Precise Air Systems

IF YOU PLAN TO USE THIS COMPANY, I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU READ THIS REVIEW CAREFULLY! I have included the same review for Precise Air Systems, Inc assuming they are one and the same. I’ll start and end with the obvious: The people I dealt with at Precise Air Systems were incompetitent, inept and untruthful! Before calling COSTCO, I had two other AC vendors to my home for quotes. All the vendors quoted Lennox equipment. In order to compare apples to apples I got quotes from each vendor on 3 ton/14 seer (with and without variable speed air handler options), and 3 ton 16 seer systems (only with variable speed option upgrade). The two non-Costco VENDORS came up with a price within a few hundred dollars of each other. For the variable speed option, the additional cost was between $500 - $875. After receiving quotes from the other vendors, I had the Costco vendor provide quotes. In order to compare apples to apples, I asked them to quote 3 ton, 14 and 16 seer systems (with and without variable speed air handler). On the 16 seer, their BASE prices (before the 15% shop card) were WELL ABOVE ALL OTHER VENDOR’S. Once they applied the 15% shop card discount, their prices were still the highest (but only by a bit). On the 14 seer, they provided a quote without the variable speed only. The price was again, way higher, but when the 10% discount was applied, they were in line with the others. HOWEVER, their price on the upgrade for the 14seer WITH variable speed was a FULL $2300 higher compared to other vendors who charged $500 - $875 for the same upgrade. In fact, with this upgrade, the 14 seer variable speed unit was MORE expensive than the 16 seer variable speed unit. As they are binded to Costco’s fair price guarantee (according to Ryan, the salesman), I asked them to confirm in writing. When I asked the sales person if 16 seer was overkill for my unit, his response was, ‘probably’. Given the pricing, I of course went with the 16 seer, variable speed unit. I WOULD HAVE CHOSEN THE 14s UNIT (at a savings of over $2000) IF GIVEN AN HONEST UPGRADE COST. Since the upgrade cost put the price of the 14 seer variable speed unit above the 16 seer variable speed unit, of course I went with 16S. When I pushed the owner further, and told him what his competitors charged for the same upgrade, he said “different companies have different pricing strategies”. The sales person addressed my questions with a text telling me “just pick”. Clearly, their strategy was to push the higher end unit by overpricing the 14 seer unit with upgrades. Come to your own conclusions here… A few points to take away on their pricing: After applying the shop card discounts, the Costco vendor was competitive/in line with the other vendor’s pricing (except, of course for the 14see variable speed unit which was WAY MORE). My point is that it appears the Costco vendor hiked their price so that they were in line with the others only AFTER THE SHOP CARD DISCOUNT, meaning there was NO discount at all. I wish I would have gotten a quote from them before they knew they were a Costco referral! Knowing I had been dealt with unethically on pricing, I would have backed out then, but by the time I actually got a price on the 14 VS unit, they had already ripped out my functioning unit. They were not the best price, even after the discounts! At the end of the day, I selected Precise, the Costco referred vendor because: - They are associated with Costco and therefore (I felt), thoroughly vetted. - They claimed their quoting system used the AHRI Lab database ([*** Link removed ***] to pair ONLY the most efficient units (with certificates from AHRI). Sadly, and to their own admission, it turns out their quoting system spat out complete garbage!!!!I When I went out to the truck before they unloaded, to make sure the equipment being unloaded was the same on the quote, it was NOT. I later figured out that the quote paired a 2.5ton air handler with a 3 ton condenser. Ryan insisted that we spoke about the 2.5 pairing with the three ton but we DID NOT. He insisted that his backend database reference the AHRI database to ONLY recommend the most efficient unit pairing, but later blamed the database for the wrong pairing! The installers came with the 3 ton (the correct pairing) and said there is NO WAY to pair 2.5 with a 3! When Ryan stopped arguing, and spoke with the tech, he called back and said it was a system error and that the AHRI database was wrong! So much for their quoting system! They assured me that they stood behind the pairing and we went forward with the 3 ton system units as delivered (but not quoted), because they had ripped out my functioning unit and I had signed a contract. Clearly, we were off to a bad start! But, it only got worse! They brought a unit from their van that was badly marred and scratched. One scratch was so deep, it almost was a hole (see pics). Upon inspection, I told them they WOULD NOT put that unit into my home! The tech lead actually yelled at me, saying the scratches were cosmetic only and made no difference to the functioning. I got on the phone with Costco who dealt with Precise. A new, unmarred unit came shortly after. How could it get worse? IT DID!!! They brought the unit into my home only to discover the unit didn’t fit in the closet AFTER THEY HAD COMPLETELY REMOVED MY FUNCTIONING UNIT! NO ONE HAD BOTHERED TO MEASURE THE CLOSET! I have NO functioning AC in a week of heat from **** and the unit I purchased doesn’t fit (not even close). The next day the owner came to discuss options. He claimed NO unit would fit in the closet. So, after two days, they determined they needed to put it in sideways and create an ADDITIONAL access door!!! Needless to say, the 1 day install promised by the sales person (the tech lead said two days), now ended up being a 5 day install with major construction! Five days later, I had a functioning system that whistled and gurgled! They came the next workday and addressed the whistling by applying metal taping around the joint of the air handler. While I resisted (why should a non functioning manufacturer's seal be covered in tape), a tech rep from Lennox assured me this was the right thing to do. Why the step was overlooked during the install is beyond me? They reconfigured some of the piping they installed to address the gurgling noise (which they claim was due to units on upper floors). When they took out my existing unit, they didn’t understand the configuration they needed to recreate to address the gurgling. 2 days later… a quiet unit. I got the Costco Lennox rep involved during the install debacle and they were supposed to send an independent Lennox tech on the final walkthrough. He was supposed to be on site, but, sadly, was only available by phone. I would still like to have a Lennox rep review the install. During the additional time, they also addressed malfunctioning closet doors (measurement did not take into account inside handle) and the new access door didn’t open and close properly (required additional latch). The latch still doesn’t function, but can be opened from the interior via the original access door. Now I am waiting for a light switch plate (it was taken down, but not replaced) that was misplaced and the correct filter. During the install, they put came with a MERV 13, when I purchased a 16. I course, I saw it was the wrong filter as they carried it in! I sincerely doubt they would have said anything if I didn’t catch the error. I want to also add that at the time of the contract signing, my neighbor was also going to purchase and install the same unit. They were told they would be installed on the SAME day with a separate crew. That crew didn’t show, but they did come with the wrong unit (a 14 seer!!!!). It actually turned out for the best, because when my neighbors heard of the debacle with my install, they backed out (although I hear that Precise gave them a hard time about it). Given they had screwed up their quote too (same error with 2.5 ton pairing), and also didn’t take closet measurements, they were able to get out of their contract. As a final note, during the install, fire alarms went off half a dozen times due to welding smoke. When I asked them to provide proper ventilation, he suggested I disable alarms! I set up my own ventilation with dyson air purifiers/fans. Still alarms… Guess I’m lucky interior sprinklers didn’t go off! This ended up being a very intrusive install that lasted well beyond the original time frame of 1 day quoted by Ryan. My senior dogs were so stressed, they were vomiting! Of course, Ryan’s sales pritch promised no more than a thin layer of dust...

The equipment works well but the installation was not good.