Bill sorry you are had problems, and I was saving my money to buy me and AC
Hoot58
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hanlon, Bill" <Bill.Hanlon@COMPAQ.com>
To: <oletrucks@autox.team.net>
Cc: <sales@vintageair.com>; <tech@vintageair.com>;
<sales@oldairproducts.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 9:24 AM
Subject: [oletrucks] Vintage Air problems
> Now that I have finally got (most) of my money back I'll let you in on my
> experiences with Vintage Air.
>
> In March I ordered a "Sure Fit" Air Conditioning kit for my 57 GMC 1/2 ton
> from Vintage Air. The phone salesman's name was Art. He was not familiar
> with the kit for the GMC truck and had to ask a number of questions of his
> co-workers in order to answer my questions. The kit is listed as fitting
> 55/59 GMC Pickup Truck. I charged it to my Master Card. Total cost was
> $1243.16 including shipping, upgrades (polished compressor and chromed
> drier) and state sales tax (I live in Texas where Vintage Air is). I
chose
> Vintage Air over Old Air Products because their kit did not require
> modification to my original deluxe heater control. To my delight, the kit
> arrived in less than the 10 days that Vintage Air said it would take.
>
> I inventoried the kit and the only thing I questioned was the small number
> of o-rings included in the kit. There are 10 connections to be made and
> only 5 o-rings. I planned to do the installation of components myself and
> have a local A/C shop do the hose connections and evacuate and charge the
> system, so it wasn't worth my time and effort to call Vintage Air over 5
> missing o-rings.
>
> Reading through the instructions I noticed that the bottom of the
condenser
> was supposed to attach to an "X brace" in front of the radiator. While
the
> X brace exists in 58/9 GMC trucks, not in 55-7. Not a big deal, I'll just
> fab two more brackets similar to the two that mount the top of the
> condenser. I called Vintage Air's tech support line and asked them how
> close the condenser should be to the radiator. Their answer was "As close
> as you can get it without touching." That being the case, the top
mounting
> brackets that were already mounted on the radiator side of the condenser
> needed to be moved to the grill side of the condenser to get the condenser
> closer than 1.5" away from the radiator. No big deal, just unscrew the
> brackets, move them to the other side and reinstall. There were already
> holes there so I guess it was assembled wrong at the factory. I made up
> some spacers out of 3/8" aluminum tubing and got the condenser installed
> about 1/8" from the radiator.
>
> The instructions make no mention of the safety switch (also known as the
> binary switch) which prevents the compressor clutch from engaging if over
or
> under pressure condition exists. The schematic shows where it goes
> electrically, but not where it mechanically connects to the system. A
quick
> call to Vintage Air tech support and I know where to install it.
>
> The procedure that Vintage Air uses for warrantee registration involves
> stickers with serial numbers on them for each major part (compressor,
> evaporator, condenser, safety switch) of the kit. The stickers are pasted
> onto a sheet that includes your address and order number and then returned
> to Vintage Air. Problem was that there was no sticker for the compressor.
> Vintage Air tech support says "no problem, we go by the order number
> anyway."
>
> The next thing I worked on was the heater control head. Vintage Air's kit
> supplies a replacement for the stock blower (fan) speed control switch.
The
> original switch is held in place by two 8x32 screws that attach to the
> threaded bracket on the switch. The replacement switch was not threaded,
> but at least the holes were the right size for an 8x32 tap. After tapping
> the holes I noticed that the handle on the switch was about 13/16" too
short
> to reach through the slot in the front of the heater control unit. If it
> were long enough to reach it was also about 1/4" too high to line up with
> the slot. Called the tech support people again and they said that they
> would send the proper switch. While I had them on the phone I told them
of
> the missing o-rings and they said that they would send those too. At this
> point I programmed Vintage Air's 800 number into my speed dial.
