AIRTEC SERVICES

Long story short: they sealed up an animal in my ducts, did not come to get it until 2 days later at my insistence, and never apologized; they kept my money for a warranty, turns out they aren't even set up to purchase warranties from Trane, I had to sue them in small claims court to get my money back after 6 months of ignored phone messages; my system works fine. I signed up for Angie's List for the sole purpose of finding an HVAC company. I had saved for several years because I knew my 40+ year old system would have to be updated. I found Airtec on Angie's List with four very positive reviews, after I had tried several larger companies who charged a lot, much of it for overhead. I called three times, finally got a person on the third try, the owner. He came out without me having to meet him, which was nice, and gave me a phone estimate, but it took a while for him to finally give me a written estimate. I told him on the phone that I wanted to buy the 10 year extended parts and labor warranty and to please give me the price for that. His written estimate did not have that price. The owner came out on Nov. 15, 2010, a Monday, with two young men to start the work, and I paid half of the costs and asked again about the warranty. The do not come out to the work site until 8:30, when I am supposed to be at work, so I missed a bit of work this week. When the guys finished Monday night they left two large ducts open to the outside of my house, and I would not let my two cats outside for 3 days during this because I was worried they would go in the ducts. It rained Tuesday but the guys returned to do some work, finally finishing on Wed. Instead of repairing one branch line, which just needed to be glued back to the trunk, they replaced the entire duct, as well as several others that had to be removed and reattached because the new trunk line section went to the side of my house instead of the back. I had already talked with someone about my ducts and done some research; the rigid metal ducts I originally had are generally superior to the new flex ducts, so I wasn't all that pleased with the change, especially since they did not ask me for approval, but they did not charge me extra. The owner said the warranty I requested was $492 and that he didn't overcharge for that like some companies. I paid for the warranty and the outstanding amount left for the HVAC. About 15 minutes after they left I heard an animal walking around in the ducts, through my return register in the hallway. I had to go to a meeting for work, so I called the owner on his cell phone to tell him the problem but he did not call me back until the next morning. Worried the animal might defecate in my air ducts, I went under the house and pounded on the ducts so the animal would go out into my house and hopefully through the open doors to the outside. The return ducts were not pulled tight at all; these flexible ducts are supposed to be pulled taught because when they are compacted they restrict air flow. I believe the animal got out as the food I put in the duct did not go missing the next day. I spoke with the owner and he did not think this was scenario was even possible, and never apologized. I told him I thought I'd gotten it out, but later called him to insist that they assure me that I did not have an animal stuck in my ducts. One of the guys who worked on it originally came back the next morning (8:30) and after a while determined that it was likely gone. I called a few times over the next month or so trying to get my warranty information, the owner finally called right before Christmas to say he would call the guy the next Monday and call me with the information. He never did. For the next two months I called a few more times, always having to leave messages. In March I called Trane and found that he had never purchased my warranty (after 4 months) and that in fact Airtec is not set up to purchase warranties from them. I left yet another message for Airtec, and actually got a phone call because the owner was upset to find out he could not buy warranties!! He promised to cut me a check that week. He never did. Finally in late April I filed a suit in small claims court to get my warranty money back. The owner settled the case two days before he was due to answer the court by bringing me cash (and he admitted everything in the suit was true) so we did not have to go to court. He never apologized. It had been 6 months by this point that he had held my money, ignored my phone calls, hung up on me twice one morning, and generally caused me a lot of frustration. My heating and air system works well, so I can't give them a failing grade, and the price was among the lowest I found, but I guess I wound up paying for it in other ways!

The visit was brief -- about 20 minutes. I was given an estimate. I asked about the condition of duct system and was told it wasn't bad and could be patched at no additional cost. The first visit for an estimate I received from another company lasted about an hour and included alot of information about the process, determining the size unit needed based on square footage of my home, use of computer to do a "load calculation," etc. More info than I was looking for or expecting, but at the same time, it was very informative. Consequently, I expected the same from other companies giving an estimate. I did not get that from Airtec. I had also been told on more than one occasion that my ductwork was old and should be replaced. While I never want to spend more money than I need to, I didn't want to invest in an air conditioning unit with a patched up duct system. Although Airtec was professional and reasonably priced, I was disappointed that there was not more info offered about the whole process.

Great service.

Always reliable AirTec. Best in town.

Everything went well as always.

They come when they say they are going to come and work with our schedule to work out convenient times. We have never had any problems.