We have a pureatech air filtration system in our house; installed after hearing about the company on the Steve and Vicki show (Star 94) because our daughter had asthma.

We had to pay for a years service up front (there were no other options if we wanted them to service it), but when calling to schedule my next service this morning my wife found all the phone numbers disconnected or redirected to an innocent filter company.

I'm pretty good at investigating things online, so I started looking into it. There are a lot of regional pureatech companies listed online, but the main web site is offline and every regional company I tried to contact is either not answering their phone, has no web site or is disconnected.

Updates:

4/18/2005 - Although no-one has given me any leads yet I have been contacted by a lot of unhappy people looking for the executives of this company. Many have lost thousands $$ - and it's not just customers; other businesses providing services to Pureatech haven't been paid.

4/19 - I found a letter from Pureatech dated November 2004 that said that the service contract was being transitioned to a company called Aire Serv *. We called them this morning and they said that they were honoring pureatech contracts "until Pureatech filed for bankruptcy in March"

5/2 - Here's an email from another reader (unconfirmed) that contrary to earlier reports tells us that "aireserv has worked out a service plan for pureatech customers in which customers will not lose their services owed...contact aireserv for details in your area"

Ouch, just found (and read) all 8 pages about pureatech at hvac-talk.com. Sit down and take a deep breath first.

Next, another reader SB, tells me about Harry Youdell, the owner of pureatech. I suggest you search for his name on http://www.gwinnettcourts.com/ if you feel up to it.

5/3 - I spoke to Aire Serv this morning at length. In the daughter of the owner's opinion, there is nothing wrong with our Pureatech systems as long as they were installed properly. That seems to be a roll of the dice since I've read people alledging that vastly under-qualified installers were employed sometimes.

Perhaps I've been lucky - if it hasn't caused problems in the last 2 years, it is unlikely to do so. Aire Serv are "willing to help" Pureatech customers by offering discounts (I'm told). Of cource, do due diligence people!

For what it's worth, they seem to be good people and I'll get my filters and perhaps annual service from them.

5/3 continued - you may not believe this, but I just had a phone call at my house from Harry Youdell. He's seen or heard of this page, and he (very politely) asked if I had found a solution to my problem. I told him I'd spoken to Aire Serv earlier today, and he said they are the best people to deal with (for what it's worth).

5/5 - I also got this anonymous email from (they say) an ex-Pureatech employee. No way to validate it, but it's interesting nonetheless:

"Im not going to leave my name or e-mail address for reasons you will soon understand. I worked for Pure-A-Tech for a while. I was one of the installers. when I started at PUREATECH I had no prior experience with air conditioning, or anything relating to the installation of the system. Most of the installers were just like me. Im a mechanic, another installer I worked with did drywall, others were pretty much straight out of highschool. So the comment posted about under-qualified installers, was more true than you know. Not only did we rip apart you a/c unit to install your system but we also messed with your electrical wiring in your house to make that little UV light work. The installers were supposed to use a device called a "51 relay" made by april air. Well long story short. those relays were not ment for that kind of job, also most of the time they did not get used at all. You had mechanics, drywall experts, highschool kids, and half blind 70 year old men playing with the circut boards inside your a/c units.We would install the pereatech systems, de-humidifiers, condensate pumps, would run all new duct work, even install new a/c units inside and outside your homes. Kind of a scary thought huh? I will however say this. The system itself, when installed correctly, it WORKS well. Dont think that all of the lawsuits against pureatech is just unhappy (sick) customers, a few of the lawsuits are from ex-employees. Our payday was on tuesday, our paychecks were always short. I dont mean $20 or $30 there were days that our checkes were short thousands of dollars. Its kind of funny because thay would never schedule work on payday. No one would work until their pay was corrected. Well I think I have rambled enough about the Hell that is pureatech. "

If true, I'd like to thank the poster for giving us some behind-the-scenes info.

5/10 - some more alternatives for filters and/or service have been recommended to me, although I haven't had personal experience with them: www.southserve.com *, www.4yourfilters.com *

Also, Pureatech of Dallas-Fort Worth * is still open for business, answering their phones and delivering filters.

12/7/2005:

Here's another anonymous comment*:

"I am a ex-employee of this company. I was responsible for taking care of the customer after the installation. This was a very strange company to work for. The product works. I have asthma myself and since installed the sytem I have had no problems. The only person in the company I would trust is the owner of the Dallas Branch. He wasn't family like the others and he cared about the employees and customers. The part the other employee told is true that most of the installers were not HVAC qualified. The one that were took there time and did the job correctly Which Harry didn't like.Harry wasn't them in and out as fast as possible so he could get the money. Whom Also is not HVAC qualified he was a truck driver. It was funny to me how they would install a 100 or more systems a month costing $2000 each yet most of the time our check bounced or were short over half the amount. On top of that we were required to drive our own vehicles yet no one the job time to do mantaince. Great product POOR business. Bankruptcy does suprise me. But Trust Steven in Dallas. He was a great boss."

12/15/2005:

John sent in this potentially useful snippet:

"The main ingrediant that made the PureAtech system work were the Mycelx Technologies filters. Go on line and look at www.mycelx.com. These filters are still available from Mycelx Technologies if there is enough demand for the company to order these odd size filters in bulk and infuse them with the Mycelx chemistry"

01/20/2006:

From Myra:

"I have just ordered my Puratech filters from BREMAC and received them within 7 days. They charge $290.00 for a year's supply of filters and a UV light. S&H is additional. I have been pleased with them and they are so confident in their company that they want me to tell you about them. They are a HVAC installation and service company located in Virginia. They distribute Puratech filters for local customers but I get the feeling that they will be growing to supply the rest of the USA"

* REMEMBER, one or more of the companies mentioned on this page may be run by ex-Pureatech employees/owners. I have no personal experience with any of them and have done no background checks on the validity of any claims posted here. As always, please be vigilant in your business dealings.

03/27/2007

I haven't updated this for a long time - I moved to a new house long ago, but this page still gets traffic. Today I received another email that I'm posting here for completeness. As always, I'm just trying to help those with systems that need maintenance - I cannot confirm nor deny any of these comments since I'm not investigating them.

"This is not in response to the question it is in regards to a comment that needs to be cleared up. Rich Pace was a Pureatech dealer in the South East namely Columbia, SC and Charlotte, NC he was never the President of Pureatech. Also he is not the founder of PureHealth Dynamics I am. I felt badly for him when he lost his shirt well actually his father in laws money since he never invested his own, as a Pureatech dealer and I allowed him to use my name to start a division of Purehealth Dynamics in his territory. Because he has the mentality still of the Pureatech model,(Sell whatever even if it doesn't work) I am sorry I let him use my business name and am working on trying to get my name back since he is starting to tarnish it. Sad to say I made that mistake trying to help someone when he was down and out, Healthy regards, Joe Maglio

PS: We sell Pureatech replacement filters and UV-Bulbs on line at www.purehealthdynamics.com we will replace the Pureatech system with an upgraded version for $400.00 and guarantee improvement by monitoring the air before and after using a third party indoor air quality specialist; and filter changes only every six months at half the cost, why because we care