Harvey W Hottel Inc

I would highly recommend their services for heating and air conditioning. However, they no longer do duct cleaning services.

Our old Victorian house had radiator heat and window air conditioning units. It is also very leaky from an energy perspective (as many really old houses are). One of our priorities when we bought the house earlier this year was to install the most efficient geothermal system possible. Price was not as much of a consideration to us as quality and value. Because the cost of this project was so high, we interviewed four geothermal companies, all of which had a lot of experience with geothermal and most of which were Water Furnace and quot;GeoProand quot; dealers. Each of the companies had its good points, and I think we would have been ok hiring any of them. However, Harvey Hottel's proposal was by far the most complete, and Earl Post (the lead assigned to our project) was the most responsive. Moreover, the system that Earl designed for us was heads and shoulders above the systems proposed by the other companies. We love the fact that we have thermostats on each floor, giving us the ability to control the temperature with the system (rather than just opening and closing registers). The cost for this system was not the lowest of the bids, but we have more features so we still think we got a good value. Scheduling the installation was a bit of a challenge, because we were also having other work done (new roof, new sewer line) that needed to be completed first. We agreed on a start date of the first week in July, but there was a bit of miscommunication; Harvel Hottel was waiting for us to give the all clear from the roofing job, and we thought we had a firm date -- our misunderstanding -- so the work did not start until mid-July. Once it got started, though, the company worked hard and it took a couple of weeks to get everything up and running. We understand that retrofitting houses is much more difficult than installing a system in new construction, but Harvey Hottel's team (and its crew foreman Black) did a good job in putting in the ductwork. There were a few hiccups along the way -- some of the registers in the ceiling don't seem perfectly secure and the house was a real mess(!) when the work was finished (but to be fair they warned us about this -- cutting holes in plaster is dusty work); however, Harvey Hottel was generally responsive in fixing problems, and at the end of the day we're satisfied with the quality of the work and the system that we have. Finally, we'd like to thank Earl for answering all of our questions -- we may well have gone with another company had Earl not been so responsive and patient. And his system design, again -- really nice!

I purchased an air conditioning system diagnostic. What I got was someone who told me I needed to spend $450 on an air duct diagnostic. Since when are the air ducts not part of the air conditioning sytem? Feels like this $28 'service' is simply part of a baiting tactic to get them in to sell far more expensive services. Very dissatisfied. Despite all this, I asked about scheduling the air duct diagnostic and was hoping to talk them down in price since it is for a very small apartment and therefore few air ducts. They never called back.

I had scheduled a furnace tune-up and checkup for my rental property. They gave me a window of 12-5pm on Friday. I took off from work. I called around 3:00pm to inquire when the technician, will arrive. They told me that I am the next one in the queue and he should arrive in an hours or so. I called again around 4:45 pm and got the same answer. No one ever showed up. I tried to call around 5:30 no one picked up since it was after hours. I called their emergency line and left a message in frustration. Finally someone called me back around 8:05 pm and said that he could come now or some other day to do the job. I asked him to come now. He arrived finally around 9:00pm. Looked at furnace for 10 minutes did some dye testing and told me that I have cracked gas exchangers. I asked him to show me her cracks, but he wasn’t able to. He just said since the fluorescent dye can be seen in the gas exchangers its I cracked. He shut my furnace down, put a red label of hazard sign and gave me an estimate of $3600 and $4200 for 2 diffrent model(Bryant) of new furnace. I compared the price of the similar furnace and got estimates much lower than his estimate. He called me next week to let me know that his supervisor can reduce the price of 3600 model to 3100 and 4200 to 3700 which was still over around $500 for the same mode that I got from other palcesl. I really don’t trust this company and would never return back to them for any services.

A young guy showed up on time for the appointment. He was nice enough, but didn't seem all that experienced or knowledgeable about hvac systems. He performed some of the tasks, but then found a bigger issues, that required repairs or replacement of the HVAC. I was prepared for this possibility, but the workers just didn't really handle the situation all that well. He made a comment about how there was a dangerous odor coming from the furnace. Yet, the odor he mentioned had nothing to do with the furnace, it was an old oil tank that is in our basement in a separate room. The company didn't end up finishing all of the cleaning etc. because of the bigger issues with the furnace, and weren't even there that long, yet didn't offer a refund or to return later or anything of the sort. So basically, they did 1/4 of the job they were supposed to for the price. They then gave a quote for a repair/ replacement of the system. Their numbers were outlandish and they really thought we were foolish enough to feel desparate and go with them, since they discovered we had a problem on our hands. I called around to other places and received product prices significantly cheaper than what Harvey W. Hottle quoted and tried to rip me off for. These guys just don't seem that honest and really seem to be looking to take advantage of people.

This worked out very well. I had them inspect and tune up the furnace. The technician was able to accomplish what we needed done by checking the system and making run properly. He was very thorough. Scheduling worked out just fine as well.

