air discount services

I've been using them for years. They've done a lot of different things. They replaced our air conditioning unit and they gave us a really good price. He never charges us for emergency services. He has come out before with the same problem so there's no charge today. He's got the best price around. He really cares about his work. He's there exactly when he said he's supposed to be. He's very professional, very honest and very nice.

unknown

It was outstanding.

My air conditioning stopped working so I called my home warranty who referred Air Discount Services (ADS).  They showed up promptly to diagnose the issue and recommended replacement of the system.  The parts were quickly delivered to ADS and we setup the installation appointment. They showed up on time and had a great attitude.  We were pleased with the service and the cool results.  He even offered some free advice for me on maintenance of the AC system and furnace.

I was sooo apprehensive when this company was selected to inspect my heating problem because of the other two reviews but they didn't do a bad job. The person came out within the agreed upon time and before the time window was up I even got a call that said he was on his way. The person was professional and polite and seemed to figure out my problem. He was not authorized by the warranty company to fix it because it turned out to be more of an electrical issue, but I have no doubts he could have fixed it.

Where do I begin?  Our heater stopped working on a Saturday and I called my home warranty place for service.  ADS was selected.  He came out on Monday morning to access the problem.  Quickly found the problem, showed me what was broken, and wrote down the name of the broken part.  Initially I thought that the there was some kind of miscommunication because I thought he said he was going to go get the part that needed to be replaced.  A few hours later when I called he filled me in that the part was "very, very expensive" and it has to be approved through the home warranty company and that would take a few days.  In the next 9 days I realized that it wasn't a miscommunication, he is just incredibly poor at communicating anything.  
In the interim I looked up the part online for my furnace and found it to be under $100.  I was in communication with the insurance company and they told me that he submitted a bill to them for the part for over $400.  The insurance company elected to purchase the part themselves and have it delivered to ADS.  In his attempt to pad his bill he added additional days to my being without heat with an infant in the house.
I had to initiate the call to him in order for him to perform the initial evaluation, I called him repeatedly during the subsequent 9 days to get a status of what was happening with my repair.  I had to call him to tell him that the part was delivered.  He told me that he would make sure that it was the correct part and then he said he would call me to schedule an appointment for the next day.  He never called until he was on his way to my house for the repair.  Luckily my wife works close to home and was able to meet him there.
That being said, my furnace is working again.

Air Discount Services (ADS), the home warranty's company's repair man, never returned our initial call from Friday evening.  We tried to reach the warranty company on the phone over the weekend but there was no answer.  So we called the warranty company again on Monday afternoon.  ADS denied receiving the first request to the warranty company and came immediately to our house within an hour.  Once at our house, the ADS tech told us he was flooded with repair requests and didn't really need more service calls.  (So he could have let the warranty call go to another HVAC company!)  While at our home, he was in a hurry and appeared to be his own secretary, as he was frequently on the phone with customers.  During the service call, the ADS technician was pleasant.  But he didn't like me following him during this inspection and didn't like me asking questions about why the systems failed.  I think he wanted to work alone and then give me a summary of his call at the end.  He sometimes gave me silly answers to my questions.  Once he told me I should consider going to school for HVAC, if I want to know what is wrong with my AC unit.  After a while, I determined he may have an issue with women.  So I think there were cultural and language barriers with this South Asian man's communication skills.  Notice to all contractors:  This is our house and it's our property.  I have every right to learn the problem's origination and steps that could be taken to help prevent future problems with our homes most expensive appliances, the AC unit and furnace.
Using a wand to detect freon leaks, ADS determined there was a leak in the AC system.  He installed a replacement pin to seal the leak.  He recharged (refilled) the AC unit with freon.  He informed me the coils froze over the furnace and the damper to the upstairs level had been placed in the close position.  ADS opened the upstairs closed damper, which was closed and also got the furnace blower working, which cooled off the house immediately.  Before he left, without telling me, he set the thermostat to "fan on" and the AC to off.  I paid ADS the $75 warranty fee and he went to his car to leave.  (I looked at the thermostat and saw it off.  I ran downstairs and saw water on the floor, which must have been created from the heat of the furnace fan running causing the ice on the coils to melt.  So I ran out to his car to ask him why the AC was off.  He told me to wait 3 hours before turning on the AC to allow the coils to melt.)  I returned to the basement to find a huge meltdown mess ensuing on the floor of the furnace room from ice melting off the coils and the furnace quit.  Luckily, I was home during this service call to clean up all the water before it caused other damage and luckily there wasn't a fire (water + electricity = fire).  I was surprised how much ice must have been melting, since the unit hadn't been working since Friday (3 days).   I was already running a dehumidifier for comfort and I used towels to cleaned up the water on the floor.  The AC unit ran 4 hours later but the house was going to have no AC again, since the furnace blower wouldn't work.  So I turned everything off again.  I later learned he should have checked the coil drain, which was clogged, and would have allowed the condensation to flow into the drain instead of all over my furnace.
Our furnace contractor, John Nugent and Sons (JNS), came out the next day (Tuesday) to inspect the furnace, coils, and AC unit.  They determined a difference in the cooling of the furnace temp vs. the AC by 30 degrees and advised a possible kink in the AC line and made recommendations on how to evaluate if further.   At the end of the call, I was suspicious of ADS's performance with the AC unit. 
So we called the warranty company, argued with the rep. for 20 minutes to get a 2nd opinion, and got approval for a 2nd visit from another company, National Indoor Climate Experts (NICE).  NICE's tech, Skye, provided a 2nd opinion by repeating JNS's assessment and determined the cause was from ADS overfilling the AC until with 2 extra pounds of freon.  NICE notified us overfilling an AC condenser can cause an AC condenser until to fail immediately or die sooner.  So Skye emptied 2 pounds of freon from the AC unit and the temperatures equalled out.  What a waste of freon and a huge waste of our time!  And now we are wondering if our AC will die sooner and are not sure we're done with this issue.  This whole fiasco left me thinking ADS shouldn't have an HVAC license.