DIYbanter - View Single Post - Central heat and air condition will not stop blowing

gonjah[_2_]

On 5/1/2012 7:40 AM, wrote:
On May 1, 2:45 am, gonjahgonjah.net wrote:
On 4/30/2012 8:48 PM, cjt wrote:

On 04/30/2012 10:41 AM, Tamara Lynn wrote:
"Ed wrote:
"Tamara wrote in message
I was told about 16 years ago when I bought the house that the Lennox
central heat and air was on its last leg. I am glad I have waited
this
long.
I have been cheated nearly every time a service 'professional'
comes out.
One drove a half a mile, slammed the doors shut and billed me $85
for 5
minutes of work. I am a single mother, now unemployed and can't
afford a
new unit at this time. But it is on my wish list...after the
election,
when I hope to be able to get a job. :-)
T
Once you get working, think about a new unit. It may pay for itself
with
energy savings.
Oh, that tech worked more than five minutes, unless he lived next door.
And he has a lot of costs to maintain that truck and tools. In this
area,
it is about $120 to ring the doorbell.
As I said above, it's on my wish list. I had two bids to buy one at the
time I lost my job. I have to live on meager savings, because my child
support is more than $367 per month, which means no foods stamps or
healthcare.
As to $120 to ring the bell, well that is pure bull****. Not only am
I an
accountant, but have owned and ran several businesses over 25 years.
I am
not going to break down the costs for you, but he was practically
next door.
The one before him lied about a pound on the freon.
I may be a female, but I am not an idiot.lol
HVAC seems to attract crooks, IMHO.
Conjecture you can't back up with any meaningful stats. Fact is, most of
these techs work for companies that have no interest in screwing anybody
because they live an die by their reputations just like any business.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Statistics? I doubt there are any statistics and
how you would get any would take quite an effort.
It's not like traffic deaths where they are clear and
logged.

That's what I said.

"Conjecture you can't back up with any meaningful stats."

I have seen enough undercover and sting operations
over the years to believe that there are in fact plenty
of scammers. Someone posted a link on here a couple
years ago to an undercover TV investigation in
Phoenix where they had two experts verify that an
AC system was working perfectly. Then they just
pulled out the fuse disconnect slightly and called
4 companies they picked out of the phone book.
Two told the lady who was the homeowner that
the system was shot, couldn't be fixed,
and needed to be replaced. One of those even
stated that it wasn't a voltage problem because
he measured 240V at the compressor. Of the other
two, one reinserted the disconnect and charged for
the call. The last one did the same, but refused to
charge anything.

The experience I've had here in Texas is that it pays to check
references. The HVAC tech I had come out on Saturday told me what needed
to be done and showed me how to do it.

There was a show on one of the major networks (ABC?) not too long ago
about gargage door and swimming pool repair men in Phoenix. Both of
which I've had pretty good results with here.