Called Sunshine on a Thursday at the recommendation of contractor I use and a gentleman named Joe answered the phone and said he could come by the next day at 3pm. 3pm comes around and no one is by, so at 330pm my wife calls Joe and we are told he is on an emergency job and his workers will be by shortly. His workers arrived at 5pm and quickly found the problem with one of my cooling units. They also took filter measurements to replace when they would come and do the repairs, which unfortunately wouldn't be until Tuesday due to the Memorial Day Weekend (3 days with no cooling in El Paso...yikes!).
Fast-forward to Tuesday at noon and we still haven't heard anything from Sunshine, so I call again and speak to Joe, and he tells me they are looking up the costs for everything, and a woman named Patty would contact us later with a quote. Patty calls an hour later and leaves me a voicemail with the cost of the freon, condenser, filters, and labor, for a total of $1321.17. Having researched costs heavily over the weekend, this price came right around the middle of the spectrum, so not wanting to do this process with another company, allowed them to being the repairs. Sadly, since it was already afternoon, they were unable to start the repairs that day, however, they had time to pick up $1100 needed up front to perform the work. While I understand some contractors want a downpayment, I've never seen a company ask for 83% of the cost of the job up front, before lifting a finger. I thought it was strange but I paid it.
Wednesday rolls around and by noon, not a peep from Sunshine. My wife called their office and spoke to Patty, and she told us they would be by at 1pm after their lunch. 1pm and nothing. Around 3pm Patty calls and tells us they are on their way, and by 345pm they were at the house repairing the cooling unit. It took them roughly 2 hours, and the unit was purring like a kitten, blowing out sweet cool air.
After the job was finished, their worker, (who was very nice) hands me a bill for $1450, minus the $1100 I already pain, for a balance of $350. I told them the original quote was $1321.17, and not once was the $1450 mentioned to my wife or I. The worker, looking like a deer in the headlights, immediately calls his boss Joe, who tries to say that was always the quoted price. Thankfully, I had that voicemail where Patty gave me a detailed quote, and after playing the voicemail over the phone for Joe, he immediately apologized and allowed me to pay the originally quoted price. After handing them a check, the workers tried leaving, but hadn't replaced our filters, and when I alerted them to this, they seemed surprised that the task needed to be performed. Apparently they were never told this was part of the job, and after yet again playing the voicemail for them, which listed that as part of the quote, they agreed and performed the task.
Overall, working with them was very tedious, and had I not saved that voicemail, my rating would be much worse. The actual work itself was done quickly and efficiently, and their actual workers were very nice. Communication with this business between customers, managers, and workers seems atrocious. I'm on the fence whether or not I would use them again, mainly because I've had even worse experiences with other El Paso heating and cooling companies, but poor communication and trying to rip me off of a few extra dollars at the end really upsets me.