RighTime Home Services San Diego

My installer, Jordan, was friendly, professional and extremely competent. The experience couldn't have gone better

Jordan worked very good and very carefully. He explained all the details needed to operate the thermostat and the alarm detecting CO. Jordan's work is very neat. We do appreciate his help. By the way, I'd like to thank Eric, for his good and clear explain to change the new heater furnace and sign the contract.

Eric was called out to assist a fairly new technician with the company in evaluating an existing air conditioning unit at my elderly parents home in Vista. Right away, Eric recalled that he had been to my parents home 2 years prior for a tune up service. He was very knowledgeable, conscientious, systematic, and deliberate in diagnosing the issues involved with the air conditioning system. His excellent interpersonal skills were evident as he provided us with all the appropriate information needed to make an informed decision in regards to the repair of the existing unit versus the installation of a new one. His calm and personable demeanor put my parents at ease during what could have been a very stressful situation for them. Eric was a superb example for the new technician to emulate and I believe an invaluable asset to your company. Bravo Zulu!

I wasn't able to get an appointment for a month, but it is summer and completely understandable. The technicians arrived a bit later than the time I set up for my appointment, but they did call to give me a 45 minute heads up, which is very nice. The technicians checked out my AC system and once they had everything apart gave me a basic overview of how the system works. They suggested some future repairs and considerations, but were not pushy about getting the work done or signing up for anything. Great easy experience.

Hired them through Home Depot because I just moved into a house where there had been no maintenance on the systems. Eric Y. was the technician who came out. He spent time teaching me about what we had (along with showing me pictures on his phone) to help me understand what needed to be done to bring it all up to code.

Eric was Excellent very professional and explained every thing. I think his recommendations were right on. I Hope have him back for the fall check up

Eric came to my home and was right on time. He was exceptionally knowledgeable, Thoreau and one of the most professional techs I have ever met. He gave me great info on my system and showed me many things that could be improved upon with it which I intend to do in the future.

Great. Eric arrived on time, put on booties to protect flooring. Personable, knowledgeable. And so far, no leaks! Good value through home depot! Would definitely use them again.

At the start of this summer, I needed a replacement central AC system.  Home Depot's local AC system installer is ARS, also known as RighTime.  An ARS/RighTime service technician, Michael, came to my home, looked at my old AC system, gave me an estimate for a Trane, 4 ton, 14 SEER system with Title 24 Compliance at $9510, and offered 24 months/zero percent interest Home Depot financing. 
Three days later, I decided on the system and called Michael.  Michael said he will be over to my house between an hour & twenty minutes and an hour & forty minutes to sign the contract, offered to install the AC system the same day, and again offered 24 months/zero percent interest Home Depot financing.  After a two hours & ten minutes wait for Michael, 30 minutes late, Michael was a NO SHOW and did not phone me if he was running late.  I left Michael a voicemail.  After two hours & forty-five minutes, an hour & 5 minutes late, Michael was still a NO SHOW and did not phone me if he was running late.  I left Michael a voicemail to cancel the contract signing.  Subsequently, I visited Trane.com and selected one of Trane's locally listed installer, who later gave me a $4106 estimate, Title 24 Compliance not required, for the identical system.  It's very good that Michael did not show up!

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No complaints about any staff. Their prices are just now so high I can't afford them. I had used them consistently since we bought the house new!

I received the quote on December 13th which I accepted was punctual.  I had next day installation was on a Saturday was here at 9:00 as stated installed my new Furnace. I'm very happy with this company I would hire them again.

My 83 year old mother-in-law was told by ARS that she needed to replace her entire heating unit (because it had a crack in the heat exchanger) and also her AC unit for a cost of $12,000 - yes, $12,000. She is on a fixed income and does not have that kind of money to begin with but she was made to fear the possibilities if she did not fix the "problem". She is elderly, frail, and naive but wants to feel like she is still in "control" so she was ready to sign the contract and have the guy come out the following day to do the work when we found out about it. I told her to wait until we got some other bids. I called in a tech in from Hughes Heating and Air and he told her that there is NOTHING wrong with either unit - neither has to be replaced. Further he said that IF there was such a problem it should have been red-tagged and the gas supply shut off immediately (not done). But..... since it really was not cracked and there was not any evidence that the unit had even been opened or inspected it did not need to be done.
Shame on them!

I purchased a new Heating/AC Unit from ARS in October 2009.  The AC unit ceased to function properly in October 2012.  An ACS technician came out October 19th and got the unit working, but it again ceased to function one day later.  Another technician came out on the 20th and discovered that the Service Valve was leaking.  He ordered the part and a third technician came out to install it on the 25th.  However, he was ill-prepared to do so and called another technician.  Finally, the fourth man to work on my AC unit knew exactly what needed to be done.  The work I observed was complicated and time consuming, but he effectively and efficiently replaced the Service Valve, installed a new liquid line dryer, conducted a nitrogen leak test, and recharged the system with refrigerant.  Although, the problem wasn't initially diagnosed correctly, ARS was persistent in trying to fix my AC system.  Ultimately, they did sent out a seasoned pro who restored my equipment to full function.  ACS honored the warranty without hesitation. There was no charge for the three service calls or the work and parts needed to repair the AC unit.  It has worked effectively since repair last October (2012).  I would have rated ARS higher for overall experience and quality if it hadn't taken multiple service calls and four technicians to diagnose and fix the problem.

