LAKESIDE AIR CONDITIONING INC

Lakeside Air Conditioning used to provide exemplary service, but that is no longer the case. On April 16 I discovered the central a/c was leaking badly inside my mother's house and phoned Lakeside for service. Fernando came out and cleaned the drain line. A short time after he left, I opened the filter access panel and noticed there was still a small leak inside. I called Lakeside and another tech came out the next day and said the coil needed to be cleaned. I spoke with Brenda, who apparently does the scheduling, and she said someone would be out on Tuesday, April 21. I told her I couldn't be there any earlier than 10:30 a.m. I called later that afternoon after no one showed, and Brenda said the techs were swamped and they wouldn't be out. Another appointment was scheduled for the next day, but again, no one showed and the excuse was the same - they were too busy to come out. This time I told Brenda I was considering another company, but she said she'd rearranged Fernando's schedule and he'd be out for sure at 10:30 on May 29. The 29th came with no tech and no call. It was approx. 1:05 p.m. when Brenda called and said the tech was running late and would be at the house soon. I told her it was too late, I had an afternoon doctor's appointment that I couldn't risk being late for (I had previously told her about the appointment when we set up the 10:30 a.m. appointment time). I didn't plan to do business with Lakeside again, but until this incident the service had always been outstanding. Lakeside had serviced my air conditioner and my Mom's for years and we trusted the techs, Miguel and Fernando. Unfortunately Miguel has since left the company. After a couple of days I called Brenda and asked if we could try again. We agreed on Tuesday, May 5, at 9:00 a.m. I arrived at the house at 8:30 a.m. to take care of some things I needed to do prior to the tech arriving, but the tech, Mike, pulled in just as I arrived. Had I not been there earlier than agreed upon, I don't know if he would have stayed. Mike pulled down the filter access panel and removed the screws that he thought held it to the wall. He realized it was still secured to the wall, and I told him the other techs unhook the panel from the bottom so he did it that way. When he was finished, he commented that the screws weren't necessary but he'd put them back in anyway. Had he not said that, I would have told them I wanted them back in, as they were. He then cleaned the coil in place since it couldn't be removed, and when he left he said to run the a/c for about 20 minutes before turning it off. When the a/c quit running, I opened the panel and saw the unit was still leaking exactly as it had been before the service call, and that two of the screws were now missing. I immediately called Brenda and told her the a/c was still leaking and that Mike didn't put all the screws back in like he said. She had him come back, but he couldn't find the screws and started to put others in that don't match. He was also going to angle them in so they wouldn't have been flush like the ones he was replacing. This entire experience with Lakeside was frustrating and aggravating, made even more so because they used to be prompt, responsive, and trustworthy. Now they don't keep appointments and apparently don't care how much the no-shows inconvenience their customers. On May 5 I sent a certified letter to Danny Hammock, the owner, detailing my experience. It was delivered on May 7. More than five weeks have passed and I've never received a reply of any kind from him. So, after spending $350, the a/c leaks just like it did before the "service," which I was led to believe would correct the problem. Mike didn't put the screws back apparently because it's an area that doesn't show except to the owner when the filter panel is accessed. That is unacceptable to me and there was no reason not to have immediately put the original screws back in that he shouldn't have removed in the first place. I can only wonder how good the coil cleaning was since the unit still leaks. Customer service is obviously lacking, from the office and from the owner.

The installers were very professional. They left the area completely clean and in order.

These guys are great and it was smooth from start to finish.

They are the best. They have done pretty good work for me. The unit is working pretty well. They replaced all the duct work under the house which they didn't have to do it. Based on the size, they recommended a larger size duct and we did that. They were prompt and they did the job in half a day. They sent three guys out for the job and they were real good. They got right on it and got it done. They were very efficient. They did a fine job.