Ben-Air Heating & Air Conditioning

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In the middle of another Southern California heat wave the air conditioner ceased generating cold air.  Owner Jim, of Ben-Air Heating & Air Conditioning in Whittier, arrived promptly as scheduled.  Upon examination of the unit Jim knew immediately that the capacitor had blown out and thought that it had also blown the circuit.  Unfortunately Jim did not have the parts with him.  He said that he would get the parts and return later in the day to install them.  Sure to his word Jim and his son Ben returned as scheduled and replaced the capacitor.  After a thorough examination of the electrical system, it turned out the circuit breaker had not blown but had merely been mislabled so I wasn't charged for a new circuit breaker.  Ben even fixed the "rattle" coming from one of the air vents that had been annoying me for some time.
In the past when I had an air conditioning or heating problem a trusted friend who was an HVAC contractor would come to my rescue.  So I was apprehensive to have someone I did not know work on the system.  But both Jim and Ben were very competent, professional, courteous and reasonable.  I would and will use Ben-Air again should I have any air conditioning or heating problems in the future.

I described what it was doing and he recognized the problem over the phone.  When he came he already had the part that needed to be replaced and within and hour it was all done, and he had checked the rest of the system to be sure it was OK.  Quick, professional, courteous, and easy!  And much less expensive than I had feared, or other companies I called had suggested. 

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These guys were fantastic.  They came out the same day I called, in spite of many customers calling and me being a new customer.  They knew what the problem was right away and had it fixed within minutes.  They cleaned up after themselves.  And they didn't even charge me for all this!!!! They mentioned that my condenser unit needed a cleaning (I hadn't had it cleaned for about 2 years) but no pressure tactics or hard sell at all.  I was so impressed by the fact that they didn't charge for this service call that I went ahead and scheduled a maintainance appointment.  The person who recommended Ben-Air was a general contractor and his advice was right on.

Jim and Ben Calabretta of BEN-AIR Heating & Air Conditioning came to our home promptly several times over the past two years, to check or trouble shoot loud noises in our  12-14 year old Rheem Heat/A/C unit. Though the condenser outside made a lot of loud noises, Jim determined that the unit was functioning okay, just noisy. He suggested that any repairs were unnecessary at the time and it was safe to run the unit.   
Recently after a neighborhood power outage, our A/C and condenser again had major malfunctions. BEN-AIR responded promptly during extremely hot weather to diagnose the mal-functioning, and eventual non-functioning of our A/C unit.  Jim and Ben inspected the unit with diagnostic tools carefully & thoroughly before making any recommendations. The necessary repairs were diagnosed if we wanted to maintain the older unit. They provided options, including installing only a new condenser if that was our choice. Fair estimates for repair, as well as costs for complete replacement were provided for several brands, with no pressure or hype to sell us something - just the facts.
Jim and Ben were available to answer our multiple phone calls and questions, as we conducted research on our own, in order to feel we had made the best decision. We decided rather than invest new money into an old unit with multiple problems, to invest in the installation of a complete new, more efficient unit.
Though the investment for a complete new unit is a costly one, after knowing Jim and Ben Calabretta of BEN-AIR for over 2 years now, we knew we could trust the information they gave us. They pride themselves in being honest and just telling it the way it is. We know this is the case, or they could have recommended that we replace our old A/C unit 2 years ago. Fortunately, we were able to save money, by not paying out unnecessary repairs for two more years, until it was really a smart time to do it. 
We highly recommend Jim and Ben Calabretta of BEN-AIR, and admire their integrity, experience, and professionalism.