Ricotta Heating and Air

I purchased this house with my wife in March of this year. Due to the weather neither the inspector nor never checked the AC. When summer came around we found that the AC was not turning on. At wits end on how to fix it we called Ricotta and one of their guys. His methodical approach was awesome and eventually he was able to trace it down to a mis-wiring. Apparently whoever installed the furnace accidentally wired the AC circuit from the thermostat to the humidifier. A few days later I find that the AC is generating puddles in the basement. I never really thought anything of it because I knew there was going to be a good amount of condensation. When I realized that none of the condensation was draining through the hose I became worried. When I tried to get into the AC coil I realized things were far worse than I initially thought. It seems the coil was leaning to the point that the condensate was draining onto the floor instead of into the hose. What's worse is that it wasn't installed on top of any kind of "table". That evening I called Ricotta and the next morning Alan Ricotta came out and gave us the new about our hanging AC-Coil. He was upfront with the fact that he might have trouble finding people to come out and build the enclosure on such short notice but he would do his best. Later that day he sent a team of two guys Shawn and John and 4 hours later we had a new coil and an easy-to-use enclosure that will actually allow cleaning! Alan himself seemed concerned with the efficiency of our unit and the bills we will have to pay discussed financing with us for a unit. He told us that our bill was likely to double and sure enough we just received our bill from Ameren. Now we are looking to replace our compressor with them as it is reaching its end of life and the bills are quite high. When we do decide to replace, it will be with Ricotta. They were always honest and could back up their suggestions for replacement with evidence.

Do NOT use them!!

I called on Sunday, they said it would be an "emergency charge" of $165.00 just to come out and service the AC unit. Keep in mind, it says on their van, "$50 flat fee guaranteed". We already told them the two things that were wrong; the fan motor and the capacitor. They didn't have the part, we had to wait until the next day. They called and told us the fan motor would be north of $490.00 just for the fan motor! He told us the capacitor would be roughly $120.00. We told them we would look around for the part ourselves and he said he would install it for us. The service man was only doing his job, and he was very professional, hard working, and polite. We told him to go ahead and pick it up and we would still look for the part ourselves before he would arrive. We found the part, after calling ONE store (St. Louis sucks, they don't answer phones). The capacitor was priced at $84.00 and the capacitor was priced at $24.00. They charged us $90.00 for picking up the part and returning the part. W**! I think we should get a refund on the emergency fee. This killed me financially.

Our AC broke one hot friday night in August. I called this company because they had 24 hour service. I asked the operator what the late night service charge was and was told 125 dollars. I was ok with this because it was late and hot. The repairman showed up about midnight. He checked the unit and determined the contactor switch was bad. He replaced that and the said the freeon was low. My biggest complaint is how much I was charged. I was charged 150 dollars for the service call instead of the 125 quoted over the phone and 275 to replace the freeon and 250 for the contactor switch and and extra charge for something. At the time I thought the charges for the items were excessive but was told they were flate rates and he said there rates are comparable to other AC companies but at midnight in the heat I would pay anything to cool down the house. He also told me he thought the freeon was leaking and I needed a completely new system. He kept talking about selling me a new unit system for our AC which was about 5K. Our system is only 8 years old not that old for a AC unit. I called a reliable AC company a few weeks later and found out there was no leak that they could tell Freeone levels were normal and they would have charged me a maximum of 300 dollars for the whole thing instead of 667. Very disappointed in this company and would never ever use them again. Would stay in a hotel next time and wait till the next morning till an honest company can come.

I would not use their service again.

When I turned on our ac on for the first time this season the air wasn't cool so I made an appointment to have it looked at. I made a few calls and was informed by Ricotta that they were the cheapest in town for service calls ($50) so I went with them. Our ac unit wasn?t running & the tech determined the problem was in the thermostat. He took off the cover to see if any wires were loose. Although they didn?t appear to be, after tightening the screws the ac kicked on. He charged $97 for this task that took less than 5 minutes. He proceeded to tell me that ?you get what you pay for?, referring to the thermostat which was just purchased last summer. This was the first of several comments he made to make me believe our equipment was substandard even though our ac & furnace are only 3 yrs old. He then ran ?tests? & told me we were 4 lbs low on Freon. I was charged $269 for the Freon @ $49/lb. I still can?t figure out the math on that! I was told the loss of Freon was due to a leak in the system. He offered to check the lines for leaks & I agreed. He took a bottle & sprayed the lines with what looked like blue water (which I later found out was just soapy water) & determined there were no leaks. He charged me $80 for this (2 minutes of his time). Since there were no leaks in the lines he advised the leak was most likely in the coil. If I wanted him to check the coil it would cost $450 for a dye test. If the coil needed to be replaced it would cost an additional $300. I declined these services. When talking to the tech I felt as though the explanations given to my questions were overly technical. My feeling was that this was intentional. I felt as though he was trying to sell me on a new system rather than focus on what was wrong with ours. He informed me that our system would be obsolete in 3 yrs because they no longer make the R22 Freon needed for our ac. I researched & read about the phase-out schedule of the R22 & found his facts were not 100% correct & our system will not be obsolete in 3 yrs. Feeling uneasy about Ricotta?s visit I decided to have another reputable AC company in St Louis come look at our unit. Not only was I told they could not find a leak any where in our system, there was a considerable price difference in the Freon as well as the service charges. The difference between what Ricotta charged versus what the other company would have charged was $225. I called Ricotta to address my issues for the first time on 4/12/10. I was refunded $100 per their ?Customer Satisfaction Guarantee?. I called again on 4/16/10 after the visit from the second AC company. I explained I was unhappy with the service I received & felt I was over-charged, even with the refund. Ricotta?s feeling on the situation was that it was my responsibility to do research for best pricing before I had their company come out. I did research to the best of my knowledge given I didn?t know what was wrong with our unit. My feeling is that Ricotta saw an opportunity to make a profit on a first-time homebuyer, and they took it. It saddens me.

All the workers were very knowledgeable about heating and cooling. They had to change out the entire system. They were very nice. They also cleaned my air vents for free. They were very prompt.

To begin with, the technicians showed up hours late. Then, the workmen who came had almost no idea what they came to do. The man who showed up was grumpy and unpleasant to us. After getting an estimate in writing, we figured they would know what they came to do. They also smoked in our front and back yard and threw the butts into the grass. We were disappointed by the workmen, their unprofessional ism, unpreparedness and smoking in our yard.

RICOTTA WAS GREAT TO WORK WITH, AND HELPFUL IN EXPLAINING THE EQUIPMENT. WE DID HAVE SOME MISCOMMUNICATION IN REGARDS TO THE ELECTRICAL WORK THAT NEEDED TO BE ACCOMPLISHED, BUT WITH THEIR HELP WE WERE ABLE TO GET THE PROJECT DONE IN A MATTER OF DAYS. THE MEN WHO CAME TO WORK ON THE PROJECT WERE OUTSTANDING. IT WAS VERY WARM OUTSIDE, AND THEY SPEND ALL DAY WORKING HARD TO MAKE SURE THE PROJECT WAS COMPLETED ON TIME. ALSO, RICOTTA OFFERS FINANCING, WHICH WE DID TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FOR THIS PROJECT.

THE OWNER IS VERY PERSONABLE. THEY WERE WILLING TO WORK IT OUT WHERE WE PAID THEM IN 6 MONTHS.