They were bought out by NearU in 2022 and are now private equity owned high price poor service…read morecompany. Full review... I would not recommend Ideal, and I will never use them again. Based on my experience, their pricing is excessive, their explanations were not credible, and they did not stand behind their installation. In November 2024, Ideal installed a Trane XR14 for about $5,500. It did not make it through more than one cooling season before developing a significant coil leak requiring replacement a few months out of Ideal's labor warranty. There were red flags early. Within 72 hours, they had to come back multiple times. Ideal tied the new AC coil drain into the existing furnace drain line. After that, the original furnace drain trap connection leaked (photo). I told them I believed the old glued joint was disturbed during install as they moved it to tee in the new line. Since the joint was old, I offered to split the repair cost, even though the problem appeared immediately after their work. Despite photos, Ideal required $150 to send a tech to diagnose and quote repair. They quoted about $750 to replace the drain trap, P-trap, and tee. Their own technician said parts were under $75. I looked up the parts: part 20171701 was about $16.72, and 3/4-inch pipe, P-trap, plus tee is under $20. That quote appeared to be hundreds in labor for a small PVC repair. A licensed plumber fixed it for $100 in under 30 minutes, including a new OEM drain trap. To me, that is not standing behind your work. That is charging a lot for something that appeared to result from the installation. The unit was serviced by Ideal in August 2025 before it went out of warranty and was seemingly fine. On May 3, 2026, when I turned the AC on, it was short cycling. Ideal found a "significant" coil leak. The Trane part was covered under warranty, but Ideal wanted about $3,200 in labor to replace the coil (photo). They claimed it would take two people a full day. For comparison, I received competing quotes for the same work -- drain, swap coil, replace dryer, nitrogen test, vacuum, and recharge -- for $1,200 and $1,500. After I pushed back to service manager Mark, he reduced the quote to about $2,000. Ultimately, another licensed HVAC technician replaced the same warranted Trane coil, IN ADDITION TO my blower motor, for $1,200 total in 3 hours by himself. There are still good companies who charge by the hour vs inflated flat-rate prices. During my call with Ideal, I also discussed my blower motor. Ideal previously said it had shaft play. When I said my regular HVAC technician could replace it for $429 including the part, Mark chuckled and called him a "hack." He said the motor alone was close to $1,000 and suggested I would get a non-OEM cheap Chinese motor with the wrong speed that would not work. That did not hold up. The OEM Goodman motor part number is 0131F00041S. It is nowhere near $1,000. Ferguson HVAC Supply quoted me $88.97 for the OEM Goodman motor. The OEM motor pulled from the unit is made by Zhongshan Broad-Ocean Motor Co, in China. The motor Ideal claimed would be a cheap Chinese knockoff was replaced with a verified OEM Goodman motor, also made in China. When my technician removed the old motor, he found zero shaft play. I still have the motor and a video. Based on all this, Ideal's pricing and recommendations should be questioned carefully. In my opinion, their quotes were inflated compared with actual parts costs and other HVAC labor quotes. Customers should verify any major repair recommendation or part-price claim before agreeing to pay Ideal. Lastly, the timing left me with serious questions. Ideal serviced the unit in August 2025, before the labor warranty expired. When I turned it back on May 3, 2026, it short cycled and Ideal diagnosed a significant coil leak. I cannot prove what Ideal knew in August, but if the leak was present or developing then, waiting until after the labor warranty expired would obviously benefit Ideal financially. That timing and everything above destroyed my trust in this company.

Do NOT trust this company. They installed our system and less than 2 years later, it started…read moreleaking refrigerant. They sent a technician out who "couldn't find" the leak and wanted to charge us almost $1000 for a nitrogen test, the standard for our area is $200-$400. They promised a free leak check before they made us do the nitrogen test and then changed their mind and said they could only stand by what they promised if we signed up for their maintenance program. We found an honest contractor who found the leak in 2 minutes and charged us less for the entire repair than Ideal would have charged us just for the materials. They were literally 3x more expensive, with HORRIBLE customer service to boot. Save yourself a headache and avoid Ideal Services.

Jaylen the professional and Kristi the dispatcher were incredibly polite and helpful throughout the…read moreentire process. Our AC stopped working and they came out within an hour. Jaylen not only refilled our freon, but was conscientious throughout his time in our attic and in our home. We hope to have Jaylen come out for us again next time!

Dustin went above and beyond on this one. Everyone else said I needed to replace my 10-year old…read moregas pack that had water in the heat exchanger ($10K - $12K). Dustin took his time, evaluated the problem, then sucked the water out of the heat exchanger fixing the unit for thousands less. Thank you Dustin for fixing my unit.

Tan, my customer service rep...has been so helpful, professional & took care of everything! Thank…read moreYou Tan. David Hare

I wished I had read these reviews prior to getting a unit with them! New unit 10 months ago and 4…read moreservice calls from issues with the thermostat to unit not cooling. Now I'm sitting in my house AGAIN with a temp of 83 degrees. They offered a warranty plan I was considering but there isn't a chance in hell I'll do that with them now. Next contact will be the ATTORNEY GENERAL if there is another issue after they repair this one and I would encourage you to do the same!