Diagnosed the AC unit and found that the AC was leaking coolant.

The AC functioned well thereafter.

Very informative, but punctuality and price proved a bit of a problem.

I can't begin to say enough good things about the company, Harvey W. Hottel Inc because they did everything they said they would do, and then some along with providing great customer service. They provided the best price for the GEO work against 3 other competitors. Their personnel showed up on time, acted professionally and carried out the geothermal install work in an expeditious manner. They provided pros and cons with various GEO equipment options to get me what I thought was the best package for my property. When the Montgomery County tree inspectors made me stop work on my geothermal wells, it delayed the completion and activation of the GEO Water Furnace units for 6 weeks (May 25-July 15)--leaving me without any existing air conditioning. However, Harvey W. Hotttel Inc provided and hooked up a heat pump unit that provided air conditioning that got me through that time at no charge. Their foresight and professionalism to do a good job made things bearable even without me asking. If you are looking at any type of Geothermal or HVAC work, this is the company I would recommend. BTW - the Geo units they installed are awesome!

They were okay. They showed up on time and provided feedback on what could be wrong with our system. I wanted to get a second opinion following a visit from another company through our home warranty. Unfortunately, Harvey Hottel recommended a service that would have voided the warranty. The recommendation that would have voided the warranty on the unit was discussed with two other vendors who confirmed that doing as Harvey Hottel recommended would void that warranty. Aside from the negligent recommendation, I had them come out for a quote to switch our unit over to dual electric/gas. Although friendly, it took them a LONG time to get a quote back to us. It did not seem like a priority. Additionally the quoted price was quite expensive. A lot more than competitors had quoted us.

Very disappointed. My service address is in Prince George's County. The firm's page clearly states that they service Prince George's County, but when I called, was told that they did not service this area.

The technician was on time and very knowledgeable. He was here for about 40 minutes, performing a complete inspection. No problems found or and quot;add-ons' pushed on us.

They did a great job. They did exactly what they said they were going to do. We talked about a number of other issues that are facing me in the home, not just around the HVAC and they provided examples and suggestions of ways that we could rectify those issues. We just haven't been able to take advantage of any of those. I think the deal they gave was excellent.

They subcontracted with Huber Geothermal and the process took 6 weeks longer than it should have - and had to be redone. Little communication and the lead contractor had limited visibility on the project.

Everything went just fine. The technician was polite and went right to work on both the outside and inside units. My only issue is that I was given a 4 hour window and was told they would call when they are getting close to showing up, but I never got that call and it was time to nurse my baby. I would have liked that call so I could plan the feeding time a little better.

Harvey W. Hottel Inc. have reasonable prices. They've been fine. They're on time and do the job. I called them for plumbing work separately a couple of times and wasn't as pleased with their plumbing and air duct installing, not duct work but the covers for it. I didn't think they were as thorough as they could have been. With the plumbing, they didn't really fix the problem. He assured us it was something that I don't think it really was.

They are fine and I've never had an issue. They're polite, clean and efficient. I don't know comparably how they are to other people on price so I have no way of judging, but, as far as the things I mentioned, that would be my recommendation. They've been with me for quite a few years.

Harvey W Hottel Inc is local company that we had a service contract with for over the past 4 years. They installed a new heat pump system and a water heater. Called them when the old water heater started leaking and they came out the next morning. Very good job with the installations. Very happy with the experience and preventive maintenance from them. Pricing was reasonable for the work performed.

The service was fine and met my expectations.

I know they're not top rated but I've had EXCELLENT results on things where I had problems with other service providers in the past.

We had a few people who come out and most of them were in $5,000 to $50,000 range. Actually, we haven't figured out yet who we are going to use on that project. We have to look through our quote to see if we would use them again.

They were quick to judge the existing geothermal unit (5 minutes) but never sent in a quote nor call back when they were contacted to find out what happened to the quote. In short , without doing through testing, they told me that they would have to gut every thing out and start over again but never followed through. For referrence, Gary Frank, Inc, who ended up doing the job for us, spent about 3 days worth of diagnostics to learn about the nature of the problem, gave us options and costs, and made sure that they and we understood everything before anything was proposed. The geothermal seem to be in working condition for about 6 months now done by Gary Frank, Inc.

They were good. I thought they were pretty professional. They showed up on time and did the job. I actually would refer them. Their initial price I thought was expensive but that is because I live in an expensive zip code. But then I said that I wasn't going to pay that price and they negotiated and we had settled prices that was very reasonable. I ended up with a good value. They were very professional and flexible. One time I couldn't make it, they rescheduled and were very agreeable about it. They didn't get mad at me or anything. That is one of the reason that I would recommend them.

I never used their service as I decided to switch home heating oil providers. They were responsive and punctual in getting me information. I ultimately went with the lower priced provider.