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A guy from supposedly one of the oldest and most upstanding companies (one of the top three listed on the Better Business Bureau website) that I've actually paid to do maintenance on this unit in the past came to see why the fan on my HVAC system wouldn't stop running-- even though the fan setting was set to "auto" (and not "on" -- the other option) and the heat/cool options were set to "off".
He found a small snake behind the board and then concluded it needed a new circuit board. The parts place was closed (luckily for me, as it turned out, because it dawned on me to do some research). The unit is outside so you'd think it would be manufactured to work in spite of critters getting in. Or if they get in and loosen a wire, it should be able to be reattached.
I found a YouTube video where someone had the exact same problem and all it needed was a wire replacement to the relay. Other YouTube videos about HVAC contractors showed that most contractors will try to take advantage if they can. There was one video that showed that six contractors quoted a customer from the high $300 range up to $800 when the president of the HVAC association said he'd charge under $200 for the repair.
Before the repair guy left my house yesterday, he was leafing through their company parts list (including their mark-up) and prices ranged up to the high $600 range for circuit boards. I couldn't believe it!
Today I called a parts place on-line and a new board -- if I even NEED one --- costs $140. The guy I spoke with said that ironically, in his experience, it was the older more "respected" contractors who would rip off customers the most often.
So to make a long story longer, does anyone know of someone who won't try to rip me off that I could get a second opinion from?
If not I hope my experience at least gives upstaters a heads up on the tendency for these repair people to take advantage and also it helps to do your homework before hand.
A guy from supposedly one of the oldest and most upstanding companies (one of the top three listed on the Better Business Bureau website) that I've actually paid to do maintenance on this unit in the past came to see why the fan on my HVAC system wouldn't stop running-- even though the fan setting was set to "auto" (and not "on" -- the other option) and the heat/cool options were set to "off".
He found a small snake behind the board and then concluded it needed a new circuit board. The parts place was closed (luckily for me, as it turned out, because it dawned on me to do some research). The unit is outside so you'd think it would be manufactured to work in spite of critters getting in. Or if they get in and loosen a wire, it should be able to be reattached.
I found a YouTube video where someone had the exact same problem and all it needed was a wire replacement to the relay. Other YouTube videos about HVAC contractors showed that most contractors will try to take advantage if they can. There was one video that showed that six contractors quoted a customer from the high $300 range up to $800 when the president of the HVAC association said he'd charge under $200 for the repair.
Before the repair guy left my house yesterday, he was leafing through their company parts list (including their mark-up) and prices ranged up to the high $600 range for circuit boards. I couldn't believe it!
Today I called a parts place on-line and a new board -- if I even NEED one --- costs $140. The guy I spoke with said that ironically, in his experience, it was the older more "respected" contractors who would rip off customers the most often.
So to make a long story longer, does anyone know of someone who won't try to rip me off that I could get a second opinion from?
If not I hope my experience at least gives upstaters a heads up on the tendency for these repair people to take advantage and also it helps to do your homework before hand.
I can't help you with a specific recommendation but the BBB is pretty useless. If you pay their dues and respond to complaints (you don't have to actually resolve the complaint), they will give you a high ranking. It's really just a mechanism to collect money.....
I posted this on an earlier thread this season so just re-posting since we're looking at a nice heat wave moving into the region:
If you needed a recommendation I'd highly recommend Stew at A/C Medic ( http://acmedicupstate.com/ ). Very knowledgeable, will tell you if he can or can't repair what needs fixing before getting started, and will come just about any time of day/late evening even to get your system going.
I've used a few others but they just seemed "ok" or gave off the impression that it was just a job and not as professional as mentioned above. I even had one company leave a pipe cutter on the pressurized refrigerant line coming into the attic unit!
I can't help you with a specific recommendation but the BBB is pretty useless. If you pay their dues and respond to complaints (you don't have to actually resolve the complaint), they will give you a high ranking. It's really just a mechanism to collect money.....
I know and Angie's list is the same way -- even worse. It turns out they will take down a critical report of a botched job done by a contractor if they give you some sort of a refund. I hired an incompetent handyman who had rave reviews. Then he totally botched my job and Angie's list scurried around trying to work something out for me (but really for the contractor since he was also a paying advertiser with Angies list and they didn't want to lose that revenue stream). He gave me a partial refund on the condition the report would be taken down. While he was messing things up at my house, there were two other Angie's list members who had posted critical reviews. At least the BBB lists whether there were any complaints that were or were not resolved. Angie's list is pointless if the critical reviews aren't kept up along with the good ones. People pay money to find who the competent contractors supposedly are. What a racket that "service" turns out to be. If they were really on the up and up they wouldn't allow the contractors to advertise at all.
Thanks for the responses. I will make a note of Stew's contact info for future reference.
Guess what I just found out? I first found another YouTube video where the video said that if your AC fan comes on in summer even though the system is turned off that "you might have an adjustable thermostat which will kick on to extract heat from the heat exchanger". "It turns on for air circulation; to even out temperature and to filter out dust."
So I decided to call the MFR; gave them the model number and asked if the fan staying on might be for this reason and they said "yes"!
