SantaAir

TLDR: SantaAir failed to let me know my unit was under warranty, causing me to pay to have my unit refilled, recommended a stop leak service, which was 50% of the cost of the actual repair. Only after going to another service company, which found the leak, in 30 mins without using any sort of stop leak. They offered me $100 dollars to refund my $750 repair that did nothing, in promise that I would not post a review online. Long Version: I called Santa Air in early December 2021 to look at my system (the unit freezing up and appeared to likely be low on refrigerant). I had used Santa Air previously with a good experience. They came out and read the system and confirmed it was low on refrigerant, and gave me have 3 options 1) Just fill the system ~400 2) Fill and use stop leak (and you get a 1 refill within 90 days if it leaks) ~750 3) Full leak test (I can’t remember the exact cost, but I believe it was the most expensive option). When we were discussing options I made sure to ask, is this common for a ~5 year old system, how much is a new coil replacement if the coil is leaking, what would you recommend we do if it was your home. I was told a new coil would likely cost me ~3k, and the stop leak works pretty often. We talked about how much a new system would be also. This whole time, they never mentioned to me that the unit might be under a parts warranty. I even said to them it has to have a leak, you were here before (Feb 2019) and we filled it up. I went with option 2, and by early March the unit was low again. They filled it up for free (Option 2), and again didn’t mention the unit was under warranty. I then reached out for a second opinion, and other companies all said that isn’t normal, did they look into the warranty at all? Never once did SantaAir mention that, they just told me it would cost me about 3,000 to replace the coil on my unit. The other company I called out was able to find the leak in about 30 mins, for much less than SantaAir was asking to find the leak, and didn’t even want to fill a unit that was leaking that would be under warranty, as you would just be paying two times, they actually wanted to troubleshoot the issue and do a long term fix for me. I completely understand that the first time out they may just fill the system as they can’t be sure of a leak. However they failed to mention that my unit might be under warranty at all, causing me to pick a solution I would have not had if I had been presented the information that is standard policy by SantaAir which admitted they missed that step in text messages to me. I contacted SantaAir about this and got a lengthy reply which included “I made mistake so just hope that I can get the forgiveness from you. I have no right to ask for it, just hope. That hurts when I lost your trust but at then end of the day, if you feel like we can help, feel free to let me know. Thanks Todd. John”. He then offered me a $100 dollar refund if I agreed to not post about this online. 100 dollars on a 750 dollar repair that he admits he made a mistake on - another quote “And again, we fail to mention about the potential under warranty then. I really understand what you mean and how can we refund all the cost that we've spent for the business to run for all the work. Not to mention, we did it again on Mar which also lead us to the lost.” His company's mistakes lead to extra costs on him, which is not my fault. Instead I am posting my review online, so other customers can see what happened, and hopefully not have this happen to them. He also claimed he didn’t have a good record system back in 2019 and that is why it was missed that he refilled it before, but I talked to them about that at least 2-3 times while they were here. They will likely reply and said I took the chance, but you can see in his messages, I took the chance based on the information he provided, which he admitted was their mistake of not informing me.

From the start John and the other SantaAir employees were so helpful and communicative through texts, calls, and even facetime. The online appointment booking system was also very convenient. John was able to come out quickly (and on a Saturday!) to repair our AC. Otherwise we would have had to deal with no AC all weekend while the temperature was in the 90s! The repair ended up being more complicated than originally thought, but John stuck with his original quoted price. We will only use SantaAir for our HVAC needs from now on.

Overall quality was most excellent. Although they did not find the problem on their first visit, they were happy to come out and look deeper into the issue. They found the problem, fixed it, made great suggestions for keeping AC healthier and even saved me $. I felt like they cared and had my back.

John was excellent. Very professional and honest. He gave a very accurate diagnosis and assessment of the problem, and cost-conscious options of what to do. What an incredible breath of fresh air. Instead of the big company company that ran disaster scare tactics on me, trying to rip me off by only recommending completely new replacement systems, John gave a true realistic assessment of what is going on and what should be done. This way you know the full options, so you can get fixed up without wasting money on unnecessary spending.

