ARS / Rescue Rooter Austin

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The situation: The day before Easter, relatives due on Sunday and water will not drain in the kitchen and laundry.  Called ARS that afternoon.  The dispatcher asked if the service could wait, so I expected the call to be at a premium.
On the plus side:  The plumber was routed to us in the timeframe the dispatch indicated and called when enroute.  He diagnosed the problem in less than 5 minutes, had the sink drained, trap off, line snaked and everything back together in 20 to 25 minutes.  The job was quick, neat and efficient and all on a Saturday less than 3 hours after the call.
The negative:  The job in a less than rush condition would fairly priced at $100.  A double charge for special consideration would have been pushing up against fair trade.  $249 was more than excessive.  The written receipt indicates that the fee was 'standard.'  That would indicate that a no-parts, pure-labor half-hour for ARS is $249.
I will not be using ARS again.

ARS service people have always been on time, courteous, and professional in servicing and doing yearly inspections of our air conditioner, furnace and plumbing.

Excellent service and very professional staff. They were on time. I'm just not a fan of the time range of 4 hours for services, which most service companies now use. They did call once they were on their way, and gave me an approximate arrival time.

I found their service on AL.  After making an appointment for next day service the call center read back my information for confirmation.  When my phone number was read back incorrectly, I responded with the correct number and we both rejoiced in the fact that we had caught the mistake.  
The next day I cleared my morning for the Air Condition tech to show up.  I waited until the window they had given me had closed and then called to see where they were.  I was told by the person helping me that she had called and left a message detailing how they were all full and the calendar at the call center and the calendar at the actual office don't line up (great operating system).  I told her I never received a call or message.  She read back my phone number and it was the original incorrect one from the previous day.  
As the mistake was not her fault she nonchalantly asked about rescheduling to which I replied that I had cleared my whole morning for them and I believe I would be using a different company.  "OK, Goodbye" CLICK, was the response I received.  
Horrible customer service.  Company is probably too big for themselves if two simple calendars can't be lined up.

everything went well, he showed up promptly ,performed the task, cleaned up the work area, provided a free of charge total house plumbing inspection.

Our leak surfaced Thanksgiving weekend so we were delayed in having a call until the net Tuesday. They arrived on schedule and reviewed our situation. After having to put a couple holes in the drywall to find the manifolds the area where it was leaking was identified although the initial leak was further down the hot water line. They cut off the flow to that line. This allowed us to use water immediately. A new line was put in through the attic from the inside garage wall that abuts our guest room to the water connections between our bedroom closet and master bath. The repair was done quickly and without problem. We also used other vendors to dry out and dehumidify the areas where water leaked on the concrete and some carpet. A contractor replaced the cut outs in the drywall, resurfaced and painted. There is no evidence of the work done.

They most recently have been putting in a sewer line from my condo to the street.They put in the sewer line but have not come back to fill the holes.

ARS called to remind me that it was time to schedule my AC and hot water heater flush.  I chose the 12-4 pm time frame for a Monday.  The AC technician called about 11;30 to see if he could come a bit early.  He did and checked out my AC.  He called the office for me to see when the plumber would arrive.  I was told I was still on the schedule.  At 3:30 and still no plumber, I called the office and was told that he would make it around 4.  At 4:30, I called and they told me that he wouldn't make it after all.  So I rescheduled for the next day and told them that anytime after 1:30 would work.  When no one had shown up by 4:30, I once again called the office and they said that I was the next customer in line.  At 6:50 p.m., the plumber arrived.  However when he looked at my tankless water heater (which ARS installed), he said that he wasn't trained to deal with tankless water heaters.  So he called his boss who tried to talk him through it.  That made me very uncomfortable as it was clear that the poor technician didn't know what he was dealing with.  It wasn't his fault that his boss didn't bother to look in my file to see that I had a tankless water heater.  I politely asked him to leave.  They don't seem to know what's going on and they sure don't abide by their time schedules.  Choose another plumber!

It was not a positive positive experience. He tried to diagnose without even looking at the washing machine and he diagnosed incorrectly.

We use them so much that we have a monthly contract (~$22/month) which eliminates the $70 pull-up-to-the-curb fee they would normally charge.  Our experience with ARS service representatives is that they are always very professional, highly skilled in their respective area and very courteous.  We have never had a bad experience.  Their fees are competitive with other providers of similar services.

Quality of work was good but I felt the charge was excessive for time and materials required. Also had estimate for WH replacement and did not use for the same reason.

Diagnosis was quick, repair was quick and efficient.  I graded cost at B but that's probably not a function of ARS - more of a general unhappiness about having to spend that amount of money :-(  That's why the overall grade is A.

ARS has been our HVAC equipment provider and maintenance provider for many years. They have always provided excellent service in a timely manner. Our last service call on February 19th was in response to an alert from our upstairs thermostat. Peter W. arrived shortly after our call. He assessed the situation, quickly identified the problem, and then very quickly fixed it. Peter has always been efficient and has recommended additions or changes to our service that have benefited us. As a plus that we appreciate, Peter has a wonderful personality and a great sense of humor----always! We will continue to use and recommend ARS in the future.