So the HVAC contractor highly recommended by my neighbor turns out to be, just like the guy at the parts place said, a huge rip off artist. If they were honest, the technician would have told me it was totally normal and it was due to the type of system I had.
I wonder if I should tell you their names? I definitely will if they don't give me my money back.
I just had a long talk with an employee of Moon and Freeman as the owner or owner's wife was in a meeting. She made no apologies for their service. She said she owned a company before going to work for them. She told me that in the entire state of South Carolina all HVAC contractors are given a mark up guide supposedly to level the playing field so that some contractors won't give better rates on parts than others. I told her that when peering over the technician's shoulder I could see that imprinted on the page of rates in the loose leaf binder was the name of their company. I told her and the technician that when I saw that it sent up a red flag. Sure enough, when I called a parts company on-line and checked costs for circuit boards for my unit it was only $140.
Evidently these HVAC contractors don't have any ethics standards when it comes to properly diagnosing a problem either -- even after you have paid them to maintain your system in the past as I had! You'd think if they cared, when I called and told them the "problem" about the fan coming on even though the heating and cooling was turned off and the fan was on auto that they could have checked their records on my system told me there were instances where it would come on in the summer and it was "normal", and saved me the $99 service call fee. Rather they send a guy out and he decides just because he found a snake behind the board, that I needed a new board.
During the second call, since after the first guy came he took my check and gave me no paperwork. He also left three screws that hold the circuit board in place on top of the HVAC unit which I pointed out to the second guy who started out telling me they didn't belong with the unit and then thought better of it; opened the unit and I told him I could see where screws were missing that were supposed to hold the board in placeand he put them back in.
On the phone with the company they said they would be mailing me a receipt. I told them I thought a better idea would be to mail back my check to me. I think they are just going to cash the check and I will have ended up paying $99 to have had a small dead snake taken out from behind the circuit board (which I could have done myself).
What I have learned from this is to ALWAYS check YouTube or the internet and forums like these before you hire ANY Upstate contractor and find out as much as you can on your own. NEVER trust the so called "professional" to be honest and fix the problem. I usually do this for most things but for some reason I thought that having used this company before, they'd be honest and not try to gouge.
I've also learned that your neighbors may be sweet but they may not be the most savvy when it comes to contractors or other area professionals.
I am very sorry for what you have been put through. It's disheartening. I really, really appreciate you taking the time to come here and warn us and share of your experience. Thank you.
I just had a long talk with an employee of Moon and Freeman as the owner or owner's wife was in a meeting. She made no apologies for their service. She said she owned a company before going to work for them. She told me that in the entire state of South Carolina all HVAC contractors are given a mark up guide supposedly to level the playing field so that some contractors won't give better rates on parts than others. I told her that when peering over the technician's shoulder I could see that imprinted on the page of rates in the loose leaf binder was the name of their company. I told her and the technician that when I saw that it sent up a red flag. Sure enough, when I called a parts company on-line and checked costs for circuit boards for my unit it was only $140.
Evidently these HVAC contractors don't have any ethics standards when it comes to properly diagnosing a problem either -- even after you have paid them to maintain your system in the past as I had! You'd think if they cared, when I called and told them the "problem" about the fan coming on even though the heating and cooling was turned off and the fan was on auto that they could have checked their records on my system told me there were instances where it would come on in the summer and it was "normal", and saved me the $99 service call fee. Rather they send a guy out and he decides just because he found a snake behind the board, that I needed a new board.
During the second call, since after the first guy came he took my check and gave me no paperwork. He also left three screws that hold the circuit board in place on top of the HVAC unit which I pointed out to the second guy who started out telling me they didn't belong with the unit and then thought better of it; opened the unit and I told him I could see where screws were missing that were supposed to hold the board in placeand he put them back in.
On the phone with the company they said they would be mailing me a receipt. I told them I thought a better idea would be to mail back my check to me. I think they are just going to cash the check and I will have ended up paying $99 to have had a small dead snake taken out from behind the circuit board (which I could have done myself).
What I have learned from this is to ALWAYS check YouTube or the internet and forums like these before you hire ANY Upstate contractor and find out as much as you can on your own. NEVER trust the so called "professional" to be honest and fix the problem. I usually do this for most things but for some reason I thought that having used this company before, they'd be honest and not try to gouge.
I've also learned that your neighbors may be sweet but they may not be the most savvy when it comes to contractors or other area professionals.
I definitely agree with googling it or looking on youtube. We do it all the time. We try to fix whatever ourselves and if we can't, we do lots of research before we call anyone so we are prepared what it maybe and what it should cost. Good for you doing your homework. We moved here 2 years ago and we are still in the process of finding repair men. When we lived in FL, we had friends for almost everything from HVAC, electrician to mechanic. Hopefully, we can meet people that we can trust. We don't mind paying for a service but don't want to get ripped off either. It's a shame how businesses can do this. My DH has been in business for himself for many years and he could never do something like this.
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We moved here 2 years ago and we are still in the process of finding repair men. When we lived in FL, we had friends for almost everything from HVAC, electrician to mechanic. Hopefully, we can meet people that we can trust. We don't mind paying for a service but don't want to get ripped off either. It's a shame how businesses can do this. My DH has been in business for himself for many years and he could never do something like this.
