Bay Area Heating & Cooling Inc

What I got was a one-track selling technician. It felt to my wife, who took the visit, that he really wasn't much of an expert on AC but was there to sell new units. We live in a nice house so I think the equation was nice house + older units = juicy sale. He didn't actually do any work on the units when he was here - no attempt to see if a clogged drain was in fact causing problems on the Fl3 unit. In general you get a feel for whether a guy is willing to help you save money or not and this guy wasn't serious about giving us those options in a balanced plausible way - I spoke to him on the phone while he was at the house. I asked him some very basic questions about our tonnage requirements and he gave a non-answer. He managed to leave a third unit that was functioning fine on heat rather than cool before he left. He was just not very confidence inspiring. His recommendation was that we buy three new units (surprise, surprise) and that we were very lucky that the units have survived so long (not entirely false - they are indeed 13- 16 years old). Maybe we do in fact need new units - it's not impossible. But the salesman/tech just didn't make us feel like he wanted us to understand our options and costs. He quoted me $99 a pound for CR22 for the unit that he said was leaking freon (I can only charitably assume he meant that each unit needed $99 of refrigerant or the price has skyrocketed since I last bought some). I guess overall we felt like he saw his job as selling us new units and facts were tweaked to fit that pitch and guide us away from repair. Neither me or my wife respond well to that. You need to be smart enough to build a little trust before you ask us to spend thousands of dollars on your recommendation. We won't be calling these guys again for service. Maybe they are awesome at installing units but this was a bad service experience. I suggest you stay away from their coupons. It's just lead-gen for the sales team.

THEIR TECH PHIL CALLED ME AHEAD OF HIS ARRIVEL & SHOWED UP DURING APPOINTMENT TIME,HE CHECK OUT ACC UNIT & REPLACED A BAD CAP. ALL COMPLETE IN 45MINS,GREAT JOB

I purchased a deal through Angie's List and the first available was four weeks later. I had to cancel the appointment due to a family emergency. The next available was five weeks later.

Company was very good in setting weekend A/C repair service. Tech arrived on time accurately determined failure of capacitor. Then wanted $300 for a $30 part. No wiggle room. Sorry 10x markup is just stealing from people who do not know better.

He arrived on time, very courteous, very professional. Very pleasant. He definitely knows his stuff. I will request him for my next 6 month check up.

We had an air conditioning issue and it was a call around that. The $49 Big Deal paid for the trip out to the house and they charged additional for the repair work that needed to be done. They had to come back out again. There is a pan underneath the air handler and we had water collecting on that. They came and blew it out, but they did not get it blown out all the way so it started collecting again. They came right back out immediately and finally got it fully cleared. We never had a problem since then.

Gentleman showed on-time and did a good Tune Up of my AC Unit. He also mentioned a probable need for a Compressor Start Kit to limit the power it was pulling - although at a relatively high cost, so I put it off at that time. I'm currently enlisting them to service my home again this year but with the added service and the wait is a bit much but acceptable due to the time of year. Solid company overall.

Left with no repair and no estimate for repair. I had to call the shop to figure out what was going on and was told that they were swamped and couldn't come back until the next day and it would cost me $740 to replace a faulty motor. I balked and told them I'd call someone else. Called Ierna's and they had someone out that day who had the stock part on their truck and had it repaired within an hour for half as much.

It went okay. The guy said I had to do a lot of very unnecessary things in my opinion, to my air conditioner that I haven't done yet. I called another person and they said it probably wasn't necessary. That's the only thing I was a little dissatisfied with.

They came and said that we needed a new filter or something and that was messing up the back pressure. It also needed something else new but they didn't even look in the unit outside. They didn't fix the problem so I had to have another person come out to fix the problem. They suggested that we could do upgrades but we said no way. They were here the day or next day after the purchase date.

They're very professional and thorough.

I spent about a year shopping around, and they were very competitive in price. Beyond that, Shaun Mines my project manager was very knowledgeable - he was the only one who knew about a gas company rebate we qualified for. The install staff did a very professional job. However, the unit was still operating loudly so I called Shaun. They sent out a technician a few days later who spent hours calibrating the unit and did an excellent job. Then another technician came to finish the piping, and he even met the inspector for the permit inspection. All this was above and beyond, and they did not charge an extra dollar. Excellent company, professional office staff, and we are very happy with our unit. Thanks!

It went well. AC is in good health, the price was right for the services provided.

