Business ProfileforRichard's Fuel and Heating Inc.

(4/17/23) Our central air was not cooling. *************************************************** sent a technician to our house and checked ** system and recharged system with R22 coolant. We were made aware that R22 coolant is being phased out by the federal government, that our system is leaking coolant/refrigerant, and that they are recommending that the ** system be replaced soon. Total amount charged and paid for this service was $267.46, R22 refrigerant cost at this time was $95 per lb., in which there were 1.4 lbs. used.(9/7/23) Central air was not cooling again. My husband, being aware that *******'s suggested that we replace our ** system soon, opted to have *******'s refill our system to get through the summer heat and spend around $300-$400 vs. spend approximately $10,000 for ** replacement as it is clearly out of our budget. I have been out of work since July due to medical reasons and money has been tight. He spoke with manager (*******) and he specifically told her that he was aware that the R22 was getting phased out and aware of *******'s recommendation to replace our ** system. In that conversation, she never mentioned how much the cost of the refrigerant would be per lb. She just reiterated that the R22 would be phased out, and that there will come a point that they can not get hold of it anymore, and that they can not service our ** system after that, and therefore, ** system should be replaced. My husband agreed and a technician came over to service our **. When the technician arrived, my husband conversed with him and repeated the things above. The technician also relayed the same message by manager AND also did not mention how much the cost would be. The technician put in 3 lbs. or R22 refrigerant for the service.We receive the invoice dated 9/13/23 and was surprised that the cost was $757.45. The cost of the refrigerant more than doubled to $200 per lb. and the amount of refrigerant used from 1.4 lbs. to 3 lbs. We were confused as to why the price skyrocketed like that in a span of a few months and why our ** system accomodated more refrigerant. My husband went to *******'s office and disputed the bill. He argued that if we knew that it was going to cost almost threefold that we would NOT have had the service done. NOBODY conveyed to us that the price of the refrigerant more than doubled. WE WOULD NOT HAVE HAD THAT SERVICE DONE IF *******'S CONVEYED TO US ABOUT THAT SIGNIFICANT COST INCREASE. The manager was not available at that time so they just had him leave the invoice so the manager can look at it when she got back.I got a voicemail from ******* saying that the price on the invoice is correct. In her voicemail, she made false statements of her conversation with my husband when he was setting up the service call. She falsely stated that: (1) the cost for the refrigerant would be $200 per lb. - This never occured, if it did, my husband would not have gone through with the service call. (2) She convinced him not to do service because it will be costly - My husband specifically told her that we were aware of need to replace the ** system -- this service was just needed to get us through the summer, then we will replace the system in the spring of ****. (3) She said that my husband told her that he asked around and quoted some companies charged $500 per lb. - This also did not occur. We did not ask around how much other companies would charge, we just assumed that it would be similar or slightly more than the past service, as it was just a few months ago.