Initially, all seemed well because they were recommended by a friend. My AC ducts needed to be replaced due to animal damage. A young man showed up and went up in the attic for a few minutes to check out the damage. He told me that he would recommend replacing the whole duct work due to animal damage. He told me to call and speak with Sam. I later called or received a call from Sam. I got a verbal quote, from Sam for $1800.00. I decided to have them do it and asked that they also check AC/Furnace to make sure it worked.
After work was "completed" on ducts the young man was about to leave and I had to remind him to give the system a check to make sure it functioned.
He got the furnace going but then came back and told me that he had to manually start it because it would not start on it's own. He said that the blower was not working and likely the furnace and perhaps the whole unit would have to be replaced due to damage from animal urine and feces. He asked that I call Sam to get a quote on the cost.
I later called Sam and was quoted nearly 6K for a full unit replacement. I was incredulous. The system had been working fine less than a year earlier. I later got a call from Sam and was told that he had over quoted me. It would only cost me nearly 5K instead of 6K. He also indicated that he could also see if he could find a slightly "used" unit that could potentially cost less to replace.
After talking it over with my girlfriend, we decided to get a second opinion from the HVAC company that I had used in the past and that had originally installed the unit over 10 years ago. Long story short, it's a good thing that we got a second opinion because the problem was fixed for less than $200 by All Year Heating and Cooling!
I was told by All Year that there was nothing wrong with the system. That perhaps the previous AC tech was not very experienced or forgot to flip on the power override switch. That got me thinking that maybe I should check this business licensing credentials with Texas Dept of Licensing and Regulation, which coincidentally, is where I work!
Turns out the guy that did the work did not hold an AC tech license, although he has since gotten one.
I climbed up in the attic to do some other work and noticed that the ducts had not been sealed. One even had damage where it connected to the plenum and air was escaping. It was a rushed, shoddy, inadequate, and unacceptable job that was done. I kept getting calls from the office to see if I had decided to replace the system. I refused to answer because I was upset. I decided to email instead so that I would have a written account of our discussion. When I emailed and brought up the issues, I was rebuked by Sam for not calling to speak to him on the phone. I was also criticized for doing research on the internet and calling them out on the problems. Regarding the unit replacement, he said that All Year was basically wrong and that my unit would eventually go out. He said that they make their money from doing repairs. Regarding the ducts, he said that they should have been sealed and initially offered to have his guy come back to complete the job. When it became apparent that I had determined that his guy (son) did not have a license when he did the work, he offered to refund my money. He also tried to tell me that he had Face Timed with his son to verify the problems. That is not acceptable because he would not have been able to see firsthand what the problems were to make a correct diagnosis.
He ended up refunding $900 back to my card when he told me via email that he would refund the whole amount.
He also made what I interpreted as a veiled threat when he informed me that he had spoken to some hunting buddies about this and he thought I had broken some protocols myself. I have all this in my email.
Lesson learned. Do your homework people. Find a reputable company.
See helpful TDLR links below to help you make an informed decision:
https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/acrlaw.htm
https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch/ read more
