Here’s the email I sent to Dan Lopez of Virginia Design Builders, about our heat being broken. Sent it just now.
Dan,
We regret to inform you that as of coming home from work, today, we have no heat.
The thermostat appears dead. The backlight to it is not on. No buttons turn it on, and resetting the breaker doesn’t help either.
Fortunately it’s not freezing today but obviously if the pipes burst that would be some damage, so we’d like to get this fixed under the warrantee.
Please advise. For all we know, there could be some “reset button” that we do not even know about that might be a simple fix.
thanks,
-Clint & Carolyn
p.s. if the thermostat needs to be replaced or removed, this might be an opportunity to put in the nice programmable one that we originally had in. We’d prefer working heat, of course :)
NOTE: The p.s. was actually a 2nd email. :)
Claire's blog 
December 20, 2006 at 4:09 PM
So, Dan Lopez called us back that night and explained that he would need to get in touch with “Oscar”, the guy who installed our heat pump. Oscar called back Carolyn and is set to come to our house tomorrow 3-5PM. We’ll see if he shows up.
Some blue-collar heavy-accent guy from dominion virginia power called me. He was the tech had restored power to our house several times in the past, back when we had the old transformer. He may have been the tech that helped install the new transformer as well. He called me and said everything at the house checked out okay.
He also told me what happened: He said that on Edsall Rd, there was a Mobile gas station that changed ownership. This was near the condos that were built where Denny’s used to be. I believe I know the station he’s talking about. Anyway, they did something with a CRANE HITTING SOMETHING, which caused the whole area to lose power for a bit. This damaged their own equipment to the extent that they still didn’t have any power at the gas station a day later.
He said Dominion is not responsible for any damages, since it was the fault of the gas station / crane operator. He asid Dominion would release their information to me, if I wrote their claims department at P.O. Box 26666, Richmond, VA 23261. The work is under warrantee with Virginia Design Builders / Dan Lopez, however, therefore any recovered funds should really be recovered by him, not us.
December 20, 2006 at 6:00 PM
Actually, “Oscar” never called me. Dan Lopez ended up calling me back and told me that Oscar is coming to our house tomorrow afternoon.
December 22, 2006 at 9:35 PM
So, don’t leave us hanging.. Did Oscar show up? Are you cold? Is Dan Lopez dealing with it for no additional cost, without giving you a hard time?
I’m interested to know how all your house stuff goes, from now on, since you’ve had trouble with your construction, and I’ve had problems in the past (with another contractor, All American Building & Store Fixture [aka Century 22 Design] [owner: Barinder “Barry” Chadda]).
Sorry, I have yet to publicly post anywhere about that bastard, and it just kinda slipped out. Remind me to blog about it myself one of these days… So much info to gather/remember to do a full rant though!
December 23, 2006 at 7:24 AM
Oh yea — he showed up 3-5PM the following day, as promised. He had some problems fixing the heat, but finally managed to fix it after telling us he’d given up (he came back inside 20 minutes later). We didn’t get to use programmable thermostat (again), but hey, the heat is on again at least! yay!
December 23, 2006 at 3:36 PM
Yeah, he showed up at around 3:30, so that was good. He was there for a long time though. He didn’t leave until like 6:00-6:30ish.
December 25, 2006 at 2:38 PM
Of course, the heat broke again on December 24th… So it did not last long at all.
We had to cut the circuit breaker before leaving (for 24+ hours) because the unit sounds like it is running, but no air is coming through the vents.
Thus, we were scared that heat was being generated, but not being disappated, and that this could cause a fire.
So… cut the breaker off and left. Hope the pipes don’t freeze while we are gone!
Now, will we actually be able to get suitable warrantee service this coming week?
We hope so.
The first fix took 3 hrs and lasted less than 3 days.
Let’s hope a competent fix can be achieved.
December 26, 2006 at 11:22 AM
Hmmm, upon coming back home on 12/25/2006, and turning the heat back on, IT STARTED WORKING AGAIN.
It is strange that a few days ago, the house was unable to heat up to 70. But it went from 60 to 70 in less than 12 hours, so the heat is definitely working again!
Somehow, it feels like it will break again this winter, though. The fact that it failed (?) before seems to mean that it will fail again (?).
December 29, 2006 at 9:50 AM
It did break again. We’ve been keeping track of the date, time, temperature inside, thermostat setting, and temperature outside.
It was definitely broken.
We sent some emails to Dan Lopez giving him a ‘heads up’ that it seems to be gradually failing.
last nite, set at 74, temp was 64. this morning, still set at 74, temp was 61.
Dan asked me to clear out the leaves around the outside unit. That took awhile, but I did it. Ugh, topsoil. Ugh, leaves.
Anyway, I noticed that the supply line from the outside unit to the attic was TOTALLY ICED OVER.
Dan Lopez advised us that this means the unit wasn’t getting enough air — probably due to the leaves blocking it.
I feel stupid for not noticing the leaves.
We’ll see if it’s warmer than 61 when we get home today. Hopefully!
April 8, 2007 at 4:49 PM
i never dealt with u jerk all american and century22 designs never did any work for u.
April 9, 2007 at 9:53 AM
barry chadda:
Well, at least now you admit that all american and century 22 designs didn’t do the work. Do you remember taking my $16,000 while you were not doing the work? That was our biggest problem, which is why we sued you.
I guess it’s easy to admit it now, since your bankruptcy cleared you of all obligation for the $14,000+ that we had to pay someone else to finish the job you guys started.
You weren’t so quick to admit that you didn’t do the work, during the lawsuit process. You didn’t return phone calls, respond to letters, or show up in court (which is why the ruling was automatically in our favor). Very professional.
I still have all of my communication logs, letters, legal documents, photographic evidence, contracts, names of others who you screwed over, etc. to support my claims. I’d be happy to post them online, for everyone to see, if you’d like me to refresh your memory.
April 18, 2007 at 11:37 AM
Rock on, spugbrap. I’ll bet that made him squirm a bit. ;)
April 18, 2007 at 11:41 AM
Yea, rock on spugbrap!
I also emailed him privately to tell him that he sounds like a scumbag contractor to me! :)
October 23, 2007 at 3:33 PM
who the fuck r u
October 23, 2007 at 3:38 PM
…The guy who fucks your mom?
October 23, 2007 at 3:39 PM
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who the fuck r u