S&E Standard Heating and Air

I live in a newly remodeled 1908 historic building in downtown Los Angeles. When my HVAC fan stopped working, and before joining Angielist, I contacted Dsg Mechanical Corp, the original installer of the central system in my condo unit. DSG informed me that they bill per hour and start their hour upon leaving their current sight--can you believe that--in Los Angeles of all cities. With our level of traffic this method of billing is completely unacceptable. On top of their high hourly rate, they wanted an additional fee--a dispatch fee. I was hungry for a better alternative so my boss told me about Angieslist. I was reticent to join a pay-site, but ended up doing it. That's where I found S & E. S&E was centrally located and looked like a good option so I called and reached someone "in the field". No transfers to customer service or a sales rep--straight to the owner of the company in the field working on air conditioners. He quoted me a an hourly rate plus a worst-case flat rate if a new fan was necessary. When they arrived they went through the easy options first and found a bad connection. Here in Los Angeles I've had far too many occasions where a service person will take the opportunity to try to sell you the most expensive option first. S & E didn't--they started with the simplest and found the problem right away--within 15 minutes. I have no problem paying an hour minimum and paying for what is wrong. I do have a problem paying for how slow a repairman travels or what route they choose to take or whether they stop at 7-11 along the way or any variable out of my control. When I told the service person at S & E about the previous company's policy of billing from the last service location he quickly said "We don't do anything like that". No amount of policy change will ever win me back to the original company who installed my HVAC--I will call S & E next time and I will recommend them to all the other units in my condo association. They saved me money and they paid for my Angieslist account. I'm ahead! I'm the kind of guy who tends to rate excellent service with good ratings. I'm very satisfied with how this worked out for me.

ALAN ALWAYS DOES A GREAT JOB. THEY ARE AVAILABLE, AND COME TO YOUR DOOR IN AN EFFICIENT MANNER. THEY ARE HONEST, AND REASONABLY PRICED. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM.