I was given an estimate by Reliance Air and Heat to repair a leak in my AC unit and replace the…read morerefrigerant. The estimate quoted four hours of labor at $90 per hour. That was fine with me. I assumed they knew how long a job like this typically takes and that the estimate reflected the expected labor.
Imagine my surprise when I received a text less than an hour after they started the repair letting me know they were finished. I thought, "Great! They finished early, so I won't be charged for the full four hours of labor, right?"
Wrong.
The bill was never adjusted. When I asked them to call me regarding the bill, I was told, "Oh, we were there at least two hours."
No, you weren't.
I don't know if they assumed that because I wasn't physically at the house, I wouldn't know how long they were there, but I have time-stamped camera footage showing exactly when they arrived and when they left. The total time they were at my house was 63 minutes, and that included the initial diagnostic.
I was then told, "We had two guys there, so we charge that per hour, per guy."
So, you're charging $180 per hour?
Had I known that the $90-per-hour rate was actually $90 per technician, I absolutely would not have agreed to the estimate as presented. That is a very important detail that should have been clearly communicated before the work began.
When I questioned the charge, the person I spoke with became angry, yelled at me to "call the office" and "pay what I want," and then hung up on me. The problem is, the only phone number I can find anywhere is the number of the person I was speaking with.
So, is this person the owner? If not, I would encourage the actual owner of Reliance Air and Heat to reach out to me and make this situation right. If that happens, I will gladly update or remove this review. This bill was over $1400 and I'm just asking them to adjust the bill to reflect their actual hours of labor. I don't feel like this is asking too much.
I understand that businesses need to make money, and I have no problem paying a fair price for quality work. What I do have a problem with is being given an estimate that does not clearly explain how labor is being calculated, being charged for significantly more time than the technicians were actually at my home, and then being treated disrespectfully when I questioned the bill.
This was an extremely disappointing experience and, in my opinion, very poor business practice.
