Horizon Services

Fantastic. Quick, accurate, great value. (I called the Horizon Services franchise for Mercer County - tech was from Mount Laurel)

I had Horizon come out to do an AC tune-up. The service technician recommended replacing the blower capacitors and installing a clear trap that can be easily cleaned. I spent $455 for this visit. I was happy with the service provided. Two weeks later my AC stopped working on a Sunday. After originally scheduling an appointment for Monday night, I got a call later on Sunday to let me know that an available technician was in my area. The issue ended up being a dead blower motor. I was quoted $900 for the replacement. The technician determined that he had a replacement motor on the truck so he could perform the work on this visit. Although overall I'm happy with the work and quick service, I can't help feeling that $900 was too much for a replacement motor and 1 hour of labor. From my research, most people seem to pay half that. The original pump is available at most places for around $250. I asked for the model number of the new pump but it doesn't look like the technician wrote it down.

When we called Horizon we told them what the problem was. We gave the age, make and model number of the hot water heater. The dispatcher/appointment person told us that they would have the part on the truck. When the repairman got here he said they don't recommend fixing the hot water heater and wanted to sell us a new one to the tune of $1400 and up! My husband paid the service fee and told him, "No thank you." We understood if they didn't think it should be fixed, but this was truly "bait and switch." If they had said on the phone that the heater was beyond a reasonable age, we would have understood, but to say they had the part and could fix it and then try to sell us something WAY too expensive, was just ridiculous. We would never use them or recommend them again.

We have a contract with the company so that they service our water heater about twice a year. I am totally happy with them. They're very professional, punctual, and they do a good job. I haven't had any problems with their service.

They are not the same company they used to be. They tried not once, but twice to tell my faulty issue was not under warranty. I had to get one and sometimes 2 supervisors involved to who finally realized that yes, I was correct and it was under warranty. Here's one example: Water heater installed in 2008, fails in 2013 and I have a 6 year warranty. Do the math 13-8=5. I had to have both the service technician AND the first level of phone support COUNT ON THEIR FINGERS and they still told me I had to pay. Finally got someone to admit that 13-8=5 and got water heater replaced. Did I mention that this happened twice? Second time with the heat pump motor. I think that they must get bonuses for making homeowners pay when they don't have to. I don't trust this company but had to deal with them due to the installations. I now need a new heat pump and this time I'm using Angie's list to find someone qualified AND ethical.

I called in the morning, got a window in the afternoon. Took fifteen minutes

On 5/6/2015, Horizon Services came out to perform an a/c tune-up. Almost immediately I was informed that the blower motor was overamping and the replacement would cost $900.00. After removing the blower wheel, he pointed out spots on the wheel and said they were oil spots and it should be cleaned. Another $125.00. While cleaning the blower wheel, they found a metal ring, which they told me that most likely my heat exchange was cracked. He took pictures of the damage and sent them to the office. It was confirmed that the heat exchange was cracked. The tech told me that the crack would allow CO into the house. I had the original paperwork for my then current furnace and the heat exchange was still under warranty. However I was told that the replacement would be a "factory second", meaning that it would not fit properly. In addition. it would cost approximately $2,000 to install the replacement, discounted from $3,300.00. At this point I am looking to spend over $3,000.00 to repair a 13-year old furnace. So I had them re-assemble the unit and have an estimator come out to give me a quote on a new system. Then the techs went outside to inspect the a/c unit. Again there was a problem. It was approximately 1.5 pounds low on refrigerant, indicting a leak in the system. He said it should get me through the season. Later that day, the estimator came out. Initially I asked for an estimate on a whole new system, including furnace, hot water heater and a/c unit. The cost was over $15,000.00. I explained to the estimator that I currently had no income and had to pay with a credit card. The credit limit did not cover the entire amount, so he asked me if I had access to any other funds. I felt that was an inappropriate question and none of his business. At this point I am feeling pressured into a sale. I felt I needed to do something because of the CO issue. I decided to have just the furnace and hot water heater replaced at a cost of $9,373.00. He said that it would be more expensive if I waited until the cold weather to have it installed. Approximately a month or more after the install, I spoke with a cousin of mine who had a similar situation with a cracked heat exchange. I don't know which company she dealt with, but she got another estimate that turned out the heat exchange was not cracked. So I went online and to my surprise found numerous complaints about Horizon Services. Then I checked Angie's List and found even more disappointing reviews. I wonder if in fact all of these issues truly existed on my system, or were they tactics used to force me into purchasing a new system. I made the mistake of not getting a couple more estimates. That will not happen again. Last week I received permits in the mail from Horizon Services and needed to schedule 3 inspections which were supposedly paid for by Horizon Services. I had a small issue scheduling one of the inspections so I called the phone number provided in the letter accompanying the permits. This was on 7/7/2015. As of this review, I have not heard back from the install coordinator. This is unacceptable. I am so glad that I did not have the a/c unit replaced. I will have it checked next season by another company. In the future I will definitely get several estimates before making my decision.

