ARS / Rescue Rooter Laurel

If you are looking for good customer service and resolution of your AC issues, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. I was very patient and that lack of care and respect for me as a paying client, has led to this complete and thorough review. Saturday evening, I realized my thermostat power was off. My husband does his due-diligence to ensure it is not something that can be resolved quickly. He contacts ARS Rescue Rooter Laurel and they schedule him and confirm via text an appointment for 12 MID - 8AM. This was honestly new and refreshing to know that there were techs that worked overnight. We made accommodations for our young children and I stayed at the house waiting on the tech. 640AM Sunday I call for an eta. The "agent" tells me I am still on the schedule. 800AM I call for an eta. The agent tells me, I am still on the schedule and a message is being sent to dispatch. 830AM I call and the agent lets me know I should have NEVER been scheduled for an overnight call, as they don't have techs to support that window. I ask for a manager and was informed that the managers are on weekend hours. So they will get back to me as soon as possible (within a 24-48 hour window). The new time is schedule for 8AM -11 AM. Again, as it approached 11AM, I call for an eta and the agent just sends a message to dispatch for an update. My level of frustration and downright anger has peaked. I am not hearing from anyone and I am going back and forth about finding a new company. 130PM the tech shows up. At this point still no call from a manager. Still not understanding why no one has addressed the fact that we waited all night and all morning for someone to come, and NO ONE SHOWED. So, 130PM, I know I need to get my house cooled. We have young children and literally are on the tail-end of a heat wave. So, tech "resolves" and proceeds to tell us there is a power issue and he thinks it is just because the screws of the fuse get loose from the movement of the furnace. Well, it is in fact NOT RESOLVED. 4AM I noticed how hot it is in our home, and go check the thermostat and it is off... again. Call ARS Laurel again to get that tech back. They tell us they will be there between 8AM-12PM Monday. So, now I have to adjust again, call into work that I will be late. Well, guess what, not only do they not come during that time. After 5 or more calls to the agents, still no call from a manager, we find out that we are going to be scheduled for 4PM. But that is not where this story ends. I am so fed up with this company, that I reach out to a reliable company, that came out quickly and properly diagnosed and resolved the issue. The next call we received from ARS was at 730PM that a tech was on the way. This was in fact thee worst experience with essential home service providers in my 25 years of home ownership. And guess what, still no call from a manager. Even contact the 901 number for QA... and still no one. So I hope after ever "recorded" phone call, your company evaluates how you will continue to loose business.

I wish I could provide a 0 star rating for each of the 3 times in a week I had to use ARS. I used Home Depot service not knowing who the contractor was until arrival. The first tech #1, does not do any work to the outside unit for a check other than to do 2 freon dumps to check, and then says to get a recharge (which he said he would've replaced what he dumped, HE DID NOT) would cost $500. Looking in the HVAC system for a blown 3a fuse, hooks up a fuse popper, and blows up the transformer. Says that is the issue, does not have another, then leaves. Had to call a second tech to replace the transformer, replaces it, back to square 1, then charges me $521 for a new transformer that tech #1 broke. Then claims the wiring issue is outside and due to my dog (an area he cannot get to). Replaces those wires, tries to charge over $700, but finds out, that was not the issue, and leaves loose wiring in the yard, no protection, no tape, and says I need a $1200 redlink unit to bypass wiring within the walls. I call to complain about the $521 price, and come to find out the tech #1, who tried to sell me on his secondary business outside of ARS, documented nothing and tech #2 lied on the causes of the issue, going back to my dog destroying the hvac system. After 20 phone calls I get "resolution" from a manager, stating they will compensate the $521 into the billing of the redlink ($1200), then (and I have this on a recorded line) the manager says, "how much is that redlink again, like $1700?" Ironically RAISING the price by that $521, and did not lower it until challenged on pricing previously stated. Tech #3 comes out, 2 HOURS LATE, hooks up the red link, and WOW does that ALSO not work, and then says its a contactor issue (that looked fine). Does not try the contactor first in order to save any money and does the contactor after everything, and the HVAC still shut off 4 times during this fix, and then charges me another $450. This has been the worst service I have ever had in my entire life and I will hopefully never use them again.

I engaged this company to install a new HVAC system. Initially, the company demonstrated a high level of professionalism, and there were no issues. However, subsequent problems arose. They installed an incorrect thermostat, which resulted in the heating system failing. The most significant issue, however, involved a malfunctioning condensation pump. The technician provided a quotation of $900 for its replacement and subsequently offered a discount of $700. After contacting customer service, the price was further reduced to $600, yet I was informed that a detailed breakdown of parts and labor could not be provided. When I requested additional time to consider the offer, the manager called me back and applied pressure to accept the $600 deal. Upon my refusal, she stated that the price had reverted to $700. Following my own research, I discovered that the pump was available at Home Depot for $61. Ultimately, I was able to install the pump myself, incurring a total cost of $150.

