Tri-City Fuel & Heating Co

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We used Tri-City for nearly 25 years. They sold us heating and air conditioning units a number of times during that period. In addition, we had them do semi-annual preventative maintenance service on those units. For most of that time, we were satisfied customers. In recent years, however, their service has deteriorated. The final straw occurred this year and we have had to discontinue using them. In the fall of 2012 we purchased our usual annual maintenance contract which provides for a fall and spring checkup. When no one came this Spring we repeatedly contacted them to set up a visit. It was impossible to get through to the service manager. We were always told she would call us back. She never did. When we did finally get her on the phone, we could not get a time set for the service visit and we were told she would have to call us back. When our a/c unit stopped working this summer, we were told it was caused by low Freon. This is something that should have been caught if they had been doing the maintenance we contracted with them to do. We have given up on Tri-City and have contracted with another company. They promptly sent out a tech to do the maintenance check and refreshingly have returned all phone calls.

When the weather changed and the AC was in use, the HVAC unit began to leak water. Tri-City serviced it, said it had been installed incorrectedly which made the condensation leak. AND billed us for the service call because the heater's warranty period had passed. We continue to refuse the bill, have sent certified letters, etc., and now the account has been turned over to a collection agency.

They are pretty dependable, reasonable, and competent. Any time I’ve ever needed them on an emergency basis, they have responded. They are really professional. When they installed my HVAC 10 years ago, I noticed it was flat on a concrete pad and I read the manufacturer’s installation instructions and it said that it is supposed to have some feet and a space between the unit and pad. Therefore, when I called them and asked them about that, they came out and redid it.

Had a service contract for two years with no particular issues (other than each summer inspection requiring adding of coolant to the system). Service technicians were always courteous and professional. After being invoiced and renewing in advance for my third year of service, which was to be done "around May 1st", I heard nothing from the company well into the month of May. I then called them to find out when they might provide service. The person who does their scheduling advised me that they were "behind schedule" but said they would "take care of it". After another two weeks, I replaced my own filters (part of the paid-for service) and called to talk to the owner of the company. As he was on another call, it was promised that he would call back. He made one call and left a message - we went back and forth, and finally connected a couple of days later on the third or fourth try. The owner was quite defensive, suggested that we were not promised a specific date for service ("around May 1st" and this was June 7th), and did not offer a remedy to the situation, no attempt to have the service done on an urgent basis. He offered his apologies that our experience was not to our liking and offered to refund the contract amount. His refund was made very promptly and he sent a personal note of apology. My problem was that there was no support for the service that I needed.

We never did get any response from Tri-City Fuel and Heating CO. in West Columbia on the letter we sent via the internet. I don't think the quality and responsiveness of the company was bad. It was a dissapointment to me after I searched the internet and found that the cost for the parts weren't very much. I did get the exact part numbers (and use them) that were installed when I did the research on the internet suppliers. We have called uponTri-City Fuel several times to service the Air Conditioning unit (and I think they originally installed the heating and air conditioning unit) and to the best of my recollection they did charge reasonable rates in the past. This was the first time we had to do major work on the unit. All together: I don't think the quality of service provided was bad but I do think the charge for parts is excessive. Note: We have two homes and the complaint on the service was at 710 Raleigh St. in West Columbia, SC

The installation went very smoothly.

I have used them for a long time, they installed the unit 10 years ago. They have been able to keep the unit running and I have had the same guy come the last couple of times and I like the continuity.

The company was very responsive every time I called them. However, they were unable to fully resolve the problem related to the low voltage circuit breaker tripping. The first time it happened the technician reset the breaker. The next time they replaced the thermostat. This went on for a total of 6 service calls and a cost to me of $887.00. This was in addition to the $330.00 I had paid for two years of semi-annual maintenance. They were finally able to determine that a wire in the cable from the air handler in the attic to the outside unit was intermittently shorting out. The technician substituted an unused wire in the cable for the shorted wire and everything was fine for a few months. In May 2011, another wire went bad. The company called to arrange to send two people out a few days after this happened to run a new low voltage cable. By the time they called, my son and I had installed an entire new cable. It took us about 1 1/2 hrs. My final call to the company was on 6/30/2011. Again, they responded quickly, and were very professional. The A/C unit was not cooling. The technician added 4 lbs. of freon, and charged $267.00. The unit cooled for about 12 hours and stopped. I called them back on 7/1 and they said I could set up an appointment for someone with a leak detector to come out on Tuesday 7/5. I told them no thanks.