Doctor Cool & Professor Heat

It's been a while but I did not remember anything negative at all. From Larry arriving to provide me the estimate to Alan installing the system. One of the AC system didn't have enough refrigerant but some from the company showed up the day after I called and fixed the problem. Larry agreed to have a cover installed for the line penetration. What he thought and what I thought were 2 different things but after telling him what I was thinking, they ordered the correct part and installed the cover without problems

We have been doing business with Dr. Cool since 1990, primarily with preventive maintenance and once about 7 years ago with install of new furnace, AC and ductwork in a home we'd just purchased. We believe the owners and technicians to be trustworthy, professional, and knowledgable...Hung is one tech we've had more than once who will put in extra effort when needed and is patient about andswering questions and explaining. This year I decided to use another company for spring maintenance. Bad decision. Back with Dr. Cool to stay. Prices for work are, I think, competitive with other companies in the Clear Lake area and reflect the quality and standard of service one can expect with this company.

This vendor installed the HVAC in my home years ago and I've used them with some good experiences and some bad. One situation bad enough that I used a friend of a friend to install an outside unit a couple of years ago and am now paying the price for that. I do have to say that they get rid of the bad apples when someone complains but I have had a coupld of very bad experiences with less than honest technicians. However, as I'm a NOT LET IT LIE person, when I get to the management they are just great. Larry in particular is very knowledgeable and experienced and took good care of us. He's the Ops Manager.I had a running issue with my AC on one side of the house. The first tech was a loser, charged me $89 and called and told me to turn the unit off, he would be there in 2-3 hours. I did. When he arrived, he turned the unit on and LOW AND BEHOLD it was cooling again. He then chastised me for not changing out my AC filters. He left and within two hours it was frozen up and not working again. Another day, another tech... Thought the problem was a kinked warm air return line. Re-hung it. All seemed ok. Three hours later...Not cooling. Called in again... Yet another tech; said the coolant filter was clogged up and changed it out. $500 invoice. Cooled just fine.....for about four hours. Then the boss came out and figured out what was happening. Tech number three was dead on but only had half the problem. The FRIEND OF A FRIEND who did the install of the new outrside unit two years ago botched it. Contanimated coolant was eating away at the compressor and filling the lines with junk. After Larry came out and sent his top guy (who is awesome, great job Bubba!!) they wrapped it up for another $869. I think they charged me less on the final job than they could have and Larry was very interested in keeping me as a customer. It could have been better... but it could have been worse too. If I had to offer any advice to their younger techs it would be... and quot;Learn from the Larry's and Bubba's of the world and if you don't know what's wrong... SAY SOand quot;. They recovered ok from this fiasco like two other bad situations and I will stay with them because the management really does care.... I just think they might want to take a night class on hiring young technicians...

Call the company because my A/C wasn't working. Spoke with a lady on the phone that said they could get someone out to me the same day. This was a plus because most everyone else said that they would need to come the subsequent day. She then told me it would be $89 dollars to come and determine what was wrong with my A/C. Given that I had called a lot of other places that were willing to come out for no charge, the $89 diagnostic fee seemed high. Not sure if the diagnostic fee is rolled into the eventual repair cost or if it is in addition to the repair cost. Called another company to come out and do the work without the diagnostic fee.

The owner came out to give us the estimate and spent a lot of time explaining everything thoroughly and answering all questions. We experienced no 'pressure' tactics as stated in another report -- quite the opposite. (It's true they do try to get you to signup for their Cool Club, a routine maintenance and inspection program -- I declined.) He listened to my special requests and I was impressed to learn most were part of their standard practice. Such things a providing a convenient cleanout for the A/C condensate drain, convenient access to the evaporator and heating chamber, etc. All in all I was impressed by their thoroughness and professionalism. I suspect they may charge a little more than many other HVAC service people, because they do a top notch job that goes the extra mile. In my case the system was installed in the winter which is a slow time making the price a little less. I got one other bid from the company who installed my previous system. That company was low bidder out of three last time. Their bid and Dr. Cool's were very close and the previous company had not done a very professional job. I was impressed with Dr. Cool's knowledge, attitude and stated practices, plus two friends thought highly of them. The execution of the job was done efficiently and care was taken to not soil carpets or create other messes. The workmen paid attention to my concerns and willingly answered my questions. When they ran into unexpected problems they explained the situation thoroughly and said "Don't worry, we'll take care of it," and did. After the job was done one minor problem needed correcting. They returned and took care of it quickly. In our experience home repair/maintenance jobs are stressful and conflict ridden. It was a welcome relief this one was not. As you can tell from this report my wife and I were very pleased with their performance overall.