Unfortunately, the snake the technician was using got stuck at about the 10 to 12 foot mark. The problem appears to be a broken sewer pipe in an area that was dug up just last year by the water company. Looks like I'm going to have my back yard dug up once again, but the horizon guy was great, he did everything he could to fix the problem.

Please see above. They sell you over-priced service contracts and charge outrageous fees for basic services- $300+ to install a dishwasher valve!?!? As I said, I've found a company that does business with integrity at a fair price, so I won't be needing Horizon's services ever again.

Inspection went well, my wife attending. When I got the paperwork I had questions she could not answer, and the prices seemed too high for the parts and labor required, so I called the company inspector and left a voicemail. He called me back a day or two later and I asked if we could go over the inspection/estimate of work needed? He told me he did not have the paperwork in front of him. I asked him to please call me back when he got back to the office and had the paperwork available. He never called me back. I was concerned that the more time that passed the less he would remember of my job (in fact, he admitted in the phone call that he could not remember the inspection). So after waiting a few days, I called the main number to talk to a manager to point out that this needed to be fixed and that this was a problem in communication. To my surprise, the "gatekeeper" lady in the office would not let me talk to a manager -- red flag. Several times she disappeared from the line, keeping me waiting for a long time, went to talk to somebody, and came back and tried to pump me for information about my "complaint" (It really wasn't a major complaint at that point, but it soon became the basis for one). I told her I would only take it up with a manager and was not willing to wait the 48 hours she said I would have to wait for them to call me back. After 20 minutes of fruitless haggling, insisting she let me talk directly to her manager, I finally pronounced that dealing with her company was a waste of my time -- I would take it up with a higher authority. I lodged a complaint with the BBB, requesting my $89 back because the inspection document is cryptic and useless without a proper explanation. By now the technician had long forgotten the inspection he did in June, so there was no more value in retaining a relationship with this poorly communicating company, its poorly trained staff, and its apparently callous management, who obviously maintain a barrier between themselves and their customer by virtue of their office procedures. I see that someone from the company left a message for me. Too little too late, I am too upset to talk to them and there is no remedy but a full refund at this point. If the refund is forthcoming and I am able to do it, I will upgrade them to a B. I think that's pretty generous. End verdict: poor company to deal with. I give them a D overall only because it was a thorough inspection, but responsiveness was an F.