The men were here for a long time, about  2 1/2 hours  They looked at the furnace, the compressor and the attic ducting.  One of the men talked extensively about how good he was as an inspector, an installer, and just about anything else that came to mind.  We eventually became tired of the personal sales pitch and they said they would have to come back to give us the result of their findings, which presumably would include an estimate.
Somewhat against our better judgement ,we made an appointment for the following Monday at 10AM.  At about 11AM we got a call from their office confirming our appointment between the hours of 10AM to 2PM.  Since the appointment was for 10AM we told them to just forget about it, we would find someone else to do the job.

After waiting two weeks for an appointment, advisor basically told me that quote from other company might not be true, but they weren't interested in the job unless I replaced bad ducting and both furnace and A/C at same time.  "Manufacturer recommendation says A/C and heat should be no more than 10 years different in age."  After reading other reviews I wonder if I can get a fair evaluation of my problems and whether my ducts are a problem. 
      This is the 5th company coming out and none of the other companies thought ducts or A/C were problems.  Hard to tell what is true without a $900 pressure test.  Since I had no interest in replacing A/C, the ARS advisor had no interest in my job.  Too bad they wasted my time and theirs -- they shouldn't have even made an appointment if they won't replace just one system.

About two years ago the heating/air conditioning system originally installed failed after a long history of poor quality and poor heating and A/C. The replacement was not inexpensive (about $12K), but the complex installation was done in two days in the winter.  It's operated without a hitch since and provides much higher quality heating and A/C at much lower annual cost than the original.  
This is a great company and we've been very pleased with the work they've done.

The technicians installed the new AC.  They did not even change out the air filters.  Less that one month later the power board broke.  I was told that this was separate from the AC so was not under warranty.  There was also an AWFUL smell when the AC was turned on.  After the power board was replaced it took a few times running the AC for the smell to go away.

They did the inspection and correctly noted that the 2 furnaces were old, needed replacing and were dangerous.They condemned both and shut one down in the interests of safety. I would not let them shutdown the downstairs one because this would have left us without heat and had been functioning OK for the 13 years since we moved in.
It soon became clear that they came to the house prepared to give an immediate estimate for the replacement of 2 systems at a cost in excess of $23k and offered to do the work within a day or two. Some scare tactics were used in an attempt to get me to sign the contract immediately.
I told them that we had lived with this risk for many years and could do so for another week or so while obtaining other bids from local contractors on Angies list. While researching the choice of contractor we Iearned that ARS were facing charges in Arizona for using scare tactics to intimidate customers  into signing immediately,similar  those that I had experienced.
There is a happy end to this story because I hired FlowMax shown as highly rated on your list and was very pleased with the result. Their  bid was close to several other competitors but more than $4000 lower than ARS. Furthermore they used equipment of a higher specification than offered by ARS, completed the complicated job in 2 days just before Xmas and were very clean and efficient.

Our gas central heater failed in late December 2010, on New Year's Eve. Since this was during a cold snap and since we had an elderly relative staying with us, I didn't delay things by getting competing bids (this was before I joined Angie's List)  but rather called ARS, which had replaced a water heater for us a few years earlier.

Doug Snyder, from ARS, arrived on Monday, January 3 to diagnose the system. Using a miniature camera that he had snaked into the innards of the furnace, Doug showed me that the heat exchanger was cracked due to rust. It was determined that air conditioner coils, which were installed by Sears many years earlier, were improperly installed and caused condensation to drip onto the internal parts of the furnace instead of being drained out. There was rust, corrosion, and rusted-out spots throughout the furnace and blower unit. The condensation had also dripped into the electrostatic air cleaner that Sears had installed at the same time as the air conditioner and which had failed a year or two earlier. The furnace and air cleaner (if we wanted a replacement) would have to be replaced. Also, although the furnace and air conditioner complied with building codes when it was installed ten years earlier, replacing the furnace meant that the HVAC system would have to be brought up to current code (for example, the exhaust pipe for the heater could no longer be tied into the exhaust pipe for the gas water heater, but would need its own separate pipe to the outside). As a result of this, the entire HVAC system would have to be replaced, a Title 24 duct leakage test would have to be performed, and a City inspection would have to be performed.

