Chaves Heating & Air Conditioning

Everyone at Chaves was great: professional, knowledgeable, hard-working. The job went as expected, except that my heating costs over the winter were not lower, as I had wished. The costs might be better this coming winter, since we have replaced the gas meter and adjusted a few settings. I chose Chaves over the other companies I interviewed primarily because Andre Chaves (the estimator/salesman, son of the owner) was so thorough in his approach. For example, he measured the little door into the eaves to be sure the old equipment would fit through. (When we installed the original air handlers, the house was under construction and there were no walls up yet, so of course getting them in was no problem but getting them out might have been!) No one else considered this. Although Chaves was not the cheapest quote we got, I believe they were the best choice.

Chaves has incredible, responsive customer service. I called about my broken Air conditioning on a Fri eve around 8pm, left a message with live answering service, and got a call back from a technician within 15 mins. Technician was very helpful. Walked me through potential trouble-shooting and offered to have a service call. When I eventually called back to get a service call, the office was very friendly and helpful. They were able to get to me quickly (within a couple days) and the on-site technician was friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient.

The technician was able to get the A/C unit fixed, but we used a NEST controller and he did not have any experience with it. Also, he did not have all of the spare parts he required to fix our unit in his truck and had to have them brought out. This took a bit of time (although he did not charge us for the time).

We really like Chaves! Andy is really great to work with. They do superlative work, their quotes are reasonable and anyone can understand what is on the quote.They were very prompt for all of their appointments and were very quick to follow up with questions and issues that we had with our heat pump after installation. They went the extra step to make sure we were happy with everything.

Overall, the service went very well. There was a delay getting the provider's electrician out to finish the install. However, the provider was very diligent in following up with this scheduling error. While waiting on the electrician, Joe called me repeatedly to provide me with status updates and to determine whether they had had contacted me yet. After the electricians visit, Joe personally came out to show me how the unit worked. All in all, his entire team was extremely professional.

The guys were on time. They also coordinated with the guy I used to drill a hole through the concrete prior to working and on site. The system as far as I know works well, and my gas dryer works fine. --- My only complaints would be that the rescheduled the initial install date a few days before it happened. It's because someone else had an emergency that required them to be all hands on deck. I understand. One other concern that we addressed was how to change out this filter next to the furnace. It's used to ensure that the pH levels inside the furnace is balanced.They installed it, and when I asked how I could change it on my own, they realized that they needed to make an adjustment to their installation to allow for someone else to change it. I'm glad that they knew how to fix it, and I think it's an honest mistake. I would just help them double check by asking questions. --- Also, when my newly installed washer leaked, I thought it was a problem I needed them to fix. The person on the phone said to double check with the place I bought it from, which has warranty on the installation. It turns out that something inside the washer broke during the installation, so they saved themselves and myself extra time (and money). I really appreciated their troubleshooting.

Because of a perfect storm of adverse conditions, condensation was accumulating in my 40 year old ac ducts. The overflow tray in my ac system contained several gallons of water and was at the point of pouring onto the attic floor. My attic is very well insulated and has good ventilation, so the attic temperature is with 10 degrees of the outside temperature all winter long.. The high humidity in the house (from using a new humidifier) caused condensation in the old ducts, which also had high leakage. Also the bathroom fans were vented to the attic. The installers from Chaves (Andy and Dwayne) ripped out the ducts, trunks, and metal diffusers and replaced with high R-value trunks and ducts and plastic diffusers that close tightly. The layout is clearly much better. Also the bathroom fans are now vented to the outside through the soffits and the microwave now exhausts to the outside. Permits were pulled and duct-sealing tests were performed before and after the work was done. Andy and Dwayne did a prodigious amount of work, without ever looking to be rushed. They were neat as could be and as nice as could be. I use Chaves for my normal ac service -- these guys are great.

I had problems with them because the first time they came out, I told them that I had a leak in one unit, and the guy came out, he still got the AC unit with Freon, and still charged me for freon. He charged me a couple hundred bucks for freon, and I had told him it was a leak, so we needed to do a leak detection. He then left the unit running and left. They never checked the leak. My mother worked for a large heating and plumbing contractor, and she said if it is a leak, you would never do that. You wouldn't leave the unit running and leave, you would always do leak detection or call the customer and tell them this is what you are going to do. I then had the new AC unit guy come and asked him if I need to replace it, and he said that I needed to get a leak detection done, and he also gave me the amount to pay. He was honest, and I couldn't get the job done, because it was middle of summer, and I couldn't get anyone to come out to do that. It still doesn't work. They came in late and I had to leave my baby sitter there and then had all reasons for seeing me, but I wasn't there because they were late.

