2000 Marquis Basement Air Conditioner

[Gerald Farris]

Jeremy, $4000 to recharge your A/C is a ridiculous price. Last year my basement unit was not cooling on the secondary system, so I took the unit out in about 2 hours by myself and took it to SCS, who was still in business at the time. They replaced a leaking line and recharged the unit for $200, and I reinstalled the unit. Total repairs, $210 (SCS service, silicone calking,and duck tape) and 3 hours labor (N/C on labor).

Any competent home A/C repair service can fix the unit unless you have a circuit board problem. The unit uses R-22 refrigerant an operates just like a mobile home A/C unit except it has 2 compressors. So it operates like two A/C units that are built together in one housing, and controlled by a special thermostat and circuit board.

The unit will have to be removed to check it for leaks and to recharge it. The unit is not that hard to remove. After removing my unit once, and learning how, I could remove and replace the unit in 2 to 3 hours working alone.

If you have anyone remove the unit, be sure that they repair the leak, and not just recharge it, because you will have to remove it again to recharge it again when that refrigerant leaks out, and it will.

Gerald      

[Jeremy Parrett]

Our 2000 Beaver Marquis is at Alliance Coach,Wildwood.FL for basement a/c repairs.  We were quoted over $4000 in labour alone to remove the SCS unit from the coach and   re install it; the repair was extra! We are wondering if Good Sam's will cover such   exorbitant billing.

[Gerald Farris]

Jeremy,
I am no expert on what Good Sam will pay for a repair, but I would say that the likelihood of them being willing to pay over $1000 an hour for a repair is 0%.

Gerald

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Gerald,
  Alliance Coach labour rate is $110 per hour. They reckon it will take 40 hours plus to remove and reinstall the SCS unit in my coach. The repair with an outside HVAC guy is extra.
I have to call Good Sam's Extended Service Plan tomorrow and find out what they will cover.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Thank you all so much .  
Gerald,would you be kind enough to explain your removal procedure to me in detail.  What equipment will I need to move the unit which must weigh 200lbs or so?? Do I need to lift the coach? Does the water service bay panel need to be removed?
It is obvious that Alliance Coach has absolutely no knowledge of the Beaver Marquis set up.

[Gerald Farris]

Jeremy,
I can R&R (remove and replace) your SCS unit in less than 4 hours. There is no way that anyone can justify a 40 hour estimate to R&R your basement A/C unit. They either have never done one before or they just do not want to work on it.

Roy Mueller removed the basement A/C unit in Lamar's Marquis one evening in the parking lot at SCS so that SCS could repair it the next day. Then he reinstalled it the next evening, so that they could leave the next morning. That was in a gravel parking lot with hand tools, not in a shop with air tools. A 40 hour estimate to just R&R is absurd.
  
Gerald

[Gerald Farris]

Jeremy,
Give me a call (713-254-4156) sometime and I should be able to walk you through the procedure to R&R the unit.

If you would prefer to use email instead of a telephone, my email address is    <GeraldFarrisBAC@gmail.com>

Gerald

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Larry and Gerald,
  Thank you both for your remarks.  I hope that the owners of Alliance Coach are reading this. If they continue to treat their  customers with such indifference, I doubt they will be around for long.
I would appreciate a rough step by step guide to the removal procedure.

[Jeremy Parrett]

I contacted Alliance Coach this morning.  I forwarded  Gerald's directions to them.  They have agreed to keep a strict record of the hours this job takes although they do not think they can remove the unit in 2 hours.  They are telling me there is a vertical beam that has to be removed to allow the unit to slide out. I assume this is the  part of the frame that the sewer/water bay door latches are attached to. Gerald 's instructions mention sliding the unit forward and then out ..........to avoid this beam

[Bill Sprague]

Call and ask for Brett Howard.  It has been a couple of years since I spoke to him directly.  At the time he still worked for Monaco.  He impressed me as a very direct and honest person.  He helped us solve several issues on our coach.  I expect he will become personally involved in your issues.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Bill,
   Alliance are working on the SCS unit removal as we speak. Someone named Mike called me saying they did not appreciate the bad press and   assured me he will do his very best to resolve this issue . They would like to keep us as a customer. When this issue is resolved I will make a final post .  With a more accurate estimate of hours and repairs involved Good Sam's will pick up the bill.  

[Louis Williams]

The "Mike" you spoke of is Mike Hawkins, the shop foreman. He will do what he can to help resolve the problem. As already mentioned Brett Howard and /or Caroline Champion would be able to assist you. They are both reasonable people and want to see their customers satisfied.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Louis,
  No word as to the progress at Alliance Coach. I was told this morning by the service rep, Pat Manning that once the unit is removed from the coach , Lee 's HVAC will be coming to work on it, possibly tomorrow.
 Yes, it was Mike Hawkins who called me.    Thanks for your message.   jeremy

[Jeremy Parrett]

I phoned Alliance Coach this morning. They have removed the SCS Basement a/c unit. It took 4 hours !!   The HVAC service tech will come today or tomorrow to fix the leak and maybe replace the start capacitors etc. The initial diagnostic charge should be 1 hour,so we are up to 5 hours already at $110 per hour.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Sounds like they are being fair if you use Gerald Farris and his time estimate.