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Review content:
Feedback following myexperience with Conway:\r
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I suspected a leak in one of my A/C units--scheduled a service visit with Conway. I was impressed that the technician, Scott, arrived Friday morning when expected, was professional, and soon located the leak in the coil--which he could not repair. I asked if he could give me a ballpark estimate of the cost to replace it. He said it would likely be around $1500. He arranged for a ""comfort specialist"" to come out to give a quote. The specialist, Mark, arrived about 2 hours later (impressive).\r
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His first quote was approximately $2300 for a coil. I told him I was expecting closer to $1500 and wouldn't agree to $2300 without first obtaining competitive quotes. He called a supervisor and the price quickly lowered to $1600. While he was on the phone, I heard him mention something about a ""hard-start"". I told him that I knew there was one on my unit because Scott mentioned it. When I asked Mark what the hard-start does, he couldn't explain it to me. He just said there must have been a problem with the unit if it required one. Then, he raised a concern over differences in the SEER ratings between my unit and current standards. So, he suggested I replace the whole unit for $5900. \r
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I think he knew I was getting a bit irritated that the proposed solution kept changing. He then said he could check to see if the A/C components could be replaced without having to replace the heating parts (it is a heat pump). He said he would call me back sometime in the afternoon. That was Friday, this is Wednesday, still no call.\r
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To recap:\r
- I paid $89 (+tax) to be told that I have a leak, which I already knew.\r
- Mark first attempted to overcharge me at least $700 for a new coil ($2300 vs $1600).\r
- Apparently, Mark didn't know that a new coil might not be the solution because of different SEER rating requirements until he called the supervisor. The conversation then turned to replacing the whole unit--inside and out. This didn't give me a great deal of confidence that Mark knew what he was talking about.\r
- The presence of a hard-start was supposed to be further convince me that I needed a whole new system, yet Mark couldn't explain its purpose. Again, not impressed with Mark's knowledge.\r
- Didn't receive the follow-up call from Mark as promised.\r
- Both reps seemed more interested in up-selling (air cleaners, service plans, new systems, etc.) than solving my immediate issue.\r
- I tried twice to send these comments to the ""customer service"" email address shown on Conway's site. Both times bounced back as undeliverable. I probably wouldn't have posted here if the email address had worked.\r
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Had I known the visit by the ""comfort specialist"" was really a sales call, I would have simply asked Scott to add a pound or two of refrigerant to get me through the summer. I was willing to consider $1500 for a repair but when it became almost $6000, it was clear to me that the better approach is to add refrigerant until the unit develops more serious issues. \r
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At this point, I'm out $90 and I still need to call another company who will charge me another service fee to add freon.\r
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I'm giving 2 stars because Scott, the technician, was nice, professional, and obviously capable. Otherwise, it would have been 1.\r
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UPDATE:\r
I called American Refrigeration who came out said that since my leak was so small, they recommended just a freon charge at this point. The total bill was <$160 including the service charge.\r
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I asked about a replacement coil. They quoted me $1300 for a new one, installed, with a 10-yr warranty. But, again, suggested that I might not want to make that much of an investment in a 9yr-old system. The technician said as long as the leak is small, why not spend <$200 a year to keep it going until a bigger problem arises requiring a system replacement?\r
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Made sense to me. Also gave me confidence in American Refrigeration since they clearly weren't trying to drain my bank account.
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