I actually have some big complaints with them that I need to follow up. One of the air conditioners start laboring, we asked them to come out and look at it and they said it's just old you need to replace it. This is a $4,000 unit that they had put an $800 motor in a summer earlier. And then I got a second opinion, and the second company came out, looked at our air condition unit and said the fan is in upside down. We actually got charged for a service call for them to look at our air conditioner with it's upside down blades and tell us we needed a new system. We then had a sales man come out and complain about the fact that we were also looking at other companies. I am mystified by this experience because they have so many good reviews. And I don't know whether this is a company wide problem or a problem with individual service people but at this point that involves at least two service people and a sales person.

I purchased a service coupon through Angie's List for an A/C diagnostic when my A/C quit working. The Tech did not arrive until after 7 P.M. despite several calls that I made to inquire where they were at. Almost immediately the Tech questioned why I didn't have a Heat Pump instead of a regular unit and started trying to sell me a new system. I was open to a new system due to the age of the outside unit and its lack of cooling ability but he kept trying to push the Heat Pump. I used the Heat 3 times this year and explained I didn't feel I needed a Heat Pump but he persisted. After diagnosing the problem he quoted me what I felt was a very high repair estimate for both the repair and replacing the unit. I told him I would consider it and get back to him. The next day I called another contractor for a second opinion. The estimated repair cost was almost half what Bay Area had quoted. After an honest discussion of the pros and cons of keeping what I had or replacing it with the Tech we decided to replace the unit, again for a cost much less than quoted by Bay Area Heating and Cooling. The unit we purchased was the same Brand and quality, just not a Heat Pump.

I worked with Shawn Mines, excellent service. Very friendly, kind and considerate. Also very very respectful. I had invited him to come out to look at my AC unit, and he came out and pulled it apart, and looked at the unit. He fixed it by connecting two wires, after I had been told by another provider that I needed a new system.

I preordered a 39.99 inspection . The tech Jerry was nice polite and professional. After a short look through he said he coudnt do any work due to having no duct work access to mobile home attic. They were going to reschedule once I got attic access. I did but due to their volume I had a four week out appointment. I forgot that I prepaid via Angies. I contacted the company and they gladly were willing to credit me but would have to request thru Angies list. Would I give them a second shot? Probably would if I had a regular home. Only given a b overall due to me not being to fully access them since they couldn't complete.

Provider also noted some mold spores on the unit cover. He cleaned the cover and the electrical lines. He installed an ion generator air purification system to the HVAC air handler. The cost was $400. A UV light was even more money, so I went with the above.

Identified faulty coil and contacted the manufacturer to check on the parts warranty. Found that the warranty was still good so I only had to pay for labor. Still have cold air, the technician was on time and nice to deal with. With A/C's we'll see this time next year if it lasts.....

It turned out to be an expensive call. What he did was put some wires back together. He said there were some wires that were misaligned or something. He charged me about $150. I'd give them an F because of the pricing and the amount of time he spent here. He fixed the problem. I would not use them in the future.

This was a $49 big deal purchase. It went well. They came out four days after I bought the deal.

Quick diagnosis and repair, fair price, very pleased.

