Anonymous
map-marker Sugar Land, Texas

ARS cancelled my appointment

I called around to numerous companies to do maintenance service on my air conditioning units. I found ARS to "seem" dependable and made an appointment for the next day. The only time they gave me would be after 1:00. I made it a point to be home on this day for the appointment only to get a phone call at 2:00 from a gentleman letting me know they were running behind because of all the service calls they had, and they would like to reschedule. After some conversation, he said he could make it, just not until around 4 or 5. I agreed, but made sure he understood I had to leave at 630. I began to wonder if everyone just wanted to go home early since it was a Friday afternoon. Not to my surprise, at 3:30 I received another phone call from a woman in dispatch, explaining they would not be able to make it, and wanted to reschedule. I asked why they even made an appointment if they weren't going to show up and she just continued about rescheduling, now blaming the rain that had started, and had already ended. Apparently they cannot do maintenance on your air conditioning if it rains. I canceled the appointment and scheduled with Del-Air. Thankfully, my A/C isn't broken, because in Florida it rains nearly every afternoon in the summer, and according to this company, work cannot be done. Besides, who needs air conditioning during the summer in Florida anyway???
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3 comments
Guest

Next day scheduling to do maintenance? Sounds like they were trying hard to fit that in the middle of what ended up being a busy day for emergency repairs.

Someone screwed up booking that for you.

They should have made it right somehow. Everyone's time is valuable.

Guest

I work in Hvac industry and I can tell yes we can work in rain but is it smart. I thing no Hvac uses 240 volts u do the math also some units have circut bards just like computers and what would happen if they get wet.

Just saying think before u complain. And I work in Mississippi and it rains a lot to

Nancy J Ieb

You're lucky ARS didn't make your appointment! They probably would have over charged you or sold you on something you didn't need! See my complaint about what they did to me!

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lillyrose g
map-marker Austin, Texas

Price gouger

My dad is 78 years old and has the beginnings of dementia. ARS came to the house in Houston and told him he needed a new A/C. They gave him a price of $12,125.00 for a new 3 ton Carrier unit. This price included the furnace and an infinity control thermostat ($517) and a $595 Plenum. That's it. If you have ever purchased a new A/C you probably know that this is about twice what it should cost. My Dad picked these guys because they had the big ad and he could read the bold print. We (the "kids") found out about this after the fact. I contacted the company and after way too many phone calls, a request for information not included on the invoice which might as well have been written on a napkin, I got the break-down of what he had actually purchased. I sent a letter to the company saying that this was clearly price gouging and if nothing else completely immoral. Ultimately, ARS told me that this price was "book value". It appeared to me that the sales rep that was on commission saw a mentally challenged senior citizen and decided to charge him full "book value". So if you are in the market for a new A/C you might consider the ethics and morals of a company that charges double what almost everyone else in the business does to seniors. Although you might even consider that you too could get the "book price". If so, you are paying too much. Go to anyone else and get a much better deal. Probably 50% less or maybe they will just fix it because it doesn't need to be replaced anyway. Good luck.
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Loss:
$12125
6 comments
Guest

Bluedot of Maryland is part of ARS and servicemen have sales quotas,so service men sell instead of repairs.they have to to keep their jobs. The company requires servicemen attend sales meetings weekly,this makes for poor service and high pressure or improper sales

Guest

Bluedot of Maryland is part of ARS and servicemen have sales quotas,so service men sell instead of repairs.they have to to keep their jobs. The company requires servicemen attend sales meetings weekly,this makes for poor service and high pressure or improper sales

Guest

I guess I should have said in my original complaint above that the Ars my dad used was in Houston. But the corporate office in Tennessee or where ever it was, was of no help as stated above.

Guest

you guys are paying way too much for repairs,

I just replaced my fan motor 1/5th HP for $94 and i also replaced my capacitor for $6.50

Guest

Just a week ago I had ARS come to the house because the AC was not cooling. I had checked the condenser / compressor and knew the fan was not working.

A Field Supervisor comes to the house and writes a Diagnosis of replaceing a top placed fan & motor. Motor was quoted as $487.00 and installation was $900.00 !!!!!

I called another company and the AC was fixed with a capacitor (not the fann assembly)for $149.00......

PS: we have used ARS for years and just lately they seem to price gouge.

90 days ago they charged me $1,400.00 for a repair. They too quoted a replacement 3 ton AC unit for $14,000.00 !!!!

