On 6-11-07, I contacted alpha A/C and Heating, Inc. They were referred by a friend because my regular A/C man was home sick. On 6-12-07, Fred, the dispatcher/boss, sent a tech, Andy, to my house for the repair. I told him the trane heat pump fan was not working. He asked me to turn the A/C on and turn the thermostat down very low. I did. He went to the back, opened the unit, took out a faulty capacitor, went back to his van and brought a new capacitor, installed it, checked the pressure and said all is well and then he went back to the van and wrote me a bill for a whopping $200.00.
When I questioned him, he said a small fan capacitor costs $195.00 to replace and a big one costs $295 to replace. I said how can that be? I said an 8000/10,000 BTU window A/C costs less than $150.00 at home depot. And why would a small thing like this cost $200.00 to replace?
Under normal cercumstances, I would have asked him to take the capacitor out and leave my property. It was very hot that day and my wife was very sick at home.
I paid him by check and later looked up the cost of this capacitor on the internet. The retail value was $9.99 on eBay.
I immediately contacted Fred. He apparently spoke to Andy who claimed he did a complete system check. He didn't even come inside the house. He arrived at 9:10 AM and left at 9:35 AM. From my house to their office on Gunn Hwy is a fifteen to twenty minute drive. Their rate for service call is $89.95 per hour!
I question their outrageous charge, lies and especially when Fred said it costs him $125.00 to fill up his gas tank. Come on, do I have to be the only customer to pay to fill his gas tank? I question the fact that they refused to give me their last names when I called their office. I am a retired Senior citizen and could this be the reason?
Techs with limited education should not be allowed to make $400.00 per hour. This is outrageous.
I demand justice.
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