Fast Response Heating and Cooling

The company was a referral from my homeguard - American Home Shield. They contacted me immediately after receiving the dispatch on 5/3/10. They contacted me again on 5/4/10 and gave me a 45 minute timeframe to get home for the service. The two service men were nice, humorous and efficient. The one tracked some mud in the foyer and offered to mop it up (wasn't a concern and I did it). He suggested regular maintenance on the AC unit as it was older and gave me their prices for yearly maintenance. He offered to have a brochure (at my request) mailed to me along w/my invoice/receipt for payment.

Josh arrived on a Saturday afternoon. He went to our basement with my husband. Shortly thereafter they came upstairs. Josh said his Carbon Monoxide indicator was up to a 9 when he shut it off. He said that level was very high and said the furnaces are suppose to be turned off at 8. Josh stated that with the high CO and the problem we were describing the furnace needed replaced. He wrote a quote for approximately $2700. I asked Josh if he felt I should get a second opinion as I have never had issues with the furnace before and I didn't really know anything about furnaces. He became a bit defensive and said his detector was a $300 piece of equipment and it was detecting high levels of CO. He stated this was the 3rd service trip that day with the same issue and the furnace needed replaced. I said ok and signed the quote for installation the next day. I also want to point out our Carbon Monoxide monitor never went off. Neither my husband nor I were comfortable with our discussion with Josh and called another heating and A/C company who came right over. The gentleman, Dennis, checked for CO and basically said he got a 2 as the highest rating inside the furnace and that was when he was trying to find something. He checked the registers throughout the house, which Fast Response didn't, and detected a rating of 1 in a couple. He cleaned a contact and said cleaning the contact should be enough to fix the problem with the furnace shutting down. Dennis said the furnace was 13 years old and we should start looking at replacing it next year. I was taught an invaluable lesson - always get a second maybe even a third opinion. I felt Josh was trying to sell a furnace. He didn't look at any other issues. I hope he gets his monitor fixed.

The experience was fine. They came out promptly, told me what I needed and did what they said they were going to do. Part of the cost was covered by my home warranty. It was seamless, I just paid them the difference.

He came later than we had expected but said they had been very busy. He diagnosed the problem as the system being low in coolant and added some. This did solve the problem we had been experiencing. However he mentioned that some caps were missing and asked if someone had ever done maintenance on the system. I said someone had been out just two months prior. He said he felt they had not done a good job and explained why he felt this was the case. He then noted that our system was quite old and wondered if we were thinking of replacing it. He spoke about a couple of brands and said to call him if we wanted to replace it. After he left I looked up both Fast Response and the previous company. Fast response had few reports and were all F's, the other had over 150 reports and got straight As. If we have to go through our home warranty again, we might have to deal with Fast Response again, but otherwise I would be unlikely to hire them again.

The owner doesn't stand behind his warranty. We had a carbon monoxide leak because of their poor installation. They wouldn't come out to fix it so eventually I had to have the manufacturer come back out to fix it. They didn't cover one of the parts under warranty and charged me $1,000 to get it fixed. When I pointed this out to them they told me they would give half back and then give me a credit for the rest. However, I won't use them again in the future.

I called Fast Response and the owner said prove it. He yelled several times and said their contract covers against issues. He said I was trying to make money off of them.

In the Fall for the first appointment they were a no show. I had a supervisor call me. He came out the next day and performed the check at no charge (I thought "things happen" and they seemed pretty good). Now comes the Spring and I called to have my A/C checked and made an appointment. AGAIN they were a no show. I called and I got a story about how their computers went down. They promised that a tech would be at my home between 9-11 AM. I got a call at 10 AM stating that they were busy and would not be able to make it. Furthermore, I have called on 3 occasions to bring this to the attention of a supervisor or manager and no one is ever available.

The company responded under the American Home Shield warranty program. Discovered that a Harry Homeowner job that installed the wrong thermostat. Messed up the wires in the furnace and was causing the no heat problem. Could gave fixed it for about $500. Instead, recommended a brand new HVAC system to take advantage of $3,500 warranty money available under the American Home Shield program. I was skeptical so I checked with another contractor. High on Angie's list. Found out that the price of the system was at least $8,500 so the $5,000 price was good. Also, the recommended equipment American Standard was good equipment. The company was prompt, had nice employees and did a good job.

They never showed, and never returned repeated phone calls. Would remove this company from any list.

