We used A&B to remove some possible asbestos from our pluming and also wanted the ducts cleaned afterwards since we just moved into our house. My partner knew of this company because someone she knew worked for them. I thought they would take really good care of us because of this but I'm sad to report that this was not the case. A lot happened with us so I'll try to be concise and to the point.
To start Francisco came out to inspect the house to give us a price. He wanted $600 to remove the asbestos and $350 to clean the ducts. He did not test the material on the pipes to confirm it was in fact asbestos, but instead just said it probably was. After reading some reviews on google, I'm actually glad because some stated that he broke the material up on site with the home owner standing right there (terrifying)... Soon after his "crew" showed up to start the work. No regard was taken for the flooring throughout the house. The salt and snow and all were all tracked throughout the house. They began to set up their equipment and taped up a rudimentary plastic sheet to enclose the basement while the asbestos was removed. The plastic remained taped open throughout the process so one wonders what the point even was of taping it up in the first place. When I asked the workers why the plastic was open, they looked at me confused. There was only one guy that spoke English on the crew and this was not him. A tarp was laid down to catch the large material as they removed it but some didn't make it on the tarp and was actually left behind for me to clean. After reading other reviews I don't recall any sort of air purifier being used either. I don't have cameras in my basement as one other reviewer did but I'm sure they were just as careless.
On to the duct cleaning. It looked like they knew what they were doing but the tools they have are very outdated and no camera was used to ensure the ducts were clean (more on this later). They ripped off a few of the original duct covers and broke them because they had to be reattached with ugly silver machined screws. They knocked one of our plants over onto the couch and left the dirt all over and in the couch. They never even told me, so I was left to find that later in the day. I thought this was the end of it and was disappointed about the above but relieved the ducts were clean. I changed my furnace filter with a brand-new carbon filter for $75. A couple months go by and my furnace started to short cycle and turn itself off. It stopped working all together one cold night, so a HVAC company had to come afterhours to troubleshoot it for the tune of $500. They found that the furnace had been short cycling due to a lack of airflow. Caused by what you ask? A filter absolutely CAKED with dust. I called the company and they said they were sorry and they would come back to clean them again. Same crew shows up with the same outdated equipment. This time cutting a hole in the return duct to clean it more thoroughly. I informed them I just changed to a brand-new filter and if they could please protect it while they were cleaning the ducts. They disregarded this and helped themselves to ANOTHER new filter that was in the packaging. That's three $75 dollar filters for those counting. While they were cleaning, they had a generator running outside my door which their equipment propped open. Exhaust filled my house giving me a headache and making me sick. I informed them this was happening (not sure how they didn't realize as the basement was filled with smoke). I had to evacuate the house for the next hour as they worked. I had to open all of the windows in the house once they left to evacuate the carbon monoxide riddled air.
The picture I've included of my return duct is AFTER the two times they tried to clean the ducts and as you can see it is untouched and absolutely filthy. So lets add up the total of what this nightmare cost us.
Price of the "work" preformed $950
HVAC visit $500
3X HVAC filter $225
For a grand total of $1675 I am still stuck with dirty HVAC ducts and possibly exposed to asbestos fibers due to their careless business practices.
Francisco did refund us a pathetic $500 for our trouble but that's nothing since I now have to hire a new company to clean the ducts again, and get an air quality test for the air since we now probably have asbestos floating around.
Don't skimp on up front price when it comes to the safety of your family with a company like this. You will end up paying for it in the end like I did.
I am sickened when I see this company represented with an almost 5-star rating. I am led to believe most of those reviews are either fake or left by people that just don't have a clue. read more