Dring Air Conditioning & Heating

The tenant in my house made the seasonal appointment and was with Dring's serviceman at the house. The tenant felt the serviceman did not make a good faith attempt to reach the parts supplier before noon. The serviceman also told the tenant he may not be back until Tuesday, depending on availability of parts. My tenant complained angrily to me. I called Dring on Monday to report my tenant's complaint and to seek expedited service. Their attitude was barely civil, not customer-friendly. They quoted a repair price of $750 and said they could do the repair on Monday if I agreed to the price. I asked if there was a cheaper choice and they said no. My tenant was hot and angry, so I authorized the repair. When Dring invoiced me in August, I sent a copy to my son who does A/C work in another state. He believed the cost was high for the work done. So, I called Dring to discuss the bill. They stated that the bill was in-line with local custom, they use only OEM parts and would not use less expensive universal parts, even if the customer requested such. The tone of the discussion did not leave me feeling I was valued as a customer, even though I had been using Dring for many years. I paid the bill(in full)the same day, August 28. Through September, October and November, I had no contact from or with Dring. The second week of December, I received another invoice for $80, for work done on June 28. I called and disputed that I should owe any additional fees, as I had already paid their invoice in full. I described the chain of events to Kendal Titus and he said he would look at the records and call back. He never called back. Weeks later, after I left several more messages, he had an assistant call back and say the charge was the routine fee for a service call. I explained the chain of events to her and she said she hadn't known the background and would have Ken call me himself. As of this writing(Jan 6, 2009), I have left more messages and no one has called back. I am more than dissatisfied. The amount of the first invoice is no longer the issue. My disappointment relates to (1) their manner of handling my questions about the cost of work done, (2) the untimely, unfair and unexpected second invoice, and (3) their non-responsiveness to my calls. I have discontinued using Dring.

I called the company to check for prices and was told they had an $80 diagnostic fee. After checking several companies on the list, I picked them based on AAA rating and members comments. I called back at 2pm and was told they could come out after 5pm. I said sure but that I would run some errands so call before they got there. I even called back to make sure after 5 would be normal price and not over-time. The Technician actually called at 3:30 to say he was there and where was I. I said the appt. was supposed to be after 5pm and I couldn't be there until then. At 5pm he showed up promptly. I knew the unit needed to be cleaned so I asked him to go ahead and do that without working up an estimate. He worked for about 90 minutes and I was starting to get worried about the cost. He did ask me about buying a service contract but didn't push it after I explained my central a/c didn't work. He even looked at the thermostat to make sure it was working well. He went out to the truck to check the prices and came back with a bill for $137. I actually think he overcharged me by $9 though. On the invoice the $80 diagnostic charge was scratched out and changed to $89. I called the next day to check but the company said it had to wait to Thursday to check the invoice and would call me back. They didn't. But still it was only $137 and they came out less than 3 hours after I called when a cold front was blowing into the area. The tech worked a long time and did an awesome job. After he left I checked the pilot light and it was burning stronger than I have ever seen it burn before. The tech was friendly and explained several things to me and gave me phone numbers to call if I decided to get a new system. I was really impressed with this service call, with the technician, and with the company. I can see why they've been in business since 1958.

My entire experience with Dring was pleasant and professional.

We scheduled the work, the person came out and told me he would start looking around outside and the attic. I confirmed what I expected him to do "look things over, give me an assessment of what was needed, and recommend updates and changes to the existing system. He nodded his head and went to work. One hour later, I had not heard anything from him and stepped outside to check what he was doing. He was busy hosing down one of the exterior units fully cleaning it. I told him to stop and verified what he was doing, well he had no idea. I had him stop in the middle of the work as I was not looking for someone to maintain and service the units now had there been any indication of that. He tried to present me with an invoice, for the full cost of the job which I thought was funny as I had stopped him. I refused to sign the service agreement and told him to have his manager call me so I could explain the issue and receive an apology for wasting my time. Not only did I never recieve a call, I continued to receive invoices. I finally called the head of their sales division and explained my frustration. He agreed and the invoices stopped.

