Budget Heating and Air Conditioning

So glad we called Budget when our 30-year-old furnace stopped working. This was on a Tuesday. They were at our home in a couple hours to evaluate the problem. Since the required part was expensive and considering the age of our furnace, we decided to buy a new furnace, which they installed on Thursday. All of the Budget people and technicians were great, the installation went smoothly, and we're very happy with Budget and our new furnace.

I would use them again.

I was put into contact with Budget HVAC by my home warranty company, HSA. They were communicative, professional, and accommodating to a busy schedule before the visit over the phone. A text message preceded Sam's arrival. Sam was a pleasure to interact with and obviously extremely competent at his job. He had the nest installed quickly and perfectly. I will absolutely be calling Sam for any future HVAC issues I may have in the future.

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I wanted to have my air conditioning unit checked before my home warranty expired in a couple of weeks. I received a text message when the technician, Sam, was on his way. Sam was extremely friendly and courteous. While he only did minor maintenance, he explained everything throughout the process, offered some advice, and answered all of my questions. I would consider using them again. Price was fair; not too high or too low.

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Our heat went out on Friday night of the coldest week of the year. We were freezing and desperate. We saw the good reviews on yelp and google and decided to call on Saturday morning. By 2, Sam was here and went straight to work.

He diagnosed the issues quickly, communicated what was going on and what my options are, requested a discount for me from the office since I had to pay the emergency service call fee, and got everything in shape in under an hour.

I was very suprised when I came on here to see that the business has a "B." They definitely deserve an "A" on every metric. I had to do my part to let you all know that they deserve your business.

I was as pleased with his friendly personality as I was his technical expertise. I will definitely call Budget for all my HVAC needs going forward. And I will ask for Sam.

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The provider was one we didn't select: They were sent by our home warranty provider. I was a tad cautious after reading some other negative reviews on this site, but Sam (the man who came) was courteous and quick, explained what he did to execute the quick fix (on a HOT day, I must say!), and even killed a spider for me. (Sorry, spider.) I would hire this company again, and I am a pretty picky, inquisitive woman, so that is saying something.

There was some miscommunication in the beginning but the guys who finally came out to fix it were fast, knowledgeable and professional.

This company was contracted through our HSA home warranty they were initially hard to get an appointment with but once we had an appointment the tech showed up on time and was efficient. We were told we had a leak and the refrigerant just needed to be recharged. He did the repair on 4/22/2013. This was the last time our unit was serviced.
Fast forward to last week, 5/12/15, when we were having issues again. I tried contact this company again and they never returned my call so I called another company. The other company came out and said we had a leak again and needed to be recharged. He then discovered that the previous leak had been fixed improperly with a sealant instead of replacing a valve. He couldn't even get coolant into the system and said we needed to replace the whole thing. I tried again to contact Budget with no response so I have filed a complaint through the BBB and there has been no response after a week. I also got a second opinion with the same conclusion.
I just want to share my story so that people can be informed about doing business with this company.

Furnace was making burning smell and was covered by HSA home warranty.  
We opened a claim with HSA - who set up service with Budget.  Budget was supposed to contact us to come look at the furnace.
We never heard from them - and they didn't return our calls.
Our furnace eventually died completely - and additional calls to Budget went unreturned.  Luckily HSA then set us up with another company who was actually responsive and addressed our issue.
If you get assigned to Budget through your warranty company - be warned!

They are a low budget option. They're really economical. They did well on the job. I had another job where they had problems for me.

The first  date this company came out to our home was prior to the date listed above because the furnace was blowing cold air. I dont remember the exact date of that service call.  I indicate above that no service was done because I don't consider the overall assessment of the furnace and pulling a filter out to be services performed. To me services performed include an attempt to fix the furnace.

The tech that was originally sent to our home showed up on time and told us that the issue was a dirty filter.  The furnace is located in the attic and it is fit close to the wall and is a tight fit.  I have been told that the proximity to the wall is not up to code.  This was mentioned to us in our inspection of the home as well so this was no surprise.  Regardless of this fact the technician did not even attempt to take a look at anything other than the filter. The filter was dirty and I was told I should go out an buy a filter and replace it.  We replaced the filter as suggested by the technician. 