It turns out I got the deal of the decade on a new water heater and 10 year parts/labor warranty...I paid a little over half the price typically charged for the package. It turns out I probably got that deal because the technician that did the initial estimate was drunk. I thought I smelled alcohol while he was there and he was sweating profusely the entire time he was in my home despite the air conditioning being on. As it turns out, he was fired the next day for being reported for drinking in one of the company trucks. It certainly does not live up to Horizon's claims of their professionalism. I had one technician come to my home drunk and I don't think it was very professional for the technician that performed the installation to tell me the other technician was fired for drinking on the job. Horizon also claims to respect your home and leave it in the same condition they found it. Not once did I see a protective booty on any feet...something specifically stated in their commercials. I will admit they had a challenge draining the old water heater as I do not have a drain in my basement. However, they left dirty, sludgy water halfway across my basement. Unfortunately, I did not see some of it until I started moving things around and putting things back in place after they left. They also used my shop vac to clean up some of the water. I would not have a problem with that had they asked first. I was also pretty upset that they used it to vacuum water with the nozzle in the dry mode and did not empty the contents of my shop vac before sucking water into it. What do you get when you mix water with saw dust, lint any other various crap you might find in a shop vac?...sludge. They left my shop vac half full of water and sludge that I had to clean up after they were gone. They also left a trail of dirty, sludgy water from the back room of the basement across the carpet to the steps and up the steps that I also had to clean up. They didn't do anything to prevent the old water heater from leaking as they were carrying out. When all was said and done, I spent about 3 hours cleaning up after they left. This is certainly not what they advertise or what I expected. I'm torn about giving them a bad review because of the deal I got on my new water heater and warranty package but, if you're going advertise your professionalism and respect for your clients' homes, then you better live up to it. For me, they didn't live up to that at all. I'll be with them for the next 10 years because of the warranty, but I do have my fingers crossed that they never have to come back into my home. Follow up: In response to my review, Horizon Services did contact me to apologize and discuss the issues I experienced with their technicians. They are going above and beyond to make things right and I have to give them a lot of credit for their responsiveness and for standing by their brand and their reputation.

They told me I needed a whole new heating and a/c system when I just had it inspected. They were trying to over sell me and I feel they are dishonest people. They said they could not find the leak which was coming from the top of the unit and I had it topped off recently.

I received a flyer in the mail from this company back in May about a special on an AC service. It was to be priced at $89 and included a free annual service next year as well. The company's representative came on June 11 and performed the AC service which inluded cleaning the outside unit with a hose and checking the pressure and coolant. He then looked at the inside unit and informed me that the blower wheel on the fan motor neede to be removed and cleaned as it wasfull of dust and grime which was impacting the flow of air and the performance of the unit. This seemed reasonable as the house is older and I have only owned it for the last 5 years. He described it as a labor-intensive job and quoted me a price of $377. I didn't have him do it that day but did sign up for an annual contract for $179 which includes a service of my furnace this winter and the service on the AC next Spring as I felt the serviceman was professional and competent. I did call the company and schedule the service for the blower wheel for July 3rd. The serviceman showed up on time and in the following one hour, removed the blower wheel, took it outside and cleaned it, then brought it back in the house and re-installed it. At no point did I see him take a shop vac and clean inside where the unit was removed, nor did I see him install any parts. So for my $377 I received less than an one hour of labor. I understand that this company has a lot of overhead as well as paying the technician a decent wage and benefits but frankly I feel that I just got raped. Almost $400 for an hour of labor is no way to treat customers and expect them to recommend your company or use your services again. Especially after I called around to three top competitors to find out what they would charge and discover that a reasonable range is $180 - $250 for this service. Update: I am impressed by this company's dedication to customer service. I was contactedbya customer service representative and we worked out an equitable solution to my dissatisfaction. I will. Use them in the future.

Great trouble shooting, and explainsrions

called Horizon on a Sunday since my air conditioner had stopped working and was making loud noises but there was no activity on the outside condenser. They scheduled me for a service appointment on Monday between 10AM and 2PM. And explained that there was a $79 fee for them to come out. I had my senior citizen father at the house since I was at work, my father gave the service person a coupon he had and the total became $89 Horizon called at approximately 9:45AM to tell me that the technician was on his way. After inspection I was told that the unit had a bad condenser fan motor, and bad capacitators and that the repair would cost the $1460.90. There was a cost comparison (ball park estimate that showed that the cost of ownership to repair and not replace the unit was going to cost me an additional $3,800 over the next year. So on Tuesday I called a few other HVAC contractors to get competitive quotes for replacement. I spoke with another HVAC specialist who, after the conversation, questioned whether the entire unit needed replacement. He came out on Wednesday AM and told me he needed to get the motor which would be a couple hundred dollars, he came back approximately 1 hour later and installed the motor. $403 later I have functioning air conditioning I feel that Horizon employs predatory tactics to get people to purchase new equipment that is not necessary or charges an exorbitant fee for repairs when someone is in need of assistance. I feel bad for those that have been victim to this practice. I feel much better dealing with contractors who employ ethics when doing business

