This review is a public service effort to bring to light the unfair business practices of Valiant Air, Inc. located in Aurora Colorado.
I called this company (8:24am) on a Saturday in early August of 2022 to have them diagnose and ultimately repair my A/C system. The service technician (Zach) arrived mid-afternoon (3:03:14) and was professional and proceeded to perform the inspection. He inquired what was going on with the system at which point I explained what I had done to isolate the problem and advised him that it appeared that the outside compressor was not functioning. It took about 5 minutes to discuss my findings, at which time he left and proceeded to inspect the outside unit. The inspection of the outside unit took him no more than 32 minutes and he then returned to advise me that the Compressor/Fan Voltage Absorption A/C device had failed which caused the compressor to not operate. He stated that my unit had an unusually high Mfd rating and did not have that particular size on the truck but did have a higher rated device and came with a 5-year warranty. Based on his recommendations and that we were experiencing high outside temperatures, I decided to have the work completed for the quoted $424.00. I did ask for more detailed product information on this device so could get more information on what this device did and for my records. Zach stated he did not have this and would get me more information once he sent my invoice and repair receipt. This was the only issue I had with Zacks performance, but again, Zack was friendly and professional. The total time from when Zach arrived at my home to having completed the repair and his departure, was 47 minutes (3:03:14pm to 3:50:05pm).
I finally received the invoice/receipt on Sunday by email at 9.52am. After examining the document, I noticed the that the "Turbo Voltage Absorption A/C" item was priced at $325.00 and that the "A/C Service Call" was $99.00 for a total cost $424.00 for the repair. I also noticed that they did not provide the product information I requested and they promised to provide. Additionally, there was no reference to the warranty on any of the information provided. At that point I become concerned and investigated the work performed and opened the outside unit and found the information need to determine the part replaced. After doing so, I looked up "Turbo Voltage Absorption A/C" device, which is a fancy name for a motor(s) starting capacitor. I found that the device can be purchased for between $59 and $88 dollars plus tax and shipping. Assuming Valiant purchases in bulk, the shipping would be negligible and that taxes would be 8.1%. I presume then that the total unit cost was roughly $100.13 ($88.00 + $7.13+$5.00 - Cost/Tax/Bulk Shipping). I also would expect Overhead and Profit (OH&P) on this item and would expect 20% to be fair mark up, so the total cost for the part would be $120.00. I still could not justify the $324.00 for the item so I called the firm to have a management representative call me. I received a call (11:00am) from the Service Tech (Zack), as a response to my request, and told him that I had no issues with him and need to speak with a manager regarding the company's practices. I received a call at 4:29pm on Sunday from the Service Manager, Brian or Ryan cannot remember, and explained my frustration with the cost and lack of information provided. He explained the $325.00 included the cost of the item, labor, warranty, and OH&P. I explained to him my concern as to how could the $204.00 ($324-$120) be justified. He stated that he had to pay his Tech $25/hr. plus OH&P, to which I conceded that I expected that and that $93.00/hr was reasonable. Given that the Tech was on site for less than an hour, of which, 32 minutes was for diagnosis purposes and covered under the $99.00 Service Call Fee. I would agree that the company should charge for 30 minutes of repair work which would equate to $46.50 for the actual work performed over and above the Service Call. Once I explained this, he begins stating what was the value to me of them coming out quickly, Warranty, product inventory and the truck. Well, I explained to him that the truck was covered in the Service Call Fee, the Warranty was covered under the product cost and OHP, thus leaving the product inventory cost of $157.50 ($204-$46.50). He then began to tell me that other companies charge as much as $800.00 for this work, which shocked me, so I made a few calls on Monday the 8 AUG 22 only to find out that with my exact Capacitor Valiant Air installed, it would be between $140 to $225 for the service call, parts, and repair work. They all indicated that with the sustained high temps we are currently experiencing that this failure is common on older units (5 years and older) and that is repair is most of their calls currently. read more