Phil-N-Great saved us from a $10,000 mistake. Our AC compressor went out not long after we closed…read moreon our first house, and the first company we called told us we were looking at either a very expensive repair or a full system replacement. The unit is only nine years old, and as first-time buyers we had no idea whether that was normal or not. We called Phil-N-Great for a second opinion and they took a completely different approach. Instead of just handing us a quote, they got on the phone with the manufacturer and found out the unit still had warranty coverage. Then they walked us through getting that warranty transferred into our names, which nobody had told us was even possible. They also ordered the part on a Friday before everything was finalized, so it was ready to go and installed by Tuesday instead of us sitting in the heat waiting on shipping. We paid a fraction of what we'd been braced for. They're a small family operation and it shows in the way they treat people. If you're a new homeowner trying to figure out who's shooting straight with you, call these folks. Highly recommend.

Avery from Phil N. Great did a great job for us at a fair price. He explained what he was doing…read moreand answered all my questions. We are cool again! Thanks!

Inexpensive maintenance but $878 for an $81 condensation pump and cleaning the drain pump was way…read moretoo high. I hired another smaller company and paid half!

More like unreliable Heating and Air. This company is a joke. My apartment complex contracted…read moreReliable AC and my new unit installed in April has failed 3 times so far. Condensation keeps building and will trigger what is known as a float switch and shut off the entire unit. 4 different technicians came by to try and fix it. The last one came Thursday 7/9/2026 and it failed this Saturday! One technician just said I don't have the tools to fix this and left. Whatever you do don't hire these people for any service. They are incompetent and unprofessional.

Terrific small family business. Fair pricing and outstanding service. Jack walked me through my…read moreannual maintenance and even added some additional preventative maintenance that the home builders failed to do. I absolutely recommend using South Wake HVAC.

With the Jun2025 heat wave our indoor temp of upstairs read 96 deg. We called SouthWake HVAC and…read morethey came out the next morning. we were blown away. He found the issue and we were good to go. The price was very, very fair!

Every interaction we've had with this company has been beyond stellar. They're all super nice,…read morepersonable and most importantly, not full of shit. We've never felt like they were trying to oversell us. 10/10 recommend this company. Damien this evening was awesome, I honestly thought we were going to be in for a massive repair, it ended up not being. Honesty is becoming a thing of the past in our world these days but this company does a great job of restoring faith into the service industry.

I cannot understand why this company is not more highly rated. I had an awesome experience. Let me…read morelay it out. Background: I was waiting on another AC company to get back to me on a quote: days. Called them twice to check. Problem is it was hot as hell in the house - up to 88F in stifling humidity. So I called Air Experts late Thurs morning. We scheduled a consult with their "comfort advisors" (sales) for that same afternoon! That was kinda mind blowing by itself. Jackson and Erik got there and we were tearing it up while getting business done - hilarious really. By about 5pm same day, I had a quote and a good price for 2 new units. But then the next shocker. They scheduled the install FOR THE NEXT MORNING. Their installers arrived early next morning, Mark, Roberto, & Tyler. All great guys. By 10:30 I finally had air blasting in the house. I had suffered with failing AC for 18 months since buying this house and they had it down to 70 for their tests. It was... AMAZING. So, without doubt I recommend these guys. Professional, fun, courteous, timely and they honor their word.

Highly recommend Santa Air/ John T. Over 10 years ago…read morediscovered John on Yelp and since never looked for anyone else. I have 100% trust in John/ Santa Air because of honest, effective solutions and services. John is a professional and a pleasure to deal with. Farhan Cary, North Carolina

To replace my old HVAC system, I hired Santa Air to put in a SEER 17 Trane XR17, at a cost of…read more$16,327 (including furnace). The AC part of the installation has now failed 3 times. On May 31, the system quit (blank thermostat). Santa Air does not work weekend, so we were without AC until a tech came on Monday. He said that there was a loose wire that he reconnected and now it worked. On June 18th, same failure. Again, no tech on the weekend so wait until Monday. Tech stated that it was a furnace switch somehow affecting the AC unit, and replaced it. Then Aug 13th, same thing, black thermostat, no power. Luckily this was a Thursday, and the tech came on Friday. He tells me that there was a leveling problem with the drainpipe and the water backed up and hit a kill switch. He admitted this was probably the cause all along, and they had misdiagnosed. At this point, I asked to speak to the owner so that I could complain about 3 breakdowns in three months in the summer. Maggie is the person who answers phones and directs techs. When I asked to speak to the owner, she wouldn't tell me who it was or let me speak to him or her (if you go to the Secretary of State website, you'll find multiple filings. So either John Tran, or Duy Pham, or My Nguyen own it). Alas, at this point my only recourse is to leave a review for others to see what has been happening. I hope the tech is correct this time, but I have no reason to have confidence in that opinion. Clearly, if it breaks again, all I can do is report the company to the NC Board of Plumbing and Heating and to the NC AG for Consumer Protection.