PORTLAND GREEN HOME SERVICES

A bad experience from start to finish.

BEWARE We have an annual contract with this company. Last year, when they were able to charge full fee and upcharge for services, they were right on time and completed the job. This year they have not shown up for two Saturdays in a row. They were scheduled for April 30 in a 3-hour window (12-3 pm) and at least someone called to cancel at the last minute. This Saturday they were scheduled for a 2-5 pm window and I had to call the company. The only excuse I got was that the dispatcher did not call to cancel and I need to reschedule for a third Saturday. The reason I was not called is because people did not show up for work. I am not able to get a 9 am appointment because I am on contract -- the starting time is reserved for customers who are new and paying full price. If I don't get service next Saturday, I am reporting Portland Green Home Services to the BBB. Yes, I have a copy of the signed contract. In this Jobless Recovery I find it hard to believe that there are not people willing to show up for work. Or maybe they are a really lousy company to work for. Either way it's not good.

we have an annual warranty program with them and wanted to check upon it due to our home make over. due to the make over we couldnt find the contract so we called them. first they didnt return the call and then they were completely unable to obtain any of our contract data. the annual warranty program is due by one month now. havent heard or seen anything from them. the website has been improved lately but I still dont see any info on bonds and/or insurance. they still do advertise weekly in full colour in the local newspaper.

They were pretty thorough about checking out the system and looking through it to test it. They tested for mold and other things in the vent system and they cleaned everything out really well. It surprised me how long it took but I was happy with the service. I would have appreciated more information on what the process entails so I could have planned accordingly. It seemed a bit pricey but I?m not sure if that is the going rate; I didn?t price around.

Erin and T.J. arrived on time (between 8-10AM) in a minivan (calling about 30-mins before arriving). I was a bit surprised thinking there would be a bigger truck with high-powered vacuuming and ductwork scrubbing equipment. The two arrived with an oversized shopvac-looking device (with HEPA filter), long 3" hose (with nothing special on the sucking end), and some different-sized circular brushes that could be mounted on a long flexible shaft attached to a hand-held power drill. Hmmm... We started with a quick walk through the house counting vents -- we had 17, seven more than the 10 covered in the ad, so that added $70, and 2 returns, one more then covered in the ad, so another $15 for that. We were told we had 3 mains, two more than the 1 covered in the ad (extra mains were $85 each) and they'd have to cut access panels to get into the extra mains/returns ($20 each to cut and re-seal). Hmmm, this was getting more expensive. Then there would be optional extra fees for Air Handler/Housing Cleaning, A/C Coil cleaning, Condenser Cleaning, $100 to clean the dryer vent, $350 for "UV Magnification Lamp"... Then, "You've got mold in the ductwork", we were told, and while he didn't recommend ripping out ceilings to replace the ductwork (though that was an option), they could spray with Chlorine-something-or-other-ide that wouldn't remove the mold but would keep it under control for a year, but required annual $150 visits to keep under control. So our $79 advertised special was looking more like $1200 with the recommended service (but would be discounted to more like $800-900). Though the up-selling, as other Angie'slist folks noted, was continual, we resisted. He brought out a Mold test kit and showed that our laundry room vent tested positive yet two other vents in the house tested negative. (I have a nagging concern about the validity of the positive test.) We decided to stick with just the duct cleaning and ended up paying $165 total for the extra vents & return, and signed the work-order with initials on "Warranty void due to incomplete cleaning" and "Declined mildicide treatments". So bottom line, we weren't very confident that we got a thorough clean scrubbing of all our ductwork as the before/after pictures in the ad showed (not sure how an open-ended 3" vacuum hose would pick up that much when wiggled around in the ductwork), but they were in the house for about 2 hours and I suspect got things cleaner than before they started. The $79 ad price (valued at $200) did include an electrostatic furnace filter (valued at $130) but would be shipped to our home in a couple of weeks. So with that, I did rate the price at a B and (can't rate the price for services we declined). I would love to have felt more confident that the recommended services were really needed, but didn't get that.

We decided to use Portland Green because of their spring special advertised in the Oregonian. The tech, Erin, was punctual, courteous and worked fast. It is true that there was upselling, and the final cost was almost 10 times the price of the published ad. But he did a great job, and we could tell a difference immediately in the air quality. Our home is built in 1937, and we have lived here for 5 years without having this done. (3 shedding dogs and a cat.) And we don't know when the previous owners had the duct work cleaned. So I am certain there was tons of nasty stuff in the ducts. He reported mold & mildew, which was also believable since we had a basement flood last summer and had to replace drywall since the mold started growing in less than one day after the flood. I did sign up for a yearly maintenance plan with this company so the duct work is cleaned and sprayed every year. That costs $150 per year, and I think it's worth it. I also found out from the tech that this company subcontracts, so people may have different experiences than I had. The reason I give the overall a B is because of the misleading ad (all the "possible" charges ought to be explained) and because the owner of the company needs to take full responsibility for the contractors -- bad contractors really harm this company's rep.

We had scheduled a whole house air duct cleaning, using a discount coupon which came in the mail. The technician upon doing the pre-cleaning inspection, determined we had asbestos tape on the basement ducting (which is false) that would need removal; mold in the ducts which would need removal; and extra ducting that would cost over what the phone estimate was. He gave us a new estimate for a "highly recommended service" of $664.80. And a "full restoration" price of $986.75. I refused the service, went to Angie's List and found a reputable company that came and did a beautiful job, including dryer vent clean out for $199.

just wanted a plain duct cleaning. ending up with a complete job. upselling maybe, but i said yes myself! well, after 14 years of no maintenance the duct system needed attention anyway: there was mold, vapor barrier, all coils/ 20 ducts still had construction dirt in them etc etc. spray used after cleaning kills spores and you cannot stay inside after for 30mins. we were briefed on that in advance. they were prompt on time, calls. left home in ok order, no forgotten items etc.

They came to our house, took pictures, told us there was mold in the duct system and that it needed to be treated and cleaned, we needed new filters, etc, etc, etc. . . to the tune of $800. We agreed. They told us they used all "natural plant derived products". When they were done it smelled like a morgue in our house. I asked exactly what they used to clean and it was "gluteraldehyde" and "phenol" - the last time I checked - these are not "plant derived". We had to leave the house for 2 days, paid to have another company come to suck out the smell (Power Vac- did a great job) and clean the ducts (after viewing all that came out - they were not cleaned by Portland Green Home Services). Horrible, dishonest and down-right harmful service. Would NOT recommend them.

Scheduled appointment almost two weeks in advance, had a follow-up call from them several days before and then they were no call and no show.

We scheduled an appointment 10 days in advance. They were a "no show, no call". When I called them to find out where they were, they replied "We had to cancel 1/2 of our appointments because someone quit yesterday. We tried to call you yesterday but you gave us a number that rang to a fax machine." I asked them what phone number I'd given them and confirmed that the number was my cell number, not a fax. I then asked them "If you knew you didn't get ahold of me yesterday, and you knew I would be sitting at my home today waiting for the 3-hour window you gave me as an appointment time (in the middle of the day), why didn't you try and call me again?" They said "I don't know, can we give you 10% off?" With the coupon I was using, that would be $9.90 in my pocket for most of my day being wasted. I would strongly suggest you do not use this company.

The whole time he was here he was trying to up sale, up sale, up sale. The second he found out we were not going to buy anything more he packed up and left. He left almost every one of our vent covers off. Because of what he did our heating stopped working throughout the entire house.