I had certified mechanical come in for a consultation to look at repairing an old ac unit with an air handler in the attic. Originally I had another company come in and told me it needed replacing without even turning it on. The young guy from this company tried to get it running a few ways and even went to the shop and came back with a part, so I was initially optimistic. He told me that the other company was doing "lazy man's work" trying to just replace the whole system, so I felt good about this company initially. The ac unit did need replacing but their quote was quite a bit cheaper. He told me they would replace the unit with a brand new copper line, relocate it where I wanted because it was in an awkward place. He said they could come by in a couple days. He would confirm prior.
They spent the first 20 minutes trying to move the new unit as close as possible to the original location to save time and energy, none of the locations of which I wanted. Originally I wanted it on my flat roof garage but they cited code issues, but then later said they would charge me 500 bucks with an extra guy and MY help to get it up there, so clearly it was just a laziness issue. I asked them if they could mount it on the side of my house, which is where they put it.
They then had to go into the attic to wire the air handler. The young guy was complaining like he'd never felt heat or been in an attic so hot before in his line of work...(it was maybe 30 degrees in there at best, it was 20 celcius outside that day, I went up right after they left). The complaining was all just an act to charge me 300 dollars extra for "a lot of work"
After they left, I checked everything (after I already paid them without an invoice, stupid on my part), the air handler wouldn't shut off by the thermostat, only if you cut the power at the breaker, so they likely wired it wrong. I noticed they reused the same pipe from my old unit which is over 30 years old. They didn't even put new insulation over my old pipe to replace the stuff literally rotting off of it. When i asked the guy why, he told me to go to home depot to get stuff to replace that and he wouldn't change the line because "they already did it this way, it's done and it doesn't make a difference".... are you kidding me?? They'd be OK with that on their own houses?? A rusted car is no different than a brand new one?? I was absolutely appalled.
They came back to fix the thermostat issue and put new insulation over the old piping, but they left their garbage everywhere, all the zip ties they cut and screws they removed on the roof were scattered everywhere on top of my garage. I asked them to replace the old line with the new one they said they'd install and that I PAID FOR. But because they refuse to send me an invoice and I paid for it first, they can get away with duping me like they are.
Two days later the ceiling started leaking water because they didn't properly check the system fully when they installed it. The condensate drain line was loose in the attic draining nowhere. When they came back to discover that, the guy tells me to call a plumber to pipe that, there's nothing they can do. So I had to fix that myself because the plumbers said it was HVACs job. Even after I dealt with that, my brand new AC pumps out slightly cool air, so my small bungalow can't even keep up with the summer heat.
In conclusion, we paid 4300 dollars for a tiny goodman unit you can hear a block away because it's insanely loud compared to my neighbors unit which is twice the size, and to boot it barely even works.
They have the nerve to call other companies "lazy" and "purposely trying to make money needlessly off customers". The only reason they are getting two stars is because they responded promptly to phone calls which most companies don't. That said, they didn't resolve anything and I paid $4300 to have a unit that doesn't work properly using 30+ year old lines and wiring. I'd highly recommend going with a different company if you don't want to be duped.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $4,300.00