Shortly after install of new AC/Heating unit we experienced water damage due to system leveling issue. James River took complete responsibility and coordinated and covered costs for water mitigation, drywall and carpet installation. Hats off to everyone there for their quick response to resolving the issues in a professional and courteous manner. Highly recommend. read more

We have been James River Air customers for almost 30 years. Have had them do all the hvac, plumbing work at our house during this time We had a unit go out last year and we bought their top of the line model We have had that unit go out this summer during this heat wave with a pregnant lady in the house They sent a tech out after insisting. It was going to be 4 days until they could come out to my new units shut down in 100 plus degree heat. Tech told us it required a special tech that cant be here for 2 days I cant believe James River sold us a unit that any of their techs couldn't fix. If they had told us this we would not have bought it They have now left us until said tech can come out James River is going to loose my future business and If anything negative happens to this pregnant lady or baby I will be consulting an attorney read more

Of course the HVAC goes out at 6pm on Friday. I called the office at 10:47pm and a live body answered the phone! A repairman came out Saturday morning. A new system was needed. The salesperson came out Saturday as well. We went with a variable system, had it installed first thing Monday morning and our house was cool again. Everyone we worked with was wonderful! read more

James River Air Conditioning - New HVAC outdoor unit. - Heating & Air Conditioning/HVAC Near Me - Richmond, Virginia

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Have had James River work with us for several years now after having them install a new system to replace one of our units. This year we even opted to have them add another unit to their annual inspection. The tech came down and said that the older unit ignitor broke when he was reinstalling it - would need to be replaced. I thought, okay, you shouldn't have had to remove it to begin with but ignitors are cheap and surely he will waive the install charge given that he broke the part - note, the unit was working just fine before their visit and this part sits in an easily-accessible open space so to break it, he was just being careless. Anyway, they'll have to order the part and they will get in touch with an estimate. He continues his inspection and says the capacitor on the same system is 'low' and recommended replacement at around $280. It's a several years-old unit and I'm good with replacement of that part. My beef with James River is that they call me with the estimate for the ignitor and tell me it's another $280. I know the part is in the $25 range so I ask why so expensive given that, and they tell me it's installation. I tell him he's insane to think I should pay full install fee for a job that is literally two minutes or less and that it's only due to the tech breaking the part that it needs replacement. No middle ground - he simply says he can remove the job if I don't want it. I tell him to do just that. I ordered the exact part needed, name-brand, for $28 and once received 2 days later, had it installed in a couple of minutes and I'm up and running. I would have been okay meeting in the middle but James River just tried to gouge me. Ridiculous price for a minutes-long job and I got an overall scammy feeling from the experience. Seemed to me that the broken part was just entirely convenient for them to rack up another charge. I noted that on the invoice they sent for their visit it simply said 'ignitor broken, needs to be replaced' with no reference to him breaking it. Again, unit was working fine before they touched it, they were just doing an annual inspection. I don't take kindly to being taken advantage of and this experience caused me to lose any trust in considering James River for any future work, so...goodbye, James River Air Conditioning. read more

Technicians came early, on time and finished,I think, in a timely manner. Replaced my whole system fr gas heat to heat pump heat and air.

I liked the presentation by Dennis, Matt and his team were very professional and polite also Preston and his team was also professional and polite and very considerate. They all seemed knowledgeable at their respective positions. This is rare in this day and time when customer service is at an all time low. So l am pleased to know that there are still companies out that put quality, integrity and service First. Kudos to James River Air Conditioner Company. read more

I recently had a heat pump installed by James River to replace my 20 year old AC unit. The installation team was professional and efficient. The heat Pump is performing well. Unfortunately, I failed to inquire whether my 2025 model qualified for the $2000 energy tax credit that expires at the end of this year. It does not even though past models did qualify. Be sure to ask if the heat pump you are considering is on the EPA's 2025 "Energy Star Most Efficient" list before spending $17,350 on a new heat pump. read more