BUYER BEWARE!!! ARS came to my house. I showed their rep the water heater I wanted from Lowes on their website. Based on this information their rep priced a water heater and tank booster that I approved. I was not home during the installation. When I got home I saw that they had installed an inferior hot water heater and a mixing valve instead of a tank booster - not what I ordered. This was also confirmed by the AA Co. agent who inspected the installation. The cost difference between what I ordered and what was provided is almost $700! I contacted both ARS and Lowes and submitted a Customer Service Complaint. It has been over one month since the HWH was installed. I have called both ARS and Lowes 4 times to get information. I have been told each time that ARS will have their manager contact me for a resolution and no one has called yet. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ARS BASED ON THE TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!!!

Very professional technicican, good personality, thorough, explained any questions I had, glad to know all's well!

Sales people were great and the next day half the company showed up to install our Heat Pump. The technicians were knowledgeable and polite. They did an incredible job.

Bait and switch. Quoted me one price. Started the job and then increased costs.

Do not recommend. Hired ARS to install a water heater (via Lowe’s). An ARS representative came to look at the unit and quoted me $2350 for the install (+$700 for water heater). I agreed despite having quotes from other contractors for considerably less. I was willing to pay extra for what I assumed would be premium service. It was not. The technician arrived the next day and immediately told me the job was going to cost an extra $500 because a water valve needed to be replaced (that’s what a water heater install is - you replace pipes and valves!). This was a standard 1” PVC ball valve that sells for $10 at Lowe’s. I called “the boss” and told him this was an obvious attempt to price gouge (which he didn’t disagree with). It was blatant and obvious. I paid him the additional $500 and told him to he’d be reading about this shortly in my online review. To be transparent, they seemed to have done a good job with the install. Just be prepared for an unanticipated up-charge.

I replaced my filters this week (which I do bi-annually) and used Angi to find a local HVAC service provider to check my systems. I do this twice a year as well; but I've never used ARS for my HVAC servicing before. ARS came by my home today (same day) for a basic HVAC system check. They checked both units, told me they both needed to be repaired, quoted me around $25,000, and offered me a free consultation with their sales rep tomorrow. Oh yeah, now it's 10:55 PM (same day), neither of my systems is working, the house is cold, and everything was warm and cozy before the ARS tech came to my home today and "checked" my systems. I wish I never called them because now neither of my units is warming my home and things were just fine before the ARS tech showed up and messed with my systems. They messed up my systems. My family is paying the price the very first night. Bad business. Very bad business. I paid almost $100 for ARS to cause my systems to fail so they could charge me to fix it.

These people gave the wrong diagnosis, yet charged me a total of $ 485.00. Two technicians can to my home and provided two different diagnosis. Then I was told that a part would not be in until January 2023; subsequently told that the company would not be able to order the part. Two of my neighbors had the same problems with their heater. The problem was water in the inducer and both of them have heat. Lastley, Pepco came to my home to install a thermostat; however was unable to install the thermostat because my heater was not working properly. The pepco employee heard the noise from the furnace and he too stated that the sound was that of water. This confirms what my neighbor had told me; water in the inducer. I will never recommend ARS to anyone, I have yet receive my refund in the amount of $ 485.00.

The person who came to inspect my air conditioning unit last summer lied to me. He used a meter that showed that my air conditioning unit was "bad" and would need to be repaired ASAP. He quoted me about $1,500 for the repair work. I became suspicious of his claim because my A/C. unit has been working well and I had no problems with it. So, I hired another company to inspect my A/C unit to get a second opinion. I spent $35.00 to get a second opinion, and I'm glad I did. The second company that inspected my A/C unit told me that everything was working well and that I didn't have to spend money on more repair work. He also told me that I didn't need to replace a specific part (which is what the ARS repair person told me I should do) because that part appeared to be brand new and was working well. I vaguely remember having that part replaced only a couple of years ago, so the repair person who gave me the second opinion was right. I really am disappointed with the ARS repair person because I felt he lied to me to get more money. I realize that times are tough right now, but busy homeowners like myself shouldn't be misled or lied to. I will never use ARS again for inspection work, and I decided not to renew my annual contract for inspections of my A/C or heating system. I believe the "inspection" is just a sales tactic to make more money on homeowners who are busy and may not be knowledgeable about units.

Excellent service! Arrived on-time and installed all systems in a professional manner. The installers were polite and spent sufficient time explaining the operation of the system. They cleaned up well and were courteous throughout the day. I highly recommend their services.

They were fine, service was fine, been using them for at least 10 years and will definitely use them again moving forward. Very satisfied with their service so far.