Doug laid out the various replacement/repair options open to us. We chose a 60,000 BTU Rheem gas furnace, a 2.5 ton Rheem air conditioner condenser and evaporator coil, and an integrated electrostatic air cleaner. The system came with a 3-year labor, 10-year parts and compressor, and lifetime heat exchanger warranty. Parts and labor for removing the old system and installing the new HVAC system was about $12,650. The electrostatic air cleaner added about $1,200. The Title 24 compliance inspection (performed by a third-party) was about $975. Doug subtracted 10% (about $1,200) previous customer discount, for a total price of $13,592. Doug did try to get us to purchase some additional options, but we declined. Installation was scheduled for 2 days later, Wednesday, January 5, and I was told the installation would be performed in one day.

Installation went smoothly. Two ARS technicians (I did not write down their names) arrived, removed the old HVAC system, and installed the new system. This included drilling a hole through the wall of our stucco, frame house to accommodate the separate furnace vent pipe that I mentioned above and installing a condensation pump (the Sears installation relied on gravity). It was a long day, but they completed the removal and new installation of the new HVAC system and tested it by day's end as promised, and we had heat again. And they swept up after themselves. The technicians were very polite and took the time to explain to me what they were doing.

The Title 24 Compliance test (a duct leakage test) was performed on February 27 by a third-party company, Quality Verification Services, which has no affiliation with ARS. Our system passed the test on the first try.

In late summer of 2011, about 8 months after ARS installed our central HVAC system, a problem developed in the air conditioner condenser (the part of the AC that is located outdoors. When the AC finished cooling the house, the furnace blower and the compressor fan would shut off, but a loud humming/buzzing noise kept coming from the outside compressor. This happened intermittently; sometimes it would not happen at all, sometimes it would stop after a few minutes, and sometimes it would persist until the next time that the AC started. I called ARS to have a technician come out.

During the time between the installation of the HVAC and this problem, I had joined Angie's List. I looked up ARS, and was not entirely pleased with what I read. Some people gave ARS an "A" rating, others gave ARS a "D" or and "F" rating. I read all the reviews, especially the "D's" and "F's," and prepared myself for a fight with ARS.

I called ARS on a Thursday morning to schedule a technician, fully expecting to be put off for a week or two (my previous experiences with Sears home repair always resulted in delays of 10-14 days to arrive). I was told that a technician could come in an hour. I wasn't ready for that and asked if the appointment could be made for the next day in the afternoon. The service call was scheduled for between noon and 2PM the next day (Friday). On Friday, I prepared my self for the technician to show up late. Lance arrived at 12:05PM.

I described the problem to Lance, and attempted to demonstrate the intermittent problem to him. The compressor ran fine. Lance removed the cover from the compressor and we tried repeatedly to get it to fail. After about an hour, we were ready to give up, but decided to do one last test. The compressor failed: The fan turned off but a loud humming continued. Lance determined that a contactor -- a relay used to turn the compressor on and off -- had broken contacts and replaced it. Total charge for the service call was $0 since the unit was still under warranty.

As some other Angie's List members have reported, Lance did try to sell me some add-ons at the end: locking refrigerant connector caps (he said teenagers have been known to breathe the refrigerant to get high -- maybe true, maybe not) for $130; an automatic louver to fit on top of the compressor unit for $275; and an air purification system for $1,450. I declined, and that was that -- no pressure.

All in all, I am very pleased with the service from ARS. I expected the worst, but received the best service from them of all the repair services that I have used. All the ARS people with whom I dealt were very professional and competent. Their prices may be a tiny bit on the high side (that's why I gave them a B for price), but they deliver excellent service; and the B for quality was for the malfunction during the warranty period, but this was more likely the fault of Rheem manufacturing than ARS. Yes, I'd use them again.

They told us what was wrong with the old unit and why we needed a new one. They performed the install the same day and that was it. Their technicians were polite and fast.

I got a card in the mail stating that it was time to have my air and heating system checked, and that ARS was offering a rebate. I called and made an appointment.  First of all, the appointment was "delayed" three times.  I was willing to cut a little bit of slack, because it IS summer, and people  are getting AIR-CON jobs done.  What would have happened, though, if I had had to cancel? or return to work?  My appointment was scheduled between 12-2, and despite two phone calls from the company telling me of delays, the character STILL didn't get there until after 4pm.  He told me that my system had "dangerous violations",was "rusted out" and "leaking carbon monoxide", was "not up to code" and that the entire heating and air-con system would have to be replaced to the tune of $11,000+ dollars!!!

Fortunately, I referred this to my financial advisors, and they told the technician that they required two more estimates, and that ARS would have to work through them.

The upshot is that another tech sent by my advisors (who had looked after my parents for 15 years), did a thorough check of the system and said that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG!

ARS is trying to frighten senior citizens into purchasing services that they may not need.  DO NOT TRUST THEM, and be sure to get at least two different opinions.

THEY ARE SCAMPS!

They did some repair and duct work as our entire system failed last week. The technician came in an hour’s time and did a thorough analysis. He then advised us that, the entire system had failed. He was quick and analyzed well. Then we picked up the system from them and they started the installation in an hour’s time. They completed the entire process by the next day and did a great job. I will continue to use their services in future.