Emergency Heating And AC Repair Jobs That Turned Simple Repairs Into Larger Crisis Situations
In the midst of an emergency, a lot of people don’t think clearly, which is why a lot of things can go wrong easily when you call for emergency heating and AC repair help. Most people are so frantic in their search to find an HVAC company that can come out right away, that they forget to check the credentials of the company and read the reviews. A lot of times, there is a reason why someone is able to come out to your home right away, and it is not always a great reason.
Depending on the time of year, many HVAC companies are booked solid due to the fact that they have a large base of loyal customers who have booked services or paid for prompt service in advance. In fact, the best thing you can do to make sure that you have access to a great company for emergency heating and AC repair is to sign up for a service plan which often offers premium access to a company even during extremely busy seasons.
However, if you failed to sign up for a premium plan but need help during the summer season this shouldn’t mean that you need to panic and go with the first company that can take you. Remember, that even though someone may be the first to come out does not mean that they are the first to help you. If you have a bad experience with the HVAC company you might end up waiting longer for another company to come out. For this reason, it is very important to check reviews.
Even in an HVAC emergency, it is okay to step back for 20 minutes and look at reviews and credentials of the company that you are calling to make sure they are licensed, bonded, and insured. After all, if they don’t carry insurance you will not be protected, and if they are not licensed then you probably don’t want them working on your HVAC system anyhow. Your HVAC system is usually the most expensive appliance in your home, so you don’t want to let just anyone handle it. The following people didn’t understand how important it was to do their research before choosing an HVAC tech in an emergency, and the results were terrible.
Take a minute to read these stories, and then think about doing some research now so that you are prepared if you ever need to hire an emergency heating and AC repair company. The best way to avoid future problems is by being proactive when you can. While everyone hopes that they will not need the help of a technician, it’s a good idea to have one on-call so you don’t end up like these poor homeowners.
Waiting on Parts Indefinitely
Brian learned the hard way that just because an HVAC company was able to come immediately out to his home for emergency heating and AC repair does mean that they are the best choice. In fact, while they were able to come out immediately, he found himself waiting for weeks because of their lousy scheduling. This was just one of the problems that he had with them, as his repair process became a nightmare that had no end in sight, just a lot of hassle and even some foul language from the owner eventually.
The problems started in the middle of the night on a Tuesday. Brian’s wife woke him up and told him she was burning up. At first, he was confused about why she woke him up to tell him that, but then he realized he was pretty hot as well. It didn’t take him very long to realize that the AC was not working and everyone in the home was probably uncomfortable. It was the middle of July so he knew that he had to do something quickly. They had kids in the home, and while they were still sleeping, he knew that the heat of the day would be unbearable and potentially unsafe for everyone.
Brian quickly got on Google on his phone and started to look for phone numbers of emergency heating and AC repair companies. He worked his way down the list calling one after another looking for someone who would be able to come out in the morning. Morning was only a few hours away at this point so it seemed silly to pay someone to come out in the middle of the night. He figured everyone could make it a few more hours. However, he was quickly learning that HVAC companies in Texas are booked solid during July in Texas.
It seemed like he was on the phone forever, but in reality, it was about nine phone calls before he found an emergency heating and AC repair company that was available in the morning. He went ahead and booked them and tried to get some sleep, but it was hard because the heat already felt like it was seeping into the home and suffocating him. He knew it was because he was more alert to the issue, but it was still uncomfortable, and he just wanted to get it fixed and over with. Tomorrow was bound to be another scorcher, and no one was going to be able to stay in the home the way it was.
Had it been a school day he at least would know the kids had a place to go, but since it was the summer months they would be home all day with his wife. That meant he had to find a solution, or everyone in his home would have to find a place to go. He knew from his wife’s story that it was hard to keep three kids under 8 busy for too long in one place, and the toddler was enough work by herself. This is all Brian could think about while he was trying to sleep, so he was glad when morning rolled around, and he could get ready for the tech to come.
Brian was ready for the technician around 6 am, but the tech wasn’t scheduled to arrive until 7 am. He tried to stay as quiet as possible so that he didn’t wake the kids up to the heat any sooner than he had to as he poked around and attempted to see if he could see anything wrong with the AC. It was clear that the fuse didn’t blow, and he didn’t see any signs of trouble. However, Brian also worked an office job and admittedly wasn’t the most technical guy. He was the first to acknowledge that he wasn’t that handy, so he trusted the experts to handle this type of situation.
The emergency heating and AC repair technician didn’t end up showing up at the house until 10 am, at which point the kids had already gotten up, and his wife took them out to breakfast to cool off for a bit. This was for the best because the house would be empty when the tech came, which would help everyone focus a bit more. It could be a lot to deal with those screaming kids while trying to talk to any home repair technician about issues. Brian was grateful that the kids were hopefully cool and happy.
