Michael & Son Services Richmond

The company would not quote me a price on the phone despite me just needing my tankless hot water heater flushed. I scheduled the work and the technician charged me $513 for 45 minutes of work. He could not tell me why it was so expensive and said they work on commissions and not an hourly rate. Can’t help but feeling ripped off. Should have followed my gut as I checked 2 other local plumbers and the quoted me between $175 and $250 for the same job. Will never use these guys again.

Let’s start at the top- your sales agent made his money after I signed a contract and he disappeared. I had told him I needed an electrical estimate for another house and he told me to email him the address and request and then he ignored the email and never responded- yall lost that business. I guess he got what he needed to make his commission for his own department. Secondly, I was supposed to have my vents/ducts cleaned prior to install. That didn’t happen. Actually it was never going to happen at all because the sales agent never scheduled it for me. It wasn’t until I called weeks later asking about it that they THEN scheduled it. So if I hadn’t called it wouldn’t have been done. Third. My unit was installed on a new pad in the same place as the old one where there is no gutter. Apparently ice froze over the unit and the tech who came out spent the entire discussion blaming my lack of gutter on the fact that the whole unit was almost dead due to ice. Not once did the tech stop arguing with me over the gutter and own any responsibility for the fact that your professionals installed it there without ever a single mention that the lack of gutter would kill it within a week if we had cold rain. I spend all that money and your techs don’t even check that it’s installed somewhere free of hazard? Now I finally get a duct cleaning appointment and it gets pushed out due to weather by 2 MORE weeks. So nearly a month since my install. These guys don’t even bother COVERING MY VENTS! I have dust everywhere I’ve been cleaning for days since they left. Didn’t bother asking if I had any babies or children asleep or near the vents? I have particles all in our beds and all over my kitchen stove/ living area bathroom etc. really ridiculous. Your call center isn’t much help. No one has solutions to your poor performance as a company. I would never ever recommend this company to anyone

Bait and switch pricing. The Technician showed up with balloon pricing and services that were not requested or required. I felt like they operated as used car sales versus a reputable HVAC company. A company that should be avoided as they focus up sales instead of service. The office admitted that the Technician should have applied a coupon that was promised yet they didn’t rectify the problem. I overpaid for prevent maintenance that Michael and Sons recommended.

I had a gold yearly membership $389 with Michael and son, it includes 4 free inspections yearly. I had a plumbing inspection with them and I paid $700 for plumbing service and paid $389 for membership on that day. scheduled first free hvac appointment, and it is very rushed and not good. just open the cover of 2 year old furnace machine and took photos and left. He does not feel like answers my related questions and said he had been booked many appointment on that same day. I feel it is a waste of my time to take the time out of my work to wait 4 hour window at home, and for someone to take photos for the machine at my private home. yesterday when I received call about schedule coming appointment for calling system, I.asked (1) send a senior technician, so he might have more knowledge to answer questions. (2) make sure the outdoor unit can be clean with water. But the scheduler said she does not know if she can do it, she will send a message to ask and get back to me. the call took 20 minutes.i tried to be very patient with her.their current cooling tune up appointment is $59. about 3pm yesterday received a call from them again, I thought it is the answer from 9am appointment agent, but no, it is from a different agent. for some reason , she could not find any notes from 9am phone call conversation, so I repeated myself explaining to her when book appointment please add those 2 requests to be met because of unpleasant experience had last time. she seems not understanding me and she is typing on the phone,not sure why it takes her 3 phone call, so it is about 3 phone call *10 minutes each. at the end of 3rd phone call, I feel tired, asking if she can get those two requests met, she said she will write it down and send it over and she does not know yet. Then I said it is already about 1 hour of my time trying to request those 2 requests to be met to talk with both agents on the phone repeating myself. why after an hour, we are back to point zero again. please just cancel the membership. then today received an email from director of membership, saying since only have 4 months left on the contract, can only refund $129.when I called her, she seems very harsh , she said she did not find any notes from previous 9am and 3pm phone call regarding my 2 requests, she only see I decline cooling appointment and need to cancel membership. I tried to explain it is not true. I was trying to schedule appointment with them, that is why willing to spend 1 hour and pick up 4 phone calls from them yesterday. it I just want to cancel , why need 1 hour, only 2 minutes can get it done. She did not believe what I said, because she can not find any notes regarding phone call conversation there. I feel frustrated about their taking notes system, why when agents said she is taking notes 4 times, why nothing can be written down as notes and passed over to next person who can solve customer's need. my 2 requests of asking a senior instead of a fresh man technician, and to clean outdoor unit with water , not just take photos, should be very easily granted. why it is so difficult and time consuming. so I believe there is administrative or management issue there. also I am not happy why technician is in such a hurry , seems like all he cares is to take photos and not to address my question/concerns. lesson learned, is maybe because this company is big and there are so many different department and it is hard to pass a message from one to the other department and also the Technican's technical level differ a lot. SO I will look for a smaller company maybe with less than 10 people, who is willing to address consumer's need. not just take photos and be done with the $60 appointment I paid for. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

