I am extremely disappointed with the level of service (or lack of service) that I received from Reliance Furnace Company today. I would strongly advise against using this company. If you are looking for a professional, respectful service look elsewhere.
Our air conditioner has recently stopped working properly (the fan in the outside condenser unit was not spinning). When I called the company at 8 am today (Saturday), they said they could have a technician out today for $239 per hour. The heat is over 30 degrees, so I agreed. When the technician (Justin) arrived at about 3:40 pm, he inspected the AC system (both the inside and outside units) within 10 minutes, and laid out three options for us.
He said that our system is very old and it is using the old R22 antifreeze which is going to be phased out soon, however, he could pump it with antifreeze today for about $800 to last us through this heat and possibly until the end of the summer; it was not the option that he would personally choose but he said he could do it. The second and third options involved installing a new system, either using the same type of antifreeze or the more modern one, but those would roughly cost around $2000 and $4-5000 respectively and we would have to wait 2-3 weeks to have it installed. He then proceeded back to his truck parked in our driveway without waiting to hear what option we would choose and just sat there and wrote the bill for $239. After he heard that we had chosen the first option (pumping more antifreeze into the existing system), he said that he refused to do so because he did not think it was a safe option for us (?), although he was the one who had offered it in the first place.
He then proceeded to tell us that he could set us up to meet with a salesperson today about installing a new system, and then the $239 could be credited towards a new system. We insisted that our preference was the first option that he had offered, but he absolutely refused to follow through with it. We refused to pay him for the call as he basically did nothing to help us and refused to provide the temporary fix that he himself had suggested. Most of the remaining hour, until almost 4:30 pm, was spent debating the matter with him. At our insistence, he agreed to write on the bill a clause about crediting the $239 towards a new system in the future, however, he wrote down that it had to be purchased within 1 month, even after being told that this would not work for us, as we are going away on vacation. The feeling was that he was definitely trying to upsell us into buying a new system instead of fixing the existing one. Even if we decide to get a new system, we would never deal with this company again, and would strongly advise others against doing so!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $239.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Company Response
Hi Marina. Sorry to hear about what happened. At this time of year when the weather is so hot it's hard not to get frustrated. As discussed adding refrigerant to an almost 30 year old air conditioner isn't something we would recommend as the Tech suggested. Glad to know we were able to diagnose the situation for you as we have for so many others.