TLDR: In my opinion, based on previous experience and the experience today, this no longer is Dragonfly Mechanical of the past, with their reliable service. Read on for my experience.
I have used Dragonfly Mechanical for years; this being the 4th or 5th year, I had service for them to come out, check the heater and put it on, and inspect the furnace.
Before today's visit, I've had no issues. They were professional, on time, checked things, put in a brand new filter themselves, and I paid a yearly fee of $135.
The old owner has left at some point in the last year, and there is a new owner.
Today, the new owner came in. Immediately I knew this wasn't the same service. The previous service people came in with booties on their shoes and were polite and respectful coming into my home. This time, he asked me (Because I was wearing a mask) if he should. I said I was wearing one to protect him, especially since I thought I had a cold, but he didn't do me the same courtesy. So that checkmark about them wearing masks, yeah, that's not the case for the owner. He never put one on.
Then there were things he said that were red flags to me that this wasn't the typical experience I had been accustomed to. He proceeded to tell me that because my paper filter had bent in and got sucked in the air duct sometime this summer. We removed it but needed a new one.
The moment he saw that words like this "would be expensive" even before he saw my heater. As we got to the heater, he told me his process, and I liked that. But as he spoke, he then said, "Thankfully, we have mild winters," and when I reminded him about last year. I got the impression he isn't from around here, or if he is, he's not self-aware.
Then he told me he had to get tools; he forgot his keys to his truck. As he did this, he decided to share with me that he'd had his tools stolen from his vehicle twice recently and no longer had reliable tools for his trade.
When he came back from his truck, he had a small cracked mirror on a silver stick and explained he used to have a camera to check this stuff, but now that it had been stolen, he had to try to do his best.
To which he then dismantled my heater in front of me, repeatedly commented about how old it was, and then told me after moving the mirror around a few times, "Oh yeah, as I said, the coil is broken." Defending himself further, he explained he could go to jail if he turned my system back on with the crack in it, as it would be against code.
Now look, I'm a reasonable human; if my furnace is broken, I understand, and I will find a way to make due.
But I do not trust this man at all. Nothing about this experience has done anything for me, giving any credence to his credibility. And he may be correct here, I'm willing to say so, but I will need to get a second opinion from another professional before I decide to get a new furnace.
I am old enough and have been around humans enough to judge a person's character based on how they speak to me and their body language. In my opinion, for this interaction, he comes across as an unreliable person at best. How can I trust there is a natural crack from someone looking in a cracked mirror? What reasonable person would trust that?
When I asked how much a furnace was, he didn't tell me. He told me that the entire unit, meaning furnace and air, would be expensive, and the air was quoted $7000.
I asked again about how much a furnace was. He added he'd never do the work because that was unsafe to just put in one furnace.
So I said, "Well, thank you for coming out," and when I got the check because he charged me to come in, dismantle the furnace, tell me it'd be expensive and nothing else. He charged me $85 bucks for that. So again, that check mark about "Free Estimates" that's no longer true.
Anyway, as I handed him the check, he'd changed his mind on the safety of doing the work because he said he'd have to check the price for just a furnace. After all, he'd never just put in a furnace on its own.
I will not be back, and I will have to find a new service provider for my unit, and I hope that someone finds this helpful. I also hope that this turns around. They used to be a great provider, and I hope someday they go back to their glory. read more