Last fall the service engineer stated to my mother that our Heating/AC unit is over 10 years old and it needs to be replaced. As I walked into the room he elaborated in more detail that the heat transfer pump is faulty as it is making noise. He stated that it would be cheaper in the long run to replace the whole system then to replace parts. Also it would be cheaper to replace it now before winter repairs begin piling up which would make it more expensive for parts and labor. I told him that we need to think on it and he left. The next day water appeared below our heating unit. A local plumber that our family uses came over to install a vanity unit that week and checked our heating system out for us. He found that tubing in our condensation pump was "damaged" which he repaired. Also in his opinion the heating unit was operating perfectly after this repair was completed (no noise from the heat transfer pump). In May Horizon sent a technician out to service our AC unit. He stated that the unit was performing adequately but since it was over 10 years old we need to replace it. We told him that we just got our roof replaced and we were not in the position to replace our heating/AC units at this time. A few days later it got hot outside again and the AC unit was not working. We found that the circuit breaker to our AC unit kept tripping. We called our local plumber who sent out his partner who is HVAC certified by Trane, Armstrong etc. He found that our compressor was improperly wired which resulted in our compressor burning out and needing replacement. I will let you make your own conclusions. We didn't use Horizon for this work and will not let them in our house in the future under any circumstances.

The Horizon rep came out to my home to estimate the price of replacing my HVAC system. It was scheduled as a one hour visit to look at my home, the system to be replaced, discuss my needs, and to quote the job. The rep seemed a bit junior and insisted on sitting down to take information on my needs. I proceeded to tell him the details of my house, what I want in a new system, as well as the specific equipment (by brand and model) that I wanted. He proceeded to give me the Horizon sales pitch. While mildly annoying, it took about 30 minutes and I dealt with it. Next I showed him the house. He was a bit clumsy with the tools and continued with his sales pitch while taking notes, asking questions, and taking pictures of my setup. This process dragged on for about 45 minutes. We went up and down the stairs several times, around the inside and outside of house a couple of times, and had to go back to pick up his tools and other stuff on a few occasions. Following the initial sit down and house inspection, he wanted to do another sit down. Once again he continued to pitch me and qualify my interest in starting right away, emphasizing the "Horizon way" of doing business. It reminded me of the car buying experience where you have to endure an endless barrage of sales tactics. At this point we were 90 minutes into our meeting and it seemed like I was no closer to getting the information that I needed. After 90 minutes and no clear end in sight, I asked him if I was going to get a quote to which he replied "I need to have a better understanding of your needs." He also asked if he could return to the house next week with an engineer to discuss my needs. For this meeting, he'd need even more time to repeat the same process we just went through. At this point, I was just frustrated and asked him to leave. In the end, it was a tremendous waste of time and I never received a quote on the work. By comparison, I've had two other companies quote this project for me. Each came to my house, quickly and professionally assessed my needs, and delivered an estimate and price in less than 60 minutes.