They were excellent. We were very happy with the service.

On time and price as quoted. Extremely clean and professional. Could not have been any better. Very pleased. Outstanding

Chaves came out and installed a new gas-fired boiler for my home heating system in October 2013. It was a big job, 2 days on site. They removed and hauled away my old unit, and installed a brand new Budaris system. The engineering they did was great, too. Plumbed it with separate circulator pumps for each zone instead of zone valves, checked and lined the chimney because of the reduced flow, multiple cut offs for everything, etc. And this was all done up front and included in the price. But you don;t really know how good a company is until you have a problem. 4 Months ofter the install, we started to hear a weird vibrating noise from the system. It got louder and louder over time, and was quite annoying. I thought a pump was going. One call to Chaves and they were out later in the morning to check it out. Turned out to be a simple fix, strapping a pipe, not the more complex pump replacement. But the were out here immediately and took the time to track down and solve the problem with me. I would highly recommend these guys. Great customer service by a family run company that is proud of the work they do.

Installed new furnace, central air and whole house humidifier and air cleaner.

Professionalism of Chaves simply impressed me on all counts. I had called 4-5 HVAC companies in my region (including my current service providers). Only Suburban and Chaves really responded quickly knowing that we didn't have any heat our 2nd floor. zones. Suburban had the first dibs, but scheduling the first visit to look at my attic within a day was the only positive thing they did (they didn't get an estimate to me until AFTER Chaves had finished installing the entire system a week later - that estimate was for 11K and 15K - most expensive option + the bells and whistles). While, Joe at Chaves came home the following day, and checked out the old furnace; and after chatting with me in details about my options and hearing about requirements/cost considerations, he provided me 2 quotes within 30 minutes on the spot. Didn't try to upsell me anything; and was quite honest about "personally not recommending putting anything more than 80% efficiency furnace in the attic". I had come to the conclusion after some research earlier, and he simply confirmed what I had known (Suburban was trying to sell me the latest and the greatest). I ended up going with the more expensive option he had provided (2-stage with variable speed fan) which I initially wasn't considering. Chaves was quite prompt in scheduling the actual visit; and the guys who came in that day to install the unit were very professional and friendly. And they finished in half a day when they had said it might take a day - talk about setting the right expectations. Joe followed up a week later to finish the final paperwork after ensuring we were happy with the system. A separate vendor hired by Chaves for plumbing and electrical work took care of the final connections on a different day - and those guys were efficient in scheduling town inspection timing as well. These guys did everything right in my book; and I'd very highly recommend them.

He spent an adequate amount of time explaining everything I wanted to know. I was favorably impressed, and at that time Chaves was one of two companies I was considering to do my furnace replacement. But then I never heard from Chaves again ! I waited one week and then called and I got a run around about how busy they were. I told them if I didn't get the written quote by the end of the week (this was Wednesday), I would have to go with another company. The woman apologized again, but didn't seem at concerned. I never did get the quote. |So, ultimately, I did go with a different company

The owner came out to do our estimate. He was prompt, friendly and complete in his description of the different options and was not a hard sell. The provider was great at scheduling the replacement of our AC system and was prompt. Everyone who entered our house was entirely professional and friendly and nobody cut corners. We are very happy with Chaves after this first service and would highly recommend them and use them again ourselves.

I called to find out it woudl be possible to add ductwork to an existing heating system to bring heat into 4 rooms that are currently unheated. My sales rep asked me very detailed questions about how the existing ductwork is set up. In our conversation, I found him to be extremely knowledgeable and professional...and in the end, we determined that what I was trying to do is not possible...at least not without employing some McGyver-esque tricks. He made it clear that his company wouldn't take the job if it involved employing these tricks. Much respect! By identifying that my idea would have yielded sub par results, he saved me time and energy. Unfortunately, the propery solution is not going to be an option for financial reasons...but he spent the time to help me reach that conclusion. A++ skills. I will contact Chaves Heating & A/C for future projects.

It was, of course, an unusually hot day and the a/c stopped working. I have forced a/c and heat, and I was getting zero air flow. I found Chaves on Angie's list. They were nearby and had good scores, pretty much across the board. So, I took a chance on them, and I am glad I did. They were willing to dispatch someone fairly soon, but because of my work schedule, I delayed it one day. I was given a scheduled window of 3 hours the next day, which is very considerate of my day/time. Both the phone customer service and the service tech were fantastic. They were very friendly and knowledgable. Bryan, the dispatched tech, quickly diagnosed the problem and explained to me why it happened and how to prevent it in the future. He was extremely efficient, friendly and courteous of my home. He wore foot booties and left his work area clean. I am so glad there is an honest, dependable company in my neighborhood that can help me with these kind of home issues.

