This is a Public Service Message for anyone considering having Heating or AC work done. I apologize this is long, but there's a lot here you should know.
A few days ago, my husband and I noticed that the air conditioner wasn't cooling like it should be. My husband went out and checked the compressor, and said it wasn't running. We purchased our AC unit from A#1 Air a few years back, so he said to give them a call and find out what was wrong with it.
They got a technician out within a few hours, and they were very nice to let me know when he was on his way. The technician was very nice and checked the outside unit as well as the part of the system up in the attic.
When he came to give me the report, he said he noticed on their records that we'd had several service calls in the past couple of years, and we might want to think about getting a new AC system and that they had some good sales going on. I paused and am thinking to myself, ummm...I don't think we've had many repairs in the past couple of years and besides, this system isn't that old. I told him no thank you, we'd just like to repair the existing system.
He proceeded to give me the quote. He said the evaporator coil was busted, and we'd lost most of our coolant, which had caused the compressor to lock up outside. He recommended that we also replace the Plenum as it was important that the part seal as tightly as possible to the evaporator coil and that we replace the drain pan as it was rusted. He said the total for the recommended work would be $3,128. I was shocked, but I know AC repairs can be costly. I called my husband at work, and he said if that was what was needed to go ahead and do it. The technician said he'd need payment to schedule the work, so I wrote a check, and we scheduled the repairs for the same day.
A little later I was talking with a realtor friend of mine, and he suggested I get a second opinion just to make sure, so we called Jacob at Everest Heating & Cooling - a local, independent HVAC service company. Jacob said that if it was what A#1 Air said it was he thought he could do the job for $2500, but he'd like to come out and evaluate the situation first. I'm thinking great! That's at least $600 cheaper. Jacob was booked all day, but said he would come out later that evening and evaluate our system.
Jacob called me about 5:30 and let me know he'd be there about 6:00. Jacob arrived and was super friendly. He evaluated our system and came back with the following analysis:
* Our system is an Amana - not the Lennox system that A#1 Air wrote up on service sheet.
* Our system is under warranty through 2021, including the evaporator coil - A#1 Air did not tell me this.
* Not busted evaporator coil as A#1 Air said - no replacement needed.
* The Plenum was fine and didn't need to be replaced.
* We only needed 7 pounds of refrigerant. - Did not need to replace all of it as A#1 Air indicated on their service sheet.
The total for the repairs from Everest was $283.50, a whopping $2,844.50 less than A#1 Air. Because Jacob was very nice and helpful and saved us so much money, my husband ended up purchasing a one year service agreement as well, bringing our grand total with Everest to $421.50 - still $2,706.50 less than A#1 Air.
I feel like A#1 Air was trying to take advantage of us. They tried to sell me a new system when ours is still under warranty. When that didn't work, they tried to charge us for parts and service that weren't broken, and even if they were broken, the parts at least would be covered by warranty.
What's more, Jacob knew what A#1 Air had quoted us. He could have easily agreed with their assessment and charged us the $2500 he'd initially quoted, but he didn't. He was honest and ethical and told us the system just needed refrigerant and took care of the repair on the spot. And he didn't charge us any extra for coming out after hours.
Everest Air and Heating has definitely earned all of our AC and heating business in the future. And you can bet I will be telling everyone what a great job he did and recommending them to everyone I know. Thanks, Everest and Jacob for being ethical and honest and having your customer's best interests at heart. read more