Highly Advertised Services seem to be a ripoff in SA. (how much, buy)

[Cherwithme]

We have run into this problem more than once...since we moved here this past year. First with our Air conditioner it was not cooling properly and then when our bathroom sink was left on by our kids and flooded a part of our living room.
Trying to find a good and trustworthy service company, we called each time a highly advertised company that we saw in the phone book/full page or on tv, also on internet I am learning just how much they pay to get their names out there. In turn they must reep back their advertise cost by charging riduculas prices.

Get this, there was an add on the internet, to check your cooling/heating it would cost like $19.99. We wanted to see if our air conditioner was cooling properly. We were told there may be a leak and the Freon/coolant was low, but to see if this was the problem it would cost another $120 to see, then all he did was to wave a stick that lit up at the unit and he said yes it's a leak, but a very slow one, and he filled the unit back up with maybe 4 to 6 gallons of coolant. The bill was well over $300 when he got done.
The air conditioner has not had any problems anymore and I don't think there is a leak.
SERVICE COMPANY INITIALS J.W. Heating and Air conditioning
also they try and sell you a service plan to get your ac up to date that would cost about another $1000 to do and then if you buy this plan your cost to repair is not so high. Sounds like another way to just get more money.

The service company that came out and did our carpet wanted to charge us over $1000 to get the water extracted out of our carpet. It was not even bigger than area of a small bedroom to do. They told us that they were going to have to first extract the water then put in all this equipment to dry the carpet and walls. After the "salesman" left, the man that was doing the work said that we could get away with just extraction and put our own fans and heaters on the carpets and walls, and it still cost us about $300. I think a carpet shampooer would have done just as good of a job, because the carpet was still pretty wet. We got the walls and carpet dried in the 72 hour timeline before mold would accur.
We found them in the phone book, in a large full page add. The saleman kept telling me this is a small job to them and they are used to $10,000 jobs and that it's a good price. I told them I am not a company just a middle class working family. I didn't let them bully me. I will never call them back!

Just beware, if they are highly advertised it's because they charge you a huge amount. Since then I have talk to other servicemen and they told me that it's just the way they work. They got to pay for the adds.

good luck
Please anyone with good service companies or tips please also post.

[goodmanm]

If you need a good A/C guy let me know. The company I use it top notch.

[banker]

Wilks, Inc. is a great A/C company. We purchased a Rheem 14 SEER unit from them two years ago and have been pleased with the performance of the unit and the service after the sale.

[TXtrkgrl]

My husband is an A/C guy
He doesn't have his own business but he works on ours and friends units.

It is amazing when a friend calls an A/C company to come out and they give them a bid for some astronomical amount then my husband goes and fixes it with a $50 fan motor or relay. 95% of the time it is a minor repair.

It is always best to do repairs yourself. Luckily, we are do-it-yourself type of people. I do have a friend in the A/C business if anyone needs a good/honest A/C guy.