John as usual was outstanding. He showed up on time, dived directly into the work, figured out the problem and then - and this is the part that makes him special - he fixed it. It turns out the system has 2 x 4k heating units. One had a bad coil, one had a bad control circuit. So he did the smart thing and made one working unit to tide me over while he got parts to effect a full repair. I've no doubt the usual suspects in HVAC would have charged me at least double and not left me with a working system on a night where snow was forecast. I really cant recommend john highly enough, hire him. You wont regret it.

Great. very through

The problem was fixed quickly and our home is once again warm.

John from SantaAir responded to my inquiry within a couple of minutes and scheduled a service for next day morning. He came on-time and performed a tune-up and a non-OEM part replacement within one hour for a reasonable cost that includes 1-yr warranty on the part and labor.

Santa Air was fine. On price, didn't pay any more than the $39.00 that was already paid. They came and serviced it. He did what he said he was going to do and told me what he found.

John traced down all the problems. Every step along the way he explained what he was doing and why. First, he replaced an outside circuit breaker which had gone bad. After we had power to the outside unit, the outside fan came on but not the compressor. Next, John replaced the capacitor which triggers the compressor, and it started! Finally, John checked the Freon level and added some. My house A/C now works like it did years ago. Cooling is great. John is the MAN!

John was very informative. He made suggestions to help prolong my older unit.

I called my regular AC company all day long and they never responded. Near the end of the day I found SantaAir on Angie's list and gave John a call. He answered right away and was at my house within 3 hours (6:30 pm on a Friday during July 4th week)! He quickly diagnosed the problem, replaced a part, and got the cool air flowing again. He pointed out other parts that might need replacing in the future, including the entire unit that is 15 years old. But for now, he said to hold on to our money and get by a little longer. Most companies would have told us to replace it all now and charged big bucks. John understands most people prefer not to shell out money until they have to. I highly recommend John and will call him first next time.

I called John to get a second opinion after another HVAC company told me my heat exchanger was broken in half. John was very responsive and courteous and showed me several pictures illustrating that my heat exchanger was in fact not broken at all but that the problem was actually with one of my valves not recognizing the pilot light. He quickly repaired my system and I will certainly use him again.

John is always punctual and professional. He returns phone calls immediately and takes care of problems quickly and at a reasonable price. He is very knowledgeable and gets the job done right the first time. I highly recommend Santa Air.

Fixed two minor items on system

John did a great job and provided a detailed report on what he found. We had used John in the past for any problem that happened with our systems. He was always on time and did a very professional job at a reasonable price. We also recommended him to many of our friends and they have all been very pleased with the service.

Great! Made several suggestions which were very helpful

Freon pipe had a hole--John patched it up and made sure the fix was good and pumped in freon for my system. John explained the entire process and gave estimates before asking if we would like to proceed with first the Nitrogen test and then the full repair and replacement of freon. He was punctual--the type that called prior to appointment time to verify the schedule and that someone would be home. He was professional, courteous and friendly--explained everything I was concerned about and was knowledgeable about everything. His patience with listening to the history of how all this started and asking of on-the-point questions helped to figure out what may be the cause and how to take care of the AC Unit.

John was punctual and professional. Performed services as requested. That's about all you can ask for.

I couldn't be happier than to have found SantaAir. John was responsive, punctual, professional and genuine. The requirement was checking over some items on a home inspection. As normal the inspector found a list of trivia flagged as 'follow up ' In this case the work performed was corroboration that the systems were working as intended and that the heat exchanger was intact and there was no carbon monoxide present. We found a thermostat that wasn't programmed for the aux heat function. John quickly googled the manual, altered the settings and solved the problem . He is now on speed dial as my go to HVAC guy and will get as much recommendation business as I can send his way. HVAC tends to be a very traditional business, this felt more like dealing with a internet tech company. 10/10 couldn't be happier.

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Their price was extremely reasonable compared to other places. I dealt with John. Overall, they are very good.

Went very well. John was able to come next day and was very prompt. He explained each step he completed and charged what I believe to be a very fair fee. I would certainly hire him again.

The problems were found quickly, then explained to me using pictures John had taken with his phone. Options were offered on how to fix the problem and what it would cost. I felt informed about the problem, and that made me comfortable with making the right decision. Texting is an easy way to contact him. John is easy to work with, efficient, knowledgeable, and has reasonable prices.

John was easy to reach to set up initial appointment, quick to diagnose and fix the problem. He was also willing to look at the second system that stopped working the night before, when he arrived to fix the first one.