Had a really bad experience. We had James River come out for the 2nd year in a row to do the annual inspection. The 2 young service techs claimed to have detected freon leaking in our air handler, immediately suggested we needed to replace our entire HVAC system. We were somewhat confused, because we were not having any issues with the heat or AC. They had their sales rep Jon come by and talk to us. Jon started out telling us all about himself, how long he's been in the business and shared a lot of information about his experience and showed us his pictures and then about 30 minutes later, I asked him if we can focus on the cost of replacing the HVAC system. Jon then starts talking about how old our system was, how no good Trane is and how we really needed to replace our system before we get stuck in the summer heat without air conditioning. I asked Jon to give us a quote on both repairing the existing system and a new system. As he's sitting there clicking away on his iPad, I mentioned to him, that we're going to get a 2nd opinion. He immediately looked up from his iPad, stopped smiling and slammed his iPad shut and said..."so you don't trust me"? I said, it's not that I don't trust you, I just want to get a 2nd opinion. He then got up and walked towards the door without saying a word about how much it was going to costs to repair or replace. I asked Jon, are you going to give us an estimate. He kept walking and mumbled...the office has your email address, they'll send you a quote. My wife and I were very disappointed in the way he rudely got up and left and didn't even bother to give estimates, which was the entire reason he showed up. Come to find out, we had another HVAC company come out and didn't tell them what we experienced with James River, and they said our HVAC system was working perfectly fine and there was nothing wrong with it. So contacted James River Air Conditioning and canceled our annual contract with them and tried to get in touch with Hugh, the owner to share our bad experience and Hugh never called back or replied to our email. So our advice to anyone else that gets told the same thing to "replace your HVAC system" by James River Air Conditioning, is to get your quotes from them first and then get a 2nd opinion. Definitely would not recommend letting Jon come to your home to give you an estimate. Ask for someone else other than Jon. read more

Mike Jones came out yesterday to solve a boiler not staying on issue. within 15 mins had issue resolved. save time and money , use james River HVAC. Linda is terrific professional, knowledgeable and gets things rolling. 100% recommend this company read more

On a scheduled maintenance visit 2 months ago their service tech.pulled the condenser breaker outside an did not plug it back in for some reason.We have been running on emergency heat until I received the elect bill.When trying to reach their "Help Desk"no one returned my call.I would not recommend this company. read more

I've been a customer of James River Air since the 1990s and had been extremely happy with their integrity and service. Recently, however, my experience was quite different. Purchased a $14,999 HVAC system from them for my home. James River was having difficulty completing 100% of their quoted job. Their salesman asked if I would be comfortable paying a portion of the bill given that they had completed nearly all of the work. As a gesture of good faith, I paid half of the entire amount. A month or so later, the salesman called me expressing frustration and threatening me stating he was not going to complete the remaining work until the entire amount was paid. He insinuated that I didn't have the financial wherewithal to pay. I quickly reminded him to read the contract he wrote, and refused to pay any additional amount until the work was fully completed pursuant to the written contract. The salesman backed down after reading the contract he wrote and the work was fully completed approximately a week later. I paid the remaining portion two business days later. This type of strong arm sales tactics are unethical and unacceptable. Is the salesperson desperate for his commission or does James River have financial cash flow problems, or both. Regardless, it's disappointing that James River allows salespeople to conduct business in this manner. Questioning a customer's ethics and integrity is a redline, particularly when the customer is contractually, and therefore legally, correct. read more

Updating this review; we recently had our 16 year old downstairs unit go down and need to be replaced. I included JR in our folks contacted for estimates, so long that the sales manager from our earlier review not be present. Fortunately, he's no longer employed by James River, which made things easier to proceed. We received a number of estimates, from big guys to small guys, and found myself surprisingly going back to JR. They offered to match the estimate from one of the bigger guys, and with their certified relationship with Bosch, we wound up going back to JR. They just finished the install, and everything went off smoothly without a hitch. The frustration of the original sales call from four years ago remains, but JR got it right this time. read more

I'm incredibly grateful that Taz responded to my review. I wasn't expecting anything to be done, but he was able to get a technician and the part to my house within two hours instead of waiting four more days. The tech was great, as always, and he fixed the AC with the new motor in only 15 minutes. I'm not sure what miscommunication had happened about the part not being available, but I'm very pleased with how this was handled once it was brought to someone else's attention. read more

