R A Dobson, Inc. | Heating, Cooling & Plumbing

Signed a Silver level Maintenance Agreement, which provided for two visits over a 12 month period. The first visit went okay, but when the technician was explaining things about one of the HVAC systems, he used various technical jargon and was not able to translate it to me (a non-engineer) in a manner that I could understand what could and couldn't be done. I never received a contact from RA Dobson regarding a second visit (they said they had sent a card which they said I might have thrown out because they acknowledged that it looks like junk mail). They also said they called once, but since my voicemail box was full on the day they called, didn't leave a message. Apparently, they never tried again. So they never came for a second visit. When I contacted them (after the 12 month period passed) and asked if they could make the second visit, they said they couldn't because it wasn't within the contract time. Very disappointing, and a VERY expensive one-time visit.

Let me tell you about a gentleman named, Sim. Walked up, greeted me with a great attitude, and we immediately walked around the outside compressor. As we started to walk around the corner, he knew the exact model number after only a split-second of seeing the unit, which is (23 years old by the way). He popped open the back, and again, after seeing it for a split-second knew it was a busted capacitor that was leaking. Dug through a part box in his truck, came out with a new OEM part, installed it, measured the amperage (which was running high) and installed a booster as well to help regulate it. Sim, was not only friendly, but a good conversationalist, confident in his expertise, and trustworthy. If I didn't feel this unit was on her last life support line, Sim would be my absolute, hands-down, goto guy for all my HVAC repair; however, I am going through the bidding phase for an entire new HVAC system, so with any luck (bittersweet), I won't have to call SIm for many many years. Highly recommend R A Dobson!

Called mid-day after calling several other places and leaving messages, spoke to an actual person! From the phone call to the service call, the staff was respectful and helpful. They offered options and explained each one. Really appreciated their professionalism.

Service exceeded my expectactions even though they were high given the A rating they already have. The team was able to accomodate the request for immediate service given my timeline (We will be working on finishing the space this upcoming weekend). They were able to come out the following day after providing an estimate over the phone. I received a call on the day of service alerting me to the drop off of materials prior to my service guys showing up. Within an hour or so the technicians were onsite and completed the work in a timely and professional manner. All materials were removed afterwards and I was informed if there were any issues with the inspection (not expecting anything) to simply call and they would resolve it. I've come to rely on Angie's List reviews as an indicator of service and quality, and this is another good example of a contractor meeting and exceeding those expectations.

I have been using R.A. Dobson for almost 20 years. Most of their visits are for routine maintenance on our home heater and air conditioner. They show up on time and do a meticulous job. We used to have an old system that they kept going without incident for years and years. When it came time to replace them so as to get greater energy efficiency, we chose Dobson to do the replacement. Theirs wasn't the cheapest bid, but it was the best price for the caliber of equipment we wanted. Doing the replacements was a big job, but they did it quickly and without incident. We have had many service people from Dobson come over the years to do the work, and we have been happy with all of them. Here's a tip: if you have them do maintenance on your heater and/or humidifier, buy your own filters in advance. The cost is less than half what Dobson charges for those parts.

Waiting to see if noise continues in warmer weather.

We contacted R. A. Dobson when we noticed that our gas hot water heater was leaking. Travis Dobson took our call and described the various water heaters that were available to meet our needs. Since our old heater was leaking, he made arrangements to have a new one installed that afternoon. The R. A. Dobson plumber, Edwin, arrived promptly and answered all of our questions regarding the work to be performed. Before starting work, Edwin placed protective coverings on the floors where he would be carrying tools and equipment. Edwin?s workmanship was superb! Every aspect of the installation was handled to our complete satisfaction and we appreciated the top quality materials that were installed. Everyone at R. A. Dobson was extremely courteous and helpful. It is obvious that R. A. Dobson is very committed to customer satisfaction and quality workmanship. Other members of our family have also used R. A. Dobson, and have always been completely satisfied with their work.

