Cole Services

No Problems with any thing

I was very pleased...

unknown

Perfect no problems

Excellent!

I had a new high efficiency Goodman Condenser and Furnace installed on my house 3 years ago, the system has been great. Was installed by a local construction company that had left over units on a subdivision they built. I went to fire up the AC for the first time this season and no worky worky. Thermostat would make the ticking noise like it was sending the signal to fire up, but nothing happened. I was not an Angies List client so had no idea where to turn. I'm in general very leery of outsiders performing work because I'm routinely disappointed with the work, this time would be no different. So I googled HVAC for Corona and Cole Services popped up. So I ended up taking a shot in the dark and made the call. The phone call was a very pleasant experience, the young lady was extremely professional and detailed, so we are off to a great start. I explained my dilemma and she scheduled a tech for a tune up and diagnosis. He performed a visual and the normal tune up for 100 or so bucks and came back with some recommendations. One was a "hard pipe" kit. Building codes according to him do not permit flex line to run from your gas supply into your furnace thru the body of the furnace. He said he could replace it and bring it within code. He also said the reason the AC would not fire up was a bad "starter module" on the condenser. The quote for the pipe was 415 and the module was 280. I have a warranty on the system so I told him to have at it. Against my better judgment I told him to go ahead with the pipe kit because I thought. "if it's that much money maybe it's complicated and I may never get to it so I'll just have it done." I'll never trust these guys to have my back ever again. It was a 6" long 3/4" pipe that he screwed into the furnace to allow it to stick out of the furnace body, then he simply reattached my flex line. I was completely shocked at the gouging that just occurred to me. This was a serious ethical no no that Cole just crossed the line of. They did NOT do the right thing when I was not looking. They in fact took that opportunity to rob me for that very basic service, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves. That alone I will never do business with them again, can't trust them. Then it was onto the module he said was bad. Turns out changing it did nothing, AC still did not work. Not only do I have a company that gouges for their services, I now have to believe I have a company that does not know how to troubleshoot. I'm ok with being cocky if you can back it up with action, but at that moment with those prices I was instantly sure these guys were simply all about huge margins for guess work and the company strategy is to simply managing the times that they get discovered. The tech onsite was totally out of ideas, so he had to call in for air cover to solve this problem. This required me to be home yet another day to let these guys in. The next guy came over he was a very presentable calm and clear speaking gentlman. Extremely professional, seemed to have a high degree of confidence in his ability to perform and headed straight to the AC Unit. In about 5 min he had cold air blowing in my house. He buttoned it up and came in the house and explained to me it was a broken wire that caused the system not to fire up. Oh boy.... He also mentioned that I had a 2 stage AC system that was only wired for 1 stage and if I wanted to gain the value of that system I should have them install a thermostat to allow that. I would have been fine with that if it was a reasonable price but it was not. He quoted me $600 to install a Thermostat!!!!!!!!!!!! He mentioned the model he would install and I took note. I declined because I was just soaked for over $500 the day before, not made of money over here. After he left I took the liberty of googling the part number and found out its available anywhere for about $70 bucks. I'm pretty sour at this point and see a very clear pattern is emerging that I'm not very comfortable with. It really just enforced my feelings from the day before. These guys just gouge anywhere and everywhere they can. Saturday rolls around and it's getting a little chilly in my house so before bed I decided to fire up my furnace. Wouldn't you know it, it does not work. I could not believe it. Called yesterday and they came out today. Guess what they say it is? A circuit board on my furnace. I call Goodman the manufacture and they say no problem, have them remove and send it to use for replacement. After 5 min for the removal I'm told it will cost $380 for them to swap it out. You can see where this is going, the pattern is now 100% consistent. I had paid to be part of their VIP program the first day they came out. Sounded like a good program and I was hoping to start a long relationship with an AC Furnace company for when issues pop up in the future. That program got me priority support calls, and those times I need help the fee to show up and the diagnosis fee are suppose to be waived. So if those two fees are waived how on earth is 5 min of removal $380? The part has not been installed yet so I have no idea how much more fun I'm in for. This is only my experience, they may only treat ever 5th customer with this level of respect. I did call their customer service department to chat with someone. He listened to my issues and said to give him 15-20 min and he'd get a manager to call me back. Not sure what I was expecting to happen, but in my line of work I want a client to give me the opportunity to fix something that is just wrong. I believe in relationships, and if the person I do business does not then that won't work for me. I've followed up with them 4 hours after my first call in to discuss it and I've still not heard anything. Honestly I'm not surprised. I see so many good AC people posted on this site, I think it's safe to say Cole is just one to stay away from. Other complaints have been posted too, so for sure a precedence has been set. I'll call one of the others from here on out, these guys will never get any more of my business. The plot thickened with the "free" water heater flush they offered me too. I can tell you it was not free and they had not intentions of it being free. I'll spare you the details but suffice to say it was WAY overpriced.

nace

Cole Services is a very professional organization and they do not try to sell you something. When they came out they actually would have tried to repair the unit that we had but it was 28 years old and there is no way to get the parts for that unit because the company that manufactured it went out of business. They showed us the different options and gave us a lot of explanation about the different options and we were the ones who totally made up our minds. We didn’t feel pressured by them to even use them if we didn’t want to but they were really good so we did. We got a very good deal on the unit too. They came in and they laid down papers, they covered every part of the stairway and the hall before they started work. Their people cleaned afterwards, they were very careful because they had to cut into a part of the wall to put more air vent because we were getting a bigger unit. They just did such a professional job and they were really excellent.

