CENTRAL VACUUMS & MORE

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A few years ago, a part in the vacuum head broke. We are not aware of anywhere to buy replacement parts other than the original installer who is listed on the central vacuum unit. We called the company and spoke with Mike Sterling to request the needed part. We have now been trying for at least 2 years to get this part. Mr. Sterling has promised repeatedly to mail the part, to deliver the part, and at one point even to install the part. But he has failed every time to perform as promised. On one occasion, he showed up at our new house with the part (despite telling him on the phone that the correrct address of our old house where the system was installed). I asked him repeatedly at that time to leave the part with me so that I could install it, because we had tried for so long to get him to respond. I specifically said that I would prefer him to leave the part rather than to take it with him and us never hear from him again. For whatever reason, he insisted on taking the part so that he could go to the house and install it. He promised to do the repair within a week. That was months ago and still no part. This morning, my wife called again to find out why he still had not sent the part when he had again promised to do so just 2 weeks prior. As soon as she identified herself, Mr. Sterling hung up the phone on her. We have never been rude to this man or raised our voice with him in 2 years of trying to get our part. I honestly do not understand why on earth we can't get a replacement part - how hard can that be? Now, for over 2 years we have had a central vacuum system that we cannot use.

Mike and I agreed to 6AM start on the morning of the installation, due to the heat in the attic later in the day. He was here a few minutes before 6AM. He went to work immediately on the installation of Hide-A-Hose (H-A-H), with a new central vac unit first. The installation of the central vac was in the attic, along with running pipes for the H-A-H. (if you are not familiar with H-A-H, just put the name in your search engine for an explanation) He got that installed, including an outlet in the garage quickly. The vac system, including H-A-H worked exactly as expected and we have had zero issues since installation. I would recommend Hide-A-Hose to anyone thinking of installing a new central vac system. We had a central vac in our previous home, but not with H-A-H. He installed the bracket to hold the flat panel TV, then proceeded to run the cable for the TV and the internet via the attic or up under the house. You could not tell where he brought those in, because he hid them in the wall. We got the TV up and running. We encountered issues with Comcast, which could not be resolved, but we knew the TV worked because of using the DVD player, along witht the info provided on the TV when running setup to connect to Comcast. Mike did what he could, considering the ineptness of Comcast on many fronts, which lingered on until July 4, when a first week Technician finally got us up and running. The sound bar was installed, but Mike could not get it to connect. After contacting Samsung and getting the detailed instructions later, it worked great. I cannot fault Mike for that not working, as it required a lot of actions through the TV, as well as the sound bar itself using the remote that came with the sound bar. I cannot recall a person providing services for us who worked as hard as Mike did on the installation of our new central vac and mounting and installing the TV/sound bar. He was drenched in sweat from the attic and having to go under the house to run cable as well. He cleaned up after himself, too. Mike has many years of experience, and it was obvious in the amount of time it took him to complete the installations. He also saved us several hundred dollars between the cost of the central vac, H-A-H and the TV installation versus what I had been quoted by other local competitors and stores. I would not hesitate to recommend Mike to others. He shares with you what you need to know. He is business like at all times, with some humor mixed in with his work. He was on time, executed what he told us he would do and the price he quoted us ahead of the installations was exactly as quoted. He is a military veteran and runs his business on Christian principles...if you need these services, Mike would be an excellent choice. We would not hesitate to ask Mike back in the future!