ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT SYSTEMS

I am 76 with fixed income. I am writing this negative review because of unreasonable, dishonest pricing charged by Environmental Control Systems (ECS), the owner is Rick Smith. I have had a maintenance services contract with ECS for over six years. On 6/15/24 the original starting capacitor (part) failed after 11 years. The part was replaced $153/part-$149/service call (was on a Sunday) totaling $302, no other trouble found. 14 months later 8/17/2025 (also a Sunday?wife and son have heat sensitive health issues), part failed again and was replaced $213.30/part-$213.30/service call totaling $426.60 with no other trouble found. I decided to see if I could get the part and replace myself if failure occurred again (6 screws and less than 10 minutes to replace). I checked locally and found the part for $30. I checked Amazon and found EXACT SAME PART for $12.58. ECS marked up part price by 1645%. Considering this info, I challenged the charges in a meeting with ECS. No remedy.

We have been using ECS for over two years now and completely satisfied. The workers come out on time, great customer service and our equipment is being well maintained for preventive measures. We have had no problems. We appreciate them and wanted to share. We know how hard it is to find a good service team sometimes.

They inspect it twice a year, Spring and Fall. June 2015, they replaced a compressor capacitor and relay for $338. August of 2016 they topped off the refrigerant for $68 but the inspection that revealed low refrigerant was apart of the twice a year annual inspection so there was no service call on that.Then in February of this year, I paid them the annual fee to do two inspections a year and that was $168. I've been paying that for several years well ever since they replaced the unit and that was a long time ago, longer than my records go back. Again, I don't competitively shop this. I think the price is astounding for a capacitor and a relay for a service call. I thought that it was way higher than it ought to be. I'ma be honest. Without having anything to compare it to I think they're high.

unknown

Contacted the company about a problem with AC unit.  Line in wall was making excessively loud noise.  Company said the compressor was bad (unit was cooling just fine).  I authorized the replacement. After unit was replaced the noise was the same, no change. Then company said it may be some valve in the air handler.  I told them I'd wait and decide about that, as they inferred it would be expensive to check...as if the compressor replacement was not.  They seemed to not care at all that replacing the compressor fixed nothing yet I was out over $900.

Subsequently I had my other unit freeze up. Called the company again (will I never learn). They responded quickly. Indicated that the system was low on freon but there was also probably a leak. Leak check was $125.00.  Company indicated that coil in air handler was leaking. Replacement cost would be $1800.  I thanked them and said I'd let them know.

 Called Superior Heating & Air. They came out the next day. Checked for a leak at no additional cost other than the service call fee ($85). Confirmed that the coil was leaking, adding 2 lb of freon and said they would replace the coil, along with two fittings on the outside unit that were leaking (previously unidentified by the other company) for $870.  Wow, big difference $870 vs $1800.   Even the initial service call , where both companies checked for leaks and  added freon (2 lb vs 3 lb) was twice as expensive with Environmental Comfort Systems.

 I would never recommend Environmental Comfort Systems to anyone. Superior I would recommend all day.