Fire & Ice Heating

This occurred 5 years ago, and has been recorded on Angie's List. This is just an update on the reports I had filed in the past. The HVAC that they had come to do routine maintenance on, and said was failing after less than 7 years and no longer under warranty, is still working fine at 12 years of age, and was still under warranty, according to the company that I got a second opinion from, and said it was fine. Would not recommend them now!! They had actually performed very honest and professional work until this event, but I am not sure what had changed.

I would give them F ratings across the board. They were unprofessional. They were dishonest. They had shoddy worksmanship. A few months before, I've used them for years. Years ago, they were great. Something had gone wrong with that company. They were dishonest and unresponsive. They had an absolute abysmal quality of service and performance. They misinstalled a new system creating a gas leak in my attic. Their whole performance created a situation where I could not submit a dealing this time.

WE have had a service contract since 2004. When David came to do the maintenance on Oct.23rd, after 10 minutes, he said the wiring  had melted and the unit had to be replaced and could not be reparired.  When we asked how that could happen, he said a power surge would have caused it. The technician, David Hart, said the electic company nor our home warranty would not cover the damages. He also said that the unit could catch on fire at any time and cause the house to burn.  Not wanting the house to burn, we agreed to have the unit replaced. Our unit was only 6 years old and he also said it was out of warranty for this type of damage. He said if we had a surge protecter on the unit this would not have happened.  The cost to replace the unit with a surge protector was $8200.00  Within an hour he had someone come and install a new unit. We called our homeowner's insurance and made a claim.  After more than 20 calls to the insurance company and Fire and Ice we were told that the insurance claim was denied because Fire & Ice did not make the unit available for them to inspect.  When I spoke with the owner,Tammy Reams, of Fire & Ice she said they had to recycle the unit within 30 days according to Environmental Code and the state of Texas. I had called their office a week after the installation and was told by Felix that they did not have the unit in their yard.  The technician said the unit was a Rheem system and a much better unit than the Trane they removed . I call Fire & Ice to ask for the break down of the $8200.00.  Felix, at F&I, said that Tammy Reams had turned over our contract to him and he would have to get back with us on the breakdown. When Felix called me back, he said the cost of the equipment was $7575.09 and the tax was $624.91 and that the unit qualified for the tax deduction as an  Energy Saver. Just how much truth there was from Fire and Ice is questionable.
Several years ago when they were doing a maintenance call they told me the outside unit need a new part.  I called our home warranty company and after they inspected the unit they said there was nothing wrong with the unit. I then called the Trane company to inspect the unit, it was still under manufactures warranty, he said there was nothing wrong with unit. The two calls cost me $200.00 for service calls that were not needed.  We still have several more years of maintenance that we have prepaid to Fire & Ice  We are undecided what to do!

What stands out is their prompt service.

I thought I should post this since I see others reporting a similar experience. Fire and Ice inspected our elderly neighbor's furnace. She called me to let me know that they told her she had carbon monoxide from one of her furnaces and that it would cost $2,900 if she replaced the faulty part or $6,000 to replace the entire unit. She was suspicious and wanted to see if I thought she was justified in her suspicion. Interestingly, her unit was just out of warranty this year. (10 year warranty) I saw other people complaining here on Angie's List that Fire and Ice tried to sell the equipment they didn't need. I recommended she use Frymire (highly recommended on Angie's List) to get a second opinion, which she did. They told her everything is fine. She called Fire and Ice to tell them what happened and mentioned that she'd learned of similar reports on Angie's List. She says they told her that the only accredited rating service is the BBB. I checked, and I see a similar report there and will recommend that she complain to them as well.

Since Fire and Ice took over, we've rarely seen the same technician twice.  Our second to last visit (around January) was from a 20 year old kid who began his "work" by regaling us with stories about his dog dying recently and something about his truck breaking down. 