SAME DAY RESPONSE AFTER ANOTHER COMPANY SCHEDULED AN APPOINTMENT AND FAILED TO SHOW. CALLED BACK IN FOR FURNACE CLEANING. EXCELLENT JOB, VERY THOROUGH, TIMELY AND PROFESSIONAL.

HE SAID THAT THE FURNACE WAS OK TO USE. AFTER GETTING A SECOND OPINION, THEY TOLD ME THAT THE FURNACE WAS PRODUCING TOO MUCH CARBON MONOXIDE AND DISCONNECTED THE FURNACE. I WOULD NEVER USE THEM AGAIN!

HE SAID HE WOULD CALL BEFORE COMING OUT. HE NEVER CALLED OR SHOWED UP. I NEVER HEARD FROM THEM AGAIN.

THE PERSON THAT THEY SUBCONTRACTED THE JOB TO WAS RUDE AND INTIMIDATING. HE DEMANDED FULL PAYMENT FOR A PROJECT AND THEN WOULD NOT LEAVE WITHOUT A $50 PAYMENT FOR SHOWING UP. THIS ACTIVITY SHOULD BE ILLEGAL. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, USE CITY WIDE HAVC.

THE FIRST VISIT THEY CAME OUT, I LET THEM TALK ME INTO A MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT FOR TWO SERVICE VISITS. MY UNIT IS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD. THE FURNACE WENT OUT AND I CALLED THEM, THEY CAME OUT AND CHARGED ME FOR A SERVICE CALL EVEN THOUGH I HAD A MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT.

THEY ARE UNPROFESSIONAL, UNRELIABLE, UNRESPONIVE, AND TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE TO DO BUSINESS WITH. WE HAVE NOW BEEN WITHOUT HEAT FOR FIVE DAYS AND I NOW HAVE TO TAKE THE TIME TO FIND ANOTHER SERVICE COMPANY AND RESCHEDULE FOR BOTH MYSELF AND MY ELDERLY NEIGHBOR.

I REALIZE THE TECHNICIAN WAS TRYING TO DO ME A FAVOR BY HAVING ME CONTACT THE CARRIER REPRESENTATIVE TO SEE IF THEY WOULD MAKE ANY CONCESSIONS SINCE THE WARRANTY HAD JUST EXPIRED; HOWEVER, EVEN THOUGH THE TEMPERATURE HAS BEEN WONDERFUL DURING THE DAY, THERE IS STILL A PRETTY GOOD CHILL AT NIGHT AND DURING THE EARLY MORNING AND, FOR 7 DAYS HE LET ME LIVE WITH NO HEAT EVEN AFTER I TOLD HIM ABOUT MY RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS AND THE FACT THAT I AM VERY SUSCEPTIBLE TO BRONCHITIS. I WILL NEVER USE HIS COMPANY IN THE FUTURE AND, SINCE I HAVE ALSO NOT HEARD A WORD FROM THE CARRIER REPRESENTATIVE I WILL ALSO NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER CARRIER PRODUCT.

VERY DISPLEASED. SERVICE PERSON WAS TWO HOURS LATE, WAS RUDE, AND MEMBER FEELS OVERCHARGED.

unknown

THEY TOLD MEMBER SHE NEEDED A NEW HEATING ELEMENT FOR 500 OR REPLACE THE FURNACE. SHE CALLED FOR A SECOND OPINION, THAT COMPANY REPAIRED IT (IT WAS NOT THE HEATING ELEMENT) FOR 100. SHE ALSO HAD A CO2 CHECK WTH THE CITY AND THAT WAS FINE.

THE COMPANY DID NOT CALL ME BACK WITH AN APPOINTMENT TIME, THE TECHNICIAN JUST SHOWED UP UNEXPECTEDLY. THE TECHNICIAN RECHARGED MY HOME AIR CONDITIONERS REFRIGERANT, BUT DID NOT RECOMMEND PERFORMING A LEAK SEARCH TO DETAERMINE THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK.THREE WEEKS AFTER THE WORK WAS PERFORMED, THE UNIT STOPPED COOLING THE HOUSE. SINCE THE COMPANY HAS A ONE MONTH WARRANTY ON LABOR, I CONTACTED THE COMPANY. A SERVICE MANAGER CALLED ME BACK AND WAS EXTREMELY RUDE AND DEFENSIVE TO ME. NEEDLESS TO SAY, I CALLED ANOTHER COMPANY.

LATE FOR AN APPOINTMENT. SAID THEY WOULD COME OUT ONE DAY, BUT DIDN'T SHOW UP UNTIL THE NEXT.