I hate this sort of thing. I despise it even more when the elderly are being taken for ride, even though that wasn't the case here. This occurred in a house in NJ, presumably somewhere in Central/Northern Jersey. I was wondering if any of these companies are familiar to any of you.

 

 

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/48080346/ns/today-today_rossen_reports/

I can almost bet ya even commercial repair companies do it. My wife's office last year had 3 massive hvac units replaced brand new on the top of the office for mega bux! This year the season barely started and they broke down. All I can say is WTF! Brand new and hardly used? Then having to replace parts already? Sounds too fish in both area, private and commercial.

 

I hate this sort of thing. I despise it even more when the elderly are being taken for ride, even though that wasn't the case here. This occurred in a house in NJ, presumably somewhere in Central/Northern Jersey. I was wondering if any of these companies are familiar to any of you.

 

 

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/48080346/ns/today-today_rossen_reports/

 

 

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Sadly, these practices are rampant, especially considering people know less about their HVAC equipment than their cars.

Yes M'am- you need a new flactoid valve: 300 dollars!

So sad

Being in the HVAC business, this disgusts me. I dont do residential service work per job, only commercial work in my building, but:

 

I can understand a small mark up on parts, but 400 bucks to replace a cap? Come on now. It takes less than 10 minutes and minimal part cost to get that done.

 

The big issue why so many get away with this is the whole " mystery " behind how an a/c actually works. Techs says " yehhhh, there was a unicorn going around poking holes in your coils, and now you need a new fluxcapactitor thingamajoo "... And the average home owner would probably believe it.

 

I did a favor for my neighbor just this morning, they are doing some excavation for a renovation outside. He asked me to disconnect his condensing unit so they can dig, 30 minutes later it was stored behind his garage. Grab my gauges, pump down the refrigerant into the compressor, disconnect lines and service, voila ! He was ready to dish out all the cash in his wallet, I of course declined, but regardless - If i was charging him I wouldn't ask for more than 60 bucks or so. Honesty in your work reflects what sort of man you are, coming up with crazy quotes for simply jobs is pure theft.

 

-Alec

Used to and.still see it all the time in the pool business. People.getting quotes for a repair, being told.the entire unit must be replaced. I get there 13 dollar spider gasket and 30 minutes.of labor.its disgusting what people do these days. And its always "there guy" sry u have been ripped off one to many times then!!

Damn, all 6 out of 6 techs tried to rip her off.

 

I guess the "clueless" lady in the "expensive house" is entitled to pay much more for a simple disconnected wire.

 

It's too bad that there wasn't one honest tech... his company would have been rewarded with some great publicity.

what a bunch of morons and thieves, I've had my own hvac business for 12 years and can honesty say I never ripped any one off. Even the $200 for fixing the wire is robbery imo. must be north jersey.

I see it all the time as an hvac tech. I have repaired so many leaks that have been "repaired" by other companys. All they do is pump it up gas and never fix the leak so they can come back next year and do the same thing. So far this cooling season i have fixed 9 leaks that other companys have "fixed" before and i dont really do servace work they are just the ones that my boss did not have time to get to.

Ironical we just had four different AC companies out and they've all said I need a new coil, though for three different reasons.

 

One of the problems is that just calling these companies usually costs money for the "service" of fining out what we need to pay them to replace. It limits how many quotes I'm willing to get if each one costs $$$. And the reason I call multiple is to hopefully filter out the ones trying to oversell. But when they all tell a different story where does that leave me?

 

The biggest kick in the teeth? My AR budget is going to be spent on AC!

Well something that helps keep repair techs honest in general is if you stand around and watch them when they are trying to diagnose the problem. If they come across say the broken wire and things start working its a bit harder for them to say replace something else now when everything's working. I bet the actress stayed inside while the techs were outside looking over the unit.

You can get a major appliance insurance policy. Mine costs $39 a month and onetime $75 fee when a technician comes out. Been well worth the money so far. Good thing is that they are going to do their best to repair instead of replacing and keep costs down so they remain a contractor for the insurance company. It’s a win/win IMHO

I can almost bet ya even commercial repair companies do it

 

MSC, who does our HVAC and compressor work came out to look at our 100hp compressor(450CFM@125psi). Claimed it was a bad board(very expensive board, $8500 I believe) and with parts and labor, the repair was going to be around 10k. Our in house mechanic took a look at it and found a bad contactor. 30 dollars later it was fixed.

 

The MSC guys weren't trying to rip us off, they just didn't spend the time to figure out the problem and chose the most expensive option.

 

I'm probably going to get hosed soon. I need to find someone locally that could pump up the mini split AC I'm going to buy, but I suspect I'm going to have to cold call some ripoff joint and get hosed.

Sounds like bs also. They should be taking the time to troubleshoot it. Taking pot shots replacing parts hoping it will correct the problem ends up costing more time and money anyway. I use to be a field tech in a different industry. Some of my associates played that game. Know what it got them? Being banned from the account. I had free to roam access in any of my accounts because they knew I was trustworthy and got the job done. I could never screw my customers. I wasn't raised to screw people. But some people and companies are ruthless.

 

 

MSC, who does our HVAC and compressor work came out to look at our 100hp compressor(450CFM@125psi). Claimed it was a bad board(very expensive board, $8500 I believe) and with parts and labor, the repair was going to be around 10k. Our in house mechanic took a look at it and found a bad contactor. 30 dollars later it was fixed.

 

The MSC guys weren't trying to rip us off, they just didn't spend the time to figure out the problem and chose the most expensive option.

 

I'm probably going to get hosed soon. I need to find someone locally that could pump up the mini split AC I'm going to buy, but I suspect I'm going to have to cold call some ripoff joint and get hosed.

 

 

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I worked for an electrical company in Monmouth cty for 8 years. All sorts of different work. But I was usually the home service guy and I ALWAYS did everything in my power to save the customer money. I had helpers get fired after they would say things like " if we just replace the whole thing it'd be easier". Well you dont learn anything by taking the easy route. Sometimes work a little harder and actually doing your job is best for all parties involved

Mark,

 

You can get precharged line sets... No need for a tech.

I buy scrap auto parts and a lot of the cats we get are new and just need an 02 sensor. Shops trying to get a few extra dollars

 

And I'm not one of those random pick up truck scrapers, legit family company haha