heat-air contractors

[Gubni]

My 20+ year old heat pump quit and I called someone to take a look at it. They told me there would be a $60 charge. I said ok. He comes out and replaces a relay (contactor) and is here less than 15 minutes and tells me they have a 30 minute minimum. He told me the contactor was $35, so I figure $65 would take care of it. Then he proceeds to hand me a bill for $125 explaining that the $60 was a diagnostic fee. I felt a bit scammed since he was here litterlly less than 15 minutes and his office is less than 4 miles from my house. He explained that all HVAC people charge at least $60 to show up plus actual time and that he was cheaper than anyone around. My question is has anyone else heard of such a billing scam? Is that normal in heating and air guys? I'm in the service business and I'd never dream of doing something like that. It's like double charging.

[TiredIronGRB]

Sounds about normal to me, I don't think you can get anyone to come out for less than $100.

[r1ng3l78]

when i was plumbing, it was 50 bucks to knock on your door. and that was years ago.

[Hokie_YJ]

My old church got a $200 bill once for a service call. It took about 10 minutes, and all the guy did was turn the breaker back on. Yes I said turn the breaker back on. :roll:

[Bluegill]

I've learned the hard way to troubleshoot my own equipment. Last year the capacitor went out on my 4yr old heat pump. Found out that even though it was under warranty, the contractor who installed it would still charge me a $70 service call fee. So I got with a buddy at work whose son is a HVAC contractor and gave him the part number for the capacitor. He got it for me at jobber cost; $23 :grin: The next day it was nice & cozy in my house. :smokin: Right now my air handler (inside unit) fan relay is going out, and Mike is getting me a new one for 34 bucks. It works, but only if I leave the fan running all the time :x

Don't ever buy a Goodman heat & air unit :!:

[BroncoMike]

Yip sounds about right. Our heat pump in our old house wouldn't heat the house. The guy told me there was a $50 or $60 min charge. He done some checks and turned out a fuse was blown. I was luckier than you and got away with only the minimum charge.

[lowNslow]

in Michigan my furnace quit working... cost me 125 dollars for a HVAC guy to come out..and borrow my longer allen wrenchs to clean out a small vacuum hose.... needless to say that was a learning experience for me.... that allen wrench is probably still right there on the furnace cause I left it there to clean out myself from then on..