NEW ENGLAND HVAC SVC CORP

We called to have out HVAC unit serviced because our tenants said it was not working properly. We had instructed our tenants to call us to get approval for any repairs over $200. My tenant called me and said that the technician stated repairs would cost up to $500. The labor cost plus $85/lb of Freon used. We were told that the Freon had leaked and needed to be refilled. I explicitly told my tenant I would call her back after I conferred with my husband who was in Japan. After speaking to my husband, we agreed that we needed to fix the source of the leak before any Freon was topped up. When I called my tenant back, I asked to speak to the technician Fred directly. He called me back and informed me that there was a leak in the evaporator coil and the coil needed to be replaced. It could not be fixed. He quoted us $3200 to get the coil replaced. I relayed all this information back to my husband. We agreed we needed to fix the problem rather than do the temporary fix of putting more Freon in the system and having it leak out again down the road. When I called Fred back, he had already put Freon in the system without our approval. I told him we never gave him authorization to do the work. Fred stated our tenant gave him the authorization. I told Fred he needed to call my husband and explain the situation. He said he would have his boss Bob call him. My husband called Bob and he started using profanity and yelling at my husband. At this point, I called Fred to get a better idea of what happened. Fred stated he had already done the work prior to my tenant even calling me initially to let me know the repair work would be over $200. He also put the Freon in the system before trying to locate the source of the leak. I called another HVAC contractor we have used in the past and conferred with him for his expert advice. He first stated that the average price of Freon in NJ ranged between $50-65/lb. Secondly, he said he would normally charge $900 to replace an evaporator coil. NE HVAC was charging $85/lb for Freon and was going to charge $3200 to replace an evaporator coil. He also stated that without trying to find how large the leak was, it would not make sense to just top off the Freon. And if the leak was large enough, it would be against EPA regulations to allow Freon to leak unchecked. When I attempted to call Bob back, he started yelling and screaming at me on the phone and hung up on me.