The Tech went up in my attic, spent 45 minutes up there and then came down to tell me that my motherboard was blown, my blowers needed to be cleaned, and that a few other things had gone bad. He told me that my furnace was probably over 10 years old, that they rarely last that long, and that there was no way to circumvent the motherboard while I decided what to do. The total repair estimate: almost $1000... or, he recommended I put in an entirely new furnace for the cut rate special of $2250... So I thought about it and decided to get a second opinion. The next guy came out, spent 30 minutes in the attic, said that yes the motherboard was blown, but that everything else looked fine. It would also take him an extra day to get the new board in, but that he could jump the system and have the A/C back on in 10 minutes. He did that and showed up the next day with the new part - total cost: $300. The A/C has been working great ever since.

They came out next day and repaired condenser on outside A/C unit. There were no surprises. The tech quoted services for annual maintenance contracts for all three of my HVAC systems, but did not "hard sell".

Our a/c was making a horrible noise, so we called them out to fix it. It was on a Saturday, but when I told them we saw them on Angie's List, they agreed to waive the overtime fees. Plus they gave us 10% off parts. After the tech finished doing the requested work, he conducted a very thorough inspection of our heating and cooling system, and showed us how to change the filter on our ancient heater. The tech was very nice and professional.

I felt that the representative was a bit shady in his conversations with me. He was professional but felt he was not being completely truthful in the best alternatives for us regarding the repair/replacement of our unit. He started by inspecting the unit and suspected that there might be a leak somewhere because the freon level was very low. He said we had to reschedule the leak test for another day but that he would clean the unit and charge it with freon to get it to cooling like it should until we could reschedule. When it was time for the bill, he said he had replaced a part (I believe it was fan) because it needed to be replaced. He did not ask me about this first or consult with me about the price, he just did it and showed me the bill later. I don't like that type of transaction. I did not reschedule with Dring. I found another independent contractor that did a leak test, replaced a coil, charged with freon, and redirected air flow in my home and did a great job. I feel that Dring is over rated. I feel that it is the type of company that would tell you one price and then you would end up with a bill that is way different at the end because of all of the "extras" that they would probably have to do once they got started with the job. That's what happened in my case. It started out being about $150 to come and inspect the unit and for some maintenance and ended up with approximately a $600 bill.

They come when they say they will come and they are nice when they get here.

All in all, a very pleasant experience. No hassles on our part. We just left for the day to let them do their thing. They taught us about the filter and the fancy thermostat. Hauled away the old unit.

Called them out to have my a/c checked because my system was leaking. They were supposed to call before arriving but didn't. Hard to knock them for punctuality since the commitment was for after 5:30. It was the same day I called so that was good. It turned out the line was backed up and he proceeded to repair. I was late getting back (my wife let him in) and the repair was done before we consulted. We have two units and the installers of the second unit installed the drain line for the new unit into the same line as the original. The techs feedback was each should have it's own line but he just unblocked the line and reconnected the lines. I would have preferred to have negotiated a proper fix rather than just the quick one. I pressed him for an eval/assessment of my system and very much appreciated that he didn't try to sell me new unit. Two other techs advised replacement right off while I pressed and he concurred - my unit is very old.

My experience with them was initially not good. The salesman was nice. The day the installers came out they really upset me. They said they were going to come out a certain day. They had a cancellation and they came out early. I was told that they shouldn't fill the coolant in a certain temperature. It was below the minimum temperature but they did it anyway. I called the salesman and he made sure the situation ok.

I looked up the blinking red LED on the unit, status code 24 (blown fuse). I called Dring at 8:30 and was given a 3-6pm appt and the understanding they would call before arriving. They never called and they didn't show. I called at 6:02 to find I needed to leave a voice message unless I wanted after hours premium support. I called the next morning at 8:02 and told them they missed my appointment. Their comment was "that's strange". I was given an appointment starting at 9:00. At 9:44am they called to say the technician would arrive shortly. He did. After a complete inspection of the unit, he concluded the fuse on the control unit had blown to perhaps a power surge. There were no faults in the wiring. We had storms in the last few nights so, that would be no surprise. He ran a complete diagnosis of the system to make sure everything was ship-shape and I asked about power surge protection to which he replied that a solution would be to get an electrical contractor and protect the entire house (I told him about all my computer equipment). Total time on job 45 minutes.