After ten minutes of looking at the attic unit he was certain that one of our two 7 year old units was going to suffer catastrophic breakdown within days, and recommended that we jump on a new, $6000 unit immediately.  The next day we paid $79 for another company to assess the unit, and their opinion was that it's perfectly fine. 
The next routine service call was this week.  Once again, a recommendation that we replace either the coil (for around $2000) or the compressor (for around $3000) or the whole thing.  No specific diagnosis, only the recommendation that "Trane knows these parts aren't meant to last, which is why they only have a 5 year warranty, and now we go with a different manufacturer."
We did pay $240 to have a capacitor replaced because it was "running low."  And since then...the unit has not worked at all.  Waiting now for Fire and Ice to return to fix whatever they broke during this process.
This has been our experience with Fire and Ice overall -- paid for the maintenance contract, but every time they come to our house they try to sell us an entirely new system.  When we won't buy a new system they find SOME part that's worn out and needs to be replaced for $200 to $300.
We're on Angie's List now to look for a provider with higher ratings in our area.

Tech came to perform routine A/C maintenance.   New tech to me and had another man with him who he did not introduce.  Found out later the other man was in training.  Tech spent maybe 5-10 minutes at outside unit and never did go in attic to check there.  Told me my compressor was weak based on amp readings he got, all in 5-10 minutes.  He told me he could put in a hard start kit (?) or replace the compressor, but that my safest bet would be to replace everything, inside and out, all for a mere $7,000.00.  This would replace a Trane unit that was less than 7 years old ($5800.00) that this company (actually a company that Fire and Ice bought out) had installed in 2006.  The replacement would be an Amana, which tech said was better, although I later found out that Consumer Reports does not generally agree with that impression.  I decided to get a second opinion and arranged for a different company to come out the next day to verify the findings.  This tech, from an older and highly regarded company in Ft. Worth, spent 30-40 minutes checking everything, inside and out.  He checked and rechecked all the readings and at the end felt there was nothing wrong with the existing unit.  Although it cost me $89.00 for this second opinion, it was well worth it.  I have talked to the owner/manager of Fire and Ice and they have agreed to block that tech from coming to my house again.  I suggested that they may also consider using someone else as a trainer.  I was not offered to have another tech return under my maintenance contract to recheck the amp numbers and the unit.  I will probably disregard the remaining 14 months on my maintenance contract.

07/28/2015 Unit that I was told by Fire and Ice two years ago was dying, now continues to work perfectly. I continue to use the AC company in Ft. Worth.

Everyone on their team worked with me to get me the best products, best service, and best deal possible.

David did a great job. Polite. Careful. Took time to explain and to correct an earlier diagnosis. I'll use him again.

Terrible.  See above.

They said one unit needed fan motor and part was $520.  

They claimed the other unit needed a new compressor and they quote $2080.

The technician also said we should replace both units as he couldn't guarantee that these repairs would fix the units.  He said our 8 year old units were "ancient."

Another company repaired first unit about an hour later with a $180 fan motor and a $75 capacitor and they repaired the other unit I was told needed compressor for $75 capacitor at total cost of about $420.

Fire and Ice didn't find that either unit needed a new capacitor even thought it was bulging out on the sides, their fan motor was less than half their cost elsewhere, and they quoted an unneeded compressor.  They also claimed these units were too old and should be replaced even though they are only 8 years old.

I will not be calling Fire and Ice again.

Recent visit was simple check of A/C unit.  No problems, and short visit.  Lost A/C unit a few years ago in August.  It was due, as was the heating.  Had to pay 5,300 for complete replacement, but they had it in the very next day after my call, and working fine ever sicne.

They came across as very nice, open, honest and direct.  They were very easy to work with.

As one would expect the price was a bit of a shock initially, however they explained in detail what would be replaced and installed some extra safety features so there would be no more leaks in the attic. They were prompt, efficient and always on time. The owner came out and inspected the system. It works very well and the system size is more appropriate to my house (unlike the prior system which should have been larger). I was impressed enough to hire them for the twice yearly inspection of my system.