R & S Mechanical performed some work on my AC system awhile back. They recharged the coolant, and encouraged me to sign up for an annual maintenance plan which would include 2 seasonal maintenance services. I agreed. A few months later they came for the fall maintenance. I was at work, but received a phone call from the R&S tech that the heat exchanger had large cracks, was in bad shape, and it would be dangerous to operate, because of carbon monoxide risk. They indicated they'd need to turn off the gas for safety reasons, although they did not do it, because he weather was quite cold and I warned them of my concern about a young child in the house. The report of a cracked heat exchanger surprised me since I'd had someone out 2 years before who told me the heat exchanger looked fine. So I asked them to take photos of the heat exchanger, and email them to me so I could review them. He agreed to, and I agreed they could quote repair or replacing the system. They were quick to send quotes to replace the system, and to call me to discuss the quotes further. But they did not send any photos. I called a couple of times to request they email photos and they never did. I eventually received a very brief email--one line I think--saying they had no photos. I never did anything about the system and ignored their quotes, and never had any signs of heating problems regardless.
A year later they came back for the fall service/inspection, and again I could not meet them because of a work conflict. This time the tech left a receipt at the house. Among the checklist was confirmation that they saw no evidence of cracks in heat exchanger. I had already decided I didn't trust them and would not be giving them any business due to them not following up on their word the previous year--not sending photos they supposedly took.
Well a few days later the SAME guy who'd called me less than a year earlier, called to indicate he saw the report and it showed major cracks in the heat exchanger. WHAT??? I did not tell him the tech had left a receipt that showed otherwise. I just asked them to send me a copy of the tech's report he was reading. Another person at R&S sent me a copy of the same report that was left at the house--showing NO cracks or issues.
A few days later, the guy calls me back again and I explain to him the tech had not seen any evidence of cracks. He explained over and over how this was a major issue and how it was dangerous and how I really needed to do something about it. He volunteered that HE HAD PHOTOS! It was as if he was reading the (likely false or incorrect) report from the previous year's inspection. But I didn't mention that he'd told me the same thing the last year. I simply asked him to email me the photos he mentioned and I would review them and call him back. Instead of acknowledging that, he continued to stream the same comments about how this was a big concern. He repeated it in different ways over and over in such an almost aggressive tone, I almost hung up. But we closed with him agreeing to send me the photos. Seems simple enough, right? Well I never received any photos or any calls or any email follow up. So I'm about 99.9% confident I was being lied to. Incompetence is bad enough in service industries these days. But being directly LIED TO is much worse--to me anyway. I would not enlist R&S Mechanical to look at my HVAC even if they promised it to be a free service.
more