Misrepresentation by customer service rep of charges for visit and requested service and misrepresentation of BBB score - claiming A when BBB has A. I had recently had 1 pound of Freon added to my home a/c unit. This was not done by ARS, it was done by Chas Roberts. No complaints there, I was simply trying to save some money. I called ARS and spoke to someone named Nicole. I told her I wanted a leak check and how much would it cost for someone to come out to check it. She quoted $79.00. I specifically told her again that this was for a leak check and asked how much that was in addition to the $79.00 charge. She said it was included as that was the diagnostic fee and leak detection was diagnostic. I agreed to a standby appointment for Tuesday, July 12th and stayed home from work. Very late that afternoon, there was no call and no show by a tech so I called back and again spoke to Nicole to explain that I had to reschedule that I could not wait any longer as I had a class to teach. We rescheduled for July 15th (today) for the 8-12:00 time frame. Please note that I AGAIN asked Nicole at that time if she was one-hundred percent sure that the $79.00 included the leak detection - that most companies charge for this. She asked to put me on hold so she could double-check. She came back on the line and said she made sure. Leak detection was diagnostic and the $79.00 fee was a diagnostic fee. I again stayed home from work today, the day of the appointment. At 10:00am I had received no call. I called ARS to make sure that I was scheduled. This was again Nicole. She checked and said I was on standby. I stated that this appointment was for a specific time-frame, which is why it was scheduled for this day and not a day or 2 earlier. She said she didn't know anything about that. Finally, at 2:30 this afternoon, Tony showed up. Tony's the tech. I had a feeling I should have cancelled this appointment due to 43 complaints I saw filed with the BBB, a claim of an A rating on the Tucson website when is is actually just an A, along with many other complaints on other websites about this company.
This feeling was confirmed when Tony showed up. He knocks on the door. Now, my experience with techs is that they introduce themselves and shake your hand then ask how they can help or confirm the reason for the call out. Tony, however, just slips past me through the door into my house then just stands there with his hands in his pockets, looking at me. No smile. No introduction. Just... Looks at me like... WELL? I explain the situation and that I needed a leak detection and I told him what the office told me. First thing he says is that a pound of Freon for the age of the air conditioner (7 years) does not indicate a leak. I could tell right away that he simply did not want to do anything. I pressed for the leak check (I'm not stupid. A/C's are sealed and there should be no leak, no matter what age.) At this point, I already suspect that: 1) Tony does not want to do this leak check or 2) Tony is not a competent or knowledgeable HVAC tech or both. He then tells me that it is 135.00 in addition to the 79.00 for the leak check. I reiterate what I was told (3 times) by Nicole. He calls the office and confirms that the 135.00 charge 79.00 is accurate. I give in and say okay because I need to have this done. But I let him know that I am not happy about it. He then goes out to his truck and comes back with a charge matrix and says he made a mistake. The leak detection is actually $235.00 or $185.00 with a service agreement the 79.00. Wow! That is 115.00 more than Chas Roberts. At that point, I told him, not so kindly, to get out of my house and off my property. I am ashamed to admit that I was angry and stupidly yelled out to the neighbors to never use ARS. I feel bad about that... Well... Kind of... But I know I was wrong. This does not detract from the fact that ARS misrepresented themselves on their website with an A rating, misquoted me the service charge 3 times over the phone then again in my house. I did not pay for this visit, therefore no financial loss. However, this does not excuse the deceptive business practice that I experienced. Needless to say, I paid Chas Roberts a second time to come out and do it right, and it is still cheaper than the ARS ripoff.
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