Once the technician got to the home he went to look at the AC unit. Immediately he said that the compressor is leaking, and this is why the unit stopped cooling the home. Since the compressor was leaking Freon, nothing was cooling down the air as it passed through his unit. Therefore, there was no point in recharging it with more Freon because it would just leak out as well. This made sense to Brian, but his main concern was getting the situation remedied so that they could all cool down again. The tech said that he would have to order the parts to replace the compressor and would reach out again when he had a status update, but he didn’t know precisely how fast they could get the parts in.
While Brian was able to understand that ordering parts could take time, he was feeling a bit panicked because this was not the solution he wanted from an emergency heating and AC repair company. How was his family supposed to survive in July without AC? He waited a few hours and then called the company line to see if there was an update on the repair status. It took him a few times to get someone to answer the phone, and when they looked up the order they told Brian that the coil was getting replaced in his unit.
Now Brian was even more confused. The technician had told him that the compressor needed to be replaced, so why were the parts related to the coil ordered? He hoped that the record was just switched or something was being relied back to him wrong. He asked the receptionist to check on the issue with the original technician and then get back to him to let him know what was happening. In the meantime, he knew that any parts would probably take at least two to three days, and he didn’t want to book a hotel for the kids and his wife.
He decided to buy a window unit that would at least cool the family room so that everyone would have one place to safely hang out. It wasn’t the most practical, and it would be crowded if they had to sleep in there, but if it was only a few days it was cheaper to just get a unit than to book a hotel. Plus, they could probably turn it into a little adventure. Everyone would feel better staying at home anyhow.
By the end of the day, Brian had the window unit installed in the family room, and his kids and wife were home playing board games in it while the toddler ran all over the furniture. It was obviously crowded, but everyone was cool and safe. However, Brian had still not heard back from the emergency heating and AC repair company about which repair was actually happening. He was starting to get nervous, so he tried calling again but he got the company answering machine. He checked their hours online, and it said they were still open, but no one answered the phone over the next hour. Then when he tried again he got a new message that said they were now closed and if it was an emergency there was a second number to call.
While he wasn’t happy that he still didn’t know what was going on, at this point, it was not an emergency because they were waiting for the parts to come in. So he decided just to let it go for the night, and he would call again in the morning and see if he couldn’t get to the bottom of the situation. Brian wasn’t the type of person who liked to be in the dark about a situation, but he was able to see that, for the time being, the situation was completely out of his hands.
He called first thing, and the person who answered his phone call and had no idea what was going on. They said that the notes were confusing, and they weren’t sure what was actually happening in his case. Brian did not like to hear that, as this was now the second day that they didn’t have any AC, and he wanted to hear about progress moving ahead. Not that nothing had yet happened since the technician came out to his house. What was the point in paying for emergency heating and AC repair if nothing had happened in 24 hours to get him closer to a repaired AC unit? They said once again someone would call him and they would figure out what was going on, but not to worry because they would take care of him.
It took until the end of the day for someone to call Brian back, and he didn’t have as much time to follow up as he would have liked because he was back at work and the day was hectic. Luckily they called at a time he could talk and told him there was a compressor and coil leak, and the technician must have failed to tell him about the second part or Brian must have missed it. While Brian wasn’t technical, he liked to know where his money was going and he was certain that the technician did not tell him that two major components of his AC were broken. He knew that he would remember that. He wasn’t entirely comfortable that they were slipping a second repair in on him, but if his AC needed it done to get it running again then so be it. He featured when the technician came out for repair he could ask to see the problems to make sure they were necessary first.
While on the phone Brian also asked when the parts would come in and the technician said that it was too early to tell him yet but he would call back when he had a better estimate on the time. Brian didn’t like this at all. The company didn’t seem to have the best staff when it came to callbacks, but he didn’t have a choice. He did ask if the parts were in fact ordered and was assured that they were so that was the best he could do. He knew his wife who was attempting to wrangle the kids in the same room all day was not going to like hearing that there was no update.
The next day was Friday and Brian waited patiently half of the day until his lunch break to call to see if someone knew when the parts were coming. If the repair was going to take place next week he needed to know in advance to take the days off, and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to get ahold of anyone over the weekend unless he called the emergency heating and AC repair line and he wanted to avoid doing that. The receptionist once again said that they didn’t know but would put in a ticket for someone to call him back.
