The defrost of the heat pump was malfunctioned. Scheduled a maintenance with the company. A guy came literally the last minute, checked the pump, spent less than 20 minutes looking around the pump, turned it off and on, made a call and left. A quick search on Youtube would tell you how to check if the board works, and the maintenance guy said he couldn't test. Then the company ordered a thermostat and a control board, without confirming whether it's the thermostat issue or the board issue. A week later, the same person came again and replaced both the thermostat and the board together. I got charged for twice the visit (which is understandable later through the manager's explanation), the thermostat and the board, but I still don't know what the exact problem was that caused the defrost problem. Did replacing both the thermostat and the control board solve the problem? Of course, but replacing everything related to the defrost function would solve the problem too. Did the board have to be replaced? Probably not if it's not the broken piece. When I called to ask questions about the service and the charge, the manager, self-identified as the vice president, was being rude, yelled at me, tried to outtalk me, left no room to discuss the bill and hung up abruptly. When half a year ago, I scheduled a HVAC cleaning service, the work was not done completely; the residuals near the bottom of the exterior were not cleaned. Overall, the maintenance people there only do the minimal level of work and the vice president treat customers badly. Don't recommend the company or their service.
-- update after the owner's response
The response avoided commenting the rude attitude issue from the VP. Although the technician got my "approval" to replace the board, I also requested to check if the board works, why didn't you listen? A very simple question, how are you sure the control board was broken. Very simple question. And you avoided to answer. And my "approval", or anyone else's, is really because you left the customers no other choice but to listen to your recommendation because otherwise we would be left in the cold winter without the HVAC working. A better service would be to do a thorough analysis and then fix the right issue. If your technician doesn't even know how to test the board that one can easily check on the internet, then your company is unqualified to deliver a good service, and so you are not being honest nor upfront.
-- another update after I located the issue almost 1.5 years later
Serendipitously, I found one important piece of information after I decided to test the defrost board and the thermostat myself. It turns out there is Goodman service bulletin that updates important service problems. I tested the defrost control board according to a YouTube video on a similar Goodman model and tested the thermostat by leaving it in the freezer for the circuit to close and testing for continuity. Both control board and the thermostat are perfectly fine. However, the original placement of the thermostat is not optimal according to the bulletin, possibly due to a design flaw. For the specific model of my Goodman heat pump, it's recommended to relocate the thermostat placement to achieve the better defrost performance. So I did, and it's been defrosting perfectly. The testing of the control board and the thermostat didn't take more than 20 minutes, and possibly even less for a well-trained professional. But the HVAC company simply concluded that they should replace both the board and the thermostat without proper tests. I am still curious to know whether the old control board and the old thermostat were also functional, but the technician took them with him. Customers are vulnerable in the cold winter when heating breaks down and are not typically equipped with the right knowledge and can only choose to trust the "professionals". But some professionals are not updating their knowledge, and the HVAC company is only angry when they don't collect bills rather than not delivering quality services.
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