
McGRADY-PERDUE HEATING and Cooling
About us
We employ 20 people in our Christiansburg office and have been serving the New River Valley for over ten years.
Business highlights
Services we offer
We offer installation, and boilers. We offer high efficiency systems, and water heaters., ductless systems, furnaces, geothermal systems, servicing and repair of all heating and cooling products. We also install gas lines and gas logs, solar
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 64% | ||
| 14% | ||
| 14% | ||
| 0% | ||
| 7% |
you would be wise to read this description of my customer experience. Following
the first October chill, I discovered that one of my natural gas furnaces
(American Standard) had failed (one year out of five-year warranty). I called
McGrady-Perdue. Their technician showed up promptly (home is three miles away
from office) and after a twenty-minute evaluation told me the ?control board?
had failed. Later that day, I was stunned to learn that the repair would be
$940. Understandably I expressed concern about cost. The following week the technician
(nice guy who seemed to know his stuff) returned and installed the new board.
He was on-site for a little more than 30 minutes. He said they reduced the cost
to $840. Meanwhile, I had found the part on-line for $341. Obviously I felt
like I was being treated poorly so I visited the company to appeal for fairness.
I was told they had paid ?more than $600 for the part? and would need to speak
with owners. I told them my previous provider had gone out of business, that I
was looking to establish a long-term business relationship with a new firm, and
that I could not do so knowing said company had treated me so unfairly. I
visited three additional times over next few weeks to inquire about paying
them. During those conversations, they repeatedly changed the price they told
me they had paid for the part until finally I overheard staff tell supervisor
they had paid just over $400 for the part. Finally, after multiple visits and
appeals for fairness, a manager called me and said they needed their $840 for
the service. An HVAC company I consulted with in Virginia Beach about the
episode stated McGrady-Perdue had clearly ?gone for the home run? on the job.
Frankly I was amazed they were so willing to discard a potentially more
profitable long-term business relationship just to gouge a new customer in the
short run. Am sure it is not a very sound long-term business strategy. To me,
that kind of says what it says. Caveat
emptor
"Thank you for the remarks you made about our company and that you were happy with our service. We try to serve the community and provide a needed service at a fair price."
"We know our property management customers invest in their rental properties for the future. We believe in the quality of our work and work with all our customers to install the best system for their needs. Our systems that we price to our property management customers have a higher warranty, up to 10 years on parts and compressor, than many of our competitors (who only offer 5 year warranties) and that is often the reason for the price difference. Repairs on HVAC equipment can be expensive with the price of Freon, increased EPA regulations, and more sophisticated, computerized equipment requiring increased employee training. We try to decrease future repairs on rental properties for our customers with a better warranty and specially trained employees to install your HVAC system to high grade specifications. We wish you the best in your future business investments and hope to work with you again in the future."
"Thank you for your review! We're sorry for the miscommunications that happened. This cold weather spell made the office so hectic! The part for your fireplace was ordered but delivery took longer than we expected but that does not excuse the lack of communication with you. We are glad you are pleased with the repair and hope to work with you in the future."
I scheduled an appointment with McGrady-Perdue Heating and Cooling to have my AC system serviced. The receptionist was helpful and friendly. I took the day of off work the day of my appointment because the technician was scheduled to arrive somewhere between noon and 3pm. I received a call from the technician around 2pm to tell me he would not be able to make it because a job was taking longer than expected. That is fine. I understand that most service jobs take longer than expected because a technician never knows the condition of a machine before he opens it up. I said that was fine and we rescheduled to the following week.
My husband took off work the day of our rescheduled appointment. The technician was supposed to arrive between noon and 3pm. The technician had not arrived by 3pm nor had I received a call. I received a call around 4:30pm letting me know
that he would not be able to make it. I was annoyed but I said I would like to reschedule again.
We rescheduled to the following Wednesday. I could not take off work for another whole day so I planned to leave early instead. I asked if the appointment could be scheduled later in the day. We scheduled the appointment between 3pm and 5pm. The day of my appointment arrived and something came up at work so I was not able to leave a 2:30pm like I had planned. The technician arrived at my house around 3:30pm. He called me to let me know that he would begin servicing the exterior air handler even though I was not home yet. I told him I would leave as soon as possible. Unbeknownst to me as soon as possible was not for another 2 hours. The technician finished servicing the air handler around 4:30pm and called to let me know that he would wait for me to arrive to service the ducts and thermostat inside the house. When I arrived home at 5:30, the technician was gone. I do not blame him for that, he is paid to work between 8 am and 5pm, but given that I was patient with him, I was hoping he would be a little more patient with me.
The receptionist tried to call me to schedule a time to finish the job but we kept ?playing phone tag.? I was not planning to have
another technician come out anyway. My intent was to have the office send me a bill for the work performed. I finally got a bill in the mail. The total came close to $400. I am not an expert on HVAC services, but this seemed a little high to me. I was expecting $100-$200 for the labor and I was thinking it would be on the lower end because the technician did not service the whole system. I was expecting $50-$100 for the belts he replaced. However, I am not an expert so this may be an accurate, fair price.
I?m not going to say I would not recommend this company to a friend, but I personally will not be using them again.
However, he recommended that we do nothing because the valve is very, very expensive and because the window unit is not heavily used.
"We are sorry that [removed member name] was dissatisfied with our service. We work hard to provide the best service possible at the best value. We have an excellent reputation in the community and work to maintain our record of service. This service call was over 9 months ago, in November 2012, for a yearly maintenance service on 2 systems, a newer Lennox system and an older Rheem system. The service technician found a major short in the upstairs Rheem unit during the yearly maintenance service when he took off the service panel and the unit was unsafe at that point. Our technician worked on the unit and said that the unit was arcing and shorting out when he was working on it, and sent current thru the lines and did short out the thermostat, which put some small black marks on the wall at the thermostat, which wiped off easily. A new thermostat was approved by the homeowner and installed, with two new flex duct lines run to improve airflow, and the unit was running when he left but we recommended a changeout to a new system due to the age of the heat pump system (produced in 1993, so 20 years old) and the electrical issues found, which would probably cause further repair bills in the future. The homeowner had purchased the house from the previous owner and the extended warranty on the new system did not transfer to the new owner (policy of the Heat pump warranty service, not our company), which the new homeowner was not aware of when he purchased the home and was upset about. Estimates were given to the home owner ranging from $4925 to $10,955, varying due to efficiency of systems and options available. Any further airflow issues found or reported by the homeowner would be corrected during installation of the new system. The owners did not speak to [removed member name] about this service call and we do not know who he spoke with regarding his dissatisfaction unless it was another employee, which was not reported to the owners. We are sorry if this was the case. We feel that we provided good service to [removed member name], with fair prices quoted for replacement of an older, failing system. He chose another company to provide his replacement system and we hope he will be satisfied with his new system. We wish we had been aware of [removed member name] dissatisfaction before this late date so we could have possibly rectified any issues and retained him as a customer."
I'll use McGrady-Perdue forever. They have excellent people and their prices are very reasonable. Sure, I'd like the service call to have cost less, but you get what you pay for. This was money well spent.
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