At this point, Brian was getting pretty sick of this excuse and didn’t understand why the service wasn’t better organized. He was even beginning to doubt anyone had gotten around to ordering the parts he needed. If they had then he probably would not have to be chasing down the answer like this. He didn’t know what else to do though because he probably couldn’t get a second company out to look at his AC, and now it was the weekend and he certainly didn’t want to pay emergency heating and AC repair rates a second time. He decided the best thing to do was just wait and attempt to make it through a weekend in the family room. They were certainly going to have to find an all-day out of the house in order for everyone to retain their sanity.
After a very long weekend, everyone was sick of sleeping in the same room and the bags under everyone’s eyes proved the kids and the adults were not getting enough sleep. What had started out as an adventure had turned into a nightmare that they were all just trying to get through. Brian could feel the kinks in his back turning into knots as he twisted and turned to get comfortable on the couch at night. Monday morning Brian called first thing and was insistent that he had to know what was coming on. They said that the parts were finally in but there were no technicians available to do the repair until Wednesday.
Brian immediately felt a wave of relief pass over him. While he didn’t want to wait two more days, knowing the exact time that this was going to be finally resolved made him feel better. He didn’t like having to take another day off without much notice, but at least this would hopefully be it. The emergency heating and AC repair took longer than he thought it would take, but at least the company had come through in the end.
This was enough to get everyone in better spirits as they all co-existed in the small room for another two nights. However, Wednesday morning came and went, and by noon Brian was starting to get tense again. The technician had said that he would be out to repair the parts, but he hadn’t even received a window to expect him in. He assumed first thing meant the morning, but as it got closer to 1 pm he was very nervous so he called the company again. The news he got was not what he expected.
The receptionist told him that no one was coming out to his home because the part department had ordered the wrong parts and they had to reschedule his visit. Brian was angry at this point, why didn’t anyone call to tell him that the appointment was canceled? He had taken a day off work and just waited around for no one to show up. Even worse, he wasn’t going on a second week without any AC and no one seemed to care. This was the exact opposite of emergency heating and AC repair because nothing had happened since the company came out to his home.
She apologized but said they don’t have the parts so there was nothing they could do about the situation but to apologize. This time though she said she could check the order manifest to see when the parts were expected. This seemed slightly odd to Brian since she had told him before she could not tell him when the parts would be in and would have to check with the technician, but Brian was just happy to get a date from her. It looked like the parts would come in by Friday but there was no one available that day, so she asked if they could make a Friday afternoon appointment. Brian took the appointment happily since this meant they would have AC as they went into the weekend.
It was back to waiting around for the HVAC company again, but once again the end was in sight. At this point, no one really thought it was going to happen as it seemed the end kept moving farther and farther away. Brian took Friday off again and waited for the HVAC company to show up. This time though when no one showed up at noon he didn’t wait for more time to pass. He called the customer rep again and she said that he called to cancel his appointment according to her books so no one was expected to come out. The technician who was supposed to be at Brian’s was now at an emergency heating and AC repair call since he had canceled.
Now Brian was extremely unhappy. He had a feeling that someone internally canceled his appointment since they had him as a customer already, and sent the technician to a new customer to make more money off the emergency heating and AC repair visit instead. He had been playing phone tag with this company for weeks and was at his wit’s end. He just wanted his AC to get fixed and for this nightmare to end. This time he wasn’t taking no for an answer and asked to talk to a manager.
He outlined the entire situation to a manager who apologized but said that it was out of his hands. At this point, it was dependent on a technician because they needed someone to be available to take care of him. They couldn’t manifest someone out of thin air. Brian told them that he had been waiting for over two weeks now and should have been next in line when his parts came in. He was very unhappy with the way he was being treated and the manager said he would transfer him to the tech department to see what they could do for him.
He didn’t get the answer he wanted however, the technician was quite rude and said that Brian had been calling too often and that he had other customers to take care of as well. July was a busy time for them and he was trying to get to them all and this constant nagging wasn’t helping. Brian didn’t think it could get any worse, but then the tech told him that the parts weren’t even in yet at the shop so he had no idea when he would actually repair the AC system.
This was the last straw for Brian, he told the tech to cancel the order and that he would find another company. He couldn’t keep taking off days for nothing to happen, and he didn’t even believe that this shop had even ordered parts. He didn’t know what their game was, but it certainly wasn’t actually repairing anyone’s units.
Brian started calling around, but this time he did a bit of research to find a company that had positive reviews and a reasonable wait time. He was okay with waiting a few more days for someone to come out as long as they knew what they were doing and were responsible enough to do it. While he started with emergency heating and AC repair companies, he only looked for those with good reviews and went in knowing it could still take some time to get his AC looked at. He explained his issue to one highly rated company who explained that July is a busy month, but they could come out after hours today if he was willing to pay the higher emergency heating and AC repair fee to take a look.
