As a landlady with multiple rental properties I had my fair share of dealing with HVAC companies…read moreand other trades. Peter's is the worst as far as integrity goes.
The ONLY good thing I can say about Peter's is they were able to dispatch a technician to my rental the same day, but at the mercy of others. More on that later.
Everything on my AC unit seems to be running but it wasn't cooling. I called Peter's and ask about their availability and what they charge, and also explained the problem. Mary whom I spoke to gave me two options. One is to charge $60 per hour including travel time from the previous job to repair. The other is to get on the maintenance program, which they come out 2x/yr (spring and fall) to check the system, do some maintenance / cleanup, and check and change the filters if necessary. She thought based on the symptom I described my system might be low on freon or a bad capacitor, which they can replace during maintenance and just charge for the parts b/c those are quick repairs. We both thought the latter was a good idea so I chose the maintenance program.
Tech arrived at 1:00pm and spent 3.5 hrs at my unit. He dismounted the inside unit, took it outside, sat down on a patch of grass in the shade with his shop vac and a few little scrub brushes, and meticulously cleaned the unit. He showed me a relay is shorting out and replaced that. He said the mount was broken / loose but was able to repair / rebuild it. After about 2.75 hours he went to look at the unit outside and hosed the unit off. He said the system was low on freon and put in 4 pounds (my unit holds about 5.5 pounds according to the label).
The tech came back inside, wrote up what he did / parts he used, and had me sign. I did not recognize 1 item. He explained it is dye that he added to the freon. I asked how much that costs, he wasn't sure but thought that should just be part of the freon charge.
As the tech was leaving I asked how long they back their work. He said there is no warranty. The system is working fine now. I said I'll take his word for it.
About 15 minutes after the technician left I heard water leaking. The indoor AC unit that is mounted on the ceiling was leaking onto my dryer and onto the floor. I immediately called the office and explained what happened. The lady over the phone said she will have the tech call me. Few minutes later the tech called back. He said he has to charge me if I want him to come back, and he has to charge me after-hour rate because it was after 5pm. I told him not to come back, and will deal with the office the following day.
I called the office around 11:00am and left a message. Around 4:30pm Mary called back.
First thing Mary said was "I can't send the technician back out without charging you. He was at your house for almost 3.5 hours." I asked her to give me the bill total and give me a break down of the charges, and that's when I found out they are also charging me 1 hour of labor in addition to the maintenance agreement, and ~$32 for the freon dye.
These are the points I brought up:
1) if my system was that bad (dirty) that was beyond the scope of the maintenance contract, the technician should have told me / the office he can't do it
2) the tech should have explained to me the benefits of adding dye to the freon, and explain the cost associated, and let me decide if I want to pay for it or not, as I feel the dye is an elective item
3) the system basically did not work properly for a minute. As soon as the system took enough moisture out of the air it started leaking.
Mary's response are:
1) we don't turn down work. We just service them.
2) I apologize that's our business practice.
3) Something else is wrong with your system. The technician blew through the drain line and was fine. It might just be condensation, in which case will take the tech very little time and the insulation is like $0.39/ft. Or it might be the drain pan, in which case cannot be repaired and must be replaced.
After much haggling Mary finally offered that if it was a maintenance issue the tech overlooked they will waive the charge. I told her I would think about it and left it at that.
I went home and explained the symptom to my husband. He kept insisting it's the drain line. I kept telling him Mary said the tech blew the drain line and was fine. My husband went over to my rental unit, put the drain line in his mouth, blew hard, heard gurgling, and water started coming out of the drain line instead of the copper overflow.
While the tech was cleaning my system outside the neighbor who has maintenance contract made a comment to the tech that Mary hasn't called him to schedule the spring maintenance (it was mid June then).
Based on the below I will not recommend or use Peter's:
1. does not stand behind their work. It is all about profit
2. perform additional service / sell parts without prior permission
3. will prioritize new customer and put off maintenance contracts
