7/6/11: Because my A/C unit was not blowing sufficient cold air downstairs, I called Allen's Air Conditioning last month to check out my A/C unit. Initially, I received no response, but I left a voice-mail on the answering machine. To my surprise, I received a response within a few hours to set up an appointment. Due to their busy schedule, I was only given a specific day for my ""appointment"" without a designated time. Well, no one showed up during the scheduled ""appointment"" day, so I called them back two days later to find out what was going on. The woman who answered the phone claimed that she did not see an appointment scheduled for me, but when I told her the names of the people I talked to before, we scheduled a new appointment (this time with a designated time-frame). On the day of the appointment, two service techs showed up. One was named Joe (supposedly the grandson of the owner) and the other was identified as a ""trainee"". They came in and did an initial inspection of my downstairs furnace and actually videotaped the interior of the unit for ""record keeping purposes"". Afterwards, they checked the heat-pump and told me the unit was ""overfilled"" with freon and some had to be released. They proceeded to release freon and tried to sell me surge protectors for my heat-pumps, but I politely declined. Later on, they told me the primary problem was the size of my return vent on the furnace's air handler. They scheduled a follow-up visit with another tech to give me an estimate for the repair. I was then charged $69 for a service charge. A few days later, a different tech showed up and estimated it would cost $794 to rebuild the air handler. He offered no breakdown of materials or anything and seemed to have come up with a random figure. I agreed and he told me he could come out that Saturday (if available) or on Tuesday or Wednesday. Needless to say, he didn't arrive on any of those days. I received a call two weeks later, stating that they had ""an opening"" the following day. I declined and decided to call Ireland Heating & Air instead. That turned out to be the BEST decision. The tech from Ireland was prompt and thorough during the appointment. He also told me the air handler was of sufficient size and he later discovered that the techs from Allen's completely discharged all of the freon from my heat-pump! The valve stem was loose and the cap was so tight, it had to be removed with pliers! Together, we discovered that Allen's Air Conditioning & Heating was trying to scam me by charging for unneeded repairs! Steer clear of Allen's Air Conditioning & Heating!! Instead, I highly recommend Ireland Heating & Air for your HVAC needs.
more