Central Heating & Air

Our 18-year-old AC unit stopped working just before the winter months, and I had a few different HVAC companies come out and give us quotes on the replacing it, all companies said the unit was not worth fixing and I should replace the heating unit at the same time---putting the project cost way up there. When the warm weather returned, I decided to call Charlie after reading the reviews on him saying: if anybody could fix it, Charlie could. He showed up punctually, looked over the AC unit and found a fairly-simple and reasonably-priced fix and got it working again. His analysis of our AC unit was that, despite its rusty exterior, it's a good unit and will probably last for several more years. (Our condo neighbors, who've been told the same about their unit being near the end too, were really happy to hear this info.) He had the same opinion on the heater. I asked for a ballpark price on replacing both in the future---it was <1/2 the prior quotes I'd received and 1/4 of Anderson's!

I did not go, as I could not afford it at the time. But if I were going to choose someone to do the job, it would certainly be them.

Central Heating & Air fixed the problem well. They discovered the were the ones who had not installed it properly and they fixed it. He was very punctual. He told me he'd be here at 8:00, and he was here. He was also very professional.

There is only one heating and air provider that we will be using from now on and it is Charlie at Central Heating and Air. The day prior we were quoted by another company to fix our air conditioning at $2750. Something didn't feel right so we called Charlie for a second opinion. We told him about the quote and he offered to come out AT NO CHARGE if he found the same to be true. He arrived early, friendly, professional, and eager to help us. When you meet him you get the immediate feeling that he is genuinely interested in helping people, not just fixing your air conditioning. He went outside to inspect our unit and came back in shortly thereafter with a smile on his face. The wiring was off on our unit and he fixed it. For $80. He seemed as happy as we were. He went from potentially making a couple of thousand dollars to making 80 dollars and he was genuinely happy about it. Amazing. This was by far our best experience in home repair. Please, if you need help with air conditioning or heating call Charlie.

He fixed everything fine and extra with no charge.

I have a home warranty, who sent out a technician to look at my heater which in the two years I've lived in my condo, has NEVER worked. He crawled up there, said it needed a new part and disappeared. I later got a phone call from the home warranty service saying that their technician discovered that my heater was recalled and could not be repaired. And since it was a recall, the home warranty was not going to cover the replacement cost. Great. So I called central heating and air, on an angle's list search and per some friend's recommendations, and he came over the next day to have a look, and said that my heater was perfectly fine! He explained that since it hadn't been used very much that there was air in the tube, and after a few attempts at lighting, the heater will just blow cold air as a safety precaution. After having heard that my heater was recalled and a fire hazard I was really hesitant to accept that it was ok, but he took about 20 minutes to assure me that it's perfectly safe, that a SIMILAR heater was recalled but not mine. He said he wished all heaters looked like that, and he wished that he could sell me a new heater, but there's no need. So that's what I call integrity. I will absolutely use him the next time I have a heating/air issue. Thanks!

Everything was excellent... His recommendations were right on, and we intend to follow up on them.

They were outstanding. I liked his willingness to incorporate additional projects to the original scope of work. He is one of the best contractors I've ever worked with.

Arrived on time. Began servicing the air conditioners and fixed all problems. Explained to us what he had done.

system and Charlie took the whole system out and rebuilt the closet space to make it quieter and fixed a poor installation from an earlier time. He then put the heater back with the new air conditioning unit. He also installed the outside unit with a new circuit breaker in our electrical panel. Charlie came back twice to make sure it was working properly at no charge. I can't say enough about the service. I wouldn't use anyone else.

He was excellent. The price was reasonable. He didn't go anything, but check it out to make sure that everything was okay.

Called Charlie stating that my heating and air had stopped working. Appointment was made for the following day. Charlie arrived at appointed hour, and with a smile. He got right to work accessing the problem, and was very professional. During his visit, he did a thorough examination of the unit, even climbed on roof to check the freon level, which was fine. He told me that at some point before I moved in my condo 13 years ago, someone had not put in an air filter, and dust had accumulated on the evaporator, which was never cleaned , and the buildup of debris caused the unit to stop. Several years ago, had unit serviced by a different company, and they never bothered to check the coil for dust debris. Another company told me 5 minutes after arrival that I needed a new unit, which would cost about $6,000. Charlie was very polite & explained everything in layman terms. Not sure how much life is left in my 40+ year old unit, but it was very refreshing that he really cared about saving me money. I would not hesitate to use him in the future.

