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"Very well and professional."

"Terrible! I called Area Wide on March 30, 2022 because I had an outdoor unit that was not heating or cooling properly. They did not inform me upfront of any costs involved, including their trip charge or hourly rate. They sent a technician, named Javier, the same day. I showed him the unit and a few minutes later, he came inside and said, "Well, I have good news and bad news." I replied, "Give me the good news first." He said. "the good news is your unit is still under warranty!" I said, "that's great, what is the bad news?" He said, "the bad news is, your warranty only covers replacement of parts. And you don't need any parts. So you're going to have to pay all the repairs yourself." What a jerk he was! I should have told him to leave right then but I decided to bite my tongue. He then tells me that there is a hole in my copper freon line and all the freon leaked out. I asked if he could repair it and he said yes, but the R410a refrigerant would cost $117.00 per pound and that the unit held 9.2 pounds plus another 3 or 4 for the line inside. I quickly looked up on the Angi website what the actual cost of R410a coolant was and it said between $4 and $8 per pound. I showed him that article from my phone and he said $117.00/pound was what Area Wide charged, the rest was mark-up. I then asked him if he had enough refrigerant to fill the unit and he said techs always kept plenty of refrigerant in their trucks. After he repaired the leak in the copper wire, I told him that I would pay the $117.00 per pound for the R410a if and only if he weighed the container of coolant on a set of scales before and after and that I would only pay for the difference in the weight. He said that was no problem since he carried scales with him and that I was welcome to watch. He brought 2 tanks from his truck, both of which felt weighed less than 10 pounds. The heaviest one was placed on the scale and it weighed about 5 pounds. After he emptied the coolant into the unit it still weighed about 5 pounds, yet he insisted that he put 5 pounds of coolant into my A/C unit. He explained that he forgot to zero out the scales before he weighed the tank the first time. So he failed to prove to me (as we agreed) how many pounds he actually put into the unit. By this time I had lost all trust in him and just wanted him to finish and leave. He claimed he put a total of 7.5 pounds of coolant in the unit but could not verify it. 7.5 pounds X $117.00/pound was $877.50, plus his trip charge and hourly charge brought the bill to well over $1,500.00. Included in the bill was $95.00 for "nitrogen" that he said he used to blow out the lines! At least Area Wide told me the cost of the coolant beforehand and I could have said "no thanks." He never said there would be a charge for nitrogen! I certainly would not have used Area Wide if they had told me this before hand. They should have been upfront about all their charges. This deception was the final straw so I paid his bill in full but said I would never use Area Wide again. After he left, I ordered a 10 pound tank of R410a coolant for $289 with free FedEx shipping and had a local A/C repairman put it in my unit. He charged me only $100 and it took less than 30 minutes. Works great now. At Area Wide's rate, the 10 lb. coolant would have me $1,170.00, plus his hourly rate and trip charge to install it. I learned a hard lesson but I will never use Area Wide Services again."