Sila Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electrical

On time, serviced AC and showed me everything about my unit.

Called because of leaking in our hot water radiator system and because pilot was going out randomly in the boiler. They initially scheduled us for two days out, but called back when they had an opening and managed to make it on the same day. The crew who showed up was fast and to the point. They gave an honest assessment of the situation (as far as I could tell), including short-term, stop-gap fixes, versus large job serious replacement kinds of repairs. They recommended, and I accepted, some short term fixes, and they were clear about the possible drawbacks. As far as I can tell, the work they did was good and solid. The price was a bit steep -- their "replace thermocouple standard service" was $125 (it's a $12 part at Home Depot). But all service people are expensive for a site visit, I guess, and I suppose we're really paying them for "know what to replace" rather than the part itself. Oh well. I did appreciate that they took time to walk me through some of the ins and outs of the radiator system. (I have never lived in a house with a hot water radiator before.) So bonus points to them for fielding a bunch of newbie questions patiently.

I've had several services performed by Sila, and I'm always impressed by the care they take in keeping the house clean by either putting booties over their shoes or by using the direct basement entrance. Regarding the service in this review, I had purchased an under sink water filter and hired Sila to install it. The plumber arrived promptly and quickly read and absorbed the installation requirements for the water filter. He then the installed the filter and tested it for leaks. He also made sure I understood how to replace the filter canisters. He was done exactly in the hour he had estimated. Nice job.

They were very pleasant and fast. They did a good job and I didn't have any problems with them. Their price was very good as well.

Moved in a couple years ago and adopted Sila as HVAC company. Contract for 4 systems for preventive maintenance. First visit they upgraded a couple components (units are original to house - 15 years old). Knowledgeable, thorough, courteous, and punctual. Sila has the expertise and facilities to handle emergencies promptly (we haven't had any, but an important consideration when contracting for 24/7 coverage). Picked random date (today as I right this) because the service is continuous. Cost shown is two years of PM on 4 systems, plus purchased upgrades (estimate - I didn't check my records).

I selected Sila because of their preponderance of positive reviews on Angie's List. Initial scheduling went extremely smoothly, with the dispatcher being able to send someone out within a couple days, at a time where my wife could be home. The technician spent more than two hours on-site, including considerable time with the condenser unit outside, and with the heating / fan unit inside. During this time he removed sound-deadening baffles in the fan unit in an attempt to increase airflow throughout the unit. The technician was also dismissive of my wife's questions during the visit, leaving her in a fairly foul disposition about the interaction. When she told me how much we were charged for diagnosis, I too shared her disposition. Several days later we received a proposal for three phases of work totaling around $10,000. The first phase to correct the basic problem -- cleaning coils, 'changing the pitch of evaporator coil', reversing a return duct to be a supply, replace thermostat (which I had hoped they would replace on the first visit), and install a device to prevent freeze-up during 2nd stage operation -- was quoted at $2500. The third phase entailed replacing the outside condenser ("It has a rattle") for $6700. I called John to understand his diagnosis and discuss his quote further, and while he was readily available, I did not feel comfortable at all in asking questions. I also felt that I was being moved up in terms of scope and cost (my highest priority was to get the initial problem fixed, and while I'm not and HVAC expert, I know enough about these things to at least ask thoughtful questions). We left it that I would be seeking other quotes because the scope and cost he quoted was far greater than I expected. Unfortunately I did not get back to considering other options until end of the summer (by which time my family and borne the burden of not having a healthy AC all summer). I again called John around Labor Day to revisit his quote, and see if he would break apart his $2500 quote into parts so that I could just do the work necessary to fix the original problem; John said he could do that, but in the span of a 20-minute conversation, he again re-bundled several elements of work, and then began re-selling me on the higher scope ("You know, there's a rattle in that condenser..."). I insisted that while I'd like to work with him to get my original problem fixed, I would need to see an a-la-carte pricing for just the work I wanted done before moving forward. John said he was send that over email, but after hanging up from that call I never heard from John again. Ultimately I had another (smaller) shop in the area do the right amount of work to fix the problem for $400 diagnosis and $800 repair. Worth noting: John had cited as a significant cost contributor in the $2500 scope the cleaning of the coils in the inside fan unit (work to open the unit, clean, and then re-seal the unit). When the small-shop guys visited, as part of their assessment they unscrewed and pulled back a panel to show me a nearly-new-looking coil (shiny!), which left me thoroughly confused as to why John was leaving me feeling like my unit was a filthy mess that would take hours to clean. Overall we had a negative experience with Sila, which I see is different than many people's experience on Angie's List. The dispatch portion of our interaction was positive; however all interactions having to do with the technician we had were negative: he never closed the loop on our last conversation, which I would have expected as a professional courtesy; he was dismissive of questions from both my wife and me; and that I felt then (and also now that I have a working AC system) that I was being urged to commit to significant work and expense that I did not need.

Service were pereformed as described.

When I tried to schedule service they stated that they do not service our area because it is too far away from there offices. Its a 48 minute drive and the website lists service areas in other states further away than our home. I believe that they did not want to honor the coupon because it was too far a drive for the money. The angies list page for them states ENTIRE AREA for service area and there website clearly identifies most of New England for service. I am just disappointed that they wasted my time, and are selling coupons via angies list that they will not honor.

