Thumbs Down: Affordable Heating/Cooling

[ZacFields]

Does anyone have experience with these guys? Here's what I have been through in the last three days.

So I am getting my Central Air Conditioning and Furnace replaced. I got a fair price on a good unit, so I scheduled it for this past Thursday. The salesman who I spoke with told me that it would be a simple one-day install.

The guys get here on Thursday and get started working. After about 2 hours of cussing and screaming in my utility room, they finally got my furnace out, at which time they disappeared for about an hour and a half because they needed to go pick up my new furnace (not sure why they didn't bring it with them, but whatever). So they get back around 1pm and install the new furnace in about an hour.

At this time (2pm) they inform me that they're calling it a day and leaving because the humidifier that I ordered hadn't arrived yet but should be here on Friday, and of course they would have to leave again to go get my air conditioning, and with 3 hours left in the workday, apparently they don't have time to get any more work done.

We were supposed to get some freezing rain that night, so before they left, one of the guys asked "Hey if the weather is inclimate tomorrow (friday), would you be okay if we came on Monday." Figuring it was just a safeguard against really nasty weather, I agreed that if it would be difficult to get here due to the weather, I could hold out until Monday. But otherwise I would expect them at 8:30am on Friday morning.

So I wake up at 8:00am on Friday and it is a beautiful sunny day, so naturally I am expecting my install to be completed. So 8:30 rolls around, then 9:00, then 9:30, then 10:00, then 10:30, then 11:00. Finally, I call Affordable Heating and Cooling to ask them what's going on. Apparantly the guy that asked me about waiting until Monday if there was inclimate weather called in sick, but didn't actually call the office (so they could call me) but rather just decided not to show up to work, assuming that I wouldn't call to complain.

So at that point, Affordable Heating sent out 2 guys to finish my install. They arrived at around 1:30pm and installed my humidifier and it looks like they managed to at least get the air conditioner out of the box and hauled away my old one. Well they didn't have time before 5pm to finish actually hooking up the humidifier, and they were missing parts for the A/C that needed to be ordered, so at 5pm they left.

One of the guys took my cell phone number and told me that he was going to come out to my house today (Saturday) on his day off and finish up the work... said there shouldn't be much left to do. I thought that was awful nice of him to do, so I told him that I would expect him on Saturday morning, and for him to give me a call and let me know when he's on his way.

So it's officially 1:05pm on Saturday, and I have not seen nor heard from the guy. My assumption is that he has either forgotten that he promised to come out here or that he changed his mind and has decided not to call me.

So for the record, my HVAC installation for my CONDO will have officially taken Affordable Heating and Cooling FIVE DAYS to install. Two of those days the guys had promised to be here and did not show up. Needless to say I am extremely pissed at this point.

[Drifte]

So have you been without heat all this time as well?

[ZacFields]

No. Luckily they at least hooked up the heat on the first day. I can't complain thus far about the quality of their installs, just the quality of their professionalism and customer service.

The shitty thing about today is that I can't even call and complain that this guy never showed up because the offices are closed on the weekends. But believe me, I will be calling them on Monday to complain that someone told me they would be here on Saturday and never showed up.

[Drifte]

^ My guess is after doing so they will say BS, why would anyone come in on their day off for you. And then be even more rude and assume you are a whiner. Just one way to look at it as they could get worse!

[Fire Hawk]

Wait until everything is done before you call and complain cause then you get the work done without anymore headaches and can share your overally experience with them. I'd hate to see you call monday, say what you wish, then have them delay... upset the person thats going to come work on your stuff.

[DustinsDuster]

my grandpa has been a plumber and HVAC guy for decades, and i dont know if its just him or not, but i can say honestly he would never have acted like these guys did. im wondering if he knows anything about their business- has an opinion or anything. i'll ask him next time i see him.

my grandpa is probably an exception to the rule, at 66 years old, he is still working 10-12 hour days every day it seems. he's an animal...

[ZacFields]

Wait until everything is done before you call and complain cause then you get the work done without anymore headaches and can share your overally experience with them. I'd hate to see you call monday, say what you wish, then have them delay... upset the person thats going to come work on your stuff.

Well, we went through Sears and that's how we ended up with them. Yeah yeah, I know Sears is overpriced but I got a decent discount for paying up front with cash (10% of the total cost) and a unit that I know is very high quality through many many hours of research on different brands.