Do not trust this company!!! I paid a premium (more $ than other quotes I'd received) 6 years ago for an install of two HVAC units in my home. I had initially chosen James River because the salesman showed up with a thermal load calculation to properly size the units I needed (which the other companies did not do). Fast forward to this summer. I finally ventured into my crawl space and am astounded by the horrible work done James River. I will be filing a formal complaint with the BBB. 1. James River did not cut and remove the old piping when they re-routed the line for the downstairs unit. (see pic.) 2. James River did not fully insulate the new pipes so there are many sections that were left exposed on the bare ground which has corroded the pipes. They also DID NOT HANG any of the pipes (!!). (see pic) 3. James River made a hole (about 3x larger than what was needed) in my foundation and did not even bother to seal it properly! They also left a HUGE hole behind my air handler which they did not seal. This, in turn, created a direct route from the outside units into my crawlspace and right into my garage which has led to constant pest problems in my garage and crawl space since the install (!!!). (see pic) 4. James River placed my outdoor units on hollow plastic foundations without any grading/rocks/wood to support the weight, so it's warping now. Did I mention it's only been 6 years?! (see pic) 5. I paid for a maintenance service this past winter and they DO NOT clean the coils of the outdoor units. I only recently found out from other contractors that coils should be cleaned! I watched the workers very carefully (because they seemed so shady) and literally the only thing they did was vacuum the handful of leaves that had settled there. That's it! read more

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Updated from 1 to 3 after a representative contacted us as result of our Yelp review. James River Air gets 5 stars for their follow-up. The representative listened to our concerns and responded in the manner I would have expected prior to our recent experience. My confidence in the company was restored. I will give them another opportunity and am optimistic that I will receive high-quality service without complaining. Original review: We have had a service contract with James River Air since replacing our HVAC system several years ago. We recently hired them for a plumbing issue: HUGE MISTAKE. $388 for labor to replace a garbage disposal. Day 1: $100 to come out and tell me I needed to buy a Badger 5 Insinkerator. Representative was very nice. Day 2: $288 to install the insinkerator. Informed we needed to buy a plug attached not a a wire attached insinkerator ( previous rep left out this important detail). Today's representative made it clear that this is common knowledge and we are idiots for not knowing. For an extra $50 fee he said he could adapt it. After making the adjustment he informed us that his change voided our warranty (Yep, I get this, but good business would have been to tell me before making the cut.) I will NEVER make this mistake again. I will go dispose of the disposal he left in the middle of my kitchen floor. read more

Recently had JRAC replace HVAC inside and outside units. Was hoping they would solicit feedback from me in the form of checking in to see how the install went, but have not had any communication from them. I have feedback I did not want to post publicly, but there is not a place on the web site to provide that (Help Desk tab doesn't seem like place to do it). So here goes . . . . my technicians were "Matt" and "Guy 2". I don't know Guy 2's name because despite my introducing myself twice, neither tech felt the need to provide a name for Guy 2. Matt's communications were the barest possible, polite but not friendly, and not encouraging of questions. I cut short my questions partly because, I'm sorry to say, Matt's breath was so rank I had to mouth breathe around him. This is not personal, but someone needs to tell him so he can address it. Guy 2 was very sick - I could see it in his face, and throughout the installation he coughed and sneezed and sniffled and then did that disgusting snorting thing. I was sure with everything he touched in the house that I would catch whatever he had, but thankfully seemed to escape it. Matt and Guy 2 got along at times, and at other times Matt spoke to and behind Guy 2 in a most disparaging manner. I think Guy 2 was demoralized by it. Anyway, installation from a technical perspective seemed to go fine, but I was disappointed with a couple of things: I had been told at time of quote that it would be no issue at all for JRAC to install the new pad anywhere in the existing area, but when asked, Matt seemed off-put by that question and did not offer to explore the option. Ditto for location of new thermostat. I chose JRAC to do the work based on reputation and past experience, but this last experience means JRAC is not an automatic shoo-in for the next job. read more

