SA Specialties

The day after called them Doug Nentwich visited to review the old air conditioning unit. He studied the indoor and outdoor units, the home size and recommended the new compressor size and air handler size. He made a quotation on the spot. After a visit from his competitor I placed the order. He came by the home again in the afternoon to have paperwork signed. He promised the installation people would be at my home at 8:30 the following morning. They were there at 8:15 with everything needed to make the installation. The 3 man crew was headed by Ray Jensen. He and his two man crew were among the most professional people I have dealt with. They were extremely clean, efficient and thorough. I am sorry SA Specialties doesn't offer more services I could take advantage of. They are first rate people doing a first rate job. My congratulations!!!!!!

I had 2 AC/furnace units (upstairs and downstairs) installed for my mother. In a nutshell, all was well through getting me to $ign on the line for the installation. Then, all went downhill. What we expected was a tested, well-done installation with some basic information on the system. What we encountered: * The installation work had no basic quality control (heating unit not turned on or tested, wrong and missing serial numbers on paperwork, no basic customer overview of system installation) * and, after the money was in hand, it was at times challenging to get a response; there also seems to be communication issues internally and finger-pointing (I kept hearing how ti must be Rosemary's fault). I do not have confidence in the installation work done based on what was found. You will probably save money on buying a unit from this company, but you may pay with service. The longer version: David Sinclair, sales, spoke with my mom and me and was friendly and available by phone to both of us. He emphasized multiple times their high BBB and Angie's List ratings and insisted they are a company that "wants to keep their customers happy". He was available in the evening and all the way through the time he had me sign paperwork for the installation. I will say, the price was unbeatable. It was a very good deal on the installation of 2 TRANE 14 SEER. Further, they charged for only 1 set of vent pipe instead of 2. The installation and follow-up is where things start going south. Understandably, to get all that work done in a day, lots of installers came out. I think it was around 8 people swarming the house - inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs. Some of the crew were not as diligent or courteous, which is probably going to happen on a large crew(s). For instance, a less polite younger installer cut the fiberglass directly on my mom's carpet without any drop cloth. That same young guy also did a sloppy install on the new digital thermostat with it lopsided and showing unpainted wood, but the lead guy had him redo it without any prompting thank goodness. The crew arrived around 9 am and got done close to 3 pm. They showed my mom how to use the digital thermostat. David called and asked my mom if "they had showed her everything". She said they showed her the thermostat. If he really wanted to insure "everything" was handled, he could have asked like a checklist , "Did they show you...?" She had not been given a manual, the A/C and heat had not been turned on and tested; she had not been shown the cut-off switch for the propane, or given any other information on her new $8K system, other than to call the office and ask for Rosemary if she had problems. Still, she was glad to have the new systems in. She spent most of the weekend vacuuming and mopping to clean up after the big jobs, but she was moving forward. When she tried putting on the heater on Monday, it didn't come on. Further, her home alarm system had not worked since the AC/furnace installations. My mom called David and he said he called the office to report this for a service call. I called the office and spoke with Rosemary around 11:30 a.m. She said David had called about the issues but had not put in a service ticket. I asked Rosemary to please create a service ticket/call for this issue. To insure accuracy of the issues at hand, I sent an email to the email address Rosemary provided to list the issues to be repaired and the questions at hand on the new system. A repairman named Roy came out that afternoon and was very friendly and thorough. His ticket only indicated only to fix the heat (again, what is going on in communication at that company?). Unfortunately, all he uncovered just further undermined the installation work. He fixed the heaters and the house alarm -which the AC installers had disabled. He removed some piece of metal that came in the furnace that was probably from the manufacture that made a terrible rattling sound when you turned on the heat in the upstairs unit. He noted the serial numbers of the newly installed systems were not all written down on the paperwork and some were written incorrectly, so he corrected those. He showed my mom where the stop valve was on the units and addressed her other questions. That is what you want in good customer service. Kudos to Roy! I had emailed the company with my concerns and see how they planned to address the issues Roy had found. I spoke again with Rosemary who said she had forwarded my email to Jim, shop manager. They were going to send out John, the manager who reports to Jim. The next day David, sales guy, came out to my mom's place. John never did. David apologized multiple times, but it seems he was more interested in lip service than listening to what could be done to make things right. For instance, my mom again asked about the A/C manual which she was told she'd have to download. David said she downloaded the wrong one - but didn't show her while sitting right by her computer which was the right one. A little actual service goes a long way. Maybe it would have been a different experience with a different crew or sales guy. I'm not sure where their wires were getting crossed internally, but it negatively impacted the customer experience. Just expect that you may get what you pay for in ways of service. I was going to have my sister use them. I won't be recommending them to anybody any time soon. Update, 10/20 Thank you for your response. I appreciate that you went out the same day as the call to resolve the issues at hand. Going forward I hope I will see a different side that will make me have a different opinion. Your explanation for now only confirmed my concerns on communication within your company; either the person from SA Specialities responding is spinning the story or is misinformed. I choose to think it is just being misinformed. Your response appears as if it's primarily "customer error", with customer confusion on sequence of events and perhaps where information was held. Aside from my speculation of "around 8 people" and it actually being 6, the other events I wrote are not my mother not knowing what was what. Let me explain. The "conversations" you mention with my mother must have been on the Friday install; my mother was happy when the install ended on Friday afternoon and all the way through the time she tried to actually use the heat on Monday. It was when Monday and the heating rolled around that the issues came in hand. Since this is a no-pilot system, I do not know what was the heating issue at hand and why it worked Friday and not Monday. The service man who came out said the units' serial numbers were not all written down and that it was incomplete information. He also pointed out the rolling around of the metal piece. This is not my speculation randomly and not a matter of my mother, at least per the repair man, missing this information. My mother has the service ticket as well listing the issues at hand. Keep in mind, David is the sales person, and, as such, he is to hand off the job to service when he is done. He made that clear to my mother that she should first call Rosemary/the office but if she couldn't get something to call him. His "not being around" is by design of his roles/responsibilities and is not to reflect poorly on him. David does not have email, so I had texted him that I had emailed the company with concerns and had sent him the questions my mother had. Those would make long texts to have a list of questions, but that was the way of me knowing he had all the information. As I noted in my original post, not only did I talk by phone but also, after asking Rosemary, wrote an email to the address she supplied with the issues at hand. I have that email (10/8/2012 at 11:11 am), and it clearly states both the issue about the heat not working *and* the alarm not working, so the service ticket would not be complete if it only showed the a/c and heater not working. Both of these issues were also discussed by phone. The email was just for that purpose - to insure that there was no chance of miscommunication. Also, when I spoke to Rosemary, she indicated David had called before I did. but he had not opened a ticket. If he is not supposed to call Rosemary but instead "dispatch", that is not a matter as a customer with which I am concerned. I did not expect David to make the repair but he indicated that he had made the call for a repair and Rosemary confirmed he called. I just followed up to insure someone was coming out, as I was going out of the country for a week the next day (David knew this), so I was confirming matters. I was glad I called b/c Rosemary again indicated that a ticket/service call had not been logged yet. Again, I am not clear who is responding here on behalf of the company, but there is discrepancy in the response here and what we were told on the manuals. I had not added this b/c in the big picture it wasn't worth the focus, BUT when I spoke to Rosemary and asked about the manuals, she said David should handle that. I point these matters out since you are concerned with keeping customers happy. Perhaps you are not aware of the communication issues at hand internally at your company. I appreciate your response and do not expect a follow up response here. I, however, I did not want Angie's list readers to feel it was just a confused customer's writings. I will be happy to forward you the emails I sent if at all helpful for your internal review. I added in my response above and I believe this, you have incredibly good pricing. I look forward to putting this behind us so that the response from the company going forward for any service calls paints a different picture.

