First, I called early this morning and left a message. I got a response who was the receptionist I suppose. I told her my situation: My ac is not cooling. I checked the blower, compressor, outdoor fan and I cleaned the condensor coils. ALL ARE WORKING. I told her I think that I would only need freon. (this happened to me 2 years ago already) I asked how much was the service charge for a weekend call. She said $189.00 (acceptable) because its the weekend. I asked her what is the cost for 1lb of freon? She goes to look and was unable to find that anywhere on her list of cost. I ask, well can you call a tech and find out? She said sure. She called back still unable to answer my question. So, I asked her is there any way you can answer this question, because I don't like unexpected charges. So, she looked up a recent client and said they were charged roughly $95.00 per pound during the weekday which sounds reasonable and the going cost per pound for this area was between $80-120 based on google search. So, I said, well it can't be that much expensive on the weekends can it? She said, I know there is an up charge on the weekends and that I need to talk to the technician and I said well hope its not anything to crazy or something along those lines (I don't remember the exact wording). So, I continued to ask how I can become a member and some of their maintenance plans which my unit was installed in 2012 and she was nice to explain each level in detail and answer my additional questions. Then I asked well do you offer Military or Veteran discounts on top of that and she goes on to say, yes, I do believe we can honor that. So I said great, I told her that I would see how the job goes to decide if I want to get a plan and get back to her. FAST FWD. Paul theTech shows up. The guy did a good job for the most part. He asked general questions as in how often I change my filter (additionally he gave me a solid filter suggestion Thanks PAUL) , how often I change my batteries in my thermostat and when was the last maintenance done on my unit. I go on to tell him that I have never received maintenance because the unit has never failed and the the last time I called a service tech which was 2 years ago when I needed freon. I go on to tell him that I had a leak then but the tech was unable to find it at that time. Now mind you I do routine cleaning on my own unit every year. I take the top off the outdoor unit clean inside and clean the condenser coils on outside unit, and I keep the blower housing center clean of dust and cobwebs and debris. I do this at least 1 if not 2 times a year. So, Paul says well I'm gonna go outside and check on the unit. Roughly 10-15 min later he comes in and tells me that I need refrigerant only and and that I am low and I must have a leak (Which I already knew this before he even came through my door in which I already told the receptionist this too). So, he says well let me get some quotes for you. He sits at the bottom of my stairs and he says you ready and I said sure. So, we sat at the kitchen table to go over his quotes: I'm going off memory here because he has yet to send my the quote to my email and mind you this was 9:30-10:00 am. this MORNING. He is going through 3 different levels of maintenance costs the first one was insane. $189.00 TRIP COST (no problem) $332.00 for 1lb of freon AND $100 + for additional 1lb. That was enough right there I was heated. The exact thing that I tried to avoid was happening. Hence that is freakin exactly why I asked the question of How much does 1 lb of freon cost to the receptionist. I said, to begin with, this is totally nowhere near the cost that was given on the phone with the receptionist and that we needed to call her right now. He said I will. So he called his boss or sup. He gets off the phone and says it's the same cost. I was DONE.... So, needless to say PAUL honored my military discount and I paid the trip cost which was $179.00 discount. MONEY LOST! TIME LOST! The job didn't get done. read more