Very well from start to finish. Scheduling was very friendly and professional. Easy to talk with and explain any issues.. I had scheduled for the morning of 4/23 at 8 am, but had personal issues come up. I called in and asked if they could come later in the day. They rescheduled for after 2 pm. No complaining and very helpful. Right around 2 the service tech (Hung) came by. This is the 3rd time it has been Hung and I appreciate the same person coming around. He remembered the house and the issues we have with the system. He went about performing his work (but on his plastic boot covers to keep the house clean). Hung is also very willing to show you what he is doing and explains well, making me much more convinced of his ability to do the work. As in other years, I seem to have lost some coolant. This year Hung said it was time to replace as the leak was getting worse. I didn't feel like it was a sales pitch or a panic. I have had other people to look at the A/C and feel like I let a car salesman into the house. I have a special issue with the unit in the attic. When the house was built they placed it so I could not do any repairs. In the past years Hung has suggested when we do some work on it that it can be relocated. After discussion, I have a quote to fix the unit that was significantly cheaper than another quote I received ($3K vs $8K). I have been happy with their service and continue to use them. I also have them scheduled to come out in a couple weeks to finish that repair.

My A/C was not cooling at all after signifcant repairs on the outside unit about 9 months ago. I decided to switch A/C companies and go with Dr. Cool after reading reviews here. My initial free estimate for replacement of the full unit was easy and I felt the estimate was honest. Larry, the operations manager that gave me the estimate, recommended a have a technician come out for $89 to make sure I needed a full replacement. He thought the inside air handler was likely the problem and would cost much less to repair/replace. The technician confirmed a solid outdoor unit and a leaky indoor unit. I agreed to schedule replacement of the indoor unit and they waived the cost of the technicians visit. That was certainly unexpected and appreciated. I spoke with Debie? on the phone and she put me on the schedule for the same week and also set up 6 month same-as-cash financing for me. The team of two that installed the system were very professional, laying down drop covers and putting on shoe covers. They tested air flow before and after install and everything went pretty well, albeit a little slow. I do have a few critiques. Communication between the office and tech. was lacking several times. On the day of the install I was left waiting for about an hour and a half for the techs to arrive, thinking I was the first call of the day. Also, while my estimate included a digital programmable thermostat, the technician did not have one on hand and had to reschedule to have one installed at a later date. My final gripe is that two weeks after the install, the unit stopped cooling. I called on a Sat. and was contacted back by the on call technician. He told me he would check with Larry on how to proceed and that was the last I heard from him for a couple hours. As I was walking out the door to visit some friends, the Dr. Cool van was pulling into my condo complex. I was very lucky to catch him as I had received no call that he was coming. So, again, communication can be a problem. Be sure to confirm all times and dates for service. So, back to the final gripe. The A/C wasn't working because the installation team did not tighten the newly installed filter on the outside unit, causing all the freon to leak out. The technician fixed the problem in about ten minutes for no charge. Overall, I would recommend this company. They are very professional and usually punctual with some room for improved communication. The leaky filter was certainly an inconvenience but it was fixed promptly and at no charge. Dr. Cool works very hard to please the customer and I never felt like I was being ripped off or taken advantage of.