The furnace continued to have issues and would alternate between blowing heat and cold air.  I chose not to go through the warranty company to have it serviced further when issues continued because the original Budget technician told me (exact words) "you will have to find a midget to service it".  I found a company that was able to service the furnace beyond looking only at the filter.  After attempts to service various pieces of the furnace the new company suggested that we replace the furnace.  There were concerns with the placement as mentioned before and condensation in a pipe.  Ultimately the circuit board would have to be replaced.  Based on the costs that we were facing my husband and I decided it was probably just best to replace the furnace and avoid other large issues later.

I called HSA (warranty company) to see if they would cover it (or even part of the cost) and they said they would have to have it reassesed by a company of their choosing.  I was fine with this although I asked them not to resend Budget because the technician that was originally sent made it pretty clear he was not able to help me.  HSA insisted it had to be Budget but would call them to make sure someone else came out.  Mike came out on 01/14/14 and was able to get to the house early.  He told me he would call me to confirm on his way, which he did.  We were both able to get there early so I started to have a better feeling about this company than my first impression.  He looked at the furnace and as a summary (for this post) told me that there were a number of issues with the unit but it had to be moved.  Once again, I knew that.  I was not too concerned with that information because I knew it.  I wanted to know what was wrong with the actual unit.  He did not go into detail about the various issues he found with the unit itself.  What he did say was the pipe was installed improperly and the circuit board would have to be replaced.  This was information I already knew so I was really no further ahead in my understanding of what was wrong.  He said it had lots of issues but at this point I could not speak to the other issues as I was not given detail.

During the conversation with Mike I told him that I wanted a fix, not a band aid.  He agreed with me.  I asked if it was an old unit and I was told it was not particularly old but was not told the age.  When he left my home I was not confident of which direction to go in - replace the unit or move it and fix the issues.  I felt the answers I was being given were non-commital one way or the other so  I decided to wait to find out what was told to the warranty company.  I had little faith that they were going to cover any of the cost but I was hoping to have more information than what I already had. Mike told me HSA would not get a report from him until later that evening.  I was fine with this.

Today is 1/15 and I called tHSA to find out the status.  They still had no feedback from Budget so I insisted that they call for a decision.  I was disappointed that they had not heard from Budget the evening before.  I was pretty clear with Mike that I felt it was critical to make a decision quickly.  Its winter and it is cold.  I thought he sympathized.  According to the agent at HSA Mike said the unit was installed improperly and full of grime due to this so even if we move it they would not cover repairs because it could not be saved.  I am now frustrated because he could have told me that prior to leaving my home.  I called Mile at Budget and asked why I was not told this yesterday after the assessment.   I would have gone ahead with scheduling the install of the new unit.  Mike told me this was not the report that he gave to HSA and he feels that it can be saved if we move the unit. I am frustrated and angry at this point because I dont know what is true.  Mike feels that he told me everything I needed to know and I am only frustrated because the warranty company is not covering the cost of the furnace.  This is not the case. We had concluded that a new furnace was probably the best way to avoid future issues.  I am frustrated because I was not told what I needed to know about my home, my furnace. He told me only things I already knew and did not help me make a decision or offer to get the job done.  Even from the first service call I feel that they only wanted to do the bare minimum. 

Maybe this company does not install new units or even move existing units.  I am unsure.  If I wanted to gain business from someone I would be offering to assist them in anyway I could to get and keep that business. 

I have requested a copy of my report from both HSA and Budget.  HSA says they only have a verbal report from Budget so there is nothing to send.  Budget says they consider this claim to be closed and would not send me a copy either (they text messaged me 2 pictures out of 20 that supposedly exist).  Either way I was led to believe an actual report would exist when it does not.  Even if one is created later I have littel faith that I will ever see it.  I guess I should not be surprised.

We have since had the furnace replaced. I asked the technician to check the exhaust pipe which according to budget was installed improperly. Budget said they could see daylight around the pipe and the insulation was wet because of it. I asked for this to be confirmed by our repairmen and they said this is false information. They were unable to see daylight and found no wet insulation. I wish integrity was a category to be rated.