Thompson - Best Heating & Air Conditioning Co.

When we bought our house, we had a technician come out to look at the gas fireplace. He found that a thermocouple was damaged, told us that he did not have one on his truck and it would take "a day or two" to get a replacement. He also said that when the replacement arrived, they would call me to set up an appointment. After a week or so, having heard nothing, we called Thompson Best to ask if the part had arrived. The person with whom we spoke said something like, "Oh, you mean we were supposed to order that?" After a few more days, we got a call saying the part had arrived, and set up an appointment. The technician arrived, tried to replace the thermocouple, only to find the replacement part was not the correct one. He rummaged around in his van and, miraculously, found a part he thought would work. Tech replaced this part, and was able to get the fireplace lit, but only producing a pathetic little flame that was barely visible. When we asked him about this, he stated that it was adjusted all the way up, and that the flame height depended on the quality of the fireplace that was installed in the house (I did some reading and found that there are several things that can cause a low flame, none of which this tech attempted to check). The fireplace remained lit for an hour or so. We turned it off, and shortly after, tried turning it back on, only to find that it would not light at all. The only positive note here is that, when I called to complain and told them that I would not pay for that service call, they agreed to shred my check. I'll now go hire someone that knows something about gas fireplaces.

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Best HVAC Service on 7/3/2014. (Now called "Thompson Best Heating & Air Conditioning" since they bought another local company and absorbed their name) Let me start off by saying that I really feel ripped off. While they DID come out when they said they would (a ROUGH arrival window of "some time in the morning," and "we'll call you to let you know a closer time," ...typical for mechanical contractors) the guy (Joe, a bit surly but at least would talk to me) diagnosed AND fixed the A/C problem in 10 minutes. They charged $109 for the labor, which was fair. So, that's the good part.
BUT....
here's the bad part, and and this is a BIG one, IMO. They charged me nearly 8 times the cost of the new capacitor needed to fix our A/C at my mother-in-law's house. The part cost around $20 (no more) from multiple sources online and they charged me $154 for the part. WOW! To be clear, I didn't give the tech a hard time. He was just doing his job and going by guidelines from a binder he carried with him (with pricing structure) when writing up his service invoice. I know he's not the owner and doesn't make these decisions, so I paid his bill with no complaints to him, and I thanked him for his time. I have to say that this is absolutely predatory behavior and taking advantage of someone in dire need when they are ROASTING in their home. I can see a 100-200% mark-up still being within the level of acceptability, but this (8x mark-up) is NOT OK!
I did home computer service and support for many years, and I frequently sold my clients parts that they needed, which I often carried in my vehicle and had available, in order for them to continue operations by the time I left their home. I would RARELY mark-up an item by more than 50%, maybe a 100% mark-up for cheap items like cables, etc. Anything more than 100%, and I KNEW I would lose business from customers who felt they were being fleeced.
If they want to charge more, just charge for a bit of extra labor, that won't be so obvious; but to be so blatant and egregious, that's not OK in any way. Shame on them!
In conclusion, I will NEVER use their services again, and will be clear to ask, in advance, how much they charge for parts over retail in the future BEFORE setting up an appointment with another HVAC provider.
I hope this helps the next person who is considering (Thompson) Best for HVAC services.
Good luck!

Pre-inspection was performed the day before installation at the time they had previously scheduled.  Techs were polite and informative.  Gave me a time that they would be there the next day to start the installation.  Arrived on time the next day and began removing the old equipment.  Everything went smoothly and the unit was completely replaced and the new unit in service in 4 hours.  The start time had been arrived at to insure a one day replacement that would be done prior to the late afternoon. Everything was professionally done and all debris and trash was picked up and removed.  Techs were polite and answered my questions during the installation.  All necessary equipment and tools were on the job site and there were no trips were the techs left the site to get any supplies.  Installation proceeded from start to finish without a break.  The only thing that remains to be done is a return trip is needed to investigate an airflow problem that I have that existed before the installation and had nothing to do with the new installation.  I'm very happy with the installation and the new unit has been working great.

Excellent customer service, prices. my heat broke on a freezing cold day. They were here in 2 hours and fixed it immediately.