Action 9 investigates complaints against duct-cleaning company

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Two viewers reached out to Action 9 in less than one month, and are both upset with the same air duct company.

Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke gets a lot of complaints against air duct businesses. Hiring an air duct cleaner can be tricky, because typically customers don't know what it looks like inside the ducts. So when it's all over, customers don't know if they got their money's worth. John Varvel hired Indoor Air Solutions. "We don't make a lot of money -- tight budget," Varvel said. He put $900 down, then he changed his mind and asked for a refund. "Extremely frustrating, Varvel said. We cannot afford to lose $900." Around the same time, another customer said IAS did the work, but that a line started dripping and that he couldn't get the company to come back, that customer said in an email to Action 9. Action 9 reached out to IAS by email and they said they did nothing wrong and refunded Varvel his $900. IAS also said the performed the other job well and the customer cussed and threatened their crew. IAS stopped emailing Action 9 after an interview was requested. The Better Business Bureau gives IAS an "F" rating, partially because it's had more than 20 complaints against the company the last three years. Action 9 asked Sam Galphin how he would go about getting his ducts cleaned.

A statewide, nonprofit that follows home issues recommended him as a neutral expert.

"Pull down some grills, stick your cellphone up there and take some pictures and look at them," Galphin said. He said to hire a contractor with a good record, stay with the crew while they work and check the ducts yourself again to see if they look different than before. Galphin said some build up is normal, so don't let a company pressure you to buy a full cleaning.

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Action 9 investigates complaints against duct-cleaning company