>
> Two days later the correct switch and the o-rings arrived. I mounted the
> switch and tried to mount the new plastic placard into the stock heater
> control unit. This placard replaces the original one marked to show fan
> speed, outside vs. inside air, temp and defrost with one marked fan speed,
> A/C on/off, temp and defrost. Only problem is the new placard is about
1/8"
> too high and 1/8" too wide to fit into the space occupied by the stock
> placard. Used the speed dial and got the answer that this was the only
part
> available. Some careful sanding with emery cloth removed 1/16" from each
> side and then the placard would fit in the heater control head. Looking
at
> my accomplishment I noticed that the print on the placard was so large
that
> the outside, top and bottom edges of the words TEMP and DEFR (they run
> vertically on the plastic) were not visible through the opening, but hey,
> this is the only part available.
>
> I installed the compressor with no problems. Then it came time to install
> the evaporator. This is where the ship hit the sand. The evaporator unit
> supplied was 20.5" wide. The space under the dash between the right side
of
> the heater control unit and the right side of the cab behind the glove box
> door is 18.5". Speed dialed again and tech support (Ramone if I remember
> right) was totally mystified. He said that the kit had been developed
using
> a 58 GMC (explains the X bracket) which they had since sold. I had them
> pull the engineering drawings and confirm that I had the right unit. The
> drawings showed that the unit should be 20.5". I had a list member (Jeff
> Cerniglia) measure the same space in his 59 GMC. He measured 18 9/16",
> within a sixteenth of my measurement. Ramone also questioned Art's
selling
> me such an "old kit". The date on the drawings was May 20, 1996. I guess
> the under-dash measurements of 55-59 GMCs have changed in the last five
> years. Vintage Air's only solution was to provide me with a smaller
general
> purpose evaporator, which would not be controlled by the stock heater
> control head. Not a good answer.
>
> I called Old Air and talked to Johnny. I didn't want to have to unmount
the
> compressor and condenser and asked if they would be compatible with Old
> Air's evaporator. He said yes (they use the exact same Sanden compressor
> and the size of the condenser is almost identical). I had him measure the
> evaporator. It should fit. Speed dialed back to Vintage Air's tech
support
> and after much weeping and gnashing of teeth Mark gave me a return
> authorization for just the evaporator portion of the kit, however the
> refused to pay the $21.35 UPS charges for the return. Got it boxed up and
> sent via UPS on May 15th. It arrived at Vintage Air and was signed for on
> May 16th.
>
> On June 13th I received my next credit card bill as was shocked to not
find
> a credit from Vintage Air. Speed dialed again and was told by Paul "It
> takes a month to clear." Funny, it only took them a day to charge me for
it
> originally.
>
> On June 20th I checked with the credit card Company. Still no credit.
> Speed dialed and was told by Paul "It takes 3 to 4 weeks to clear." I
> informed him it had been 5 weeks. He checked with accounting and said it
> would be done "By late this week."
>
> At 3PM (they close at 4PM) on June 22nd (Friday, the end of the week) I
> speed dialed again, waited on hold for a few minutes and left a message
with
> the operator that I needed to talk with the accounting people. She said
> they would get back to me shortly. When I hadn't heard from them by 3:45
I
> speed dialed once more and got Dan in accounting. He told me that they
had
> just found my paperwork clipped to some other customer's. I didn't know
it
> was lost. They had already closed out the Master Card accounting for the
> day and that the credit would be posted "first thing Monday".
>
> Monday, June 25th around noon I speed dialed another time (I wonder if
this
> button on my phone will be the first to break?) and Dan told me he would
> apply the credit "As soon as I get enough charges to offset the credit".
I
> told him that was not acceptable and he said he would do it "right now".
> Two days later I checked with the Master Card folks and the credit had
been
> received.
>
> A few days later I received an invoice and credit card slip from Vintage
Air
> in the mail. Opened it to find that they refunded the $575 for the parts,
> but had not refunded the $45 (I don't remember the exact amount) sales
tax.
> Back to the speed dial and Dan says that he'll get that done quickly. A
few
> days later another invoice/credit card slip arrived showing the sales tax
> refund.
>
> Meanwhile I had received and installed the Old Air evaporator. Now I feel
> as cool as my truck looks.
>
> Vintage Air "Sure Fit"? Surely they jest!
>
> Bill Hanlon
> 6022 Pin Oak Place
> Klein TX 77379
> oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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