re: How to handle bill from AC service company if nothing was fixed?

quote:

---

I recently had a similar issue on a condo I rent out. The tenant called in May and said the A/C wasn't blowing cold air. I called a repair place, and the girl on the phone said that it probably just needs to be cleaned. A few hours later I get a call from the repair company stating that they changed out the fan, and I owe them $400. A day later my tenant says there is no change in the A/C. This time I meet the repairman out there. He hooks up a device with gauges. He points out that the gauges indicate that it needs to be cleaned. He cleans it, and it immediately starts blowing cold air. I informed them that I would pay for the cleaning but not replacing the fan.

---

Ask to see the old fan. If you have a multimeter check the power leads to the fan. Generally as long as there is some resistance (Ohms) then the fan is fine. Usually its the capacitor that fails.
Cleaning the coils is something that every property owner should do once a year. Go to an appliance parts store and get the Green Coil cleaner and spray it on your outside coils and spray with a garden hose after. (outside coils are weather resistant obviously as long as electrical panel is in place)
The inside coils you have to pull an access panel off, you don't HAVE to do these once a year, but doing so keeps your unit running longer.
For those, just brush with a coil brush, then spray diluted coil cleaner and then brush again. you can spray with water from a spray bottle, any water from here will go into drip pan.

Keep your coils inside and out clean and your system will always run great.

A/C co. replaced my fan motor on the outside unit. Next day it wasn't working again. They came back and replaced the fan motor again with no charge.

Over the spring, we called someone to come and check out our AC as we were prepping the house for getting it on the market. Work was completed -- they made sure it was cooling and I paid and they left.

Left and returned home 2 or 3 hours later and it was HOT AND HUMIN and the AC wasn't working. I called immediately and they came back out the same day .. different tech who called the first tech who admitted to not checking the bearings (sp?) for whatever reason. Temporarily fixed, parts ordered and there was no service call for the return trip OR the actual repair trip (parts yes, service no).

I got hosed last year by the AC company we bought our Lennox from. It needed a new pump and a service. I asked if they were still the authorized warranty repair reps and they told me straight up they were. They fix the part under warranty and give me a bill for the labor. I noticed a 150.00 warrantee "fee" and asked wtf is this shite? The tech spilled the beans and I didn't pay the 150.00 Still haven't paid and they call every month asking for it.

Service companies typically charge for time. While they aren't in the business of not fixing anything, sometimes things don't always get fixed the first time around. It's easy for one problem to look like something else and a misdiagnoses happen all the time. If you don't like the guy that came or trust his opinion, call someone else. You still owe that guy for his time, though.