TL/DR: Tried to trick me into signing a 10 year contract under the guise "it was a payment plan." Was going to charge me over $20,000 for an originally quoted $500 job. Another company replaced both my AC & Heat, cleaned my vents & changed my filters in 2 hours for $6,000 & gave me a REAL 1 year payment plan.
My heater broke during the recent winter storm. I own reptiles and was extremely concerned for their well-being with the temperature that low.
I genuinely feel like they were taking advantage of me and my urgent need and my obvious lack of knowledge as a woman and new home owner.
When they came to do a diagnostic, the first time they couldn't find a current. Ok fine, maybe that part broke. So they left to go pick up the part, and came back with no part. Ok...I get it, it's probably busy with the winter storm...but...you don't have someone you can call to match the exact part number you need? Because that's what I would have done back when I was working as an electrical engineer. It's not unusual practice to call inventory and have them match the part you're looking for...but ok. So they return without the part they thought they needed and they're like "let's see if we missed anything" and magically, they can find the current now. OK no problem, people make mistakes...(it had been around lunch time though the firsttime they came...)
But originally with the first part, they were quoting me $500+. Now, they're quoting me $1,500 AND they're telling me my unit is too old and we should replace the whole thing. Mind you- I only moved in 2 years ago. Now I don't know when it was installed, but I asked if they could tell how old it was, expecting them to look up a serial number or a date or something. No. Dude just starts pointing at it and is like, "oh it's gotta be 2009 or 2022 at least" and I'm like...OK. maybe he has expertise I don't and can "just tell."
Then they start pointing to my dirty vents and start explaining I should have been replacing the filters, and I admit, I had just barely bought a home for the first time on my own- I had no idea that was a thing. And this is when they start pushing really hard that I have biological growth in my unit and actually, to be safe I should REALLLY replace both my AC & heating unit. And so now they're telling me about how they can do that for me for the $1,500 and I admit, I can't afford that right now out of pocket, do they offer any payment plans? Because I feel like I'm being scammed at this point and I'm really annoyed and wishing I'd brought a man friend over because I doubt I would have been getting the same treatment, but whatever- at this point, I just need my heater fixed so my reptiles don't get harmed.
So the second guy pulls out a tablet and he's helping me sign up for what I think is a payment plan- and he asks for a credit check so I talk to my mom to use hers because her credit is better. So I'm on the phone with my mom, and about halfway through he says it'll be able $230ish a month, which is doable and I'm like "great, so if it's at $230 or so, I'll have the $1,500 paid off in about 6 or 7 months and then I'm done?" and the guy goes "oh yeah, you can cancel any time." And I'm like, "Cancel?" Because what payment plan have you ever heard of that you can just cancel???
And after a short back and forth, the truth comes out: this dude is trying to get me to sign a 10 year contract where I would pay $230 a month for TEN YEARS= that's an over $27,600 commitment NOT $1,500. I don't care what kind of services you're trying to offer!!! That's not what we agreed on! And you're trying to trick me!
I cancel the application, send him out as politely as I can, ask for their business card so I have receipts if people need to know who it was. They still charge me the $100 diagnotic fee even though nothing was fixed.
The nextday, I got a different contractor to come out. Replaced both my heater & ac, cleaned out my air vents, replaced the filters and did it all in under 2 hours for $6,000 and gave me a 1 year payment plan.
