Choate's Air Conditioning Heating & Plumbing

I was a Choate’s customer for several years. They replaced my entire HVAC system in 2009, and I also maintained an HVAC maintenance contract with them for many years. As of June 14, 2016, I am no longer a Choate’s customer. After several summers of battling issues with our A/C that was installed in 2009 and being provided with different answers from each Choate’s technician who visited each summer as to what the issue was being caused by, we were finally informed in May 2016 that our unit contained a faulty part that the manufacturer was repairing under warranty. The first round of warranty work was performed May 2016. A few weeks later in June 2016, our unit was struggling again. Another technician was dispatched, and informed us the faulty part was still an issue and would need to be completely replaced. I was also informed that the fan motor would need to be replaced. All of this work was stated by the technician to be under warranty. I called in to schedule the appointment to have the repairs completed. The appointment was set. The day of the appointment, the technician called as he was heading to my house and informed me none of the repairs were under warranty. I was looking at approximately $1,000 in repair costs. After speaking with the technician, a supervisor, and the owner of the company (via the technician), the consensus was that if we wanted a fully functioning A/C unit that we’d be responsible for the repairs. I was also told that the technician who had performed the initial round of warranty work in May 2016 had incorrectly diagnosed the issue, and the initial round of warranty work should have never been performed. The technician arrived, and I verified with him that the nearly $1,000 cost would repair the faulty part as well as the fan motor issue. The technician informed me that he had forgotten about the needed fan motor repair, and that would be an additional cost on top of the approximately $1,000 initial quote. Needless to say, I’m frustrated at this point. Given that temps were predicted to climb into triple digits within the next day or two, I bit the bullet and paid to have the faulty part replaced which the technician stated was no longer functioning. I decided to not have the fan motor replaced at that time. That same evening, I contacted another HVAC company and scheduled them to come out and give me a second opinion on the fan motor. What an informative appointment that was! This technician informed me that my unit should have still been under warranty. I dug out my paperwork from the installation, however, no warranty information (5-year, 10-year, etc.) was written on my invoice by Choate’s in 2009. However, I remember being told at the time the new system was installed, that I had a 10-year warranty. The technician from the new HVAC company proceeded to explain that their practice is to register systems they install with the manufacturer in order to activate the 10-year parts warranty. If this is not done, the warranty defaults to 5 years. He said they do this for all of their customers in order to make sure their units are properly covered. My unit was never properly registered for the warranty. I still had all of the original paperwork from the installation (including owner’s manuals) but nothing related to the warranty. On June 16, 2016, Choate’s informed me that I only had a five-year warranty. The technician also explained to me that his inspection did not show that my fan motor needed to be replaced. He explained that he could tell it was worn, probably due to the stress my unit has been under for quite a while due to needed repairs not being correctly identified and performed, However, it wasn’t at a point that it needed to be replaced, He believed it still had life in it. He also identified a creased supply line running from my unit into my home that should have been addressed when my new unit was installed in 2009. This creased line has never allowed my new unit to function as efficiently as it should and eventually will shorten its life span. He also expressed concern related to the cleaning agent that was added to my system in May 2016 as part of the initial round of warranty work that Choate's later informed me should have never been performed. I no longer have faith in allowing Choate’s to maintain or make repairs to our HVAC system. I will be working with a new company in the future that I selected from Angie’s list. Sorry for the long, detailed story. However, if sharing my experience saves another customer from having to deal with a similar situation, it was worth taking the time to share.

This Service Call was in accordance with a purchased Maintenance Contract for heating/air conditioning and plumbing which affords winter and spring check-up sand provides discounts on any necessary parts in addition to other benefits. This company not only does a mailing reminder but follows up with a personal phone call to ensure the maintenance service calls get scheduled (wonderful for busy schedules and procrastinators). The office staff is friendly and efficient. Appointments are easily scheduled and technicians arrive timely within specified parameters. Prior to arrival they call and if there is any delay they notify promptly. The technicians for the most part strive not to disrupt the work area in the house although some are better than others. (they do put booties on their shoes, even though some forget to take them off if they go outside and then return) but overall they make an impressive effort. Work that will incur a cost is explained and at no time have I felt that actions were taken that could have been avoided. Actually, I have been advised on occasion not to do some work because of the age of a unit. It was more cost effective just wait until the unit was replaced. This is definitely contrary to advice received from other companies I have used in the past. On one occasion I did have a technician that definitely was not a happy camper that day and arrived with a real attitude. I called the office, explained my take on the situation, and asked for a replacement technician to be sent. Without hesitation the office complied with my request and the service was still done the same day. I have since had dealings with only professional and courteous individuals. This is a great company to do business with when in this day and age they seem hard to find.

Choate's folks were prompt, on-time, wore shoe coverings to keep my carpet clean, corrected by problem and cleaned everything up. Even went to each bathroom in my house to be sure that clearing the drains did not leave any dirt or residue in my sinks or tubs. Absolutely perfect job! But they have been taking care of all our HVAC needs for several years now; they always do excellent, dependable work!

On October 11, 2015, I needed to get a thermocouple replaced on my central heater. In the past, I have had this work done for less than $100. It?s a 15 minute job and requires a small piece of wire called a thermocouple. When the service guy told me the part was $240, I could hardly believe my ears. I looked up the exact same part on Amazon and found one for $8.00. That is a 3000% markup on the part. I ordered two from Amazon (White-Rogers H06E-30) and told the repair guy I could not pay such an outrageous price for a 15 minute installation of an 8 dollar part, especially when the service call would add $85 on top of that. I called Choates and they would not agree to put on the exact same part when I received it from Amazon without charging me another service call. In fact, they would not lower their price at all and told me the only way to get a lower price was to get a maintenance contract with them which was $185 a year. I do not call this good customer service. I just ordered the same service from Central HVAC for tomorrow. He agreed to come out and put on the thermocouple for a total price of $89, for both the part and labor. The price he charges for the part is $20. That should give you some indication of the difference in pricing we are talking about. I will never do business with Choates again.