Plumber could not get the line clear via snaking. Said their excavation team would need to come out. Promised follow-up that didn't happen. We called repeatedly and were told someone would call to schedule. We ended up calling another plumbing service - they came out same day we called and were able to clear the line.

I had no end of headache with their two systems. before & after installation, i asked for the Manual D, J & S. they kept on ignoring me. I finally got a drawing from them that had my passive solar house 180 degrees reversed and the walls made of vermiculite; they are 12" of concrete. then the said the lost them. meanwhile the system cost of operations was ridiculously high; i had the power company put a 1 second monitor on my meter and sure enough the 100 Amp Emergency Heat was for all intents & purposes running continuously. so after 6 months i got their attention and the came out & found out that the motherboard on the system was bad which caused the system to run on emergency heat all the time. 3 yeas after the install i got fed up with ARS and called SMO to take over the maintenance and and inspect the mess. they took a look at the jumble of wires and started tracing wires. all the wires were connected improperly; my Dehumidifier was wired to Humidify; emergency heat was running when it did not need to; the zone control unit was the wrong one ... it was a mess. i spent $3500 to fix their mess. they put their system in my new house, they have no one to blame! NEVER USE THESE PEOPLE!

They did a good job and showed up on time. I had no complaints on anything and I was pleased with their work and professionalism.

perfectly dealt with many unexpected installation problems

Called in response to a coupon received in the mail. I was provided an 8 hour window to be available (12-8 pm) when scheduling the appointment. That should have been my first warning. Nobody arrived. Nobody called.

Very bad service. First, the plumber told me repeatedly that two plumbers were fired in the same week, so he was very back-up and behind schedule in his service calls. Second, the plumber didn't fix the problem of my runny toilet; however, I still had to pay for the so-called replacement part that didn't work. Third, after making several excuses for not stopping by during the week to fix the problem, he stopped by during the weekend (after hours) to try to fix it again. Finally, after doing some homework and research online, I told him the part that he should use, and sure enough, the part that I recommended actually worked - but only after paying him more money "off the books" to get the job done. As a professional, he should have been the one to do the research online himself rather than me. And to make matters worse, when I initially called to schedule the first appointment, the plumber never showed up. When I called customer service to complain, they claimed they called me about the "no show" appointment, but I have no record of their phone call. I have used ARS for years for inspections for my furnace and A/C. system. I have a contract with them. They also installed my new furnace, A/C, water heater and other major work years ago. I always felt that I could trust them for plumbing - but NO more. I will never call them again for any plumbing work. I felt humiliated and extremely taken advantage of. As a busy professional, I just don't have time to shop around that much. You try to rely on companies that you used in the past and thought you could trust, but again, I will NEVER use ARS again for any plumbing work.

The technician was great. I have used ARS for many years. This technician found several problems that were old and never brought to my attention. For example the humidifier has a pad that should be changed regularly, but I was never informed of this. There was also a hole in the unit where a pipe enters the unit that was never addressed. This should have been sealed when ARS installed the unit, but wasn’t done. While the office staff was friendly and useful for this call, in the past they have been incompetent. They have sent crews to the wrong house and not written down the appointments. We have taken off of work and had no one show up. I will not use them once my service contract expires.

It went well. The technician was on time, careful to don booties while in the house and when done, went over what he had done.

Marvin, the contact person did a good job in providing me a quote and following up with me regularly and did try to make a deal happen. In the end I went with someone else.

They were too expensive for what they did.

They were quick. They came quick, and did the job. I felt like it was a little pricey. I thought about it, and thought I should have went to Angie's List. You will pay for advertising. If a company is well known, you will pay for it on the back end. It was considered an emergency, which it was considered an emergency. My basement was flooding. I felt it was a little pricey. The workmanship and service was fine. I probably could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere. I don't know how realistic it was. My insurance wasn't going to reimburse me for that pipe. It was a little bitty pipe, not a big pipe. A little pvc pipe. I felt it was a little pricey. I found someone who could have done it for $400. It was fine. I would look for someone cheaper.

First it was a problem with roto-rooter. Sent camera man and he couldn't see anything and they determined the line was somehow crushed so we needed a new drain line from the house to the road. When they covered it all up our yard looked like an angry ocean and they left. So then the calls from us started to get this mess leveled out. We're both senior and we couldn't do it. Finally in the first week of May two men came with a backhoe to try and straighten it out. Did fairly ok but left a hump that results in deep water collecting on one side. In all fairness the two young men they sent the first time,, the second man sent couldn't do anything but the last two men were very apologetic and respectful but limited as to what they could do. Learned two invaluable lessons: 1.) never stop payment on a check in Maryland as advised by our lawyer and 2.) don't make final payment until you're happy.