I initially hired Northwest to perform a dryer vent cleaning, but was up-sold to include a full HVAC vent cleaning for $259 total. In short, the dryer vent blockage was made WORSE by their cleaning attempts and they refused to take accountability or offer any sort of a refund. Here is a summary of the events in more detail:
10/20: Technician comes onsite to do the work, proclaims "job done" and I pay in-full for the services. The very next time I use my brand new dryer, it shuts off after 10 minutes due to a vent blockage. After being told that the job was completed successfully, I could only assume there was an issue with the appliance itself. This led me to scheduling an appliance technician to come out to evaluate my dryer.
10/24: The appliance technician immediately determined my dryer was functioning properly and pointed out easily visible blockages in my vents. He also pointed out that the outside vent covers were not replaced and found them on the ground. The dryer's error code indicated that my vents were MORE blocked than they were before the "cleaning" on 10/20
10/25: After repeated voicemails, emails, and a Thumbtack message, I was able to get a hold of Northwest and they sent the same technician back to my home. He spent more time attempting to clean the vent, but this time told me that he was unable to clear the blockages and would have to have his manager come and try
10/27: The original technician and the manager came to my home, spent more time attempting to clear the blockages, and were ultimately unsuccessful. I was told that my dryer vents had 2-3 (or more) 90 degree turns which is where the blockages are occurring and makes it impossible for them to clean, and that my recourse may be to cut into the walls/ceilings to re-attempt cleaning or reroute the vent. I was not offered any refund or referrals. I was also promised a list of the equipment and techniques used so that I could share that information with the next company I hire. This information was never provided.
11/4: After all of this time being unable to use my dryer, I hired a different company to come and clean the vents. They quickly cleared the blockages without issue. They told me there was only a single 90 degree turn in my venting, the major blockage was within 10 feet of the outside vent cover and was NOT in the 90 degree turn, and they found a broken-off piece of cleaning equipment (either left by Northwest or missed by them) in my vents which further added to my blockage. This is obviously in direct conflict with what Northwest told me and extremely negligent.
11/8: Since informing the manager of these developments on 11/4, I did not receive a response until I sent another message on 11/8. That response contained nothing but excuses and deflections, including that I wasn't guaranteed the cleaning would be effective.
Needless to say, I had a horrible experience and would recommend finding a different company to hire for your vent cleaning needs. read more