The technician arrived at 12:20 for an appointment which was scheduled for between 12 and 2. He was professional in his conduct and efficient in his performance. I had only a few problems with the service that kept it from being rated higher. First, at one point, he mentioned that having the switch go out may have damaged the motherboard to some degree. He said that he "recommended" replacing the mother board (~$450-500). However, when I said I wasn't sure I wanted to do that unless it was really necessary and asked further questions about it, he really gave no further indication as to just how necessary it was or what the pros and cons were to replacing now rather than waiting. Second, the tech had turned the a/c on before he left and said to let it run for some time to take care of the heat and humidity in the house. Unfortunately, he left it at the "on" position instead of at "auto," which means the unit ran for 10 hours straight before I got back home and realized it. Hopefully, this did no damage to the motherboard or the outside unit (although it certainly did no good to my electric bill). I also thought $188 to repair a switch (the most obvious cause of the problem) was a might steep. I would consider calling them back if I had another issue but might request a quote first to compare with other service providers.

One of the furnaces stopped working during the cold spell. Doctor Cool was very responsive and determined that they could possibly repair the 20+ year old furnace or replace it. I opted for replacement and they did a great job. Showed up on time and did the job efficiently and followed up for the inspection, etc.

The crew showed up on time as promised. They were very neat, wearing protective coverings on their shoes when in the house and laying down dropcloths. They were very responsive to a couple of unforseen matters I brought up during the installation. They were able to remedy the situation to my satisfaction. They installed new drain lines, drain pans, and checked all the ductwork for leaks. They also installed dampers to my ductwork and checked air flow to make sure all the rooms were balanced. Overall, a very professional and thorough job.

I was very happy with the work they did for me. They were very competitively priced. They were very detailed with their estimate on what exactly they were going to do. They were very professional with the way they handled the job. They did extra work that I wasn't expecting them to do. They changed out the ridge vent and the overflow line. The unit is working well.

They are very very good. They do excellent work. There were less expensive options but I went with them because of their personnel.

Initially called after hours and got the answering service. as the problem was not so unbearable we elected to leave a number and get a call in the morning. They called promptly in the morning (around 7:30-8:00), however the $89 service fee to have a technician come out was never mentioned. (I expected some sort of service fee, but this seems a bit high) While at the house the technician said before any work was to be performed he would get permission first. After investigating the issue the tech stated it to be a leaking evaporator coil and a $100 fee was added for "leak detection" (Other companies we talked to after this said the leak detection was part of their service fee) We called Dr. Cool back explained the situation and they did refund the $100 leak detection fee. We went with a different company for fixing our A/C. To get us by for a day or two they offered to replenish our leaked out freon. But when the tech from this company tried to refill the freon he found that it wasn't needed. Since low freon wasn't an issue and the house still wasn't cool, a leaking condenser coil wasn't the culprit. He stated it was a metering valve that allows freon to flow into the condenser coil that was our problem. Overall we were rather dissatisfied with Dr. Cool. Pricing was never upfront and it appears that the problem with the A/C was completely misdiagnosed. They only good thing was they were rather punctual responsive to our complaint of being overcharged.

The service took two 3 hour visits. The repairman did general service on the AC unit during the first visit then used the visit as an opportunity to sell a "service agreement" for future discounts on services and semiannual checkups. I was told a second visit was required because the drain pan had to be ordered and additional manpower was required to lift the unit. A company this large should have these pans in stock. At the time of the second visit, the same repairman arrived alone and I was told that a second person was not needed. The pan was replaced and mastic was used to seal air leaks in the vent lines. A new drain line was installed and is working perfectly.

My old system went out in April 2009. I did some research on-line as to narrow the field. I research some companies and made some phone calls. I had several companies come out aI mnd give me an estimate. Being an industrial hygienist I know enough about what should be done and based on the estimates and what the different companies told I made my decision. I am very satisfied with their work. The work was completed in a timely manner.

From the estimate/design stage to completion of installation, they were very open and willing to talk and answer questions. Installation was fast and clean, lots of care taken to maintain our home.

Once I made the decision we scheduled the installation for 1 week later. The crew arrived on time and there were 3 which was really nice because this assured us that the job would likely be completed in one day as promised. Also, the crew spoke English so we had no issues communicating and asking/answering questions. They laid tarps down over the entire path inside the house to the attic and this really reduced any mess. The old unit was disassembled into the parts and taken away. They arrived at 8:30 and left with the unit running by 6:30 that evening. The crew measured the air flow prior to starting and then used those measurements to balance the AC air flow on the new system. They cleaned up after themselves and were still smiling at the end of the day.

