I would recommend Mark and Kathleen, but I will not be using them again since I feel I got too close to them. Kathleen also told me that Mark still thinks the reason the compressor is damaged is because I did not clean the outside (which I did last night and it was hardly dirty). I am very unhappy that he has no idea why it failed, but he is blaming me and even put that is writing. It is not professional to blame the customer especially when you do not know what the problem is and then even put it in writing!
Description of Work: I have used All Mechanical many many times over the past 10 years. They have always done a great job at fair rate (not cheap) until the last 2 jobs. They have usually worked on my A/C and furnace, but they also replaced my disposal, fixed a hinge on my dishwasher and repaired my oven (this was the other job I was not delighted with, they charged me $120 for a $20 part and I feel that is excessive). Friday evening 07/07 I found my A/C failed. I was getting too hot, so I called All Mechanical and Kathleen answered the phone and she has always been very professional and a delight to work with. She had Mark call me back and he gave me some suggestions and I did what he said. The following morning I called them back at 7:00 A.M. to get my A/C fixed. They worked me into the schedule for 2:00 P.M. About 9:30 they called me back and said they could come about 10:45 A.M. and I said that would be great. One thing I mostly do not like is I feel Mark treats me like he is a neighbor coming over to help rather than a contractor working with a customer. This is nice because Mark is very good at what he does, but I would rather be treated more like a customer and not like he is doing me a favor. This is one thing that has bothered me over the years, I like working with Mark, but I would like Mark to treat me more like a customer rather than like a favor. Mark is also usually a little grumpy. Anyway Mark has complained to me over the years how I do not keep the outside of the A/C unit clean. I have done a lot better job over the years like I no longer has weeds near the unit from Mark’s advice. When Mark came out this time he found the compressor had failed, he then told me it was my fault for not keeping the A/C clean, he was here for 15 minutes, charged me $190 and wrote on his receipt “Compressor seized up Because of dirty condenser coil” and he told me if I want to buy a new unit he will install it. I knew the cost would be the normal charge of $100/hour + $50/hour for weekend and $40 for a trip charge, but he was here 15 minutes. Every other time, I had no problem paying the charge at 1 hour increments, since he completed the project, but this time it was not complete, so I am not happy because he charged me an hour, told me it was my fault and did not even offer to clean the coils he was complaining about, I felt like he just wanted to get out of here and on to his next job to make more money. This unit is 3 years old so this part is under warranty. I feel like he is trying to void my warranty and I am paying him to help void it. The good news. I complained to Kathleen yesterday and she told me she would return my check for the $190 I just paid and she said she was sorry this did not work out. Kathleen has always been very professional and great to work with. Mark is very good at what he does, but usually grumpy and does not make me feel like a customer more like he is doing me a favor and I don’t want to feel like he is doing me a favor (he is not cheap, if he charged ½ a much, then he would be doing me a favor, I am paying full price and I expect to be treated as a customer). Wednesday 07/11/2012 - Before I posted my comments I gave All Mechanical a chance to comment on it, because I "liked" them and wanted to be fair. Were the coils dirty, sure, everyone's are. Did that cause the problem, no, the controller board caused the compressor to fail. Before I posted this today, I called All mechanical and said I am not happy that before I gave you a review, I sent it to you for your comment. I told them I am unhappy that they did not do the same courtesy for me. I told Kathleen that a certified company that supports this piece of equipment came out and determined that it was not my fault and they also found that the controller board had failed that could have caused this problem (also under warranty and Mark did not find anything wrong with this component either). I told her if she updated her comments to what we know (not guessing) like Mark was always grumpy, the compressor failed, etc... we did not know why it failed, I would not update my comments and she told me she does not need to run her comments past me before she posts them here. I told her then I will update my review to really reflect how I feel and the rating I feel Mark deserved from this visit. Mark has always done a satisfactory job in the past (on older equipment, solved the problems at a mid cost rate, and acted like he was doing me a favor, if you want to ask like you are doing me a favor, give me a discount in the price, LOL). This time Mark did a very poor job. Kathleen did send my check back ($190, the least she could do, blaming the customer for breaking it).