Requested 3 different quotes to wire a carport. 1 was cheapest, 1did not get back to me and James River Air was the third one cost more but they suggested the best bang for my buck. They looked at the whole pucture, suggested all that I could possibly need including running condiut to next building for future elec installation. I prefer to pay for EXPERT advice....in getting that James River Air advice I probably saved at least 1500 to 2000 dollars. I may have spent 500.00 more..but I got a lot more. You owe it to yourself to get that quotes from James River Air and then u decide....don't let someone else decide what they will give you...because like me I just wanted electric outlets and a light...not knowing the mechanics behind it all. James River gave me a crash course in electrical wiring...and choices! read more

I've been a customer for 20 years. Nine years ago, they replaced the current heat pump/AC system in my house, and I've had a maintenance plan with them off and on since. The AC stopped working during the hottest week of the year. (Of course.) The good: they answered the phone quickly and nicely. A tech was assigned to come out the next day, and he did. He knew his stuff, and was super-nice. When I eventually had the unit repaired a few days later, this tech, too, was very knowledgeable and nice. Everyone I talked to or worked with was both knowledgeable and nice. People called back when they said they would, and showed up when they said they would. It feels weird giving compliments on what SHOULD be minimum expectations, but it doesn't feel like many businesses care about that kind of stuff today. It's clear that they do. And I am thankful for that. I am also thankful for their ability to get parts pretty quickly. It helps to be an older company with connections. The bad: the prices are, plainly and simply, gouging. I mean, ASTRONOMICAL. Like a blow to the face. I received an alleged "discount" because I had a maintenance plan, and even that amount was super-high, meaning that the price I would've been quoted without the "discount" was (again) astronomical. Of course I was desperate (98° temps with 85% humidity causes that desperation), and felt because they had experience with the unit and the parts were covered under warranty, that it would be quicker to go with them. Had I not been desperate, I would've shopped around. Quotes are done by job, and not by the hours on the job, and I realize that. More knowledgeable techs will take less time to do work, and I realize that, too. It was still high. I made the choice, and I don't think I would make a different one if I went back in time. read more

Had 93 year old mother-in-law purchase ac and heater from JRA with 10 year warranty 5 years ago and the system has had issues. She had her bi annual checkup in February 2021. Went to visit her and notice black spores on under seat of toilet. The house just felt wet with humidity. I checked ac to see if coils were doing their job of removing water to drain. No water was draining. I proceeded with the little plugger to clean the drain pipe and still no water dripping from coils. Call JRA to get service guy. Service guy reports back to management that everything is fine nothing broken. Their manager says his system has nothing to do with spores. Look at the pics . The house wasn't flooded nor water pipes breaking. Water had to come from somewhere (AC system) I do not recommend these guys. read more

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very disappointed in response to AC being out. called 2 days ago for service, still have not been assigned a technician, and there are 50 people ahead of us. Was told only have a skeleton crew on weekends. This is an unacceptable situation - middle of summer? skeleton crews on weekends with "Priority" customers under a service contract waiting 3 days with no technician assigned. Hire more techs and cover the weekends in July in the south! Do better y'all, my family has been James River Air customers since we moved to Richmond in the early '70s. This is just sad. read more

Technician was awesome. Service was awesome. Someone else did some work through our warranty company and there was an issue that I was concerned would cause a fire which I didn't want to wait two days to get looked it. Ryan came out on a Sunday, looked, showed me what was wrong, explained what it was, what it meant, the risks I was worried about, and how it'd be resolved at a level i could understand. Excellent quality and service, and he did save us from a potential fire. I may skip the warranty company next time and just give James River AC a call for anything related to stuff they support. read more

James River is one of several companies that we chose to get an estimate for replacing our HVAC system. We chose James River over the others based on customer service, pricing (competitive considering upgrades), financing and just overall communication and follow-up. Fast forward to day of installation and they performed additional tasks that were necessary to bring everything up to code and explained things in detail so we could understand what and why things were being done. We also received follow-up calls a couple of weeks after installation to check on how things are going. My ONLY regret is that we had not gotten an estimate from them for our upstairs system that we had replaced last year... if I just had a time machine for a redo, I would go back and have them handle that system as well. Thank you James River! read more