Everything was good. They were professional and on time. They're not the cheapest but it was right in line with everybody else. They were pretty good.

Lars was very professional and competent. He looked at the pool heater and discovered that a high temperature shut off switch for one of the inlet pipes (that was not being used) was faulty. therefore, he bypassed this faulty switch. He diagnosed the problem and fixed it within 30 min. I initially called another company that usually maintains and services this house. They suggested that we purchase and install some sort of a retrofit solution that would bypass the boiler (because the retrofit system would have its own ignition system, thermostat and water temperature control) for $800 ($500 for parts and approximately $300 or so for labor). I'm glad I called Chavez to get a second opinion. Needless to say, I will be changing the company that we use from now on.

It was great! He is straight forward. We liked working with him a lot. He seems to know what he is talking about. He did what he said he was going to do. With other companies, we called them and they didn’t show up or it was a hard sell. Joe Chaves, he just came and did it! There was no pressure. It was easy.

They sent the first person back and he didn't know what was wrong with it. They have not fixed the problem with the system.. Then they sent a salesperson to see what was wrong and figure out what kind of equipment they would need.

My AC is not working. Gave them a call given their Angie's high rank and 24 hour emergency service. They said were going to send someone. They never came. We had to spend the night at my in-laws.

Our home AC system was working fine but given the high heat we've been experiencing in the northeast, the fact that we hadn't had the unit inspected/serviced in 2 years and that we replaced AC units at our former home, we wanted to get it inspected and checked as preventive maintenance. Overall - A - I was satisfied with the level of service and already plan to use this company again for some additional work on our HVAC system. Price - B - $159 for a tune up still seems a little on the high side but was generally consistent with other vendors and based on the quality of the work and the professionalism of the technician, I was fine with paying a little more for quality. We were offered the opportunity to get $10 off of our bill or a $10 VISA gift card to allow the technician to put a small sign in the front yard and took them up on the offer. The only reason I rate this as a B was because the work was accomplished in well under 2 hours and at more than $75-80/hour, this still seems high to me. In the future, I'll probably do most of the preventive maintenance steps myself but now at least I have a baseline. Quality - A - no complaints with the quality of the work performed by the technician. He cleaned the condensate pump and components and tested it, inspected the air handler, cleaned and checked the compressor and coils. He also answered all of my questions. Responsiveness - A - I was pleased with how the business office followed up from my initial contact and what impressed me the most was how they kept me up to date when the technician was late for my appointment. So while I downgrade them a bit on that (below) I give them credit for keeping me advised and working with me to ensure I knew what was going on. Punctuality - B - the technician was very late, actually missing the entire appointment window, but given the heat wave and variability of traffic on 495, I cut them some slack on this. As mentioned above, they kept me informed of the delay and were very apologetic but I can't give them a higher score because they missed the scheduled window and my wife and I rearranged our work schedules to support the window we were given. As mentioned above, I have asked for them to quote some additional work and I'll provide more feedback on how well they are able to keep that appointment as well. Professionalism - A - the technician that came to our house was courteous, professional, and knowledgeable. As mentioned above, he answered my questions, showed me what he was doing, gave me recommendations and offered what I considered a fair assessment on additional maintenance that I was considering. I would have this technician do work again in my house without question.

Very prompt. Used best available means of fixing problem without having to replace entire unit.

I came home from vacation to find our air conditioner upstairs broken and it was over 90 in the house. Called Chaves and was told they could have someone out to my house after 5pm the following evening. Sweated it out for a night and waited until 5pm only to get a call from them at 6pm saying they couldn't get a tech out to us and they would definately have someone out to us the next day after 5 and to call to confirm. I called to confirm we still needed someone the next morning and they said someone would come. Then I called at 5pm again just to be sure someone was coming and the woman was very nice saying she was juggling the techs and schedule in the area so we wouldn't have to wait any longer and that someone would be out shortly. At 6pm (an hour later) i got a call from a different person saying they couldn't send anyone after all. Their guys were "all burnt out" I was told and she was sorry I was upset--after sweltering for 2 days when I could have called another service. So I called another company at 6pm and they are having someone out to me at 10am tomorrow am. Do not use Chaves unless you can wait a long time for someone to show up --or in my case not show up repeatedly. Live up to your appointment commitments or be honest and tell people you can't do the work because you don't have enough staff.