They did excellent work and were very professional.

When I called for an appointment to get an estimate I was contacted the next day and had an appointment later the same week. The man who gave me the estimate knew his stuff and was able to give me a number of options and help me decide which one to choose. His price estimate was exactly on target with the final price. Two workers arrived at my house with all the necessary equipment and they put on booties to keep my floor clean. They cut two holes in my drywall and installed the vents (in the room and outside the room to complete the vent). The work was excellent and the workers did not cut extra drywall or my alarm system wires which are run close by the vents. Looking at the job you would think the vents were always there! Everyone was professional and courteous. I would definitely call them again if I need A/C service.

The equipment he represents is top quality but his charges are too high. Internet check of all these confirms this.

When I started taking bids for the job, Dr. Cool sent a guy out to give me an estimate. After I had also received estimates from two other companies, Jim Barry called me to follow up and I learned that Jim had concerns that the first guy (who apparently hadn't worked there long) didn't know what he was doing (which turned out to be true). By then I had pretty much decided to go with a different company, but I was impressed with Jim's personal follow-up so I gave him a chance to re-bid. He was willing to come out the next day after hours so I could meet with him when I got home from work. He was very thorough in inspecting and measuring my house and asking me questions to determine what was needed. He also took the time to explain AC theory so I would understand what we were trying to achieve. He gave me a clear estimate containing several options, as I requested. He did not want any payment up front, as it is company policy to make sure the customer is completely satisfied first. Interestingly, Jim said it would be a three or four-day job, which is twice the time the other contractors estimated. When I asked about this, he said it was because they wanted to do a thorough, unrushed job. Jim was very accommodating when I had to reschedule the work. He communicated up front what other work I would need to have done in the course of installing the system (electrical and plumbing). The workers were prompt, polite, professional, and friendly. They completely cleaned up after themselves each day. Jim came by at the end of the first day to make sure things were going OK and communicated with me regularly throughout the job. They came out for a quality assurance walk-through afterward. It was after that I paid for the job. My only issue was that they have dropped the ball somewhat on the last loose ends, including the city inspection. The first time the inspector came out, he would not go up into the attic (where the furnace is) because the new stairway was installed improperly (wrong screws). While Dr. Cool fixed the stairway that same day, the inspector could not come back out that day, and I still haven't had the final inspection. Meanwhile, I discovered that they did not seal the old vent when they removed the old furnace, and had to call and request that be done (they sent someone out and took care of that promptly). I feel I have had to follow up more than I should have to to get everything finished. Factoring in the busy summer months, a Barry family medical issue, and now Hurricane Ike, I do understand how my job could slide to the back burner. Still, I wish this last little bit had not dragged on so long. All in all, though, I have had a good experience with Dr. Cool and look forward to a continued relationship, as they will provide maintenance services for my equipment during the warranty period and beyond.

This company was scheduled to arrive for an estimate and did not. Forty-five minutes later I called them and was told they were tied up and instead they called a service rep to come. No one ever did.

From start to finish it was excellent. They were great about scheduling for the estimate and coming back to talk to my husband because he was not home when they first came. They were very patient with him because he wanted a unit they did not sell. They found it for him, installed it and did a fabulous job.

Great. The technician performed a thorough check of the system and determined that the inspection report was not correct. The technician filled out the service report in detail by taking each item in the inspection report and reporting his findings. He took the time to explain to me exactly what checks he had done. I mentioned to the technician that the inspection report had also stated that there were some issues with roof rafters and that I was going to be calling a handyman. The technician volunteered to go back to the attic and look at the rafters. He told me that there were some cracks in the rafters but that they were probably that way when the house was built and that the roof was not in immediate danger as indicated in the inspection report. I really appreciated the assurance that the roof was not about to collapse on me!

Jim Barry came and gave us an estimate. Six months later we contracted for the work. Their team of workers was careful, considerate, friendly and did a good job. I've called them twice to correct a couple of minor problems (one of which wasn't really their fault). They came promptly and the fixes were in line with the excellent quality of their original work.