They were bad. He told me I needed a lot of work done that did not need done. They were very high pressured and high priced.

When the Cole man came to clean and test the air conditioning there was no problem with the air, but he put a tv camera on a snake into the furnace heat exchanger and said I need a new furnace. He said the TV camera was new and they just started using it and it cost $ 4,000.00. But he said it has already paid for itself in new business. I asked how the business worked for the last 20 years with no TV, and he said, "Fine." People didn't know they needed new furnaces, but everything worked fine for them. I obviously did not but a new furnace based on his recommendation. However, after he left the air came on and the air handler shook and rattled the house so severely that the glasses in the den rattled on the shelves. It shakes the furnace so much that it will obviously cause it to fail. I lived with it for a week and then called Cole to send a man back to fix the rattle. He came and said I need a new furnace. I asked him about the amazing coincidence that the air handler faid while he was here last week cleaning it. He said that the rattle was already there and he didn't cause it. It wasn't. So that is the end of my dealings with Cole. Recommend that people using Angie's list stick with the A rated companies. I have learned my lesson.

i was told Cole Services specializes in leak detection and repair. I had a slab leak and the plumber who showed up was professional and courteous however did not have any detection equipment needed to do the job. He noted that it was being used elsewhere and had to come back tomorrow. The next day he noted that he needed two people to operate the equipment and we had to wait for the next day (three days later as it was a weekend and he could not come on monday) for another helper. It was determined that the leak was in my bathroom and they proceeded to remove floor tiles and dig the foundation but the leak was not there! They then proceeded to tell me instead of $2500 to repair, it would now be $5600 to repair. This was obscene. I rushed to get two quotes, one for $1250 and another for $1900. The company that quoted $1250 came and Found the leak and showed up the next day for four hours with a crew of two plumbers and fixed the slab leak. I was left with the daunting task of retiling my bathroom and a bill for $385 for the leak detection that did not even pinpoint the leak....it turned out to be many feet away. I would price check Cole against other plumbers as they proved to be insanely expensive in my case!

I made the appointment over a week in advance. The technician's arrival time was to be between 10am and 1pm. The office called around 10 to let me know that it would be closer to 1pm before they got there. I said that it was fine. Around noon they called to let me know I was next on the list and they wanted to make sure I was home. At 2:30 they called back to say the technician was "on his way." I neglected to ask where he was driving from. He arrived at 3:25. I expressed my concern about his late arrival and that I was not sure he would be able to complete the motor cleaning--given that I needed to leave the house by 5:45 (at the latest). We reviewed the last technician's report and he went to work. He showed me, on live video the current condition of the a/c heat exchanger and a video of the dirty motor (which I was familiar with already). He vacuumed out and tested what he could with the inside and outside portion of the a/c. Given that this was the first time I had ever had a tune-up completed, on a 12-year-old unit, dirt-related problems were a plenty. A little after 5pm, the technician reviewed his findings with me. He then followed by a reviewing a "basic,/better/best" tiered pricing. Besides the a/c tune-up, I chose to only have the work done to the unit that I was expecting to do based on the previous technician's findings. He agreed that the motor cleaning would be the most important and budget-effective service to have done. I also agreed to sign-up for the company's service plan although I am still somewhat dubious about having signed up for it. I expressed my concern at the time (5:45pm) and with my immanent need to leave the house. Ultimately, the technician was able to complete the detailed cleaning of the motor after I managed to persuade my roommate to stay at the house until the job was completed. I returned home later that night to see everything put back in its place and I was grateful to not have to worry about the heating and a/c again for a while (hopefully).

The technician arrived about 3 hours later than the time originally agreed. Once the tech was here, he was thorough, polite and low-pressure regarding additional recommended services. The technician left my house after 9pm and was headed back to the OC to see another customer which apparently had been expecting him by 6pm. The only issue I have with the company seems to be their scheduling. They seemed a bit too accommodating which I believe leads to over-booking. They checked and double-checked by phone to make sure I was home and waiting. They informed me I was next on the list, but that only served to have me expectantly waiting by the door when the tech was still hours away from arriving. The front office seems to be unrealistic as to the length of time it takes to drive between cities and the length of time it takes the technician to do their job.

The shower off our master bedroom was clogged due to hair buildup. Tried clearing the clog with a thin coat hanger hook (which has always worked...), but this clog would not go away. I found Cole Services website and was attracted to their "$79 Drain Cleaning Service". WARNING!!!! This is only a HOOK to get themselves into your house!!! The technician was courteous and arrived within the promised timeframe. Upon arrival, he looked over the situation and said that the $79 did not apply in this situation - that it applied to a "simple cleanout" (like with a coat hanger?). Without even trying to fish out the hair blockage, he said he'd have to use "heavier equipment" to clear the drian. He brought in a hand-held, drill powered drain snake and had the problem solved in about 45 seconds! Cost me a whopping $301!!! That's a far cry from the original $79 Drain Cleaning Job that was advertised on their website. I could have bought the same tool he used for LESS than what he charged! The job was done to my satisfaction and the technician worked very clean without leaving a mess to clean up, but this company's sales and business practices leave MUCH to be desired. Had I not had guests arriving within the hour, I would have passed on the newly quoted price and found another company to do the job for a more realistic price.... BEWARE of low priced drain cleaning offers - it'll end up costing you MUCH MORE!

See above.

We aren't satisfied because the heating is still uneven in the house.

The workers are very responsive. They are always sending different people to do the work each time. They always show up on time to do the work. They always clean up everything when they are done.