This went exceptionally well and I was surprised and pleased that they were able to solve the filter problem so inexpensively. At the outset, Andy in their parts department was very helpful in exploring solutions when I visited the company to discuss the problem. Their technician, Oscar, did an excellent job installing the new filter system and his check of the system was thorough.

Excellent. The technician contacted his Service Manager, Jerry, and asked what to charge us. He said that there was no charge since they didn't fix anything. This company is one you want to keep!

Very punctual and performed the work quickly. Even more impressive...two days after the checkup I called on a Friday afternoon to report that the outside unit wasn't working properly. Even though the didn't have the part they recommended, they called around and located one. Then had a technician drive it out to my house so the other technician could install it. It was well over 90 degrees and if they hadn't gone the extra mile we would have had to wait until Monday. I won't use anyone else after the attention I received.

They're coming tomorrow just to do a maintenance. They come by twice a year. We are under contract with them. Their guys were great, super friendly, courteous and on time. They are not definitely the cheapest in town for a reason.

RA Dobson was great! It was a 2 day affair. They arrived timely, left the place clean as a whistle, and spent time explaining the new system. I have used RA Dobson on an annual maintenance contracts for years. My old heating system was 31 years old. The new Heating system is a Carrier and it is so quiet. Also, the new water heater is great! Dobson was willing to work with me on price and warranties.

Very professional service from Sam and Oscar. Both gentlemen were able to identify issues quickly and help resolve problems from a non professional installation. Prices were very good and they didn't charge for a second trip (consumer error on my part) to confirm settings. I would highly recommend R.A. Dobson.

They did excellent work, on time, professionally, and cleaned up. They have maintained all this equipment since per my maintenance contract and as needed service, which has been minimal. In Sep 2012 they installed a 20kW home generator. That job was completed similarly to the 2009 work, to my complete satisfaction. The generator tests itself automatically each week. It has started up only once, when a Dec 2012 ice storm knocked out the local power, and powered the house per expectations. I highly recommend RA Dobson on basis of my experience with them for over three years, during which they have always provided reliable maintenance, service and recommendations whenever I or my wife has called them. I would use them again for any HVAC requirement.

After hurricane Sandy and rain gutter backup we had issues with pools of water around our A/C that had been sinking over time - causing water to seep through foundation. Travis, the owner of the company came up with the perfect solution to raise up the A/C units and charged us 1/3 the cost that other HVAC companies were quoting. The work they did was great. They have since done our seasonal servicing and we have been very pleased by courteous technicians and reasonable pricing. They commented on how clean the units were and they are not the type of company to try to nickel and dime their customers - We appreciate that.

Placed the call for service at 4:30, technician arrived by 5:15, for a Non-emergency call! Wow! The technician was knowledgeable and explained everything to me thoroughly (I like to understand what's going on). The part needed to be ordered and a detailed estimate was provided if we decide to move forward with repairs. In the meantime, him diagnosing the problem seems to have helped temporarily fix our problem. I would/will call them again for service.

Our neighborhood had attempted to get the gas company to provide service down our street for almost a year. When calling the gas contractors to get estimates to on price, I met Travis Dobson from RA Dobson. He not only gave me an estimate, but also explained how to navigate this process and offered to help us with this process. He attended our meetings with the gas company, helped the neighbors fill out their applications and basically mediated on our behalf. Finally after a year we finally have gas at our home. RA Dobson came in and did the conversion from propane and oil to gas. The conversion went smoothly and they did a great job. I would highly recommend them......

I called about a problem with our heating system which had temporarily gone out on quite a cold night. The call was place the following day. I was hoping to get someone out asap for fear of disaster. After explaining the problem, I was given a plausible explanation as to what probably happened and was told I should save some money on an unnecessary service call. Although I'm sure they were inundated with calls on the day following the coldest night of the year so far, it would have been fairly easy for them to tell me it would be a few days, at which time I would have dropped a few hundred dollars for that unnecessary service call. I was rather impressed with this Dobson's "service". We will certainly be calling them when a real problem arises. (By the way, our heating system continues to work flawlessly.)

