At least 20 former ARS Rescue Rooter customers have called or emailed me since my original story about the lawsuit against the company ran Sept. 16.
One thing unites almost all of them: They didn't file a complaint with any outside entity such as the Better Business Bureau or the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
That's true of Jeffrey Lanuez, whom I quoted at the beginning of Sunday's story. His 96-year-old grandfather was upset about his treatment by ARS Rescue Rooter employees, but he didn't want to pursue a complaint against the company with whom he had an inspection plan.
"We didn’t do anything about it. My grandfather said, 'No no no, I promise I won’t have them back,' " Lanuez said.
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Sr. Jeannette Mariani didn't complain either. This spring, she told me, she asked ARS Rescue Rooter to check out a rattle in her furnace. An employee told her she needed $1,800 of work on the HVAC unit at the home she shares with another nun, including fixes such as an acid bath for the AC unit's coil.
Mariani felt she was being pressured, she said, and called in another company. That company said the coil could be washed off with a hose and all the necessary work could be done for $385 or so.
And there were people like Warren Nielson. His air conditioning gave out last year on the day his wife came home from a surgery at the hospital. Feeling he needed an immediate fix, Nielson accepted the diagnosis of the ARS Rescue Rooter workers who came out: He needed a $14,700 worth of equipment and work.
Nielson called me Monday looking for the contact info for the Attorney General's Office. In case you want to call, it's 520-628-6504.