Terrible: I called for service because I had a fast drip from the bathtub faucet. In 9 hours it had ½ ways filled the bathtub. (I had closed the drain so I could assess just how much water was leaking.) That to me was a significant leak and I wanted it resolved. Fortunately, Horizon schedules evening hours so, I made an appointment for the plumber to arrive between 6:00 and 10:00. I was told that the technicians carry most any part that would be needed to fix a leaking faucet. He arrived about 9:00 pm as expected. From here it all goes poorly? Within a minute of looking at the bathtub faucet all he could say was: That?s an old faucet, They don?t make parts for that anymore, It?s a 8? center (something), that needs to be replaced, I need to drill a large hole in the wall, this is going to take a long time, I don?t have those parts?.. I asked for a quick estimate. I was floored to hear him say, ?It will be over $1,000.? ?What???? Nooooo way.? I asked, ?What can you do to stop the water. I?ll deal with the faucet issue later.? He said he could put in a shut off valve that I could reach from the linen closet. ?Do it. I need the water to stop running.? I took about 1 ½ hours for him to complete the job and it cost $391. For a week I turned the shower on and off from the closet until I had time to go to a hardware store to try to find ?parts that a no longer available.? I searched the internet for: ?How to fix a leaking faucet.? I found a short, simple article that explained what tools I?d need and what to look for at the hardware store. I removed the old hot and cold water stems, with them in hand, I was off on my adventure to find the elusive, possibly impossible to find parts. The first (and only) hardware store I went to was a ?True Value? on Ridge Pike in Trappe. I spoke to a lovely man named Bob. It took him about 2 minutes to find an American Standard, hot and cold water stem. A true miracle for sure! Once home, I reversed the steps I took to remove the original stems and installed the new ones. It took about 5 minutes. I turned the water back on. No drip? So here?s my lesson: A computer helpdesk administrator, with the aid of the internet and the advice of a very nice, knowledgeable clerk at a True Value Hardware store was able to repair the leaking faucet that a seasoned, professional plumber with a fully stocked truck found too daunting. My repair cost less than $23. Horizon Servicer grade: F Plumber grade: F True Value Hardware grade: A+ Bob, the clerk grade: A+++

Fortunately, I kept the promotional mailer sent by Horizon offering any drain or main sewer line cleared for $99.00! I scheduled extremely late Saturday night, and the technician gave me a courtesy call 1/2 hour before arriving early Sunday morning. Jason, technician, explained in detail the problem and immediately went to work to solve issue. He was extremely personable, polite and professional. Upon fully completing the job, and at no additional cost to me, Jason called camera technician to further view and evaluate inside of pipe line, which is scheduled for tomorrow morning! I am completely satisfied with Horizon's stellar service and trust their expertise when plumbing issues arise at my residence..

It is more expensive than the average but very good service. They are very specific, very timely and I like the people. The quality is fine too and they are very professional.

While they were able to get the drain working, they also said it would back up again due to tree roots breaking into the old drainpipe. The package they suggested in order to completely fix the problem was extremely expensive. Due to the expense of their solution, we're investigating other options. They were excellent, though, at getting the drain cleared quickly.

The plumber was very courteous and professional. He knew his stuff and did his job well. I'm happy with the quality of his work. It seems that plumbing repairs in general are expensive, and when I compared prices online for the particular repairs we had done, some of the items were more expensive with Horizon, while others were less, so it seemed to even out, although I still would not view them as cheap. For our area, however, the service providers matched to me with Home Advisor either did not follow through on my call or did not do as thorough a job of determining the problem and proposing solutions as Horizon did. Horizon was prompt and offered high quality service. The plumber who worked with us was considerate of our budget and explained how we could prioritize the different things that needed to be done.

They had me sign a release before starting their drain work - highly unusual, in my experience. They failed to clear the drain, and went on to break a pipe seal in the process. They then said they could send a plumber to estimate the cost of repair. I did not believe that I should pay for their damage, and at that point I had no confidence in their ability. I had prepaid for the drain cleaning, but my payment was refunded. I would not use this company and have contacted another provider to do the repair and clear the drain. Very dissatisfied.

It was expensive. They did a very good service and they were very fast.

They guy was real nice but he left us with a bill over $700. It took him less than an hour. I thought this was absurd. It was not an emergency, the part for the spicket cost less than $30. They basically charged us for the labor.