For the first time in my five years of owning my home, I opened the Valpak envelope. I found coupons for AC vent cleaning, called and made an appointment with H/A Air Conditioning, Inc. They were scheduled for last Wednesday, March 18, between 11am and 1pm.
They arrived at approximately ten minutes to 1:00pm, and immediately got started cleaning the vents. I was getting ready to leave, but my fianc was home. Upon checking our air handler inside the house, the man from H/A stated it was dirty, and needed to be cleaned. Both Tom and I saw that this was the case, and approved the cleaning, which made the price jump from $35 to almost $300. I left for work.
Tom called a couple of hours later and stated they'd finished, he'd given them a $20 tip, and that the check came to $480. I was completely stunned, but there wasn't much I could do at that point.
Upon arriving home that evening I discovered that the house felt hot inside. I called Tom, who stated he felt the same. I noticed that the thermostat was switched to fan, so I switched it back to auto. I then checked the breaker for the AC unit. I noticed the outside AC unit wouldn't turn on, and the inside handler would not turn off. I went outside and checked the unit, with nothing seeming amiss. I then called H/A's number that appeared on the receipt they'd left, only to find they do not have an answering service. I left a message and went upstairs to turn the power off to the handler so that it wouldn't burn out.
After about an hour I realized that the man from H/A had called my cell from his cell when they were on their way to clean the ducts, so I called his number and left a message. He called back approximately 1-hour later. I told him about the problem with the AC no longer working. His response was, What do you want me to do about it? I told him I wanted it fixed as it worked perfectly before they arrived to clean the ducts and handler. He said he'd have a tech call tomorrow to talk me through how to work the circuit breaker switches. I told him I already knew how to work the circuit breaker's, and that someone needed to come out and fix the problem. He again stated a tech would call.
I then called Service One AC, the company I've always used to service my AC unit, but unfortunately, do not offer duct cleaning as part of their services. They offered to send someone immediately if I'd like. I asked if the could come first thing in the morning. When they arrived the next morning, they went over both the outside and inside units with a fine tooth comb, and discovered that when H/A dismantled the inside handler, they'd rewired it wrong when reassembling it. I was told that this would have caused the unit to burn out, and I would have had to purchase a new AC unit. This cost me an additional $160. The Service One tech also went the extra mile by writing a paragraph describing the faulty rewiring, and what they did to correct it.
As of today, I have yet to hear back from H/A, and decided to put a stop payment on their check. I have already talked to neighbors, one of whom was going to call H/A, and have recommended that they don't.
I have also made a decision to NEVER use anyone who advertises through Valpak again.
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