They've been out to repair our second-story unit three times this year alone, and have had to repair their own work from a year before. When I called today with yet ANOTHER issue with the same unit they've supposedly fixed she lectured me about my service agreement, argued with me about the number of times they've been out, told me it could be 24+ hours, THEN told me we'd have to wear a mask in our own HOME. Called another HVAC group, he's already on his way here. Go with someone else, trust me. read more

I cannot give enough praises to James River. I wanted to put a google review on the website but it wouldn't allow me to do it. I want to give praise to Megan- in the office- and Chris, Caleb and Hunter- technicians. Chris did my yearly service and did a wonderful job. Hunter and Caleb did a fantastic job to help troubleshoot a problem I was having. They came in with masks and booties. They followed strict protocols. All were friendly, knowledgeable and professional. Meagan was so friendly and helpful in the office as well. I cannot say enough good things about this company and the people I have named. read more

I needed someone quickly to find out why one of my kitchen outlets was buzzing and smelled like smoke. Several Yelp companies responded, but the only one who could send an electrician out quickly was James River Air. I didn't even think of them at first because I thought they just serviced HVAC. Well, Mike showed up quickly, diagnosed the problem (which was a switch to an old, unused exhaust fan in the kitchen which was accidentally on, and the motor had silently burned out and then buzzed and smelled like wires burning.) He thoroughly checked the other nearby outlets to make sure they were fine in my old 1952 house, answered my endless questions, was patient, careful, and knowledgeable. I was thrilled with his work, the responsiveness of the company, and the cost of the service. I will definitely use them again for electrical work! Don't hesitate to call them! read more

Here's what kind of company James River Air is. We bought our house 90 days ago. The previous owners had bought three units from JRA in the past 5 years, and had purchased the 10 year extended warranty on each of them. James River Air will not honor the warranty for us because the previous owners had to have notified them in writing 30 days BEFORE we closed to transfer the warranty. So they will not honor the warranty for us. I asked if they were going to refund half the money to the previous owners, and they said no. So they collected money for the full 10 year warranty on three units, and they will not honor the remaining 5 years of the warranty and also are keeping the money. Poor, poor policy and poor customer service. If they honored the warranties, they'd have themselves a customer. Since they won't, they don't. read more

I called them yesterday morning because our A.C. Is out. The lady couldn't tell me when the technician would show up, which I could understand if it would be the same day but I called yesterday for them to send somebody and it's now the next day at 6:00 in the evening and nobody has called or shown up to fix my A.C.. I called them this morning to see if they could give me a time that they would show up to fix it and the lady told me "you're on the list but I can't tell you when they will show up". She said it in tone like I was annoying her. I am not impressed so far. read more

I rated James River 2 stars due to several issues we had with the installation and communication with the company.  The two things that happened very promptly were having the salesman come to the house and receiving the first bill.  They offered to provide window units while waiting for the installation (this was admittedly a nice touch) however they said the installers would take them and that was not the case.  I called again to have them removed a few days after because nobody had contacted me about them.  The install was done on the scheduled day and the technicians arrived without notice.  I suppose this isn't necessary, but a heads up that they were 15 minutes out would have been nice.  There were, however, some issues.  The power cord to the outside unit looked like it had been snagged and there was some exposed wire.  The attic access panel was filthy and there were several gouges and scars from trying to get the new unit in there and/or getting the old one out.  This was an attic panel that I recently painted myself, so I know that it was fine prior to the installation.  Most of the dirt came off with a wet rag, but a heads up or apology from the installers would have been nice.  That evening, I sent a text to the sales rep we worked with and my wife did the online chat.  Both said someone would contact us to rectify the issue. 24 hours later, we hadn't heard anything so I called the main office.  I spoke with the installation manager and he said he would have someone with scheduling call me that day.  The next day, I still hadn't heard anything so I called back and spoke with him again.  He said that he would try to get someone out there the next day.  Someone did come out, but again, no heads up.  I was fortunately almost home when I saw the doorbell camera go off and I was able to be there.  The technician was going to put electrical tape on the wire, but I asked him to replace it so he replaced the exposed section. These practices do not instill confidence that the entire job was done properly and the lack of communication and follow-through has been very frustrating. read more

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Tech came but haven't received any estimate on how to fix the problem.....not sure where to go from here.

