Farnen & Dermer

Beware of this company! 0 stars for Farnen & Dermer and 0 stars for the technician Charlie. The most important part of repairing a clients home is trust. I do NOT trust Farnen & Dermer. The technician showed up two hours late and there was no communication. The maintenance check turned into a $3k invoice. The repairs the technician reviewed with me are not listed on the inspection report. The technician used deceptive tactics to complete a service that was not necessary and I did not agree to. This company may try a bait and switch with you. Do not make the same mistake I did. Call anyone else but this company!!

Farnen & Dermer completely ripped me off! My unit is still under the 10 year warranty which means parts are covered and I am responsible for labor. I confirmed this on the phone when I made my appointment. They fixed my unit today within 30 minutes and charged me $450 dollars for 30 minutes of labor! They first told me it would be $495 and I was shocked and upset and asked the technician to call the office and confirm this is the charge for 30 minutes of labor. The technician called the office and confirmed that was the price of 30 min of labor, but did me a "favor" and reduced it to $450 with a free service visit in the fall. What a scam!! I explained this was unacceptable to charge someone $450 for 30minutes of HVAC labor. A labor change of $450 should be clearly communicated when I made the service call confirming my unit was under warranty. Instead they did the work, without telling me the price, and dropped this ridiculous bill on me and I was stuck!! I would have NEVER agreed to a 30 minute labor bill of $450. What a SCAM and RIPOFF!! Had I known this up front, I would have went to another company. F&D company and warranty is a RIPOFF and SCAM!!!!

The serviceman checked out the inside and outside unit efficiently. I asked him to change the filter for my humidifier as it had not been done since it was installed in 2016. He refused saying that it wasn't needed for the AC.

Terrible. Plumber was late. Had a repair previously and hadn't patched the hole, he went there and said it was leaking and they could fix it for $1250, when it was not even an issue and was not leaking. We called about the toilet leaking, asked for estimate to have toilet pulled, estimate was reasonable, but other estimates were not. Asked for one to replace washers in the faucets in bathroom sink. Was told they don't do that and they would replace the fixtures instead for $349. He also gave us a couple of other estimates that were outrageous. At that point we didn't trust him to do the work we actually called about (pulling the toilet and replacing the wax ring), so we just paid the $129 service fee . Would definitely not recommend this company to anyone.

I would 100% NOT recommend this company for any heating or cooling needs. My heat went out this past Friday on one of the coldest days of the year. I scheduled an emergency Saturday appointment where I was told to replace my three-year-old furnace or at the very least order some new parts. The technician left my house leaving me without any heat. A second company came out and without replacing any parts or recommending a total system replacement was able to fix my problem they are by giving me heat in my house. When I called to complain I was told that my furnace is cheap and would break again and the other company doesn't know what are doing. Customer service was awful. Long story short this company is a scam and only wanted to upsell me.

It went smoothly, performed exactly as explained to me when cost estimate was provided.

They had the best possible price. They were able to do the job for lessthan $6000.

They do good work. I will continue to use them.

These guys are phenomenal. They are all very knowledgeable about the product they sell, and put a lot of time into making sure I got the best system to meet my needs, helping me fine tune exactly what I was looking for. I knew I wanted an efficient system and pair it with my Nest thermostat. Ed (the owner) met my enthusiasm level and made sure I got exactly what I was looking for in a 2-stage heating, 2-stage compressor, and variable-speed fan system. The install team consisted of 3 guys who were all very hard working, respectful, and really knew what they were doing. They had my old system out in less than 2 hours, had the new system installed, ducted, brazed, and charged a few hours after that. They re-routed my condensate lines (adding a new condensate pump), installed a new disconnect switch outside, put in an upgraded air-filtration system, included a new line-set, and extended my fresh air intake to pull from outside rather than the basement. They programmed the settings on the variable speed fan exactly where I wanted it, and made sure everything connected properly with my Nest thermostat in both heating and cooling utilizing both stages. I really appreciated the fact that they didn't try to "nickle and dime" me. For example, the fact that I needed a condensate pump was not an "extra" charge" - the estimate on the contract was the price I paid exactly. They could have easily tried to squeeze an extra $100 out of me for that, and I really appreciated that the price didn't creep up on me. I had received quotes from other companies that were adamant about wanting me to throw away my existing thermostat to buy their expensive one, and were offended that I asked more detailed questions. All my other estimates from other companies were the standard "here are 2-3 options, pick one of those". Farnen & Dermer were the opposite - they seemed to really like that I wanted to know as much as possible about my system, and were happy to answer all of my questions. I felt that the system I purchased was the result of a dialog between myself and Ed, that was a mix of his expertise and my desired system and price range. It's important for me to feel like i'm buying what I want to buy, not what they want to sell. I did a lot of research regarding which brand of system to buy. The advice I kept seeing over and over is that the quality of the installation is orders of magnitude more important than the brand of equipment you buy. I felt that these guys did a great job, and didn't cut any corners to try to save a few dollars here and there. Ultimately, I got exactly what I wanted, I paid what I felt was a very fair price given how much work was involved (as well as really good BGE and Trane incentives), everyone I dealt with really knew what they were talking about, and I was treated with respect the throughout entire process. I would recommend them to anyone I know in the area when they need their system replaced.

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Great service and very honest! They told me that the system I had is just what I needed and that I didn't need to buy a new one. I've work with them for over 15 years because they are very good and honest.