Due to their high reviews, he was willing to do this and was shocked when they came out and told him that the compressor was working just fine. It never needed any repair. There was a small hole in the coils so they needed to replace them, but that should solve his problem. The even better news was that it would only take a day to get the parts that needed to be replaced. They could probably have his unit fixed by the end of the week. The process was so simple that Brian could hardly believe it. After everything he had been through for the past few weeks, getting proper emergency heating and AC repair was really as easy as looking for a company with good reviews.
Brian learned a very valuable lesson, that it’s worth it to do some looking around before choosing an HVAC company. He also learned that just because someone is available right away doesn’t mean they will fix your AC right away. In this situation, it was better to wait a few days for the diagnosis than to get it right away and then get strung along for weeks. If this ever happened again, he would go back to the second company in a heartbeat. In the meantime, he would tell everyone he knew to avoid the first company that never did call him back to tell him the parts were in. He often wondered if they ever intended to fix his HVAC unit or simply collected emergency heating and AC repair fees and then never did anything.
Wrong Unit, No Accountability
Janine found herself on the phone with an emergency heating and AC repair company on a cold night in the winter because her furnace kicked off. She woke up freezing and knew right away she needed to call for help because the last thing she wanted was for her pipes to freeze. This had already happened to her once after the ice storm of 2021, and she did not want a repeat of that situation, not if she could get help. It was worth it to her to pay the extra fees of an emergency heating and AC repair company to avoid that, but what she didn’t know was how hard it would be to get real help.
She called the first company that came up in her search results that were approved by her warranty company and had them out to her home. They mumbled something about a few things needing repair in her furnace, but since she was aware that her unit was older she figured they were right and told them to do whatever they needed to do to get it running again. The crew worked a few hours and told her to turn the furnace back on in a few hours, and everything would be good again.
The problem was as soon as she did her circuit blew. She tried it a second time, and the same thing happened again, so she immediately called the company back and told them there was a problem. They scheduled a recall visit the next day (the first available appointment) and told her since it wasn’t quite in the 40s and someone had already been out once, she was no longer considered an emergency. Given she was freezing and had already paid a rather large repair bill, she disagreed, but nothing Janine said seemed to change their mind, so she had no choice but to grab a warmer sweater and tough it out.
The next day the technicians were only there for a few minutes before they said there was nothing they could do. They claimed the repair did not work because of an electrical issue with the repairs, but they would send out an electrician that could finish off the repairs and make things work. Now Janine was really puzzled because she had never experienced an electrical issue with her furnace before this team came out. However, she was stuck and had no choice but to say okay. She asked what time the electrician would be out, and they said they didn’t know since that wasn’t their department and she should call first thing in the morning.
Janine had no choice but to take the next day off so that she wouldn’t get penalized for a same-day call-off and called the HVAC company first thing in the morning, hoping to get an appointment. She couldn’t keep calling off work, but she had to get this situation taken care of. The representative told her that the problem wasn’t something the HVAC company had to deal with. He was extremely rude and told her that now she had to deal with the situation on her own. She was shocked by his response and asked to talk to the manager.
He said the owner would call her back eventually but not to hold her breath as they were swamped, and it would probably take days before he got back to her. He told Janine that she had an electrical issue now and no longer needed emergency heating and AC repair, so she was at the bottom of the priority list. Now she was angry because she had never been treated so badly in her life. However, she was also concerned because now she had no heat and potentially an electrical issue which did not make her comfortable.
She ended up calling an electrician because she didn’t know what else to do and discovered that the HVAC technician that had initially come out to her home to repair her furnace had installed equipment that was not considered compatible with the distribution board. Therefore, it did not work with her current electrical system so every time the furnace attempted to power up it would trip her circuit. In other words, she had a furnace and an electrical system that were no longer able to work together.
The electrician did not have good news for her, as she would need a significant upgrade to make it work as it was. Instead, he suggested she return to the emergency heating and AC repair company to make them change the equipment. They should have looked at her electrical system and ensured their adjustments would work with her current system.
Janine struggled with that advice, however, as no one would even take her phone call when she phoned the HVAC company back. She called 15 times one day, and no one answered the phone, which led her to believe that they were screening their calls and avoiding her because they didn’t intend to fix their mistake. She finally called from a friend’s phone, but even though she got ahold of someone, they would not take responsibility for the error, stating that it was now on her to update her electrical.
In the end, Janine ended up upgrading her electrical system because she wasn’t sure what else she could do and she needed to get the heat back into her home. She ended up spending much more than she should have because the HVAC company she chose did not know how to accommodate the needs of her older home. Never again would she blindly choose a company to work with after this mess.
If you are worried about an emergency repair, don’t let just anyone handle it. Avoid the disaster Janine and Brian faced by calling One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Dallas today.
See our previous blog on this topic here.
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