence here and leaving only Ah Boon to do the coordination works made this a sucking experience for me! It's just simply too difficult to get Ah Boon to respond. My hubby and I did try to call him as well but no one picked up the call. I didn't bother to email Aron again as I can't be going through him all the times just to get Ah Boon to contact me. After going through this experience, my guts feel telling me that they are either no longer as keen and active in keeping their bustle aircon business or they're simply too popular that they can't handle every deal that they agreed to. Should you decide to go ahead with them, I wish you have a much better experience than me when trying to get in touch with Ah Boon.