Even the guys that came to do the install told me that if I got it straight through them, they could have done it for just a little over half of what I paid Sears, but he admitted that we probably wouldn't be satisfied with the product that I got for that price.

But anyway, what I will probably do is share this information with the project coordinator at Sears who has been keeping in contact with me. Maybe it will help and maybe it won't, but I think they ought to know that the contractors they chose were not very high quality.

I still have to add the disclaimer that the work they have done has been great. Everything looks really nice and seems to be working fine. I can't dispute that they do good work. But a simple condo installation (just a 2.5 ton A/C and small 60,000 BTU furnace) should be able to be done in one day... MAYBE halfway through a second day, but should definitely not take three days and a customer certainly should not have to wait over a weekend to get their shit installed. Thank God it isn't the middle of summer, because the furnace generally has to be installed first from what I understand, so I'd be sitting here sweating my ass off with no A/C over the weekend.

[Xboosted23X]

i would of gone with colony
there is no reason that it should take that long.

[ZEE]

Went through a similar thing with a carpet install through Lowes. Seems when it's subcontracted that you get less than desirable results than if you just go through a reputable business in the first place. You never know who is doing the install otherwise. Obviously lowest bidder for the contract.

[ZacFields]

Yeah that seems to be exactly the case, ZEE. Guess we had to learn the hard way. Luckily,(hopefully) the end result will be the product that I desired and a quality install, even though getting there was complete hell. LOL

[Jappbox]

You could have let me know my uncle owns a heating and cooling, carries the #1 brand American Standard. Very good furnaces. My sister did a 2 stage one on her new house.

[ZacFields]

I'll keep that in mind for next time Red. I'm not going to be living in this condo for too long; perhaps 5 more years or so. The furnace/AC was 30 years old though and I needed to replace it at some point, otherwise when I go to sell the place the buyers would undoubtedly try to take it off the price of the home anyways.

It sounds like having an up to date furnace and AC is the way to go, though. Much more efficient than the old ones and you can get a lot of cool shit attached to them these days. lol

[ZEE]

I've got American Standard. Good units. They also own Trane.

[ZacFields]

That is true ZEE. American Standard and Trane are built in the same place I believe and are supposed to be identical systems. They are top of the line along with a few other brands.

[69gt4speed]

For what its worth, had carpet installed through sears once, somehow although it was measured had a splice in the closet, cost me 1/2 after I bitched to sears. That was at least 1k.

Better than the insulation co. They cracked my wall and offered to fix it. I swear the kid was off smoking a fat one when he supposed to be manning the hose. Fired on the spot only satisfaction I had. They patched the bulging crack.

[ZacFields]

Well they finished the installation today, and although I feel like I've been through a lot of crap in the last 5 days, I am very happy to have it all done. Everything seems to be working right, and the humidifier is freaking KEY. Never seen the humidity in my house at 45% in the winter. I'm normally at a steady 15% or so. I am extremely pleased with the addition of the humidifier to my heating system. Keeps the whole house at decent humidity and I don't have to fill the damn thing like I did with the the room humidifiers, because its hooked right up to the water line.

Again... this was too much for a customer to go through, but they did seem to do pretty good work on the install. I am definitely pleased with that aspect of it.

[96-eclipse-gst]

Im sorry but with the way the economy is and I guarantee their sales are not bustling. They should have been jumping through hoops to finish that install as fast as possible. Do not let that company go scott free.

Side note, my dad had carpet installed by (home depot or lowes) of which was subcontracted out. First time around they measured carpet, ordered it and it took 3 months to get and install. One large straight room in the base and an adjoint room. The carpet didnt even cover half the floor. So they ordered another piece to finish it. Took month and a half. They were two way different colors. They said it looked fine and left. I mean it was bad, they didnt even match at all. He called the store, they came out took pictures. Said they would order the carpet and call him. Month and half go by my dad has been trying to get a hold of this guy. Still nothing. So he goes and talks to the store manager. It finally all gets order another 3 months later, it was suncontracted out to another guy who did a fucking fantastic job. Just superb. A little over nine months to have carpet installed correctly. My dad even ripped up his old carpet for them and when they fucked up he ripped that out too just to help get things rolling for the installers. Needless to say. He replaced the carpet in the upstairs bedrooms on his own. Cost him next to nothing and it looks awesome (hes very picky).

They took a "chunk" of the price off for his inconvenience.

[Drifte]

I wish their was a universal "per hr" inconvenience charge. I'd be doing great.