Guest

I agree totally! We had a leak with a toilet and ARS told us it would cost $12,000 to dig under the house and fix it.

We had another plumber come and he was able to fix the problem for $250.00!! We had to call ARS several times because the plumber who came out did not leave the video of the pipes after he scoped the toilet and pipes.

A few months later, we had problems with the toilet - another plumber came out and found that the ARS plumber never resealed our toilet. Would never use them again!

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jojo Bzw
map-marker San Diego, California

American Residential Services complaint

We had a repairman come out to fix our heater. It cost $56 to look at the heater and then he said it would cost $800.+ to repair it. My husband got mad and decided to do the repairs himself, it cost $163. and it took less than 2 hours. We live in a pretty nice area and we figured the repairman over priced it to match the area. The company is a rip-off! We're located in San Diego, California. It makes me mad especially as a women to be over charged like that. The company should be fined.
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8 comments
Guest

It cost $163 because you aren't sure running a business to make money doing those repairs, didn't have to employ people to do different jobs to run daily operations, and didn't have to learn how to diagnose the problem before being able to fix it. What do you do for work?

Would you charge the same as what it costs you for something? It was your decision if it exists was worth it to you to pay for that service. Turns out it wasnt worth it to you but may be twice as valuable to the next.

You shouldn't assume that there is some bad ethics there.

Guest

You live in a "pretty nice area" and can't afford to pay $800 to get your "heater" fixed? My husband doesn't write me prescriptions when I'm sick or cut my hair.

I pay professionals to do what they've been trained and licensed for. Make sure you have a low level CO detector in your home if you have a gas furnace.

Guest

Gee.... sure hope you dont have an electrical fire after your diy heat repair.

Hopefully its not a gas furnace, even more dangerous.

$163 sure helps you sleep better than a company trying to make a reasonable profit. Sounds legit and typically assures a service call to the pros...

Guest

It is amazing how people complain on the internet. People don't understand the cost of owning a business.

They don't think the time it takes the technician driving to the home, the gas, the insurance on the car, insurance for the employees, worker compensation, the maintanance on the car, stocking fees, the business license, employee taxes, state taxes, federal taxes, rent fee, electric, gas, business license in different cities, the office people, the accountant, the managers, the computers, toilet paper, printers, too much for me to list. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE PRICE, then just nicely say NO and go somewhere else.

Guest

as a disgruntled former employee of this company, yes i do have my own personal thoughts on the company- but i will also say that, people have no clue what it takes to run these types of businesses. Do you think that a mcdonalds big mac really costs $5 bucks to make?

no....it costs probably more like a dollar or less to make. and where that is an example on a way smaller scale, its the same principle. Take into concideration, that ars may be higher priced, but they also arent hiring ex cons to come into your home to do the work. Would you rather go with a cheaper company who hires ex cons and people that havent been background checked, to be in the home with your 87 yr old mother , alone?

or would you rather have the insurance that EVERY single employee is background checked, drug tested, licensed, bonded, and professionally trained. And the comfort of knowing if they mess up, they fix it, under warranty. these little companies dont give that guarantee, and if they do, whos to guarantee they will be in business still when you call them to fix the problem they caused?

No one forces you to use the company you pick. Its a matter of what you want to get out of the company.

Guest

So you honestly think that when a company charges you $131 for a part or service that the only cost built into that price is the actual cost of the part? You can't be that clueless, can you?

Or do you not understand that there are a multitude of costs built into that price that the company has to include simply to stay in business? Maybe those businesses shouldn't provide health insurance for their employees, match their employee's 401K contribution, provide warranties for their customers, or pay decent wages to their employees - all of which are built into the prices of the goods and services that company offers.

Guest

...hmmm...and maybe we should also feel that bank robbers as bank users should be allowed to make their withdrawals.

I had a recent expereience with this company. They wanted to charge me $131 for a part that retails at my local plumbing supply store for $9.

That's not a profit, it's price gouging and people like these rip off women, the elderly and anyone else not savvy with the trades any chance they get.

There's no defense for it and, when uncovered, their actions can't stand the light of day. An honest company makes an honest profit doing honest work.

Guest

Why would you think for even one second that you were being overcharged? Maybe you feel that a furnace repair company should not be allowed to make a profit ?

In home repair service is a very high overhead business, overhead must be paid for before any profit can be made.

Costs include Trucks, inventory, insurance , licence fees, phone bills, fuel, rent, electric bills, payroll, training, uniforms, office supplies. I could go on here but maybe you get the idea.

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