My central heat/air unit would not start right up. It went on and off a few times before running steady. Another company told me I had to replace the entire unit for around $3000. It didn't seem right to me and after reading Central Heating's review on Angie's Best and Worst of San Diego, I called them to come look at my problem. Mr Collins arrived on time ready to work. In one minute he diagnosed the problem as a bad circuit board, one of which he had in stock and on his truck. He changed out the board and the unit works perfectly and at a very reasonable price. Mr. Collins saved me several thousand dollars by simply replacing a bad circuit board and not trying to sell me a new unit like the other company. Central heating & Air is the only company I will ever call for help with my heating and air installations or repairs. Mr. Collins is an honest professional who knows his business. The best !

WARNING!!!!! Do not hire this contractor. Charlie came over and gave us an estimate for installing ductless A/C in my home. (There isn't an attic to install central A/C.) He seemed very nice and gave me a very good estimate a couple days later. He gave me a lump sum price, so I asked if he could break it down as parts & labor. His response: "I don't do that" (which seemed like a rude response, but maybe I was reading something into it that wasn't there). Well, fine, that's okay, but you wrote "permits" at the bottom of the quote, but not the price. What would that be? His response (and I'm quoting his email, word for word): "I excluded permits because quite frankly it's a rip off. . . . . I will pull a permit if you want but you'll have to pay for the costs of the permits (electrical and heat pump) and my time to go to their offices and then wait the day of inspection. Let me know." (Side note: I went on the City of San Diego's website today and pulled permits and it took less than 20 mins and cost about $400, which was less than I expected.) First off, that's illegal. The work must be permitted. Second, if the A/C unit were to cause a fire, there's little chance your homeowner's insurance would pay due to the lack of permits. Third, you won't be able to sell your house until you get permits for it (and by then it will most likely cost even more). All of this was confirmed by an attorney and a city building official. Last, but not least, if he's that unethical, where else is he cutting corners???? How can you trust someone like that?? I thought everything was fine when he came over for the estimate, he seemed very nice. Then it went sour. Maybe he was ticked off because I asked questions? Well, for a job over $6,000, I think a consumer should be allowed to ask as many questions as they want. How can someone run a business like that??? I basically said to him that doing work without permits was illegal and, although I'll pay more for another company to do the work, at least I could trust them. His response? "I was wondering how i was going to get out of this job." Excuse me?????? There are a lot of nice ways to get out if you really want to. If you can't do the job, just say so. I did nothing to p*** him off. I've had a couple of other people in the business look at his estimate - he was obviously cutting corners and doing the bare minimum. Live and learn.

Charlie did an excellent job and saved me a lot of money. My issue actually goes back to prior to summer and my air conditioner was not blowing out really cold air. I spoke to a few air conditioning companies and they all wanted to check for a freon leak and proposed an expensive fix to find and stop the freon leak or if that was not possible, even install a brand new unit. Charlie said this was not the most cost effective measure initially. He recommended he added a stop leak fluid into the system to see if that would stop the leak. A month or so later I was not sure if the stop leak fluid was working and he came out and checked my freon level again. It was in the height of the summer and he did not even want to charge me for the re-visit. My overall opinion is that Charlie is honest and is not looking to upsell you on items you do not need. Instead, he seems intent on giving you the most economical solution to your problem.

Charlie showed up in the evening when it was really cold and checked everything out . Said the heater did not need to be replaced at all. Just put in new filter and new switch and it worked just find. Took him about and hour then we were all toasty warm again!Thanks Charlie!

The work was done exactly as estimated and in the utmost professional manner. On two occasions since the install there were minor hardware issues, and the provider came out promptly and resolved the issues quickly, without additional cost. I will definitely use this provider for additional future work and highly recommend them.

