Prior to my most recent service call from Davis, they were my go-to HVAC company, which I had recommended to family, friends, and clients. Unfortunately, due to my most recent call, I will be finding a new company for all future services, and I would advise others to do the same.
My most recent call consisted of a semiannual HVAC system cleaning on Thursday, December 21st, which I believed was a pretty standard and easy service, and ultimately should save you money in the long run. After the tech came out around 2 pm and performed the service, both my fiancee and I noted the following day, Friday, that it seemed to be warmer than typical in the master bedroom. However, neither of us thought anything of it and assumed that perhaps the system was working more efficiently due to the recent cleaning. That night I adjusted the thermostat down since the entire house had been getting progressively hotter at that point, but when we woke up Saturday morning, it was apparent that the thermostat was not responding to controls.
I attempted to call Davis at their primary number as listed on Google to get some guidance, but since it was Saturday, they were closed and no one answered. I had considered that the Ecobee thermostat that I had up since shortly after moving in (that I installed) had some issues, so I removed it to check the back, but unfortunately, the prongs had broken off after I had pulled it off. After that, I put the original thermostat back up on the wall and wired it just as it had been when we first moved in.
Fast forward to Tuesday, which was the day after Christmas, and my home was resting at between 80-85 degrees with no response from the thermostat that I had put up. I was able to get ahold of Davis that morning and told them of the issue, and they were able to get the same technician out within 30 minutes. Once the technician came out, he checked the HVAC system and realized that he had forgotten a crucial step, which was to remove the "heating caps" as he called them, causing the system to run strictly the heat, regardless of what temperature was put into the thermostat.
After the original technician came out, all appeared to be well until the following Saturday night into Sunday morning when we woke up and the house was 51 degrees, and the outdoor temperature was around 40 degrees. Again, I called Davis to have them come out, and they were able to get a different technician out to examine the issue within 30-60 minutes. The technician said that he typically only installed HVAC systems and did not do regular house calls, so he had to call his supervisor. Over the phone, his supervisor determined that the cause of the issue was a blown fuse that was caused by me installing the thermostat that came with the house, and functioned correctly until I had replaced it with the Ecobee in January of 2023. There was no other possible reason to his supervisor except for the fact of the thermostat being replaced that may have caused this blown fuse.
They, of course, offered to fix the fuse, which I should have declined and just replaced it myself, since they charged me $45 for a fuse that you can get at any hardware store for $5-$10. This new HVAC technician also informed me that since the heating caps were left on, it would cause the fan to run continuously whether the thermostat was set to run or not, which is likely why my electric usage was drastically higher this month for the days that the issue was not resolved per my usage indicator on the JOEMC site.
At the end of the day, this HVAC cleaning that is supposed to save me money has cost me an additional $315 in electricity from the system running continuously, a new thermostat (that I was at fault for breaking, but would not have had to mess with had the tech completed the job to the end), and a fuse which was all due to the technician's inattentiveness to detail. read more