Note: I posted a summary of my ordeal on several newsgroups for one week in response to someone who requested information about several furnace manufacturers. I was also looking for advice on how to get this situation resolved. Someone [name deleted - this is not a personal dispute] claiming to be a Carrier Service Manager responded. This was my response to him. The respondent's comments have greater than (>) signs in front of them indicating that they came from his earlier post.


[Respondent's name] wrote:
> **Carrier Service Manager's Hat ON** {Grin}
> I see that her message was posted to EIGHT newsgroups.

Yes. Homeowners need to know that in at least one case this is how Carrier has treated a customer. And this is a customer who has patiently given them many years to fix this lemon. Should everyone who is sold a lemon just quietly buy another one?

Also, as a United Technologies shareholder (Carrier's parent company), I'd like to see Carrier correct the problems within their business processes. Treating customers the way they've treated me is just bad business.

The Carrier
> 58SXC has no defects, has not had any service bulletins and is the
> culmination of all the learning made on the previous SX and SXA
> models. It is the furnace that dealers wish they never stopped
> making. It is the furnace that we find to be the most reliable that
> they ever made.

Is that right? Well then why did Carrier's regional senior technician have copies of official Carrier repair instructions for this model furnace? And why did they acknowledge in writing that they were aware of a manufacturing quality control problem? And why have their customer relations staff and senior regional technician both verbally acknowledged that there have been problems with the heat exchangers in this model of furnace? And after the senior regional technician had spent several hours running tests on the furnace and modified the airflow, why did he *later* tell the original installer to replace the heat exchanger because they'd had problems with them and he thought this could also be the problem?

> There are not enough facts given to base any kind of a diagnosis.
> Restrictive venting could give pressure switch and lock out problems
> but connect a Magna Helix and you'll know if that is the problem.
> Does the condensate drain? How hard is that to tell? The primary
> heat exchanger has a 100% reliability record but there is a L O N G
> shot that the secondary may be collapsing in the rear. It pulls out
> easily for inspection. Five years old? Probably has needed a new
> glow bar by now. Yes, there are other things that could give trouble
> but the point is that the furnace model has no known bugs.

I'm amazed. To think that someone in Waukesha, WI has so much knowledge of Carrier reliability records! You must talk daily with Carrier's customer relations department. Do they tell you what complaints they've received and how many lawsuits have been filed? I know if often takes me more than 10 minutes to get through to customer relations.

You make it sound as though they have given you reliability numbers. I am very interested in seeing them. Please forward them immediately. As an egineer, I will be fascinated to learn how Carrier has managed to achieve the unachievable 100.00%.

> So what I read into this is a customer who might be unreasonable and

Yes, I was so unreasonable that I gave them several *years* to fix this lemon. I also gave them a warning that I was going out on the internet.

Do me a favor and turn off your furnace a dozen nights for each of the next four winters. The day after each 'failure,' take a couple of hours of vacation from work to try to get the furnace restarted and/or wait for the technician.

After that I'd be happy to discuss your definition of "reasonableness."

> is seeking, for zero worth and personal spite, negative opinions about
> Carrier.

This is not about personal gain. This is about *this example* of manufacturing, quality control, and service problems. Maybe Carrier isn't always like this, but their performance in this situation is just sad. Carrier needs to act on what they (should) have learned from this to fix their problems and do better.

This is also about giving a company too much time to do what is right. From now on, if I am sold a lemon, I sadly doubt I will give technicians more than one or two chances to troubleshoot.

> Remember guys, always get both sides of the story and the paperwork
> before drawing a conclusion.

Yes, definitely! And also remember to make sure that you have information OTHER than your experiences at your shop before you start making claims about nation-wide performance.

[Customer's name]