In all my experiences with SA Specialties icluded before during and after the service was performed, they did everything they said the would do to my complete satisfaction. I would use them again except that I don't expect to have any needs for any time soon.

It is nice and quite and does a great job. They got it done in one day.

My A/C unit went out due to multiple leaks. After getting quotes from two other providers, I saw an add for SA Specialties and gave them a call. They came out the same day gave me a quote and beat the other two by nearly 50%. We signed the contract and the installation group was there two days later at 9 am right on schedule. They had the old unit out and the new one installed and running by 2:00 pm Great job and I would refer them to anyone.

SA Specialties - San Antonio delivered and installed a heat pump and an air handler. The price, the product and the service were excellent. SA Specialties bid $300 less than the next company.

The installation went smooth from start to finish, and all my expectations were met.

My husband found this company's ad in the newspaper and had the salesman come out. The price was good and I really felt like I trusted the salesman (that is rare for me) so I looked the company's ratings up on Angie's list. The ratings were good, so we signed the contract. I did not sign at first so the salesman had to come all the way back late at night which he did with a good nature. We did business with the Dallas office. We were given very good financing. The men came out right on time and spent the day installing the air conditioners. The installers were polite and had been trained to be clean and ask to use the bathroom if needed. They were a pleasant bunch to spend the day with. One of the Trane units had a defect that caused it to cool while they were here but the next day it was not cooling right. They immediately came out and replaced the defective part. The city inspector wanted them to do a couple minor things and those were immediately tended to. One thing that really impressed me about this company was something I feel they did beyond the call of duty without me even asking for it. One of the gutters was missing on the house and rain water would have dumped on the new unit. They pointed this out to me and I mentally took note that I needed to get a gutter guy out. I looked at the unit a couple days later and the gutter had been added by SA Specialties. We never discussed them doing it, they just did it. I really liked this company.

Everything was terrific. We couldn't be happier with our choice.

