Hi all. I had my Dandelion system installed in late 2018. I wasn't thrilled with the state in which the excavation company left my property (obviously when digging up just about the entire backyard, I understand that it's not going to look great afterwards, but they tore down a lot of chain link fence and did a bad job of putting it back together, and they ripped down the cable and telephone lines from the house to the pole on their way out. Anyway, that's not the point of this post.)
Over the years I have only had a couple of minor issues, mainly a small glycol leak from one of the "contraptions" (looks like some kind of water hammer absorber or something along those lines) and Dandelion was good about coming out to fix it.
I actually don't use the system very often because I am comfortable as long as my indoor temperature isn't above 80. That was the case for basically the entire summer last year, so I don't think I ever used it all summer long. When the weather got cold, the system wasn't working when I finally went to use it. The blower would come on, but not the compressor. I called, and Dandelion said they no longer provided service to my area and they said that I would need to contact a different company.
I contacted that company, and they made the 2-hour trip, and had me up and running either that same day or possibly on a subsequent visit. At that time, they convinced me that it would be a good idea to sign a preventative maintenance contract, which involves them coming out twice a year to check on things.
They came out last month in mid June. I had not been running the system for AC at that point, so I had no idea that the system was once again not working. Once again, the blower was blowing, but there was no compressor. The technician said something about him being wrong about his previous diagnosis, and that I needed a part. I said ok, whatever it takes. He said they would give me a call to arrange next steps.
A week and a half went by without hearing anything, so I called to get an update. The receptionist said she would speak to the technician and get back to me. Another week went by without hearing anything, so I called again. This time I left a message. No response. I called the next day, left another message. No response. It has now been a week, and they are clearly ghosting me. I reached out to a different geothermal company and they said they would not service a system that they didn't install. I called dandelion and said that I have a inoperative system and I desperately need somebody to take a look at it. They said they would email me a list of recommended companies in New York state, jt none of these places are anywhere near me, and won't travel that far.
Miraculously I had an old email from 2018 with the name of a guy whom I recalled being really on top of things. I managed to locate him on LinkedIn and he now lives in Oklahoma working for AAON, and he gave me the number of a guy in Albany which is about 2 hours away. This guy said if I pay him a travel fee. He will come out and hopefully fix my system. So, we'll see.
In the meantime, I filed a small claims court case against the other company that clearly breached the preventative maintenance contract. I have no idea why they did that but it is completely absurd. It's like being in a fantastic relationship and then suddenly one day your partner dumps you with no explanation and ghosts you. As much as I like geothermal, It is obviously a risky proposition when you live in an area that does not have options for readily available service.