The technician was told the heat pump was not working. He couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he just told me he installed a new filter. He then upcharged me for an expensive add on part and duct cleaning services. After he left the system still was still not working, and another technician came and told me the motor and compressor were inoperable and I would need a new system. I also need all ducts. Michael and Sons has not refunded me for the expensive part I did not need and the pre-paid cleaning which will not be taking place. I won't use them again.

My experience with Sam Nottingham, HVAC technician, was great. Sam was professional, courteous, and knowledgeable in his performance. He explained everything I needed to know about my HVAC inspection. I consider Sam an asset to Michael and Son.

They were more than 3 times the price of the next bidder, and tried to sell us on a home warranty. They are professional salespeople.

What a disaster. They took nine months to install electricity for an outbuilding. It should have taken two weeks. Lead electrician disappeared 2 minutes after I made the final payment, leaving the work undone. He continued being a no show when he booked appointments, sending me unprofessional text message excuses. I requested a different electrician and still had to make numerous phone calls to get them to finish. They tried to charge me an extra $1,200 to hook up the outlets which was supposed to be in the contract. I refused to pay and did it myself for $120.00 in less than an hour. Two years later, I hired another company to do some electrical work and they discovered that Michael and Sons did not seal the box that is on the outside of my building, so rain has been getting in and rusting the electrical box. Unfortunately, that electrician just fixed the problem without documenting it. Also, Michael and Sons gave me an estimate for plumbing that was over $10,000. I got another plumber who did the job in one day for a little over $1,000.00. In my opinion, they are overpriced and unreliable.

What a waste of time and money.They did a horrible job evaluating the problem our hvac had. I feel rubbed because They Recomended unnecessary things like chemical washing a unit that i had to replace and I called them to get my money back but they refused to listen. Stay away from them for your own good.

They were good. A bit expensive

I call at approximately 10:41 am and spoke with Ginger who took my info and scheduled my apt. between 4pm til 6pm. She told me that the diagnostic charge was $89.00 which I agreed to. Repair person showed up at around 3:45 and when I met him at the door he asked what the problem was and as soon as I told him my thermostat went off when my lights went out and now it doesn't work, he asked me if we had oil heat. I said yes and he said I am sorry but we don't work on oil heat . I called and made a complaint to Keith who told me he would have a supervisor call me back. No call back so I called back the next day and spoke with Brent. I wasted a whole day without heat because Ginger failed to tell me that Michael & Son don't service oil customers, however she made sure she told me about the $89 charge+. I will never call them again. Poor service.

Wow, I have been waiting for a call from Michael and Sons for 5 days and after sending 2 emails, 1 instant message and 3 phone calls I finally just got off the phone with a person from Michael and Sons and was treated so badly. I am the customer and should not be yelled at no matter what. I have a mini split air conditioner that is not working right now. This is the 2nd time I had to call because of the Freon, 1st time they just added Freon and we were told there was possibly a leak but they couldn't find it now I had to have them come back again and they want to charge me $1,800.00 to fix a leak then drain the Freon and add Freon. When I complained that they didn't find the leak until after my warranty ran out for labor the guy started yelling at me and told me off. I know the work needs to be done but I was looking for a much better price since this is the second time and we believe they sold us the unit with a slow leak to begin with. I have never been treated so badly or talked to so rudely I am very disappointed in Michael and Sons. We are longtime customers and will no longer recommend them or use them.

