ENVIRO DUCT CLEANING

Summary: Bad news when busy consumer, trying to save time, meets aggressive vendor taking his chances on getting paid.
Owner of house was busy, traveling overseas, asked paid staff to look into prices for cleaning ducts in house in East Hampton.
Company was called by staff, came to the house while owner was in Europe based on the inquiry, without being in touch with the owner. Rather than providing estimate, company went ahead and cleaned the vents in one part of the house with a heavy-duty vacuum and cleaned the central air conditioner while owner was away, but missed the vents in another part of the house. Bill came in above $1,000 including the tax, more than expected ($300-$500 for a typical house is a range quoted by an expert in the business on the web).
Owner contacted the company with five concerns (1) wanted to be there to observe the work, (2) was not in touch with company, (3) no estimate ahead of appearance, (4) surprised by size of bill, (5) company did not clean vents in part of the house. After long arguments, the bill was settled at a lower price and was paid.
Customer learned lesson: Don't try to save time by asking anyone else to contact a vendor on your behalf except to get prices. Otherwise you will probably spend the time following up on the work later.
Maybe company learned lesson as well: Don't assume that things are fine if you haven't been asked for an estimate before the job, you haven't been in touch with the person you expect to pay for the work, and that person is not there at the time, because (1) maybe you are going to have trouble having your bill paid, and (2) very likely you are not going to get an A review.

I DID NOT EVEN KNOW THAT THE AIR DUCTS NEEDED TO BE CLEANED. IN ENGLAND, WE HAVE A DIFFERENT KIND OF HEATING SYSTEM. THEY SHOWED ME THE PIECES OF DRYWALL AND OTHER DIRT THAT WAS FOUND IN MY AIR DUCTS. IT HAD TO HAVE BEEN THERE FOR A WHILE.