On the evening of Sunday, 11/22/15, I was setting my thermostat for the night, when I realized the rug in front of my air conditioning intake (directly beneath the thermostat) was soaking wet. I opened the intake and there was standing water in the air handler, with water dripping from somewhere above. This was the second time I had encountered this issue in the last couple of months, so I felt the need to call someone. I looked on Angie?s List and found Bay Area Heating and Cooling (BA hereafter). On Monday, 11/23/15, I called BA and set up an appointment the next day, between 3p-6p on Tuesday, 11/24/16. On 11/24, Vince from BA arrived at 3:30p. I showed him the issue and he proceeded with a thorough review of my system. Vince located my issue: I had a serious leak in the evaporating coils, which was causing ice to form, which was then melting and flooding my air handler (forgive my ham-fisted, probably technically inaccurate explanation). Vince gave me my options: add some Freon and kick the can down the road a bit (the system would just keep icing up and melting) for +/- $150; try to find a replacement coil assembly for my 12-year old air conditioner (no guarantee one would be available) and replace it for +/- $2500; Get a whole new air conditioning system for +/- $6000. After thinking it over, I decided that replacing the whole system was the smartest move. It would be expensive, but my machine was very old, inefficient, and spending $2500 to replace just one part of a 12-year old system seems foolish. Vince provided me with two system options: one for about $6400 or the next step up for $7000. A rebate on the better system brought the difference between the two to less than $400, so I elected to get the higher tier system, with a better seer (efficiency) rating and a better condenser. After the rebate, trade on my parts, and an Angie?s List coupon, the price was $6063. Thanksgiving was just days away, so my service date choices were 11/25 (the next day) and sometime the following week. I could not take the day off work (on pain of death from my boss), so my stepmother kindly house-sat for me and monitored the workers. On Wednesday, 11/25/15, the workers arrived timely, and worked for about 7 hours. They had to add on to my existing air conditioner platform to get the current height, distance from the side of my house, and distance from the power cutoff up to code. They replaced the machine outside, the coils and their assembly inside the garage, and installed a fancy, high-tech thermostat. My stepmother said they were polite, clean, and professional. There was some confusion at the time of payment, as the current workers were unaware of the Angie?s List coupon. A quick phone call to BA HQ took care of that, and everything was done. I came home to a new air system that kept the house cool, dry, and was brand new. After surveying the work done by BA the next day, I was delighted with the work done in the garage. Everything looked sleek, clean, and freshly-painted. The new thermostat was a wonder; it took me days to read the instructions and get the bells and whistles running. There?s even an app for it! I was disappointed in the addition to my platform outside, though. The addition juts out, unsupported by legs, which looks bad. Also, the placement of the machine itself is asymmetrical, making it seem like it was misplaced. The addition is completely stable and secure, but from the street, the overhanging portion looks as if it might fall off at any time. The wood is unpainted (my platform was painted the same as my house), but I did not expect them to paint it; I am not upset at all about that. I talked to BA about the platform. I was told that the installers are not construction workers and they are to do the absolute minimum required to get the machine safely installed to code. I expressed my disappointment. I really felt I was paying for more than just ?the minimum?. I was happily (kind of) paying what I felt was more than a minimum sum, and I had hoped for better than that. One month later, late at night on Saturday 12/26/15, I heard water dripping from the air handler again. I immediately called BA?s service line and beeped the emergency service person. Mike called me back promptly, and said he could come by the next day (remember, this was very late at night). I implored him to come that night, which he did. He found the drainage lines had not been flushed out properly, and did so; I was very relieved. . He had no explanation why the ?kill switch? that is supposed to turn off the air conditioner if the drainage line backs up (like it just had) didn?t work; he tested it and it was fine. He also observed that the place where I should be checking and servicing the drainage line was installed oddly. I had been instructed to put some vinegar in the line every other month, but when I looked at the pipe with the opening I was supposed to use, it stuck straight out, parallel to the floor, making pouring any liquid into it impossible (or at least d*** hard). Mike said that, although the current arrangement technically met code, there should have been an ?L? pipe, turning the pipe perpendicular to the floor instead. When I spoke to BA the next day, they explained (again) that all they did was the minimum to meet code. They suggested I pour the vinegar into the other entrance point, which was the place where the kill switch was, which resolved that concern. I mentioned that the kill switch had not worked and, if I hadn?t incidentally been up late that night, goodness knows what damage may have been done to my system due to its failure. I also observed that Mike?s diagnosis was that the original installers had not flushed the drainage lines properly in the first place (the buildup that was blocking the line was many months, if not a year, old). BA apologized, the service was provided at no cost, so that was just fine. Except for poor Mike, who had worked all day the day after Christmas and had to fix my machine at 1am on 11/27/15. Since then, the system has run like a dream. I love the thermostat, my electric bill is noticeably lower, and all is well.

Excellent service from both the office and the tech. Scheduling an appointment was a breeze and received a courtesy call from the tech to notify his ETA. He was very professional and was not pushy when suggesting things I should considered replacing.

When we set up the appointment we were given a window of between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. when the tech would arrive. The tech actually arrived at 4:10 pm. No phone call or any other contact was received by us to inform that the tech would be late. When we asked about this we were told that it's not their policy to make those types of calls. Next, we asked that the cost estimate be broken down to show the labor and parts separately. Again Bay Area Heating and Cooling said they could not do this. They said they only provide a "flat rate." This makes it hard to compare costs. Lastly Bay Area charges their service fee $69 whether you go forward with their repair or not. Many companies waive their service call fee if you agree to have them do the work. We did like all the folks we talked to though including the service tech's Jerry and Phil.