I suspected a problem with my air conditioner, and found Hanson Heating, Inc., in the local yellow pages ads. I called the morning of Monday May 14th because they advertised "free estimates" and wasn't too far from my home. I spoke with Mark Hanson, the owner and operator, and asked him if he could come out and tell me how much it would be to fix our air conditioner, I explained that the unit didn't seem to be working well, that it was cooling the lower lever but not the upper, and that the unit was running all day in night trying to cool our home down. He stated that he would come out that same day to look at it. I called late that afternoon to get an update, he stated that he was stuck in a job and didn't make it out but would come out Tuesday. I spoke with him again Tuesday evening, he again hadn't made it out but would on Thursday. He ended up coming five days from what I was initially told, on Friday. I wasn't home at the time however my boyfriend was. He informed my boyfriend that the unit was working, in which my boyfriend responded that we knew that, and that he had heard me explain to Mr. Hanson on the phone that it was working but we didn't feel it was working well and again explained about the upper level not cooling. Mr. Hanson advice was to close some vent's. He called me shortly afterwards and retold me what was said to my boyfriend, and that I owed him $75 for a service fee. Confused, and thinking that maybe I had read his ad wrong, I said I could mail the amount to him.
Four days later, Tuesday, I recieved a phone message from Mr. Hanson asking where his money was. I returned the call, and left a message, saying I hadn't sent him any money yet and was meaning to call him because his ad stated free estimates, and that was why I had called him in the first place. If he had done work I could send it next week.
The following message was than left on my voicemail word for word.
"Kerrie this is Mark Hanson I never said anything about an estimate, nothing was said about that. You just made an inquiry as to how much to fix your air conditioner and that's what I did. And I'm a whole lot cheaper than anyone else you can call. Umm, I knew this was going to happen, I could tell, I could tell by the kind of people you are and your boyfriend are. How he wanted you to pay for it when I was in. And I can tell a person by their housekeeping Umm, that's fine. I've got other ways of handling it, umm, and that's for you to find out. And it's going to costing you a lot more than 75 bucks. Goodbye, don't bother call'n me back."
I had no point asked or authorized this man to come out and fix anything, I was asking him to come out, give me his "free estimate", telling me how much the repair would be so we in turn could budget to save the money to pay for the repair. I was going to initially just pay him, to avoid the conflict but after discussing this with several people, the opinion is that I owe him nothing. This man uses false advertising, insulted myself, my family and home, and then threatened me. I have not personally met Mr. Hanson, so his comment as to the kind of people we are is unjust, I am a medical professional, single mother of three who put herself through four years of college to buy our home (which recently flooded so our home isn't "perfect" right now). One concern is he obviously knows where I live and the broad threat of him "having other ways of handling this" makes me nervous and very uncomfortable. I had never spoken to him in anything but a polite, professional and friendly manner, this reaction was completly unprovoked.
When somebody advertises free estimates, it means nothing more than that - somebody coming out to tell you how much it is to fix something. He did no repair work, and I was not asking him to do any, was looking to have him see what was wrong and then get his "free estimate" as to how much that would cost. This man should not be allowed to lure people to use his services with the pretense that they will recieve a free estimate and then turn around and charge people. Not to mention the insulting, his use of scare tactics including the threat of possible harm (to what I'm not sure? Home? Personal?)
I've made a report to the BBB, and I have a copy of his ad, however I'm not sure where to take this. I'm feeling incredibly uncomfortable with his broad threat of him having "way's of making me pay, and that it's for me to find out". Should I in addition make a police report? Possible restraining order? Help!
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