Am I being scammed by Air Conditioning technician? (insurance, house)

[azriverfan.]

My central air conditioner in my home was not cooling down fast enough. It was working but it seemed less efficient. I have a home warranty so I definitely decided to get it checked out. I assumed it might have been a freon leak. The AC repair man said the freon was at adeqate levels but said my coils needed to be cleaned. I have two units. He showed be both units and one definitely needed to be cleaned. He charged me $250 to clean a 3 ton outdoor compressor unit which he did on the spot. After about 40 minutes he left. My AC is working even slower now. I thought clearning the coils would improve performance but now its worse. My AC took 3 hours to cool from 76-75 in the evening. It was never that slow in the past.

I'm skeptical that I might have been scammed. I did my best to research this online and I found some tidbits about AC technicians purposefully making your AC less efficient to coax you into purchasing a brand new unit. I don't know if that's the case but something feels odd about the whole situation. Am I making this up or is there something to ths?

I can call my Home Warranty and complain that my AC is still not working properly. They will send out the same repair man. I have a feeling he will say everything is fine and I should upgrade to a bigger unit or something along those lines. The Home Warranty company has another contractor they use but they are pretty rude. I'm wondering if I should just do some research and find a reputabl AC repair man and pay out of pocket to have them check it out to see if I was getting scammed. Any tips or suggestions?

[collinsl]

Call the home insurance company, tell them that you are not happy with the repair, and tell them to send out another technician/company. If they refuse, then switch insurers!

[joe moving]

Do you know how many "tons" your unit is and how large your home is? How is the air pressure at your air registers?

[country pride]

It happens a lot. A/C companies KNOW you need it out there and they know how to take the simplest problem and charge tons of money to fix it. They know people will pay to have it. Ive seen on the news when I lived out there, companies where a simple leak in the duct (a few dollars to repair) would have ended up costing a homeowner well over 500.00. The guys told him it was something very serious with the unit itself, and after getting a 2nd estimate, he was told it was a simple inexpensive repair. Channel 3 has '3 On Your Side' set up things like that all the time and AC companies arent the only culprits out there that do this type of thing. Mechanics, restraunts, heating/cooling companies, thats their job, to catch crooked companies. Id say try checking your filters, make sure that where your thermostat is, theres not hot breeze near the area, how about your home insulation? And...get a 2nd estimate!

[CheyDee]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

My central air conditioner in my home was not cooling down fast enough. It was working but it seemed less efficient. I have a home warranty so I definitely decided to get it checked out. I assumed it might have been a freon leak. The AC repair man said the freon was at adeqate levels but said my coils needed to be cleaned. I have two units. He showed be both units and one definitely needed to be cleaned. He charged me $250 to clean a 3 ton outdoor compressor unit which he did on the spot. After about 40 minutes he left. My AC is working even slower now. I thought clearning the coils would improve performance but now its worse. My AC took 3 hours to cool from 76-75 in the evening. It was never that slow in the past.

I'm skeptical that I might have been scammed. I did my best to research this online and I found some tidbits about AC technicians purposefully making your AC less efficient to coax you into purchasing a brand new unit. I don't know if that's the case but something feels odd about the whole situation. Am I making this up or is there something to ths?

I can call my Home Warranty and complain that my AC is still not working properly. They will send out the same repair man. I have a feeling he will say everything is fine and I should upgrade to a bigger unit or something along those lines. The Home Warranty company has another contractor they use but they are pretty rude. I'm wondering if I should just do some research and find a reputabl AC repair man and pay out of pocket to have them check it out to see if I was getting scammed. Any tips or suggestions?

Here is some reading which may help: How to diagnose & repair loss of air conditioning cooling capacity - Air Conditioning Compressor & Condenser Replacement or Repair: How to Inspect, Diagnose, Repair Residential Air Conditioning Compressors & Systems

[Wishin4sun]

Originally Posted by collinsl

Call the home insurance company, tell them that you are not happy with the repair, and tell them to send out another technician/company. If they refuse, then switch insurers!

I agree to call your home insurance company. Make sure you get the name of the person you are talking to. If you are unhappy with there response. I would demand to speak to the supervisor & also ask for the corporate office number (if you are unable to locate them yourselves online)
Hope everything works out

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by joe moving

Do you know how many "tons" your unit is and how large your home is? How is the air pressure at your air registers?

Yeah, the unit in question is 3 tons. I have two units: one is 3.5 tons and the other is 3 tons. House is exactly 3000 square feet. I don't remember what the exact numbers were but I was there when he connected the two guages there and he said the pressure was a little high but he blamed that on the dirty coils of the 3 ton unit.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by Wishin4sun

I agree to call your home insurance company. Make sure you get the name of the person you are talking to. If you are unhappy with there response. I would demand to speak to the supervisor & also ask for the corporate office number (if you are unable to locate them yourselves online)
Hope everything works out

The problem with this is my home insurance company only has two vendors that service Air conditioners in our area. Also, the A/C technicians are limited by what they can do. The AC guy was trying to tell me that the Home Insurance company can even reject certain orders if the home owner does not maintain my unit well such as failing to keep the coils clean etc. Basically, it just seemed like he wanted to do the bare minimum if any work because the insurance company doesn't reimburse them for much. I have a feeling they will just call the previous repairman to come back. It may come to that and I have a feeling the guy will find nothing wrong with his work.

[AZ Tracy]

If you have a reputable home warranty company, they will replace your air conditioner if it can't be fixed. If you have a 12 seer unit or less, there may be some cost to you with upgrading to a 13 seer; expanding the concrete pad, etc. You paid for a home warranty...I'd use it!

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by AZ Tracy

If you have a reputable home warranty company, they will replace your air conditioner if it can't be fixed. If you have a 12 seer unit or less, there may be some cost to you with upgrading to a 13 seer; expanding the concrete pad, etc. You paid for a home warranty...I'd use it!

Right now I have a 10 seer unit. I'm considering upgrading in a year or two. The AC guy said upgrading to a 14 seer unit can save you from 25-45% on your total annual electric bill. I find that hard to believe