Jim made an effort to get the work done before the holidays, at our request. The only issues were about the billing. We did oot know we would need to pay when the work was completed, expecting to be billed, since my wife and I were both at work when the work was done. Everything was eventually worked out to our satisfaction. All in all, this is a highly professional service provider.

The first time I used Sila was in July or August, when I'd bought a groupon for a A/C tune-up. When I called to book them, the customer service people were very nice. The man who came to check out the system (I believe his name was Peter) was prompt and very nice - he even wore booties on his feet when he came in the house (which really wasn't necessary, but it certainly was considerate). My system is quite old (it's a heat-pump with some sort of auxiliary heat) and he told me that, but he didn't push or pressure me to upgrade - just gave me some general info about what I could expect if it died. He said he didn't end up needing to recharge the freon (?) or do anything major, just checked it out and changed the filters, so it was really quite quick. The most recent time I used Sila was a few weeks ago. I wanted to install a programmable thermostat in my place, and despite the fact that I'd done it a few times before, because of the type of system I have, the instructions told me that I shouldn't, under any circumstances, do it myself. Even my electrician said he didn't want to mess with it and that I should only use an HVAC tech. So I started calling around for prices to different HVAC companies, and since Peter had been great before, my first call was Sila. I spoke with a very nice gentleman who told me that he would ask his boss what they would charge (it didn't seem right that it would take a full $180/hr service call just to install a thermostat) and someone would call me back. Two weeks went by with no return call, so I kept calling around (this is the only reason I'm giving a B for responsiveness). As it turned out, most of the companies I called either said they would charge a little less than Sila but didn't sound optimistic that it would take only one hour (?!) or they were going to charge around the same amount. In the end, I called back to Sila and spoke with a nice woman who was able to book an appointment that worked with my schedule and I was able to use an Angie's List coupon to save a little cash. Sila had to change the window for my appointment on the day of the appt, towards the end of the window, but the guy who called (I think it was Jake) was good about keeping me informed about the tech's ETA. The serviceman who arrived was named John. He was not much for conversation, but was professional and neat. He finished in just about an hour and was on his way, and so far, my heat seems to work fine. Certainly it hasn't gotten really cold yet, so I suppose I should wait to see whether the auxiliary system kicks on when it's supposed to, but other than that, it seems fine.

Sila reps came promptly and made a replacement proposal which contained very little information. This was rejected because reps pressed for immediate acceptance without giving me sufficient detail and information, apparently expecting me to make an uninformed decision without getting information about and considering alternatives. Giving a potential customer time for such consideration should be normal practice. This is what was done by two other heating contractors who came and gave me estimates and proposals with much fuller information. I consider the Sila marketing strategy of trying to rush a potential customer into an inadequately informed decision to be utterly unethical -- more like the proverbial used car salesman than an agent of a reputable company. For that reason I will never use Sila again. I have informed the sales manager involved of these reasons why I terminated discussion of a replacement with the company.

Overall, the cost and time for complete repair was unsatisfactory.

My experience was satisfactory. I would use them again.

Technician showed up on time and put up with all my questions (and I tend to have a lot). He was thorough and polite (and didn't talk down to me - I'm a woman and get annoyed when technicians think they need to talk in simple terms for me). I will use Sila again this coming year for my yearly maintenance...

$89 special for gas furnace service. It was satisfactory I guess, as he came and serviced the unit for a little while. Then he tried to convince me to replace my entire heating and AC systems through them. Not a lot of explanation.

Professional review, no hard sell on upgrades.

Company responded and showed up on time. The tech was very knowledgeable. Gave me very specific advice ion what needed to be done and what could wait. Felt like they were very focused on taking care of the customer. I will use Sila from now on.

Sila was GREAT. The repair technician was punctual, courteous to me and my family, and quite knowledgeable. My only comment is that he did not send me a quote for some needed repairs. I was all set to give them our money but alas no quote showed up. I will probably call and ask them for the quote, but I find that very mildly irritating (very very mild).

It went well reasonable and friendly.

I bought the deal through Angie's list as a member. Then contacted the company and scheduled a date for the maintenance. The technician came on the scheduled day on time. He checked up the furnace and worked on the issue that we had - the loudness of the furnace. Everything was done on a timely and professional manner. I would highly recommend Sila heating and air conditioning.

The service was excellent. Very timely, very thorough. Workspace was neat and clean when they left.

It went very well and I was extremely pleased with their services.

The folks at Sila are very good. they respond promptly, and get out to you in a reasonable amount of time. The only issue I have is price, as they are pretty expensive. Additionally, if you have a problem on a weekend, there is an emergency fee that is pretty steep. That said, i would use them again, as they are prompt and trustworthy (on a couple of occasions I had to leave them to head into work.) But you aren't going to get a deal . . .

Awesome. Called them in the morning. Within three hours someone arrived, figured out the problem and completed the work. They called before the work was started gave me a price and even notified me and removed fire hazards in the area from the previous carpenter that did some work. I will definitely use them for all heating issues.

I thought it was a fair price and Sila was prompt and professional.