Southtown Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electrical

"I am beginning to see a pattern with false reviews on this site. I just got our login straightened up so I could review our customer comments and am very upset that I can't find where we have serviced this person. I went back to our customer base and they are not in our system for any servicing or installation? I have no one in our system with that name at all or the address! I would like the customer to contact us us please if it was maybe under a different name or address? I cannot address poor reviews when I have no record of our being at their home whatsoever. I can only assume that this is a competitor listing these? Thank you! Terri L. Trame, Pres."

"I am sorry I am late responding to this comment from one of our customers. I pulled the history on this service call. We were contacted in July 8, 2013 for service. We went out and serviced suite #112. Upon arrival we found this split system completely out of refrigerant. With both units being 18 years plus, the technician recommended that the customer consider replacement. They indicated they wanted to entertain a quote and we gave them pricing for a replacement. When you have a system void of refrigerant (and the refrigerant is the phased out R-22) we generally offer a quote for replacing the unit or repair depending on the feedback from the customer. The second, and only other visit to this customer'[Member Information Removed] location was September 9, 2013! I assume the first visit was acceptable because he called us again for service in Sept. The second call was no a/c for suite #270. We responded and this system was empty of refrigerant as well. They approved a leak check be performed and a repair if possible. We performed the leak check, found leaks, repaired them and recharged the system. The customer paid for the service call and we further recommended regular maintenance be performed. We found that someone had bypassed the safeties on this system and we raised some concern about the long term running of the compressor! We didn't hear back after forwarding information about a coil cleaning and pm program. I am not sure what he was upset about or what possibly could have been diagnosed improperly. We would certainly welcome talking with him about it! Thank you! Terri L. Trame, Pres."

"In response to this customer's comments, we offer that the approximate range of our arrival on a call is just that, an approximate range. We try to always be as prompt as we can and accommodating, however once in awhile the call prior may take a few minutes longer than we anticipate. In reviewing her work order our technician was dispatched at 10:30 and arrived at her home at 11:00 am. This is typical for all our service calls. We do not charge more than 30 minutes of travel to a customer. An oversight on our part was that we have a special agreement with Yellow Springs to only charge 1/4 hour of travel and no more. We are sending her the adjustment back in a check. Unfortunately, when a technician is dispatched he is not always sitting down the block from the customer, but could actually be anywhere in a 50 mile radius depending on where the call was prior. As a company, we don't participate in flat rate pricing, we don't elevate our parts prices when they are put in during evening or weekend hours, we don't commission our technicians and sales representatives on what they promote to keep them very honest with their recommendations. We respond 24 hours per day, 7 days a week on all emergencies whether it is for heating, cooling, plumbing, and/or electrical. We do our very best to always be there for our customers whenever they need us. We do charge for the travel time to their home, but not more than 30 minutes. In comparison with our competition who charge flat rate pricing, who commission their service technicians, and who accelerate the pricing of parts in the evenings and weekends, we feel we are doing a great job at being honest and dependable to our customers. We will be sending this customer her 1/4 hour adjustment today. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our response! Terri"

"In response to Member's report, we were compelled to respond due to the inaccuracies posted. When the Members initially called in the service call, our dispatcher relayed that our diagnostic which includes the first hour with up to 30 minutes of travel was $84.00 per hour. The customer never indicated they had an extended manufacturer's warranty on the labor associated with this unit. It is standard for the manufacturer to have a ten year parts which we honor. They didn't mention the extended labor warranty they had until we had already visited their home, diagnosed the problem and were ready to collect. We have never misrepresented ourselves. Our rates have been the same and billed the same over the past many years. The owner stopped his payment after the technician had performed the service and expected us to just eat our labor. He forwarded a check for $84.00 and said basically take it or leave it. We explained to the homeowner the importance of mentioning the labor warranty prior to having someone out, which they did not. We are a dependable, professional company that has been in business a long time. We wouldn't be in business a long time treating customers poorly or misrepresenting themselves. It is disappointing that this customer chose to blame Southtown Heating for their lack of communicating their circumstances. We took his payment of $84.00, but was it fair? No, but we accepted it. Now to put salt in the wounds, the customer feels compelled to imply negative things about our company on this site. I am grateful that Angie's List offers companies a chance to present their side of the situation. We love our customers, we work hard for them, but we must accept the fact on rare occasions, we won't agree. What we feel is fair and what a consumer sometimes feels is fair is two different things. I am not sure why this customer felt we should eat our labor because they failed to mention they had a labor warranty until after we had been at their home several hours. If you took a vehicle in for repair and it was under the first year warranty, wouldn't you mention that immediately. I know most of our customers will mention that a warranty in in place whenever scheduling a service. We are proud to serve our warranty customers and respond accordingly. Thank you!"