It is obvious that Ryan has received good ratings on Yelp. Let me tell you about my experience, and why I rated Olde Towne HVAC as low as I have.
The good:
I had never called or used Olde Towne before, but gave them a chance because they're located in Elizabeth, and they had good ratings. Ryan was friendly, responsive (initially), and inspired confidence over the phone. I usually work with Interior Environments HVAC, but couldn't get them out the same day, but Ryan could, so I gave him a shot and set up an appointment on 10/29/18. Ryan and Mitch showed up to the appointment - nice guys. I had a carbon monoxide (CO) scare / alarm early that morning and had shut down the furnace. Mitch stood by, while Ryan did all of the talking. He was thorough while explaining his take on things. We looked at everything - the exhaust outside, the set up inside, and they ran a simple CO test, which failed. He took a look in the furnace with a flashlight and told me that he could tell that the heat exchanger was cracked, which was causing the CO levels we were getting, and the alarm to go off. The unit was about 16 years old, so this was a fair assessment. This is where things started to turn a bit. Ryan's immediate solution was to rip everything out, move all of the existing piping because he claimed it wasn't routed correctly, move the furnace over further to one side to allow more space for the water heater next to it, all while installing a brand new Rheem furnace. I asked questions about other possible solutions (repair vs replace), but Ryan said it wasn't worth it because of all of the changes he thought were needed. He said my furnace was known for heat exchanger issues, and it was simply too old, and not worth fixing. Ryan also suggested to sell me an 80% efficiency furnace, which was a big step down from what I currently had installed, which is a 95% high efficiency (HE) furnace. He said I didn't need the HE furnace, and that the 80% was cheaper to buy, and sufficient for my house (though costing me more money on my gas bill forever after). Ryan gave me a rough verbal estimate of about $3.2k, which wasn't horrible, but I was disappointed that he said I had no other options. Ryan said he would contact me and would send me a formal quote.
I was up front with Ryan about having an appointment set up with my other HVAC guy to take a look, but that he couldn't make it out the same day. Ryan said he was happy to hear I was getting more than one bid, and assured me that he wanted to win my business. Pleasant guy, decent enough experience, seemed straight up.
The bad:
I never heard from Ryan again, or anyone else from Olde Towne HVAC. what I learned from the second HVAC company is what made me more upset about Ryan's proposed solution.
Later the same day I talked with the other HVAC guy - David Rice with Interior Environments HVAC - and he was even more interested in the job after I told him that Ryan said I had no option but to purchase and install a new furnace. He also proved his worth and knowledge right away by not just validating what Ryan said about issues with the heat exchangers in my old furnace model, but went on to inform me that back when my unit was new, Goodman provided a limited lifetime warranty, which happened to cover the heat exchanger. He said couldn't promise they would cover it, but would work with the local dealer to see what he could do. He came to the house the next day to diagnose, and validated that the heat exchanger was cracked. The only way to see if we could warranty the part would be to disassemble the unit to remove the heat exchanger and take it to the dealer for them to inspect and decide if they would cover it under warranty. Even if they didn't cover it, I was looking at a cost of $800 in labor to find out, which included the installation of the new part, assuming it would be covered. Worth it? I thought so, compared to spending over $3k for a new furnace. I gave David the go ahead. Fast forward a couple days, after waiting on the dealer, David called me with the news - The Amana / Goodman dealer said they WOULD replace the cracked heat exchanger under warranty. Zero cost to me aside from the labor I would pay David for the work to get things back in order.
In the end, we got the new heat exchanger in, then found out that that the old gas valve was not adjusting properly. We replaced the gas valve, tuned it, and everything has been working great since. All for $1,100 compared to $3,200 with Olde Towne.
I am big on customer service, and it starts with communication. If Ryan at least called me back, I would have considered 2 or 3 stars, because he seemed like a decent guy. However, I didn't appreciate that his only solution was for me to spend more money, by selling me a new furnace - which I didn't need. And now I still have my HE furnace as well,
I hope this helps someone else consider their options before giving into a guy like Ryan saying that he is going to sell you a new furnace. read more