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We had a similar situation 2 years ago, Farnen & Dermer replaced the motor, capacitor and blower wheel at that time.  The parts where no longer under warranty.  The technician did not remove the motor to look at it, only measured amp readings.  I was told that it was a faulty motor and that he could replace it again but that my unit was pulling too many amps and that the same thing would happen again.  He suggested a complete new system for $6500 but because the new system would be lower than the existing one, it would effect the coil that the air conditioning uses and that they could not guarantee the air conditioning unit.  He recommended doing the AC as well for $10,000 or $12,000 for an even more efficient model.  Needless to say I was taken aback at the diagnosis and the prices.  While my unit is not new, 12 years, it is also not old and should not need replacing.  I contacted another company for a second opinion.  They took apart the blower and inspected all the parts.  Their conclusion was that in no way did I need a new unit, nor was my furnace pulling too many amps.  I was told the motor's bearings were not good and causing the vibrations therefore the noise, was also told the fan speed had not been set correctly.  After the blower was put back together, it actually made very little noise.  Was told motor is usable but recommended a new one soon.  I am very upset that after only looking at my furnace and measuring amps I was told a new, very expensive unit was required.  Maybe because I'm a woman and it was very cold, the technician thought I would agree or maybe the technician misdiagnosed the problem, either way I was unhappy.  I was also charged $125 for the call which they had every right to do; however, it was the same motor that they replaced, would of been considerate of them to, at a minimum reduce their higher than normal rate. 

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Our old unit was almost 20 years old and needed replaced. They were really, really good! The technician was very personable, cleaned up everything, and it was quick. They put plastic around the area to help with the clean up as well. They tested everything several times to make sure everything was running correctly!

I got three estimates for both projects.  Fernen & Dermer turned out to be the least expensive (by a tiny margin) when it came to replacing the boiler, and was more expensive but had the best financing option when installing the air.  I'll probably be looking for someone else in the future. 
First, I'll start with the boiler.  The original 1964 boiler had been acting up for a few years and we wanted to replace it.  Farnen & Dermer sells Columbia boilers, which is what was there and has a generally pretty good reputation, as far as I can tell.  The sales rep, Ed, told me that I would easily see a 40% reduction in our heating bill because of the more efficient system (for the record, I have not seen anything close to this, and the guy that actually did the work said it would be closer to 25-30%).  
The installers arrived promptly when they said they would and got to work quickly.  They were very respectful of our home but seemed forgetful--they forgot to tighten some bolts, resulting in a slow leak from the water pipes, forgot to increase the pressure to the appropriate amount in the radiator pipe system, and forgot to reattach the washing machine hose to the drain (which they must have used to drain the water from the original system before removing it?).  Because they neither let us know they were going to do that or replaced the pipe, our finished basement got very wet when we went to do a load of laundry.  I'll have to tear out a bunch of drywall to fix the problem, which will end up costing me more money.  I brought this to their attention via email and got no response.
Now to the AC.  It went similarly to the boiler.  The sales rep (same guy) really pushed the higher efficiency model that costs more, but I wasn't really surprised by that.  You have to do your own research.  The guys arrived promptly again each of the 4 days that this project took.  They didn't really consult me on a few of the options that I would have preferred to have a say in (location of vents, piping through the home).  I guess I'll have to live with it, though, as I didn't catch them until they had destroyed the wood floor and, if I am going to have to re-drywall and tile the basement bathroom and laundry room, I can't afford to also repair the wood floors they destroyed, and I certainly couldn't live with gaping holes in my floors had I forced them to move the pipe to the logical location after the fact.  
After the main installs on both items, there were many cases where they had to come back to fix something here or there in their work.  The loose pipes on the boiler, as I mentioned before, as well as a thermostat that wasn't connected properly and a missing pipe that the inspector found (that's a whole other story--I'll get there in a minute).  I ended up missing a lot of work time to continually let Cliff in (the repair guy they often sent to my house to fix the other guys' mistakes.  He is great--I would totally hire him again, were he independent).  However, I should mention that they did send someone out very quickly to fix any issues that had come up.  In some cases, same day.
Last item--getting the inspection.  First of all, they never informed me that I needed an inspection.  I happened to call the inspection office and ask if I needed one, which they said yes.  When I called F&D back to see about them getting one on my behalf, I got a lot of push back about how I didn't really need one and it's just a pain and "we know what we're doing".  Since I understand there's a fine if you don't get one, I pressed the issue and they eventually applied for one on our behalf.  
That was the last straw for me; it seemed kind of dishonest or lazy.  Add that on to the misrepresentation of the savings we should receive because of the energy efficiency of the boiler (I'll see the full extent of that fib this coming winter) and the fact that I didn't even get a "sorry" for (or an acknowledgement at all of) the damage they did to the basement with the forgotten drain pipe, I'm just ready to give another company a try.

I was very pleased with them and they offer no interest financing. They were perfectly confident, and I was more than satisfied.

Ed was patient with us while we planned out a complicated project and then upon installation the technician was clean and thorough.

The company is excellent. They got the work done in a timely manner and they were very efficient. Everything has been working properly since. I would recommend them to anyone. They did a great job.

Great - they did what they said and stayed very late to make sure we had heat when the breakdown of existing equipment took longer than anticipate (revealed conditions). System works great.

We were in desperate straights with no air and company arriving from out of town. They were very accommodating and fit us in the next day. But we were charged $489 to replace a capacitor. $95 service charge. So that's nearly $400 just for a capacitor which took about 10 minutes to replace. I have since priced them online and feel so cheated. We would have used them again, they seemed so nice and helped us out -- but it's obvious now that they took advantage of us. I have never written a negative review but I feel compelled to warn others.