Litigation / Trial Practice A class action lawsuit filed against Goodman Global, Inc., and certain affiliated companies, alleges that central air conditioning units and heat pumps sold under the Goodman® and Amana® brands since 2007 are defective.  In particular, the plaintiff contends in his lawsuit that these units have defective evaporator coils. Evaporator coils are generally located inside a consumer’s home and they are essential to the proper functioning of any central air conditioning system or heat pump.  According to the lawsuit, Goodman and Amana central air conditioning and heat pump systems contain defective evaporator coils that improperly and prematurely leak refrigerant (a.k.a. Freon®).  The defect allegedly renders the systems inoperable because the cooling cycle will not work without refrigerant. Although Goodman sells these units with a warranty, that warranty is limited in a way that provides insignificant protection to owners of the units. 

In particular, the Goodman warranty, by its terms, covers replacement parts, but not the labor costs associated with the replacement.  According to the lawsuit, the result is that, when a defective evaporator coil fails, Goodman provides the owner with a replacement coil, but does not pay to have the old coil removed or the replacement coil installed.  As alleged in the lawsuit, those labor costs typically run in the hundreds of dollars, and in some cases, thousands of dollars.  Thus, in at least some instances, the owner is forced to spend as much or more to replace the defective evaporator coil as the cost to purchase a new Goodman unit. The complaint also alleges that Goodman has known that its units sold since 2007 contained defective evaporator coils, but the company failed to inform consumers about the problem or issue a recall.  Indeed, according to the lawsuit, Goodman continued to tout the quality of its air conditioning systems—claiming they were durable, dependable, and long lasting—even though it was aware that the defective evaporator coils would cause the units to fail prematurely and at rates far above the industry average.

The lead plaintiff in the case acquired his Goodman unit when he purchased his new house in September 2011.  According to the lawsuit, in or about July 2013, after only one summer of use, the unit stopped cooling the plaintiff’s home.  A service technician allegedly found that the unit was low on refrigerant and added four pounds of refrigerant, which immediately leaked out of the system.  After observing this, the technician determined that the evaporator coil was leaking and needed to be replaced.  According to the complaint, the service technician returned the old defective evaporator and replaced it with a new one, charging plaintiff approximately $650 for this service. The civil action was filed in North Carolina state court on behalf of all consumers in North Carolina that purchased a central air conditioning unit or heat pump bearing the trade names Goodman® and Amana® from 2007 to the present. To read a copy of the complaint, click here. We again have two “Employees of the Month” this month.

The first is Service Technician Brian Granger. Brian witnessed a very serious automobile accident, right in front of him. how much unit does ac consumeHe not stopped to offer assistance but he also helped to pull the victim from the car. best heating ac unitThis is the kind of extra effort that defines our “Employee of the Month” award. best central air conditioner dealsIn addition, Brian is an excellent technician who is very frequently requested by customers he has served. The second “Employee of the Month” goes to James Holland. James took our big truck and participated in the Annual Labor Day Parade downtown. This may not sound like much but it requires a big commitment because the big truck has to be picked up at the shop and must arrive at the Union Hall by 8:00 AM, not returning until late morning or early afternoon.

Dave Zimmermann asks for this assistance from us and we are glad to participate. Buck Burnette has taken the truck previously but he was not available this year. For giving up his Labor Day Holiday on behalf of the Company, James is an “Employee of the Month”Learn more We are a SERVICE oriented company. That’s why you will ALWAYS be answered by a live person, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. We have Service Technicians available at all times to serve you. Our Service Number is 314-567-6347. We repair all brands of heating and air conditioning units. We are the premier heating and cooling company in the St. Louis area. If your furnace needs a repair, we are the ones to call or click. That live person will answer or respond. Remember Welsch Heating and Cooling for all of your furnace, air conditioning and home comfort needs. NOTE: Hover over Testimonials to pause them. We appreciate receiving comments from our customers regarding the work we perform. We encourage you to click below to review those comments.

In addition, if you would like to provide a comment on our work, merely click on the contact us section. Welsch Heating & Cooling Co. has been named as the Air Conditioning Contractors of America(ACCA), National Residential Contractor of the Year. George “Butch” Welsch and Denise Webb, Service Manager accepted the Award at the ACCA National Conference in Charlotte, N.C. March 10. The Kirkwood Greentree Festival Parade was held on Saturday, Sept. 17. A large crowd turned out on what turned out to be a beautiful day. We got  a picture of Audrey Hayden, daughter of Denny Hayden of Hayden Homes as she got a chance to sit in a real race car. Recently a customer called and said they were not getting any air flow in their home. They were asked if they had checked the filter. The answer was: “not in the last 3 years”. This is a picture of the filter. This is why we recommend that you check your filters at least every 3 months. We strongly encourage you to provide a review of our company performance when we have served you.

Potential future customers like to know what others are saying about our company. Normally we just post reviews on our website, but thought this one good enough that it was worth repeating here: “I just wanted to let you know directly too how much I appreciate everyone’s good work there. The HVAC unit has been humming along flawlessly and both I, and my wife, are grateful for the high quality of workmanship and truly working to think about us as customers with money saving advice from Brian. I had contacted several other companies before yours to see about having the repair work done.   There was one company that was looking promising, with a low diagnostic cost, but they then made other statements on the phone that clearly were signs the costs were going to be significant.  In one case concluding on the phone, without even seeing the unit, that the compressor would likely need to be replaced. I am a software engineer as well as pilot and professional photographer, so I understand about logic, diagnosis, troubleshooting, and applying fixes.