AC company fixes its error, balks at dehumidifier bill

Barbara and Mike Latta didn't know that their air conditioner was draining into the space beneath their Raleigh home.

So they were surprised last year when a Terminix worker who checked their house for termites found water. And they were surprised again last spring when the problem had gotten worse.

"They found that it was all wet under the house," Barbara Latta said.

The Lattas contacted Bolton Service, a Garner company that had installed the air conditioner almost four years ago.

The company admits its workers made a mistake while installing the unit. They ran a pipe into an existing drain pan, thinking the pan would empty condensation from the air conditioner to an area outside the house, said David Wood, a heating and air supervisor for the company. But the drain pan actually ended underneath the house.

Bolton fixed the problem. But now the Lattas want the company to reimburse them for a dehumidifier they paid Terminix to install after the problem was discovered.

Bolton says no.

In December 2005, the Lattas paid Bolton more than $7,000 to install air conditioning in the attic.

During an annual pest-control inspection last year, the Lattas said, Terminix used fans to dry the crawl space under the house when a worker noticed some water.

But the problem was worse when Terminix returned last spring, according to the Lattas. They called Bolton, and in the meantime, they also paid Terminix about $3,000 to install a dehumidifier to dry out the condensation and to put plastic liner on the ground to keep out mold.

"We had to," Barbara Latta said. "I didn't want my house to fall down."

Wood, the Bolton supervisor, said Bolton shouldn't have to pay for the work that Terminix did.

"We made an error that we remedied," he said. "It's not our opinion that it's our responsibility to pay for that additional work."

Wood said the dehumidifier might not have been necessary in the first place. Or, he said, the dehumidifier was needed all along, even without the air conditioner problems, and the Lattas continue to benefit from it. Either way, Wood said, Bolton shouldn't have to pay.

"A basement can be damp anyway," he said.

State, BBB involved

The Lattas contacted the state Attorney General's Office about their frustration, but the office said in a letter that it couldn't force Bolton to pay.

In a response to the Attorney General's Office, Wood wrote that Bolton was willing to pay the Lattas $256 for damaged insulation in the house.

The Lattas say they will accept that as partial payment, but they want Bolton to pay at least $3,150 -- a rate of $75 a month for the 42 months the air conditioner had been installed incorrectly.

The couple also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Bolton has a B rating with the BBB, and it is not accredited with the bureau.

In the past three years, the BBB has received five complaints about the company. According to the bureau's reliability report on the company, one was a complaint about billing, one was a contract issue and three were about repair issues.

3 complaints settled

Bolton resolved three of the complaints, according to the BBB report. Another was closed because the bureau decided it could not be resolved by normal methods.

The other complaint was from the Lattas, and the company didn't respond to their complaint through the BBB.

Situations like this in which customers get more than one business involved can get tricky, said Beverly Baskin, president of the BBB of Eastern North Carolina.

"In general, it is always a good idea to give the original company an opportunity to fix the problem," Baskin said.

Otherwise, she said, the company that did the work in the first place has to take another company's word for it. And that's not always reasonable, she said.

Mike Latta said he doesn't regret hiring Terminix to do the work. At first, he said, no one was sure why the water was there.

"My concern I had was what kind of damage went on to the house," he said.