Fast response: I called Brady-Flanary at 4:30 p.m. and the technician was here at 10:30 the next morning, precisely on time. (The office called me 30 minutes before his arrival, to alert me he was on the way.)
Competent and friendly: The technician, Rodney Sobolik, has been with the company 13 years. Trained in A/C at Forsyth Tech. Throughout the diagnostic process, he willingly showed me what he was doing and why; what the gauges meant; what the factory charts showed the gauges should read when the task was done.
Unit had a blown dual capacitor. No doubt -- end bulged out. He replaced it.
Unit was 4 pounds low on freon. No doubt -- I saw the gauge measurements. He recharged the system.
Costs:
* Service Call: $89 (I knew this before he came). About a 40-mile round trip in a fully-equipped new van driven by an experienced technician. That's reasonable.
* Capacitor: $140 (less 10%) = $126. This is about a $24 part (I checked later online). But -- he had it and knew mine was bad. So I paid $100 for his expertise.
* Freon, 4 pounds: $126 (less 10%) = $113.40. Freon can be bought (online) for about $7 a pound. So I got $28 worth for $113.40. He had the equipment to do the job and knew how much to put in. So I paid about $85 for his expertise. Had I attempted this myself, I could have overcharged the system and destroyed my unit.
* Inspecting my system (coils filters) etc. INCLUDED IN THE SERVICE CALL CHARGE.
* Advice: FREE. Rodney gave me much good advice about how to keep my system in tip-top shape.
* Comfort level: PRICELESS. I feel that my unit was properly repaired by a company that shows up fast and on time, is professional in every way, and leaves me confident that I can trust and depend on them.
I was so impressed I called a neighbor to come over and meet him. She's planning to have them do a maintenance check on her system next week.
more