I applied for this company I showed my epa certification I was told I still had to do a Survey Human resourceTold me that so I laughed If you're a plumber dnt applie for this Company I make 25 an hour I was offered 18 hour read more

Just want to update since we had Woodfin out to clean and check our HVAC unit. We are now four years out from when James River Air came out and told us we needed a whole new system and it's still working fine. I've seen so many people post reviews in which James River Air have done the exact same thing. They will lie to your face to get you to buy a whole new system at exorbitant prices. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!! read more

DId a short check on my Minisplit. Said it was the compressor but said they could not install it because they could not warranty it. Update: OK, I must have not understood. I believe I heard that it was said that JR could not install the compressor under any circumstances because JR could not warranty the part. Still working with the manufacturer to see if I can get the compressor. read more

We had a bad experience with James River. The guy was not knowledgeable and cussed a lot while working. My little kids were not impressed. They also are very expensive. Go with a smaller company. read more

So our AC went out and we needed a new line. Called JAMES RIVER (since they were the ones who typically serviced it) paid 150 dollars for the diagnosis, then paid another 1,700 for a deposit for a job that would total to be about 3500 dollars. They told us it would be two weeks before they could get to us, and that they'd have to call utilities to get permission to do some of the work. Called several other places and got someone to come do it, just a short time afterwards. Said that their diagnosis was right but he only charged us 1100 dollars and the work was perfect, also there was no need for outside work, so no utility call was necessary. James River also overcharges for yearly HVAC maintenance. 250 bucks for two visits. Got our new AC people doing two visits for 150. Clearly, James River is a larger business. But there's a fine line between profit and exploitation. read more

Too expensive. Just for a technician to come to the house was $125.00. Anything else = extra $$$.

Had a brand new unit installed in Late January, have had them out 3 times to fix the unit already. First time they didn't put the proper connector to the house and ended up blowing all my air in my crawl space. Second time was a diverter valve issue, no air going upstairs. Third time was 6 days ago when the compressor failed, called them out last Thursday 8/5, technician said it's going to take too long to fix and I have other jobs I need to get to "someone should be out tomorrow to fix it" just got scheduled today 8/9 for someone to come out 8/11 to fix it. Needless to say I'm not happy. read more

We have been on the waiting list for a maintenance issue for 3 days despite having a maintenance agreement and being told we were scheduled for last week. Then the office was irritated that we called to check. Not sure their customer service reputation is deserved. read more

Had three different companies try to fix a problem with our HVAC. None of which figured out the issue and still charged us site visit fees. James River was the fourth to come out, and was able to fix the issue. As a matter of fact, it was an electrical problem, not an HVAC problem. James River was still able to fix the issue and get us cooling again. Since then, we have purchased an entire HVAC system, water heater, and many other services, well over 10g range. I've heard they're a bit more expensive, but you get what you pay for, well worth it! read more

I have been a customer for over 20 years and found that the service people were all courteous and professional. Their prices were high but I was willing to pay a premium because I knew they will stand behind their work. Unfortunately, their prices have become OUTRAGEOUS. They now charge over $300 per hour for routine work. I have tried to discuss the price of a job with a supervisor on three occasions but they never call back. I have been a loyal customer but when my yearly service agreement expires I will be looking for a new company. read more

Avoid this company. The heat pump at my rental went out during the heat wave of July 2018. They sent a poor technician who, after two hours, couldn't figure out the issue and literally invented problems (he allegedly couldn't find a non-existent short in the power connection and some other nonsense). He recommended a replacement. The next day, their salesperson came and tried to convince me to buy a new system for an exorbitant price (~$10,000 for a 1100 sqft rowhouse). No sir. I got a second opinion from another company. Their salesperson looked at the system and told me it could probably be fixed. The next day, their technician fixed it in 15 minutes (the unit was stuck in heat mode because of a bad thermostat, installed by the tech from this company). I hate to think that James River tried to pull one over on me, but it sure looks like it. read more