Review is regarding HVAC service. Responded to $49 Furnace Tune-Up special. What it actually was, in the words of tech was "an introduction to their services". Boy, was it ever. I was given a glimpse in to how this company does business, at least on the HVAC side of things. What I saw was not good (go to Angie's List for similar accounts to mine. This unfortunately was not a unique experience.)
Several red flags went off immediately & in hindsight I should have stopped the "service" right then, but perhaps my failure to do so will save someone else spending funds they don't have on repairs they don't need. Warning, this'll be a long read. If you don't want the long read, just trust me-that "good deal" is just to get them in the door to tell you your furnace or AC is completely unsafe and needs immediate, & VERY expensive repairs. I know they do financing for their Kinetico systems. I have a sneaky suspicion they'd be more than happy to finance their overpriced & unnecessary HVAC repairs too. Super convenient!
I have had multiple companies do these furnace tune-ups over the years, most recently a couple of years ago. All have provided check lists to show what they did & walked me through them, left service stickers on the furnace, & gone through the same service routine. Not Thomas of Aquarius. The only documentation I received were the photos of the inside of my hopelessly damaged & unsafe furnace & an invoice for the visit.
Red flag 1: Right away I was asked what I did for a living. It didn't feel conversational, that question & everything that followed felt more like the tech was sizing up a mark for the con. He spent lots of time explaining how he wants to provide a 5 star service experience & welcomes me watching him work on the furnace, "even during COVID, it's ok for me to be hovering over his shoulder" (might want to emphasize those safety protocols you trumpet, Aquarius, since your tech felt very free to move about my house uninvited and touch pretty much anything which made me super uncomfortable), & if at any time I felt the "service experience" falling off, to let him know b/c that "5 star experience" was so important.
Red flag 2: From the first I felt his "5 star rating" was more important to him than ensuring my furnace was working properly.
Red flag 3: He told me he was going to take my furnace apart to "figure out what tools he'd need". Odd, since he was just there to do a standard furnace tune up. Immediately he started talking about how other companies never check the heat exchanger & he often finds issues with them separating & that causes exhaust leakage. (I did find on all the previous checklists from the other companies, every one of them had checked said heat exchanger & found it A-okay). So right away before even checking it he had determined the "problem".
Red flag 4: He told me he'd check AC too. Didn't ask for this, it wasn't included in the service I'd ordered, & it's MN in winter. It's buried & inaccessible under several feet of snow. What could he possibly check? I've had preventative maintenance done on it before, but no one has offered to do it IN THE WINTER.
Red flag 5: He pulled it apart, but didn't start the cleaning the other companies had done. Did an inspection w/ his camera, took some photos, which he evidently sent to his coworkers at Aquarius, then came to me after he'd confirmed the "bad news". He had indeed found what was likely to be thousands of dollars of faulty parts that left alone would kill my family with deadly exhaust fumes. He was more than happy to show me the photos when I questioned him on it, & explained that he was so concerned he had his colleagues confirm the damage. He put the live camera in to the furnace, however "unfortunately" the bright light merely bounced off the very shiny metal making it impossible to see anything.
Red flag 6: When I kept pressing on what would happen if I did not immediately have him repair the "problem" he had identified, he said he did not have a crystal ball. He said he was not "red tagging" the furnace as Aquarius is not "ambulance chasers". He complied with my request to finish the furnace tune-up I'd requested & paid for (Aquarius did not charge me for this as they wanted that all-important 5 star experience). After he completed the work, he flipped off the furnace switch, told me to have a nice day, and left. This simply does not jive - if you've just found what could be a potentially lethal problem, you simply do not pack up your things, tell someone "thanks", and leave. I fully understand respecting the customer's opinion, but if he was truly ruled by the ethical standard he said he was, he would have urged me to seek another opinion & not left me to perish with this "dangerous furnace".
I did in fact seek another opinion. The issue he identified was in fact just fine. There was zero exhaust leakage & no problem at all.
None of it added up, except to unsavory business practices. read more