A couple of weeks ago, they were at the house again. They come in every 6 months regularly, spring and fall. Their service was around a couple of hundred dollars. He checked the air conditioning on the spring and heating on the fall. The price is not bad. I think, we just add a little bit in the middle fire was discovered for probably $250. There is another 50 for the middle fire. Sometimes, I have them install for a new furnace but when he came and that was good, new furnace and air conditioning system. They were trained and know what they are doing. It was a $150 for the annual service and $50 for the fire, so, a total of $200. The equipment ran on well, I appreciate it, and a couple of times, there is somebody else to check it. I will use them for, probably, 40 years.

The owner of the business was very responsive and knowledgeable. The price was on the higher end of other estimates I obtained, but the price variation was not substantial. The owner was also willing to deduct the cost of recent A/C work done previously by them. The prior work was performed unnecessarily by a technician who failed to correctly diagnose an A/C issue I had. That technician installed a new thermostat, but it turned out that the thermostat wasn't the problem. However, I felt like I had to haggle a little and push them to give me what I felt was fair. Nonetheless, overall I felt I got an excellent unit that is working perfectly, and this was primarily due to the owner who was willing to work with me. I think the quality and service a customer gets depends upon who you contact in the company and who does the work. If you get the right person(s), the job gets done properly. No business is perfect, so taking the bad along with the good, I will use them again.

Tech was prompt, courteous and professional, came on time (I had first call of morning at 7:30), did a thorough maintenance check on heating & a/c plus the water heater. Have used these folks since 2005.

On Monday evening, the downstairs a/c stopped cooling the air, and the upstairs a/c was providing cool air but not at high volume. The piping in the condenser unit for upstairs was freezing over as well. Upstairs air flow seemed to be even lower on Tuesday morning. I called first thing Tuesday morning, and I was able to get same day service if I could receive a phone call 30 minutes prior to arrival. I jumped on it. Oscar, the technician, was very personable, and he definitely knew what he was doing. He found that the dual capacitor was bad in the condenser unit for downstairs, and he replaced it. He showed me his readings as he measured coolant temperature and pressure as well as voltages on that capacitor. (I had replaced a wire to that capacitor last summer, so it was high on my list of suspects.) Since I hadn't bothered to go up into the attic the night before, Oscar was the one to discover that the evaporator coil on the upstairs unit was frozen over with several inches of ice. He ran the heat to remove the ice, and he found that the system was low on coolant with no other issues. Two pounds of coolant did the job. Oscar explained the pros and cons of just adding coolant or paying for a leak check first. I chose the former, and I am looking forward to seeing how the systems do during a checkup in the fall. Both systems are now up and running after a 2-hour visit. I thought about grading the expense as a "B" because the capacitor was very expensive and so was the R22 coolant. However, the cost of the capacitor included the labor and a 1-year warranty, and I didn't have to wait a few days to troubleshoot and obtain the part on my own. R22 has doubled in price over the last 5 years, so I can't fault them for that either. And besides, everything seems to cost more every year... All in all, this was an outstanding experience, and I don't mind being out a few bucks for necessary repair work that was done quickly and competently.

As expected. They say what they are going to do, and then they do it. A situation that we don't get to experience much these days.

In the last yrs not as happy with their service. They said we needed a new furnace amd gave us an estimate. the estimate was way higher than another one we got later with another company. Plus the reason they said we needed a new furnace was "because of rust". The other company we consulted, didn't think it was a problem, and neither did we. All in all, we decided to transfer our service contract with someone else and also go with another company for the furnace.

I came back from vacation on Saturday and noticed our hot water heater pressure releif valve was leaking into the floor drain. On Monday I had to fly out of town on business at 10:30 am so I was a little worried about trying to get the work scheduled. I called RA Dobson at 7:30 Monday morning and asked them if they could get me on the scehdule to replace my hot water heater the same day. They were able to perform the work that afternoon. They did a great job on the installtion of the new hot water heater, drip pan, and expansion tank and also fixed a pipe joint that was leaking.