OUTSTANDING AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE! Our AC went out and they were able to release a crew to install a new AC the next day. SA Specialties is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

They did everything just right. It works fine and I haven't had to call them back. It was a good price. I would use them again.

I began searching for a new HVAC (compressor & furnace) in July of 2011. Bobby Adams, the salesman at the time, was actually the reason I bough my units from this company. He was honest patient, thorough, professional, responsive & knowledgable. I decided to delay my purchase until June of 2012 for various reasons. Bobby came back out to my house to give me a revised quote & to answer a myriad of questions I had regarding many of the manufacturers, specifications & features. Based on our conversations, I finally made my decision to purchase the Trane 16 SEER units with the media filter. The unit is so quiet & the filter has greatly reduced the allergens & dust in my house. As I said, I chose SA Specialties because of Bobby. They do not sell a unique product & I had 7 other quotes from their competitors. I felt that the price, the service & the responsiveness were superior. The installation team led by Mario was also superior as well as the support team of Becky, Jeremy & Ken.I would recommend this company to anyone. Bravo & thank you to everyone at SA Specialties !

Everything went well. I just decided to go with someone else.

They were very friendly. They were very quick to respond and come out and get the work done. Their work was good. They showed up when they said they were going to show up. I would use them again.

I got multiple quotes for a new Heat Pump system and Radiant barrier/R38 insulation. I will not mention any other names but the quotes ranges from 35,000 to 17,000. Then a buddy of mine told me about Sa Specialites. I called the saleperson and he came to my house that evening. He helped me 2 ways. First He showed me how to do some of the easy stuff myself. Then he beat the next closest bid by $8,000.00 They were ready to do the project the next day if needed, but I had things to do myself.They came on Friday earlier than I expected which was a good thing. They had two crews, one that did the AC system and 1 that did the Attic work (new spray in Radiant Barrier and new R38 Insulation)They laid down tarps to protect my floor and did a GREAT job overall.I am very happy with the work and will recommend them to everyone I know needing AC work.

Excellent. Jason was fantastic to work with, quick to respond to questions and followup to small problem was quick and exceeded my expectations. I choose them because of their clear, straight forward help with no up sell pressure. My friend also used them last year for a complete system and is extremely happy with their whole experience and price also. I also hired them to do annual service on other rental properties I own because of how easy it was to work with them.

It went well. The crew came in time and finished the job well within the time initially communicated to me. I did not have any post service issues.

Our home suffered damage due to a lightning strike (2nd one in a year) and we called out the A/C company that had installed the system in the home when it was built. We informed them of the lightning strike and they seemingly checked just the zone with the major problems...burnt out thermostat and a couple of fuses. They fixed that and apparently didn't even check the other zone. Within the same day, we noticed that the upstairs fan was blowing...but no cooling.... so I called them again, and the same tech came back. They charged me a second trip charge...unbelievable....what a joke. So - he checks the system, find no coolant, so he checks in the attic and finds a leak in a pipe....which he states is in a difficult area to access...so he tells me that he will get an estimate for me in the morning, and will talk to his manager to try to get a "friendly" price. They call me in the a.m. and proceed to tell me $1110.00 and they will have to cut through sheetrock in the ceiling of my master bathroom to access the pipe. Wow... time to get a second opinion. So I searched on Angieslist and found S.A. Specialties. I called them and I spoke to the owner...sounded like it was worth having them look. He sent his tech Richard out that afternoon. Richard found the problem...said that he saw no evidence of another tech getting to the leak area - because he had to get through a chunk of insulation (he was full of it). At any rate - he quoted $550 plus $49 trip charge....and fixed it right then and there...WITHOUT CUTTING ANY SHEETROCK...which was great because we had other issues to deal with from the lightning strike. Was it the best price I could have gotten? Hard to know in an emergency situation... but it seemed like the tech actually did what he was supposed to do - and actually pinpointed the leak before quoting me....on top of the fact that his quote was 1/2 the price of the other company, and their trip charge was $40 cheaper too.. Will I use them again? Me thinks so.... they seem like one of those small companies who do good work for a fair price.

Most companies you never hear from again after they have your money. This company answered every call and text until I was completely satisfied. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a new AC system.

Everything was done promptly, and we had no problems with them.

They were prompt, they put down cloths so as not to mess up the house, they were courteous, thoroughly reliable, and they did their work expeditiously. It was all quite satisfactory.

We were very satisfied with them. They are polite, honest and do a good job. They are on time and are knowledgeable.

The salesperson was on time, clear in his presentation and timely and responsive to my follow-on questions. The installation crew were prompt, clean, knowledgeable and thorough. I could not more highly recommend this company.

They are very professional and do their job very well. The unit is good quality and the price was very competitive. The sales man, Doug Netwich, was very proficient with his presentation as well. They just did a follow-up service and everything went great.

For the most part we were happy with the service. We had a few problems, but the owner came out and made everything right. They're a good company.