A/C Repair Advice

[Hunteraudit]

Thanks for all the advice. Think we got her fixed for the low price of $30. And I did buy 2

[enewman]

[QUOTE=jdavidson;14208830]By say “compressor was froze up”.., he means compressor was locked up...mechanically stuck[/Q

makes sense. too early in the morning I guess and didn't really comprehend what he was saying.

[MassMan]

Buy another so you have a spare on hand.

[KyleW]

Luckily we have a good friend who works in AC repair and generally makes it out same day and repairs it pretty much at cost. Not looking forward to the day he retires or moves out of the area

[double bogey]

Car dealers are much worse than a/c guys. There are dishonest people in any trade. The original tech seems to have diagnosed the problem correctly, His repair prices were higher than you wanted to pay. Some A/C companies really push their techs to sell new systems. They sell repair jobs using a flat rate pricing system. Just like the car dealers have been doing for years. I agree with you, that $423 is too high for a capacitor replacement. If he would have decided your contactor was bad you would have paid another $423. Most likely this is after a diagnostic charge of around $80 or so. The tech buys into this program because he is most likely paid a percentage of the job. It cost a lot of money advertising on television and radio.
I spent most of my career in commercial air conditioning repair and maintenance, and I am really surprised what the residential market has become. That's why I usually respond to green screeners with a/c problems to help them out. As you notice from the folks with problems here, bad capacitors are the most prevalent problem. Lots of times you can tell its bad because the case is swelled. Easy to replace, just change out wire for wire, after verifying the power is off. When you buy your new capacitor, don't get a Chinese made one, get American, or made in Mexico if you cant get American made.

Now, what do you do when your a/c isn't cooling and its not a bad capacitor? Find a company that doesn't pay the tech commission, and doesn't use flat rate pricing. You may pay a couple of hundred for a diagnostic and a repair, but that's better than $500 for the same repair. There isn't anything wrong for a company getting a markup on parts they sell, but a couple of thousand percent is a bit much.

[roughneck266]

be sure not to touch more than one lug on the cap at once

Only takes one time to learn that lesson. Lol

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[Russ-T]

My advise - never call a company that advertises a lot. Find an individual that owns his own company and does the work himself. The price for replacing the capacitor was very high. However, you are paying a tech for their expertise and knowledge to diagnose your problem. If someone calls me to fix their AC and then tells me they will fix it themselves after I diagnose it for them, I will probably never return to their house to work on their AC again. However, I would also never charge anything close to what the guy told you.

[double bogey]

My advise - never call a company that advertises a lot. Find an individual that owns his own company and does the work himself. The price for replacing the capacitor was very high. However, you are paying a tech for their expertise and knowledge to diagnose your problem. If someone calls me to fix their AC and then tells me they will fix it themselves after I diagnose it for them, I will probably never return to their house to work on their AC again. However, I would also never charge anything close to what the guy told you.

This, I would never charge those prices, but if you wouldn't let me fix it, don't bother calling me again. Had a store owner do that to me, I found about 4 things needed fixing, he wanted to fix them his self, but wanted me to work on his ice machine. Same nationality that wants to reopen negotiations after they agree on a price, and you complete the work. Complain that my markup is too high. I reminded them about those sandwiches they get $8 for that cost less than a dollar to make. A couple of times it has felt good to fire a customer. And they refuse to accept that they are fired, I tell them I am working for someone else down the street that accepts my prices and is very happy that I am working for them.

Sorry for the rant. 99.9% of customers I have dealt with in 40+ years have been a joy to work with. 3 or 4 bad ones can really stand out. And it seems like I have had to deal with the bad ones when I really needed the work.