The estimate they gave for 2 unit HVAC replacement was really high.

I knew my attic insulation was bad, and after talking to a woman at a table outside Home Depot, I signed up and got an estimate from Efficient Attic.  The estimate fit my budget, and the $1020 rebate from the Austin Energy was an added bonus (Spoiler: EAS overestimated this amount by almost $180, and I'm never going to get the whole $1020 -- even though they put it in writing.  Details to follow).
EAS came out and did the work, and I didn't have any problems until they handed me the paperwork to sign.  I could have sworn the Austin Energy rebate was over $1000, but the number on the paper in front of me was $842.  But I didn't have the original estimate on hand and they were in a hurry to go, so I signed it and they left.
Eventually I found the original estimate, and sure enough the rebate numbers didn't match.  I called and they said to send a copy of the estimate.  I did, and their reply was that the guy who wrote the estimate doesn't work there anymore so they can't ask where he got that number, but I signed the rebate papers and I got the check so as far as they're concerned it's over bye.
An apology wouldn't have cost them a dime, but they weren't even willing to give me that.
I have no problem with the work that was done, but after the way they handled their mistake I wouldn't use EAS again.  If you do, I recommend you keep all the paperwork readily at hand and compare all the numbers before you sign anything.  If they promise you $1020 in writing and deliver only $842, you're out of luck chump.  And don't expect an apology either.  They don't work like that.

Their service has been great.

The technician was knowledgeable, worked efficiently and tried to clean up with fair success.|

We have had this contract with ARS for several years, and will continue to renew it. The technicians are always efficient, knowledgeable. and honest. Whenever we have had to have a problem identified and corrected, they have responded very quickly. I do not hesitate to recommend them.

The ARS technician came out, and told my tenant that the unit was dangerous, throwing out open flames, that it was old and needed to be replaced.  My tenant called me and I spoke with the tech who repeated this to me.  I asked for an estimate and he said that the home office would call me that same day.  I said that I would call my AC/Heating guy and compare estimates, and possibly use them if they were competitive.  Later that day I was called by ARS who gave me an estimated cost for heating unit replacement at $2500, and again restated that the unit was old, not repairable and needed to be replaced.  I received a call later that evening from my tenant that my AC guy had come out, fixed the unit and everything was working again. I called my AC guy and he said that all that was wrong was a defective in-line fuse, which he corrected. I asked him if he knew of any reason that the unit needed to be replaced, or was on it's last legs and he said that it was an old GE unit, but didn't see any reason to replace it.
I did receive a written estimate via email from ARS regarding the unit's problems, along with different financial plans ranging from $2500 (heating only) to $6662 (entire system).
Description:
"Thermal limit for gas valve has opened due to flame roll out from heat ex changer. Furnace needs to be replaced."
There was no charge from ARS for their service call.  
The cost that my AC guy charged to fix the unit: $60 service call.
I plan on calling ARS to speak with a supervisor about this and may possibly update this evaluation.

I called and spoke with supervisor Kim Rogers 3 days later. She looked up the estimate and notes, and I told her that the unit was repaired after correcting an in-line fuse problem. I said it appeared that I was being scammed.  She said that the technician had a good record and would talk to the AC Manager about what possibly could be done. She seemed totally surprised that the unit was fixed for a $60 service call and I inferred that she was going to try to get the $60 service call fee reimbursed to me.  This was on a Friday afternoon.

The following Monday afternoon, after not hearing anything, I emailed Kim Rogers asking if she was going to get back to me or not? After the email I did get a phone message, "I spoke to the AC manager. It's a 35-year old unit and it's doing to take some money to repair it", completely ignoring the fact that it no longer needs to be repaired thanks to my AC guy and his $60 service call fix. Needless to say I will NOT ever use or recommend ARS Heating and Air to anyone in my sphere of influence.

I called them on Sunday, they said they'll send someone Monday morning.  They came promptly in the morning and a very polite gentleman, told he need to cut the leaky tap line and weld in a new one and replace the tap. This is our front yard outside tap.
He said it will cost more than $500 to do this, but he will give us a discount which got it down to a couple of dollars shy of $500.    We had no water in the house and I greed thinking this guy must have a good reason for asking for so much money to do this.  45 minutes later the job was done, YES, 45 minutes that is more $10 dollars a minute.

I priced the parts he used and they came up to below $21 from the Home Depot. 

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Outstanding customer service by AJ.  On each of the visits they were professional, courteous and prepped and cleaned up. I have no reservations about using AJ and Will again. I currently use ARS Plumbing and for Air Condition and heating yearly service and maintenance. I do recommend them.

They’re always on time and do great work.  The only thing I’d wish to be better is their punctuality.  There’s been a few times where they haven’t been able to make an appointment, and they didn’t call to tell me.  I’d give them an overall B+.

I called ARS for a bid for a new A/C unit because another company told us our compressor was shot.  ARS looked at the problem and suggested that we could get away with just replacing the fan for now, saving us at least $4,000, probably more.