It was awesome. They showed up on time, were highly communicative and performed the work exactly as they outlined. I couldn't be more happy with their service. I was told that they would use a scented antimicrobial but when I came home there was no scent. I called Eric the technician and he said that he was out of the scented and had used the unscented instead. Great! No problem. I was just curious to see if it was performed. Yes it was. He then offered to come back the very next day and fog with the scented antimicrobial if I'd like. Wow. Great customer service.

He checked it thoroughly and found no issues that needed attention. Everything was running in great order.

They were outstanding. They came early and they stayed much later than they were supposed to. They decided that something needed to be fixed that wasn't part of the original deal and they did it for free.

They did a good job. Everything was fine. They were professional.

They were on time. They told me what was wrong and what it would take to fix it.

Fine. After discovering the heater had "kicked off" due to freezing in the pea trap, the service person replaced the trap with new PVC piping.

The first technician was very thorough and creative- even downloading the operating manual for the system and got it working well. It was $1000 on two visits and I was fairly satisfied. Unfortunately it leaked down, which was surprising, since it is a brand new unit. I called them back. This time, they sent another fellow. I warned him that my unit takes about 52 ounces of 410 A- this information is posted directly on the outside of the unit. However, when I returned to check on him, the guy had measured in 8 pounds of freon!!! or nearly twice what the unit called for. It had an error code, which eventually translated into a blown DC power module. He admitted he'd made a mistake, but unfortunately he couldn't correct it. The overpressurization likely fried the power module inside the unit. So, I called them back and they sent an estimator. They wanted $9000 to replace the equipment with a more mainstream model. I was suspicious, since the original unit only cost $2300. I believe it was their way of just blowing me off. Anyway, I've purchased top of the line mini-split online for $2500. I will have an installer put it in next week. They may be OK on ducted units. But, don't let them touch your mini-split.

After checking the unit he said it was really dirty, he talked it over with us and said both units needed cleaning so he cleaned both units. He also told us the compressor was bad on one of the units and that was the reason it was not cooling properly and not turning off. He was real courteous and explained the cost and procedures to fix the problem. The cost was a bit steep but that kind of work is expensive. He was very informative and we felt like he know what he was talking about. After everything was fixed our house is so much cooler and the a/c actually turns off now. We will call them again. :)

Normal checkup. Added bleach to AC system without being asked.

I spoke with two air conditioner companies and received two vastly different views on how to get more air to our upstairs area. I decided to talk to two more companies to get a better understanding of the best solution. Mike Miller from Choate's was the fourth person I spoke with. He made suggestions that no one else had on how to move our furnace to a new position to allow for better placement of the new duct work. He provided a quote on the spot with a detailed proposal in writing. Within a week they were here for a 2-day install. George and Eric were the most professional servicemen I have had in a long time. They were experienced and professional in every way. I reviewed the proposal with them to make sure we were on the same page and they went right to work. The old equipment was hauled off within minutes of it being removed. They did a beautiful job, there were no surprises, and I couldn't be more pleased.

I had an AC company come out because my downstairs unit was not cooling the guy came and by the time I went to the backyard he told me that was a big problem and basically told me the compressor was bad and I need to replace the whole unit. Of course I needed a second opinion. Someone recommended Choates to my wife I went online and I found a coupon for a free second estimate, Charlie came out and immediately found that there was nothing wrong with the compressor there's another piece that needed to be replaced along with adding Freon he was here from 530 and left at 7:30 he even cleaned the other unit. He was extremely professional and friendly. From now on I will only use his company to come check my AC units and I will ask for Charlie to come out if possible I definitely recommend this company

They serviced us for years, towards the end I felt they were being pushy with trying to sell a new unit before it needed to be replaced.

Called to check on furnace and they said that it definitely needed replacing but wasn't critical, as we were tapped financially at that month. While there they looked at hot water heater and noticed that it was leaking but still working without hot water. It needed replacing too but a previous contractor had evidently turned the temperature down so it wouldn't produce hot water. They didn't charge for that and were very informative and helpful.

We have used Choate's for a number of years. They regularly service our central air and heating systems. This company always does A+++ work. We have used them regularly for several years now and have absolutely zero complaints. They are polite and prompt.

Annual GOLD PLAN - 6 month inspection/filter/cleaning - Well done as always ... Charlie explains everything quite well - thank you

It didn't. I called their emergency line because I had a drain stopped up and a house full of people that couldn't get a shower. This was 9-10pm. He didn't want to come that night but would be there by 6:00 am, could I wait. I said ok. Next morning, no plumber. He finally called to tell me that his alarm had been going off for an hour but he didn't hear it. I told him not to bother and called another company instead. Will use them for heat/air but never plumbing.

nice job of replacing unit. very professional.

Arrived on time, professional and it took a total of 15 minutes to complete the work. Major issue---price was exceptionally high for the part ($55 for a washer) and $85 for the service call. As a regular CHOATES HVAC customer they are great. Plumbing--too expensive.

They were on time, very courteous, and did an excellent job for a fair price. Finished the job in one day.

They did a great job. They were polite and efficient. The salesman that came out initially was very friendly. He told me about the rebates they had available and that kind of stuff.

They are responsive to my calls and they cleaned up well after themselves.