Was assigned Precise Air by Costco through their program. I should have known this was going to be bad from the start. First the scheduling, we played phone tag for a couple days and everytime I called back she was at lunch or on another line, after 4 attempts I finally got a hold of the person (I'm not sure why one of the other people who answered the phone couldn't schedule the estimate). When I finally got in touch with the person, we agreed on the next afternoon, however she kept getting date wrong and I had to keep reminding her what day it was. I thought it was finally good to go, i get a text in the middle of the night reminding me of my 4am appointment (supposed to be 4pm), I'm just glad the rep realized 4pm and wasn't at my door at 4am... The rep showed up on time, but you could tell this is sales person, not a regular AC contractor, he showed up in professional attire and dress shoes not work clothes and boots and had a small soft sided briefcase type portfolio with him. When we went to where the unit was on side house he asked me for my Title 24 paperwork, I had no clue what that was and I'm sure most homeowners looking for an estimate don't either. I asked him and he explained it was the efficiency standards the city requires. I told him my contractor probably has that with the plans (house is being remodeled for an addition, that's why we are replacing our old AC, it's old and now more sq feet). He asked if I had a digital copy, again I told him my contractor would have any of that not me and told him that I've already received several estimates from other contractors and none of them asked for Title 24 paperwork. The rep then started in on comments about be careful who I use and he doesn't know what they're quoting or meeting requirements... I pointed out that the existing AC had already been inspected by a registered and certified City of xxxxxxx (city property is in) AC contractor on the City's rebate replacement program, only the one contractor has to come out, they do a full diagnostic of all systems and check air flow and temp inside house as well and then they put a sticker on the unit. Once it's been done, any of the AC vendors can quote as part of the rebate program without having to test the system and they just need to meet those minimum SEER efficiency standards and ensure to the tonnage is accurate to the size house and not under or over sized. Was a simple process and received several easy quotes (all those quotes have come back in the same tonnage range with no discrepancies and all provide options ranging from 16 SEER two stage all the way through 21 SEER variable stage, they have higher SEER options but I stayed in that range for quotes), I told the rep about multiple quotes (didn't tell him the details of SEER and tonnage) and again he went on about how they may not be providing the right equipment and they have to provide certain equipment (I would think if they're registered with the City of xxxxx, they know what the standards are, plus they still have to pull a permit before installation... I've never had any contractor bad mouth other contractors before (you can read between the lines in what they say, but never directly say anything negative, I even had some of the other AC companies ask who else provided estimates and even say "oh yeah, they're pretty good," not, well I don't know what they're quoting you, I can only tell you we're following the rules, implying that all these others are not)... but the bottom line is, if you know you're going to be providing a quote in the City of xxxxx, then as a sales person, you should know what the requirements are to install in that city, not expect the homeowner to know!!! Maybe that's why the other contractors didn't ask me, maybe they already know the standard....
Oh, and the other than the condenser outside, the rest of the unit, including furnace is in the attic, I'm not sure how he was going to check that in his business attire and no ladder in his compact sedan; again, every other contractor brought a drop cloth and had a ladder to access that equipment, but then again, I think I saved myself a 30 minute sales pitch instead of a real quote!!!! read more