On May 29th our heating and cooling system quit working. My husband wasn't sure what the problem was and told me to call someone to come out and fix it. He was at work that day and it was already in the 90's that morning.
I called A-1 Heating and Cooling and told them I needed my system looked at. My husband had also told me he thought it might be the thermostat gone bad but wasn't sure. When I spoke with the person on the phone I told them I thought it might be the thermostat. When the guy arrived he looked at everything and was sure enough it was the thermostat.
Guess what? He didn't bring a thermostat with him. So he had to drive 15 miles back into town to pick up a thermostat and drive 15 miles back out. Well he installed it and at no time did he tell me how much it would cost. Well I was presented with a bill for $200.80. When my husband found out he was livid, I had no idea what a thermostat cost. They charged $123.35 for it alone.
He called the office and told them he did not want it. He was told to bad they do give refunds on installed parts. This went round and round. I later emailed the better business bureau about this company and geez guess what the dispute resolution consultant Kathy Giere, suggested I should have shopped around to different companies before having this one come out and install the thermostat!
Now here is the joke in that 1. I didn't know the problem so I would have to pay a service call to someone. 2. I find it is in fact the thermostat so then I call around and find a decent price thermostat and pay someone else a service call and parts and labor. Now how asinine is that? It likes telling someone who's car is broke down on the side of the road to call a tow truck and drive them around to different garages to see who can give them the best deal.
The owner of A-1 Heating and Cooling refused to acknowledge she ripped us off and I feel I was abused by the "BBB" I know now I will never contact their office again. And as for the thermostat I also emailed a site that sells thermostats to "BBB" that showed the thermostat I had been taken for $123.35 was priced at $18.00. What a mark-up. This is a small town and what really bothers me is how many elderly people has this company scammed here? She has the biggest ad in the yellow pages here and I'm sure that's how she gets alot of her business.
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