AC Services

Ac Services (The Owner Eddie, and two helpers) showed up 4 hours late .He  had taken another company's' word as to what the problem was. (The other company was called by me to service my unit home before AC Season was upon me.) The home warranty Co. had called me before AC Services came out to inform me that AC Services contacted them to tell them that a whip line(three wire connection with Plug),  was an extra charge (of 125.00) and was required by the compressor manufacturer to warranty their product. The home insurance co. required me to agree to this charge and an additional charge of 75.00 to haul off the old "hazardous Waste Compressor" before they would send him to my home .I  managed  to contact Eddie and told him I Knew the old compressor was not hazardous material (because it had no Freon in it) and he agreed to drop that monetary pursuit but insisted on the other charge because it was not covered by the home Warranty Co. I  agreed (because I needed my unit repaired by my home warranty's' contractor.)  3 leaks were found and repaired and the compressor was replaced even though it was never tested by anyone to see if it was bad . My Ac run fine for the summer. When it came time for heating season it crashed within days of starting it. The week before this happened, I changed Home Warranty Company and the new Company sent someone out to see what the problem was and the tech told me "whoever last repaired my system did a repair job on a factory charged bulb sensing line that went to the TXV valve that could not be done by anyone and my system was predestined to crash when going from AC to heat". I managed to get a hold of Eddie one time only and he told me he would have to get back with the home warranty co(???). and he would call me tomorrow . I never heard from him again even after leaving MANY messages over the next several days on his cell and Co. lines. Eddie never contacted me again (mind I did have a written guarantee on his receipt for one year). I ended up hiring another AC company to replace the TXV valve, the new compressor (which came WITH a new whip line provided by the manufacturer of the same brand and coming from the same parts store as the one AC Services had to deal with), and a reversing valve at a great expense out of pocket because the new home warranty co. would not be responsible for someone's previous unscrupulous job (and shouldn't be).I think this Co. should lose their  license and would recommend no one ever consider using them. They ripped me off for the whip line charge and although got my AC running it was predestined to crash when going back into heat pump mode.

My old heat pump was approximately 12 years old and had stopped cooling effectively.  It was close to July 4th, and I was in a hurry to get it fixed, so I selected them largely at random out of the phone book, which was my first mistake.  I was not yet an angies list member!
They sent a service tech out, who was nice enough and seemed competent, and accurately diagnosed a major refrigerant leak in the evaporator coil.  He actually did a good job of laying out options for me:  replace the evaporator only for a couple thousand dollars, which might get me another year or two (an opinion I agree with), put in a Gibson unit for $5500, or put in a Trane for $6905. (plus tax etc.)
I opted for the Trane, as I am expecting to be in the house for a good bit longer, and it was a brand I was familiar with.
The installation crew showed up right on time and demo-ed the old unit and installed the new one in a day.  It was blowing fairly cool air when they left, and they said it would cool the house down after a few hours.  So I thought things went decently enough at first, and they got people right out there when they knew I was about to write them a check for $7500!!
After a day or so, I noticed that the air  just wasnt nearly as cool as I was used to with the old unit (again, exactly the same size unit), and that the unit was running nearly 24/7 and working like crazy to hold the house at 76 degrees.  In fact, it would loose ground, and even though it was running full out and set on 76, and in the afternoons it would loose ground and the house temp would creep up to 78 or 79.
That did not seem right to me, so I called and talked to someone at their 817-528-7787 number.  Unfortunately I dont remember the fellows name, but he informed me that it was a high efficiency unit, and therefore didnt run quite as cool as my old unit and that everything was fine.  They thought it was not necessary to double check it and refused to come out.
I was pretty annoyed by that, so I joined angies list and looked around for a better rated company.  I found one, and they sent a guy out, and he went through the system, and he found that installers had done a bad job installing the unit, so it leaked air like crazy,  and they had hooked up the wrong speed lugs on the fan, so the fan was running too fast for the coil size.  (The same air handler can apparently be used for several different size systems,and has different fan speeds that need to be matched to units effective size).  Anyway he spent some time sealing up the unit a little better, and fixed the fan speed. The supply temperature did in fact drop, and I thought maybe everything was ok, even though the unit was running an awful lot.
Things went along like that for the rest of the month, with the unit running essentialy non-stop and holding the house at 76-79 degrees.   However, when I received my electric bill the next month, I realized something had to still be BADLY wrong.  My electric bill was $700.   The very highest electric bill I have ever had in this house, even in very hot summers, was right at $300.  
I was very unhappy and called AC services.  The main number listed on their invoices is 817-528-7787.  Voicemail on that number also gives two alternate numbers.  After calling all three numbers and leaving voice mail, and then calling back a few times several hours later, I finally got ahold of someone, who agreed to send someone out the next day between 9:00 and 12:00
The next day 12:00 rolled around and no one had showed, so I started calling all three numbers, with no answer.  I left messages, and finally about 3:00 got ahold of someone, who told me their truck broke down and they couldnt make it today but they would come out the next day.
The next day no one showed either, and I waited around all day long.  Furthermore,  no one answered any of the three phone numbers, and no one returned calls I left on the voicemail on all three numbers.  I tried to call them numerous times over the next couple of days, and never got an answer or a return call.
After a faulty install, two complete no shows, and then not bothering to even answer the phone or return calls, I was done with these guys.
I called out another AC firm (highly rated in Angies list),  who sent out a really good mechanic, who went through the system very carefully, and discovered that the thermostat was wired up wrong.  So that whenever the system called for cooling it ALSO turned on the first stage of electric heat.
Obviously that explained both the high electric bill AND the fact that it wasnt cooling the house.  He rewired the stat, and you could immediately feel a huge difference.  After that, the unit ran fine for the rest of the summer, and we were able to keep the house very comfortable at 73 degrees with no problems, and our power bill returned to its normal level.
Bottom line, these guys did a poor job on the install, with 1) a lot of leaks in the air handler that they never sealed,  2)  The air handler fan set on the wrong speed,  and 3)  The controls wired up wrong so that it ran the electric emergency heat at the same time as the cooling!  
Then not only did they not do a good job on the install, they also were completely miserable to deal with,  had two complete no-shows on appointments, and then just stopped taking my calls, and ultimately I had to get another company to come out, and I had to pay them to fix AC Services mistakes.
My installation ostensibly included a twice-per-year service call for free from AC services, but there is no way I am letting these guys back on my property under any circumstances.