Sorry to hear this, who did you take the car to in the end? I'd still be tempted myself to run the car with the belt off. Is you car a facelift then if its a 2006?
Mine smells too on a cold morning, if you have a look at http://dhclimatecontrol.com/hp.htm it explains how it works.
Basically the inside coil which it refers to is in where your pollen filter sits, we all know what a/c can smell like when its not been used for a while so whats it going to...
I kinda feel the same, reading all the threads on here makes me paranoid summat is going to go wrong and also the fact it only does around 45mpg when I bought a diesel for economy, kinda wish I kept the Civic VTIS it used to do nearly 38mpg driving it like I drive the Accord and its still going...
When you took it back to get it checked did they check to see if it had enough pressure in or did they simply get you to press the button and then listen for the compressor kicking in? If they didn't check it for pressure then you need someone to stick it on a machine and check to make sure its...
Pressure switch or wiring to it could be at fault as well. Didnt someone add a feed to the wire on the compressor to see if it kicked the clutch in? I'm sure there is a discussion about it somewhere on here.