Todd’s Air Conditioning & Heating

When our A/​C died in June, I first called a big company. Yes! was their name, but No! was their service. They told me that my compressor was shot, and that I’d have to replace the whole unit. $ 2500 plus labor. That sounded suspicious, so I got a second opinion.
The second place told me that my unit was under warranty, but that it would be $ 1700 in labor to fix it. They told me the process would take about three hours. My mind boggled at the $ 1700 for three hours of work, so I asked them to break it down. «We don’t break down our pricing.»
So then I called Todd’s. The receptionist said that it sounded like I needed to talk to one of their techs, so she put me on the phone with him. He said that he thought that $ 1700 sounded pretty expensive as well, and then spent TWENTY MINUTES EXPLAINING THE PROCESS TO ME, OVER THE PHONE, WITHOUT ME HAVING YET SPENT A PENNY WITH HIS COMPANY. He told me that my unit was made by a company that had a very strict and unforgiving warranty policy, and that lots of HVAC companies didn’t like to deal with them. He explained to me the repair process, the market price of the freon that they’d need to replace, and so on and so forth.
He and another worker then came out to the house, checked to make sure it was the compressor, then spent an hour on the phone dealing with the manufacturer trying to figure out when and where and how they’d get a part. After he had it all nailed down, he delivered the news: He could have the part tomorrow morning — tomorrow afternoon at the latest — and the bill would be $ 1100. He explained exactly why it would be $ 1100.
The next afternoon the worker called at 9, 12 and 3, giving me updates on where the part was. He called at 5, saying the part had arrived, and, if we wanted, he’d come over and install it. He was there within 20 minutes and spent three and a half hours — just past dark — installing it.
For any future HVAC repair needs, Todd’s will be the only place I’ll ever go.
Thanks, guys.