Well, I found out I need a new heat pump. The technician said that of course it was my choice, but he could try to bandaid the current system by adding coolant... but he didn’t know how long it would last.... and that anything I spent would be credited back to me to use on a new heat pump from them. Then I waited for a comfort consultant to come see me. He ran my credit and their finance company would not finance a heat pump for me.... so I didn’t get to use my $750 towards a new heat pump. After he left, I called my bank and was approved for a personal line of credit to get a heat pump. I called another company for a quote, because I didn’t feel comfortable with Michael and Son any longer. I feel like the technician should have NEVER told me the coolant may have been a viable option AT ALL. I would never have come up with that idea on my own. My system leaked and the coolant did not work at all. I was out $750 and felt deceived.

I requested a quote to replace our existing 2.5 ton unit. We wanted to keep our existing Oil based heating system as our backup. I made this fact clear both when we submitted the request on Angies List and over the phone with the company when they called to schedule the visit. When the Tech came to our location I was informed that Michael and Son does not service, install or replace any unit that uses oil. I Can't really complain about the quality of their work as I haven't had them at my home in years but for the few times I have, including this one, they have not had the best customer service and they fail at listening to their potiential clients concerns.

They didn't know how to do it.

So my AC went out. Called Michael and Son. As expected low coolant. Had to defrost to refill - fine - came back next day - refilled refrigerant. Indicated suspected leak and a WHOLE load of other high cost recommendations. AC Engineer didnt recognize the system type - it has an open vent at the top of the drain valve - So he taped up the open vent and got the system running again. Also, in filling, he broke all 3 fill valves (because they were not a model he was familiar with). Because it was a leak we contacted the installer under warranty. Thank GOD we did. When he came out, the system was again low on coolant. The water tray under the unit was absolutely FULL of water because the air flow on the overflow had been blocked. (Michael and Son said it was leaking - if it had been our house from the attic down would have been flooded). So he unblocked the drain, emptied the water and got the cooler unit swapped out under warranty. The cost per unit of Coolant was also 1/3 of Michael's cost (Michaels is 118.45 per pound, ALL others we tested after their visit were around $40 per pound). I called Michael and Son on the Monday after the Sunday repair to complain that their tech had made some errors on my system and that I was unhappy with the Puron cost. Spoke to supervisor (Pete). Reasonable response, said manager (James Schools or Walter Johnson ?) would have to talk to me about the bill because he was unauthorized to adjust. Waited 1 week, no manager call. I called Michaels (2 weeks ago). Had to re-iterate the problem, send pictures AGAIN - even though manager was aware of the issue wanted to 'rehash' and 'reevaluate' responsibility and what he would decide. Took details, was pretty rude and dismissive. Insisted that his Puron price was reasonable (even though patently its not in line with competitors) and said he would get back with me shortly. Its now 2 weeks later and no response. I paid this company $355.55 (and $89.99 for the first visit) for very poor service and they both damaged my AC system and risked significant damage to my house and overcharge for coolant. Pic-3 shows the Ptrap on the right of the picture blocked with a plastic cap and tape. Other pic shows the 2" water in the tray under the unit because the air flow on the Ptrap was blocked

I cancelled the job

Excellent!

It was terrible. I could tell from the very beginning they are trained for selling up. The person was very nice and respectful, but it went down hill from there. My guess from the list of things needed done, it would take a good plumber 90 minutes to do them all. The 1st thing he quoted me on to reseal a toilet, was $100 more than the new toilet installed! I stopped him mid sentence and said that's it - no way. I feel ripped off the $69 diagnostics fee. Don't ever use these people.

Called on 2 May at 5:30 pm; made an appointment for Sunday, 6 May between 10 and 2. No show. Called just after two; after speaking to two customer service reps, finally talked with Dave, the HVAC Service Manager who informed me he cancelled my appointment at 8 in the morning due to the number of calls for service they had received. No call, nothing. Very unprofessional.

I was informed every step of the way and the problem was fixed that day.

It went great the plumber /technician that came out was Mr.Bradley. He was friendly and very professional. You can tell he loves his job and he is very knowledgeable. He took his time to get to the heart of the problem and provided us with teaching on what the problem was and what needed to be done to fix it and to prevent it from happening again in the future. The pricing was very compatible. He was respectful with my family members( I had my special need family member at home at time of the visit) and I could not have asked for a better experience. The professionalism was all around. We were very impressed. An excellent representative for Michael and Son. What really stood out is that he would not settle until he was 100% sure of the diagnosis and that he had helped us. I would highly recommend this company to other families/individuals. Topflight!!

The price was included in my yearly service agreement.

I have an annual fee.

I like their reliability. I would use them again; they are my primary service provider.