Always Heating & Cooling Inc

We currently have American Home Shield and Always was dispatched to our house. They where prompt in getting to diagnose the problem. The main problem I had was the lack of urgency in the technician. The temperature outside was below 0. He said a part would not be available for almost a week. I was able to call three other companies and located the part. Also, I found the part in a supply house 50 miles from my house.

When I heard nothing I called the next day and talked to Denise (I believe Jay’s wife) and asked the status. She knew nothing except to describe that this was a very difficult part to get, that her only option was through a third party. I expressed my great concern that it could take so long. How is this possible? What if it were February? She promised she’d keep me posted yet the entire weekend went by and again we heard nothing. By Monday, October 5, by which time we had to buy two space heaters and wood for our fireplace in order to stay warm, I again called Denise. She barely recognized me a customer. Again, she said she still knew nothing. I pleaded with her for some explanation on the slow service in securing this part. I would have moved on to another company ASAP but we had already invested $100 dollars in them. Again she said described a vague situation in which they were having great difficulty getting the part. By all of her words I was led to believe that it was the part that was rare and nothing to do with their company’s access to the part. She promised to get back to me and did, later that day. It was to inform me that she could “expedite” getting the part for an extra fee. It would otherwise take 5 days to get the part. Our costs would be as follows: $440 for the circuit board $40 expediting charge $90 (I have no idea for what) $200 for labor (@ $100 per hour she estimated it to be a two hour job) Now, I don’t know much about installing a computer board but two hours seemed an awful lot of time. It made me suspicious, especially since my faith in them had greatly diminished over days. I balked. She suggested she could quote us on the cost of a new furnace. A new furnace??? That’s thousands of dollars. Now I was really leery. At this point I felt I was more a pain in her neck that anything. She finally suggested that I go to a Comfortmaker DEALER. What? There is such a thing? She never mentioned this before! I went online and found a dealer –one of 15 or so. Within one hour this company had located the part and had scheduled to have them come at 9AM today, October 6. Our furnace is now working. OH, DID I MENTION THAT OUR CIRCUIT BOARD IS FINE? WE DO NOT AND WE NEVER DID NEED A NEW ONE. THE PROBLEM WAS POWER, BURNED OUT WIRES. THE TECHNICIAN DISCOVERED IT IN ABOUT 20 MINUTES. THE PRICE FOR REPAIR IS $147.86 INCLUDING LABOR. I called Denise, told her I'd like my money back and she said that was for the owner to decide (she said the owner's name was John, but I found out John and Jay are one and the same person.) I asked her to have the owner call me back. He never did. A furnace is a very important appliance in cold Chicago. That this company willfully deceived us for personal gain is highly cynical and a failure to uphold a professional and social contract. They wanted to make money, our health and welfare be damned. And if Jay's error was innocent, he doesn't seem very capable--or willing to admit his error. Update:While I am grateful that Always Heating & Cooling finally did return my $99.95, I was disappointed at how they characterized their role in the original problem, and how they represented how they planned to resolve it. My very first complaint was lodged through the Better Business Bureau. I got no response but also quickly learned that the company had no real motivation to respond because BBB advocates for the business not the consumer. So turned to Angie’s List, to whom I lodged the same complaint. I still got no response and so they were put in the “penalty box.” I decided to take it a step further and lodged a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Affairs. They took the case and sent a letter to the business. It was finally at that point—in mid-November—that Always Heating & Cooling contacted the BBB. I was forwarded their response and was dismayed to read that it had little basis in fact. They said, example, that they kept in regular contact with me; took great care to explain the process at every step and that they advised me that I’d be best served by taking my business to a provider that deals with the maker of my furnace as they did not. They, in truth of fact, did none of those things. Further, Always Heating advised the BBB that they would not only make good on my $99.95 refund but that they would also reimburse me for 50% of the charges I eventually incurred through the company that fixed my furnace. (Please recall that the actual problem was a burnt wire, not the broken circuit board as Always Heating indicated. Their costs would have run around $1000.00 while my actual costs were only $147.86.) Yet when I finally did receive the check from Always Heating in early December it was only for $99.95. In my experience, once again Always Heating & Cooling proved unreliable and untrustworthy.

HE IS VERY PROFESSIONAL, HE ALWAYS EXPLAINS WHAT HE IS GOING TO DO BEFORE HE DOES IT, AND THEN HE SHOWS ME WHAT HE HAS DONE AFTER THE WORK IS COMPLETE. HE ISN'T PUSHY, HE DOESN'T OVER SELL, HE MAKES GREAT SUGGESTIONS, AND HE EVEN CALLS ME TWICE A YEAR TO SCHEDULE CLEANING OF THE SYSTEM AND HAS EXCELLENT FOLLOW UP. HE IS REALLY GREAT!