Charlie came at 7:30 am on a Saturday to diagnose a problem with a AC drain line and to recharge the freon on our AC. Charlie had been here last fall and just like the previous service call Charlie was friendly, listened well and didn't try to sell us things that weren't needed. Charlie explained different options, the pros & cons along with the related pricing prior to performing the work. I would give Charlie the highest rating one can give and would highly recommend him to anyone with HVAC issues.

Charlie came out to our home soon after I contacted him to evaluate our house for central air conditioning. He asked some important questions we hadn't thought of that had to do with our existing systems and electrical service. He wanted to get the whole picture so he could give us a more accurate estimate. We got an estimate within a couple of days for a very reasonable price. Charlie came out early on a Saturday with another employee and they got the whole job done in a single day. There were a few challenging issues with our house including a narrow crawlspace and very limited attic space. Charlie quickly found solutions for all the issues. They cleaned as they worked and took special care to protect our floors and property. They even made sure the dogs didn't get out! What was unexpected was the little items like upgrading the outlet in the heater closet to a modern type, and replacing the flexline for the natural gas feed. They even found a way to quiet the blower in the system intake. I recommend him without reservation.

I called today because the blower on the furnace was not working. I had called another company but they had so many coupons out that they were buried in work and couldn't help me for a week and a half. I decided to look for an A rated company without any coupons listed...... I started reading the reviews and Charie had a 98% rating of excellent. I called and we set up an appt for today, July 1. He was about 20 minutes early which was fine. He and his helper offered to take off their shoes but no need for that.. They went right work climbing into the attic to service both furnaces, installing a Capacitor on one. Then they checked the A/C's adding coolant to one. Charlie is a pleasure to work with. He is knowledgeable, efficient, professional, punctual, and welcomes any questions, explaining technicalities in clear concise terms. I will definitely call him again. As a matter of fact, I will only call him because I feel he is very trustworthy and an expert in his field. Thank you, Charlie!

Charlie and Jeff were very prompt, courteous, and knowledgeable. They determined the problem timely and were able to fix our air conditioner immediately. Rates are reasonable and excellent service! Would definitely use them again!

My experience with Charlie was excellent. He responded quickly and was very knowledgeable about installing the new furnace and full house air conditioning. His estimate was very competitive. I had gotten bids from 3 other companies, but Charlie was willing to go the extra mile by installing a concrete pad for the new condenser whereas the others were just going to put it on cinder blocks. I was most impressed because Charlie did all the work himself so I knew I would get a great job. He did all of the installation in one day and even painted the metal piece to hide the freon on the back of the house, so it was really a professional job. He also came back to meet the city inspector, and even the inspector commented on the great job he did. I vestry highly recommend if you need any kind of heating or air conditioning work that you contact and hire Charlie Collins of Central Heating and Air. You will save money and best the best possible job. I would certainly call him again for any future needs

Charlie with Central Heating and Air was very knowledgeable, honest, compassionate, he took the time to explain everything, the price was very reasonable, and he guaranteed his work in writing. My parents haven't had an AC for 3 years and my mom suffered each summer in Santee. We had a company check their AC unit 3 years ago but they said it needed to be replaced but none of us in the family had the money. Although my parents still didn't have the money to replace the AC we decided that the kids would take out a loan and get it fixed. Using Angie's List and only calling the providers with the most positive reviews, I called four companies to get free estimates. Central Heating and Air was the first to show up. He took a look at the unit and said that it didn't need to be replaced. The last time a company looked at it three years ago they said it did need to be replaced but they probably wanted the sale of a replacement rather then just a repair. Charlie was honest and took care of the problem with a simple repair. He even guaranteed his work. My mom called me all excited earlier today saying that they had AC running and how cold it was. She won't have to suffer this summer and that's great news. We definitely recommend Charlie and Central Heating and Air and we will use them again.

Mr Collins arrived in a timely manner. He was extremely professional and being that I am very detail orientated, I noted how he carefully made sure he even made sure to keep my floors/walls/etc intact. He also gave me an explanation of everything he did and made a couple suggestions that I found very useful.

It went very good. He was very personable, thorough, detailed and professional.