Business ProfileforCentral Cooling & Heating, Inc.

We lost our heat and called for an appt. We had employed Central before. They told us it would be around $170 to come out. ***** gave us a call and showed up in the window as promised. ***** was professional and we have no issue with him. He came in we showed him where the furnace was. After being on the furnace room for 5 minutes he called me in. He said there were two options $821 to troubleshoot and see what was wrong and $1000+ to troubleshoot and do a tune up. I asked why it was $821 if he didnt know what the issue was. He informed me that he couldnt diagnose the issue unless I agreed to the $821 fee. It was 38 degrees and we needed heat. Kind of had me over a barrel at that point. After 20 minutes ***** had the furnace running. He told me a spring had popped off the motor that opened the damper and activated the switch to ignite the burners. All that was done was re-attach a spring and 20 minutes of looking at the issue. FOR $821!! That works out to $2400/hour. I asked him if while he was here he could install a digital thermostat I had on hand. He said yes, then after calling his manager he said he was told he could only install it if we had purchased it from them. Before he left, he took a picture of the motor and said they could send me an estimate to replace that if they could and he left. After 10 minutes, ***** rang the doorbell - he wanted to share that his manager said they would not replace anything on the furnace as it is an older furnace. (The first thing I agree with - it is old). He said his manager said they could do a safety check and look for cracks or other safety issues - he informed me that it would be an additional $207 to do that. I declined. We had just referred Central to a friend who had furnace issues based on our previous experience. That will never happen again. The cost that a customer had to agree to before they will even look at the furnace is ridiculous and should be communicated prior to scheduling a tech visit.