TL;DR: I was charged $734.85 for a 10-15 minute AC repair involving a $20 part. When I asked for a…read moredetailed invoice later, and never received one for parts and labor, and to speak with the owner, I was ignored and instead lectured by the service manager, Dan. I believe I was taken advantage of. Thought you all out there should know.
Full timeline:
My AC stopped cooling, so I called Forrest Anderson, a company I've used for the past four years for regular service and check ups. They said a technician could come out after 5:00 PM, but that after-hours service would be time-and-a-half--$150 instead of the normal $100 service call. I was also told parts might cost slightly more. I agreed, with the understanding that we would discuss pricing once the issue was diagnosed.
The technician arrived and called me about 10 minutes later (could see him on the security cameras), saying the issue was a failed dual run capacitor and that he had the part in his truck. Before authorizing the repair, I asked multiple times what the total cost would be for parts AND Labor. The first response was that "the computer isn't working," so he couldn't look it up yet. I asked again, when he called back 5 minutes later,and he said the total would be $734. When I pressed for a breakdown of parts and labor, he said he'd have to get back to me.
Based on the price, I assumed this must be an expensive part or a labor-intensive repair. I was out to dinner and couldn't look it up. The technician completed the repair in about 10 more minutes and left shortly after--roughly 20 minutes total on-site. I saw them come and go with the cameras on my house, sharing updates with the technician coming and going.
Afterward, when I could look up the part, I discovered the same dual run capacitor costs about $20 on Amazon, and even less from a local parts supplier.
At that point, it became clear that I was charged about $500 dollars for a minimal labor job and a very inexpensive part. I trusted them when they claimed their computer was down and couldn't provide pricing details, but somehow it worked well enough to charge me $734. Had I been told the actual part cost upfront, I would have declined the repair and hired someone else at a fair price.
I tried repeatedly to speak with the owner to resolve this and left messages for the owner. Instead, I received a call from Dan, the service manager, who spoke to me as though I had done something wrong simply for requesting a detailed invoice. At one point, he said over and over "you agreed to the repair". I told him that I trusted you were quoting me a fair price, and not $700 in labor, with a $20 part. He could not explain that to me, when I reminded him that the call was $150, instead of $100, and that the part was $20. He literally lectured me and kept saying that. I reminded him that I trusted them to quote me fairly.
After four years as a customer, this felt deceptive and predatory. This was not a labor issue--it was a 10-minute diagnosis, a 10-minute fix, and a massive markup that relied on my trust and lack of transparency.
