Overall, my experience with this company was horrible and I rate their quality of service poor.
My heater recently went out and I placed a call for service on a Saturday morning. Later that afternoon, a tech came out to my house, which was impressively quite prompt on their part.
So I went on the roof with him to oversee his diagnosis. He checked for voltage on the control board and conducted other diagnostic procedures. After cleaning the ignitor and the flame sensor, he determined the problem was a faulty ignitor. He didn't have the part and on Monday, I was quoted $120 for a new ignitor.
After doing some research and finding an online tech forum, which was also a genuine dealer of my heater, I learned the actual price of a new ignitor was $30. Well, being a young husband of the household, I figured I'd save my wife and I a few bucks and buy the ignitor online and install it myself (we were already in the red $80 bucks just for the service call). So I bought the ignitor online, installed it and guess what? The brand new ignitor was failing to spark and ignite the burners.
After receiving additional (free) recommendations from a tech on the online forum, I was advised the control board may have gone bad. After removing the control board, I learned the transistors on the board had in fact gone bad and other components had burned/melted.
I immediately called P Dick and the receptionist said no refunds. I was adamant about speaking to a supervisor and I made clear that I was unsatisfied with their service. After speaking to the office manager and explaining about the mis-diagnosis, I was told I'd be refunded for the service call. From the tone of his voice he was obviously mad at me, but why? It was their bad, why so serious?
I ordered a new control board online for $170 and installed it myself. Guess what happened? Viola, we had ignition and the burners started right up! Can you imagine what P Dick would have charged me? Just thinking of it makes me depressed.
I received a refund check in the mail and guess what now? It was made to the order of some other dude. I immediately called the office and they said this other person had requested the call for service. Are you serious?! Look at the check I wrote, it's not the other dude! Sheesh!
Well, after they investigated the matter, it was discovered I actually put in the call for service. No, really? Now they wanted me to mail them back the bad check. At this point, I lost my trust in their bookkeeping standards and requested they mail me a new check and once received, I'd mail them the bad check; that's the least they could do since this mishap was all their fault. What was the response to my request? No. So, I had to drive 15 minutes into town and personally serve them the bad check.
In sum, don't waste your time or money with this company; you'll end up buying parts you don't need and be overcharged for service.
RESPONSE FROM Donald P. Dick Air Conditioning:
The customer called on Saturday and we called one of our techs at home on his day off, dispatching him to the customer's home in Fowler in an attempt to get him heat for the weekend. The ignitor was not functioning and the customer was made aware that we would be unable to solve his problem that day because the parts houses were closed. He was quoted $120 to return to Fowler on Monday with the part.
The customer called on Monday and cancelled the call, saying he was buying the part online and save the installation charge. Apparently he changed the part and found the circuit board faulty and called our service department to complain. We apologized for the misdiagnosis and told him we would refund his money. We immediately sent him a check for his service call. When he received the refund, it was made out to the name we had in the computer for his address, in error.
Unfortunately this was the second error on our part, and he went on a rampage saying we were trying to cheat him and he was in town, and wanted to come by and pick up a check because he did not trust us, and we immediately wrote the check and he picked it up.
We tried to do the right thing when we found out we were wrong and made the refund. It is unfortunate, and sometimes mistakes happen, but we pride ourselves on being honest and always attempt to leave the customer satisfied. Our family has been serving the greater Fresno area for over eighty years and will always strive to make all customers happy with our service.
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