Shipley Energy reviews and complaints

Our central air unit started making a horrrible noise the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend. I called Shipley (out of York PA) since we had work done by them before and I was very happy with their service. They were able to get a tech out that evening and he diagnosed the fan motor had died. He said he would have to do some research to see if they had a new motor or if he would have to order. I also asked him to get me some prices on a new unit (since ours was 13 years old). He promised to call me back Friday morning. After not hearing anything by mid-morning (and being concerned about getting the unit repaired before the hot holiday weekend), I called the technician and left a message requesting a call. By lunch, I had not heard anything so I called a third time. Long story short, he never called me back. I ended up taking off of work and calling around to several companies until I found Scott at AC&H Services in Carlisle. Thanks to him, we were able to get the AC unit working by the weekend. I never did hear back from Shipley, that is until I got their $181.90 bill in the mail. I've called Shipley twice to discuss the bill and each time was told I would have to speak to a manager (who was unavailable at the time) and promised a call back, which never happened. I also submitted an email through their site on June 21 and still nothing. I'm very disappointed that Shipley's service has declined so much since I last used them.

Short Story: I am owed a 283 dollar credit, instead I'm sitting here with an 803.88 bill.

Long Story: In 2007 we bought a house without central air, and contracted Shipley Energy to install all the duct work and air handlers. For $17k I expected to have a system under warranty and with excellent customer service.

As they were installing the system, they realized the air cleaner they had sold me wouldn't fit on my system, and they installed a cheaper one instead. I was told I'd receive a 283 dollar credit since I had already paid in full.

The credit never arrived, but I was happy with the system and forgot about it.

In 2009 (less than two years old) the system wouldn't turn on and was giving me an error message that said call for service. I call Shipley for service and they send someone out. He doesn't show up despite me being home all day. I call back, and they finally send someone out for service who does show up. He looks the system over, changes a humidfier pad, and resets it. He says honestly he doesn't know what happened, but that it's fine now.

A few days later I get a bill in the mail. I'm outraged since one, they owe ME money, and two my system should be under warranty for 10 years!

I called customer service, and the girl who anwers the phone says I need to pay the bill, there is no record of a credit and no she can't help me further. She will have someone call me back.

After a week with no call, I called my sales guy Don, and he explains that it isn't under warranty. However he does see where my credit wasn't applied and he will get it applied. I should have a 0 balance with them at this point. He also notes that my telephone number was changed to 0000000. Thanks vindictive customer service girl.

Fast forward to 2010. I get a bill in the mail after hearing nothing from them. It says I owe 803.88 with the helpful transaction description of Invoice Number#(invoice number). Unbelieveable! I called their customer service number and once again the girl was unable to offer help. Her supervisor is "unavailable". Is there anyone who can help me? "No."

I call back and ask for propane sales since I can't get any help from the customer service line. I give this poor girl my story and she says she will put me in touch with Rick who is the HVAC customer service guy and he will fix it. Finally, I expect a resolution to this mess. He ends up being unavailable. I'm waiting to see if he calls back, but I'm not holding out hope.

If you are considering doing business with Shipley, please check around. Their customer service is terrible, no one is able to help, money that I am owed is never applied, apparently they don't warranty their work OR equipment, and lastly it says at the bottom of this bill if I don't pay it they will tack on an 18% late fee. FANTASTIC.

This company has been very unpleasant. We signed up for oil and then agreed to their service plan. Our oil furnace was not working. They sent someone out to fix it. Someone showed up early in the morning. He knocked and then left without even giving me a chance to get to the door. I went to both doors of the house looking for this person. I could see the truck parked on the street so I got my shoes to go outside and look for the person. Just as I opened the door to go out, I could hear the truck drive off. I immediately called the Shipley company and said their truck had just driven off without waiting even 2 minutes for me to get to the door. They said they would send the person back. Nobody came back so I called again and they said he would come back some time today. By the way, every person I talked to on the phone was extremely rude in their tone. I got a lot of comments like, "Well, ma'am, this is a very busy time of year for us so we are booked up for more than a month." Well, don't sell me your 'service' plan if you are unable to give me any service! Are we supposed to go a month without heat?! By the way, you are never allowed to speak with the department of the company in question. You always speak with someone in customer service who will pass the information on to the people who can actually do anything. They always promise to do things but nothing ever happens. We were promised that someone would come to our house again that day. Nobody ever showed up or called us to explain why no one showed up or to reschedule. When I called to cancel the service plan because no one showed up, we were promised that that information would be passed on to accounting. We have yet to see a Shipley service person but Shipley has been billing us for a service plan every single month.

On the day someone was supposed to come out to fix our furnace, I waited from early in the morning until 2 in the afternoon for Shipley. I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon so I called my fiance and told him that someone needed to be home so we didn't miss the Shipley people. He took personal time off from work (half day) and drove home to be there before I had to leave for the dentist so that we would not miss Shipley when they came out. Shipley never showed up. We went a very cold weekend without heat.

We called a different company to come out. That company actually showed up when they said they would and replaced a minor part on our oil intake system. And it was much cheaper than what Shipley's service plan was going to cost us. I called Shipley to cancel our service contract since they never even showed up at our house. Again, the people were rude. The young and impertinent (probably 20's) girl that I spoke with that time said she "would let them know" we wanted the service plan canceled. She never apologized for their service person knocking and leaving quickly or for them no-showing later that day even though we waited all day and took personal time from work because they promised to come to our house.

TWO MONTHS LATER, we are still getting a bill for the service plan and even with a late fee ("finance fee") tacked on to it. Not only did no one show up to fix our furnace, we never even got a call from them to reschedule or to explain why nobody came out, but they did send us a bill. Shipley's service department doesn't do their job but their billing department sure does. I called again to explain that they never showed up at our house after we waited all day and my fiance took a half day off from work. Again, no apology but plenty of surly attitude from the employee I spoke with (this time an older woman). Again, a promise that she "will let them know" to cancel the service plan. We'll see if they actually cancel it this time. Now I understand why one of my neighbors said Shipley was awful and that they don't use them.