Overall, it was a good experience. The service person arrived on time; after a careful inspection of the unit, he told me what all needed to be done to bring the unit up to efficient operation and gave me a quote on the work. He did the work for the price he quoted; he was courteous and careful not to get dirt from the unit in the house, and explained everything that was done.

My experience with them was good. They are fine I have no complaints. Their prices are competitive. I would recommend them and use them again in the future.

They seemed honest and gave a fair appraisal of the situation. I was very happy with the estimate process.

It was excellent. They have been in business for a very long time. They called me to tell me when they would be here. It was a fair price and an excellent service.

Arrived on time, actually an hour early, which was OK. I had told them ahead of time to bring a long ladder as my two units are on the roof of a two story condo. It was clear from the beginning he really didn't want to go up there. First he wanted to check my air filters to see if they were OK, they were. Then he called to see if there was someone who could come out to assist him, there wasn't. Then said he didn't think he could manage the ladder by himself "unless I wanted to help him." I did. Then he climbed up the ladder and commented that the roof looked steep and climbed back down. It is slanted and has roof tiles for a short distance, then a flat area where the units are. Many workers have gone up there before without making any issue of it. At that point I just told him I would be happy to get someone else to do the job and he left. At least he didn't bill me for the service call, not that I would have paid it if he had tried. Note: I'm not saying he didn't have the right to refuse, but I found it strange, given so many other satellite TV and AC people have serviced my and my neighbors' units without similar issues, and just wanted to share this experience.

Two Dring technicians (David and Joe) came out the following Wednesday to begin the work promptly at 8:30 a.m. They made sure that they lay-ed drop cloths all the way to where the a/c unit is so that they wouldn't soil the carpets. One technician stayed outside and worked on the condenser unit-he was so quiet that I didn't realized that in a short amount of time he had already removed the old condenser unit was preparing for the new larger unit. The other technician worked on the old coil and plenum unit so it could be taken out. After installing the condenser unit and removing the old equipment from the attic, the guys took a lunch break and got back to work immediately afterward. By the end of the day, we had a new coil/plenum/condenser and the two flex ducts had been removed and replaced. Larry had said that as part of the work order he would include sealing of the intake box and sealing of the plenum box and intake box on our other unit. David and Joe returned the next day to seal the other a/c unit and do some final clean-up. Both technicians were very courteous and answered any questions I had about what they were doing. They picked up after themselves and when they were finished you would not have known they were here except for the new equipment. or the first time since living in our home, our bedroom is as cool as the rest of the house!! We are anxious to see if the upgrade will make a difference in our electric bill. Everything is working well so far.

After check the Angie's list, thought I might give a try on this good rating company. The service person said will be there around 1:00 to 3:00 pm, finally show up at 4:00 pm, went to attic for 5 min, come back said I need to change whole ducks, I ask why, he said it is too old. This house was build 1989. So I ask him to give me more data like air pressure from each duck and temperature difference, he said he did not know since he did not bring the equipment. And ask for $80 service charge, I refuse to pay, since he did not do anything related to the problem.

The technician called in advance to insure that I would be home as he was earlier than expected - which was great. He explained the problem clearly and the costs involved. The whole repair took only about an hour. I was very happy with the quick response and rapid repair.

They came the same day that I called, which was very nice. I had previously signed up for their service plan because they told me if you sign up for the service plan I would be bumped up on their list. They definitely seem to know what they are doing and are very reasonably priced. About a year ago I called for an emergency fix for the heater and of all the companies that I called, they were the only ones that told me it would be a waste of money for them to come out on the weekends as the parts stores would be closed.

Dring was able schedule an appointment on the day of my call and Alex arrived when expected.

Great. I called Dring today at 10:00 AM. They told me they had an opening the same day from 4-5 PM. I told them I was busy at work but if they called me 10 minutes ahead, I would be there. The dispatcher called me at 4:00 PM and told me that Steve was on his way. I got home in 11 minutes and Steve was there 2 minutes earlier than me. He fixed the problem and was very helpful explaining what was wrong and the steps needed to remedy this.

Horrible. Rocky never showed and after I was finally able to reach him he told me his schedule was screwed up and he thought my appointment was for another day. It's a good thing I called him because I don't think he was planning on calling me and I would have sat around even longer waiting.