Our experience dealing with Mike's Air Conditioning was nothing short of horrendous. Before getting into the details, I will say that the actual quality of installation of the ACs was satisfactory. It was everything leading up to the installation and the circumstances surrounding it that led to this review. Here's what happened:
(1) AC Broke While in Storage: The three-year-old AC that we stored with Mike's for the winter was working when they picked it up for storage, but somehow became in need of repair when it came time to return it to us. We were told that the cost to repair it would be more than the cost of a new unit, which of course, they would happy to sell to us. Ultimately, we were credited approximately $200 for the unit towards the new units we purchased from Mike's.
(2) Did Not Listen or Respond to Needs: We wanted to install two new ACs into two smaller windows in our apartment. This was explained when they picked up our original AC last fall and then again in a number of subsequent phone calls to Mike's, but somehow we were repeatedly told that the best AC for our windows were units that actually would not fit the windows. We were also on the receiving end of a lot of "upselling" in terms of models and BTUs, and yet the up-sell models would not even work for the size windows we were using. Concerned that Mike's just wasn't getting it, we followed up with an email (at their suggestion) to Mike's with photos of the windows, the dimensions of the windows, and a photo and description of the electrical outlets for the ACs. We never heard back from Mike's in response to that email. After almost a week passed, we followed-up by phone and pressed whether their proposal would actually work for our windows, and it was as if we were starting from scratch with them. They seemed completely blindsided by everything we were discussing. It was during this conversation, however, that they seem to finally get the fact that their proposal had nothing to do with what we had been asking for -- and that they were unprepared to make a suggestion. In fact, we ended up telling them what kind of units would likely fit in the windows, and provided them with information on the most current models. It then took two further phone calls to get an estimate on price. We finally got our estimate of $1,700 +/-.
(3) Scheduling Fiasco / Installation Late and Finally Completed at 10:00 pm: When trying to schedule the installation, we were given "tentative" dates and basically told that our neighborhood was really out of the way (Washington Heights) and that they do not work on weekends. A day or two before the "tentative" date, Mike's confirmed and provided a timeframe of about 3:00/4:00 pm to 6:00/7:00 pm (estimating a 3 hr hour custom installation). We told Mike's that the work really should not take place after 5:00 pm, and certainly could not start after 5:00 pm, because of our building's rules. We were told not to worry, and that they would call one hour before their expected arrival with a more precise ETA. At 4:00 pm, we had not heard from anyone. We called Mike's and were told that their guys were still at another job, and that they would maybe be at our apartment around 5:30 pm, depending on traffic. We said that would not work given our building's rules, and they suggested rescheduling. We were not about to start the "tentative date" process all over again -- given that we were already 2 weeks into this ridiculousness. They, however, wanted assurances from us that their guys could actually work when they got to our apartment because otherwise it would be waste of their time. We went ahead and got clearance from our buidling for the late work. At 6:00 pm, we began hearing from the guys coming to install the ACs. They were lost. They told us they weren't even sure whether they were in Manhattan. At about 6:15 pm, Mike's called to confirm that their guys had arrived. We told them that they had not arrived and that they were "lost." At this point, we also communicated our complete frustration with the process -- and amazingly, we were not offered anything but an apology. At 7:00 pm, the guys finally showed up with the ACs and begain installing them. The installation took three hours, as expected, and concluded at 10:00 pm. The installation was very loud and messy (including in the hallway of our building), and we found ourselves having to awkwardly apologize to our neighbors the next day for the incredible disruption. read more