Schneller Knochelmann Plumbing. Heating, and Air

I rarely say any thing negative about anyone, but since the owners do not know how to return a phone call, here goes. The experience with this company could not be any worse. I know for a fact that the 95% gas furnace system they installed in February for the house my single mom- daughter has purchased is the wrong system for the house. According to another certified HVAC Company and the Furnace Installation instructions, this furnace CANNOT be drained to the crawl space or to the exterior wall as this will cause furnace to freeze and shut off which they did. Their claim that the home seller asked for cheapest unit is complete and utter B.S. An 80% Furnace is much less expensive to install than a 95% Furnace which would have worked! The sales Tech and Installer should have refused to sell or install a furnace that ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT WORK! As of today, we are on about the 3rd week of them trying to get at least the heat pump working. Their claim of waiting for a part is also  suspect as they have had multiple techs out to try to fix this problem. Based on the forecast for this weekend, I am curious to their plan for this weekend. Your Christian based Co. story on your website and your 100% customer satisfaction claim are absolutely a joke!  Should your heat pump at least work on Temp s above 30? Also, the attitude of your first tech/salesman responding by rolling his eyes while talking to my wife on the phone set the tone for the overall customer experience. And no, Lisa I am not calling your office again , just because the new home owner is a first time owner, does not mean she does not have friends and family who are in the know. So far, the excuse we are getting is that seller wanted the cheapest system possible and that is what they got. Give me a break. Unless they step up to make this right, I would avoid this Co. at all costs. And  by, make it right, I do not mean a new system, just make it right!

Technician froze my AC & they don't really offer 24-hour service.

They sent a couple kids to my house that acted like Beavis & Butthead snickering to each other the whole time and not making eye contact. They broke my 4-year-old HVAC which was working perfectly before they arrived, then didn't come back to fix their mistake for several days. I urge you to just get a second opinion if you chose Schneller Knochelmann. You'll be amazed at all the things they try to sell you or replace that you don't need. I wish I had a list of the stupid things their technicians told me over the years. I assure you that if it sounds stupid, it really is total baloney. Get a second opinion.

Stay away from their Performance Maintenance Program, it doesn't really offer 24-hour service. They'll show up whenever they feel like it.

As much as companies complain about online reviews being unfair management had no interest in speaking to my husband or me, no interest in explaining why we had such terrible service or salvaging us as clients. After repeatedly asking for management to call us, we finally canceled the maintenance program. Might as well ask a couple 22-year-old Cutco salesmen if to maintain your HVAC.

Did a quick job of removing my garbage disposal but wanted to charge $622 to put in a new one. Garbage disposal is around ~$150, average one hour of service should be ~$150. Company is charging way to much.

VERY disappointed with Schellner. I had been communicating with a manager from Schellner over the weekend and explained that we would like to have the sewer line and downspouts scoped for a house we are under contract to purchase and have a tight timeline. The manager said he could get us in Monday afternoon and that someone would be calling me Monday morning to arrange. Monday morning came and no one called. I ended up calling and was told that there was no availability that afternoon. Over the weekend we had several other plumbers that we contacted who had availability but we decided to go with Schellner. Big mistake. Not only did they not follow through with their original commitment but we have lost any chance of getting this work done before our inspection period ends due to other companies already booking appointments. Don't waste your time!

*The appointment window still should have been available (as promised) even without the knowledge that the homeowner needed to grant approval (which, by the way, once known, was acquired in minutes).

This company is a joke. We had used them to install our tankless water heater less than 2 years ago. A couple nights ago, I noticed there was no hot water in the shower and upon further inspection I saw the water heater was leaking.  I called Schneller to come out and check the water heater and they were out a few days later. The rep told me the parts were still under warranty, but of course, the labor warranty wasn't valid any longer. When asked for a quote they told me it would be a minimum of $975 labor and probably more. I told them to hold off and did a little research online. The entire tankless water heater was listed online for $1200 and could be installed for around $2000 total. The service tech had to leave my residence to try and find blueprints to take apart the machine because he wasn't familiar with them (that should of been my first sign to run). I called another certified plumbing and installation company who came out for a quote that same day. All in all, it only ended up costing me $250 to get it fixed. Beware of this company, they might due quality work, but they are definitely trying to take advantage of people by charging outrageous labor fees. It took less than 3 hours to fix, and I don't know too many plumbers who charge over $250 an hour for labor. PLEASE DO NOT USE SCHNELLER!

Terrible customer service.  Set up appointment for a specific day and waited for them to show.  After wasting half the day, called only to find out that the pushed off the appointment for 2 weeks!

If you can't trust them to set up the appointment correctly the how are going to trust their work??

Fb friends...do your homework.  Had a plumbing company come to install a kitchen faucet which I bought.  $442. To install.  Totally ripped me off.  Called another Plumber when he left, their cost was 200.   wish I would have called around to get estimates.   so if you need a plumber do not call SCHNELLER KNOCHELMANN.  PRICES ARE OUTRAGEOUS.
This is what I put on my fb page and will add a few more comments.  The account I have had with them for my furnace which they installed in 2019 I am going to cancel.  The manager I spoke to was rude and not helpful to a loyal customer.  My family and friends were appalled at the amount I was charged.  I am done with this company.  
Yvonne Higgins

Editing my previous review to reflect that they did end up keeping my service call and sending someone out. He did good work and I appreciate their responsiveness to my complaint.

Thank you for sending Tony Owen out. He was courteous, professional, and knowledgeable about plumbing. He fixed my toilet and so far it isn't leaking anymore. I look forward to having him come out and fix all my plumbing from now on.

Charged $90 and gave a completely wrong solution. I doubt if they really want to solve the problem or only the visiting fee.

We just received an estimate from this company.  First of all, the estimate cost $89.00.  The estimate for 5 hours of work was $1,600.00.  The job was running 40 ft of gas line.  That's $320.00 per hour.  Ridiculous!  Needless to say, we would never recommend this company.

I had scheduled these guys to come out and unclog a toilet and tub. I found an Angie's list coupon for $80 and once I told them about it they shut me down and said they can't do any work for me.

This company lies to their customers and I would highly suggest you think twice before making the call to have them help you with any needs you might have.

I never take the time to write negative posts, although in my experience, that'd be over half the reviews I would give.
We bid out our new HVAC job to 4 companies and chose Schneller Knochelmann (SK) because of their tremendous testimonials and some family history with using the brand.
Boy was that a mistake.

April 2018, we purchased a home and had SK come out to estimate the project which included measuring and sizing the systems.

May 2018, two systems installed (attic and crawl space), but weren't currently being used as the house was being completely renovated.

June 2018, we turn the systems on and they won't hold a cool temp or expel the humidity.
SK came out and found they had jammed an extra filter in the crawl space furnace even though the return filter was now in the house.
They let the units outside which froze up dethaw and got them back running... Good enough.

August 2018 Installed Solid Hardwood floors in the house. Huge investment. Excess humidity in the house, condensation on the windows, averaged 70-80% humidity throughout the home. Our new flooring cupped, then buckled blowing off baseboards and pushing through drywall while ruining the floors. Systems adjusted by SK 2x over the course of a week after being notified about this.

September 2018 SK comes back and remeasures and admits to oversizing BOTH systems in the house, so they were cooling the house, but not removing humidity. Systems replaced and adjusted several times.
Systems STILL won't reduce the humidity to a healthy level (TWO SYSTEMS) so a crawl space dehumidifier is recommended. For 3k. But not in April - August, just now in September. Crawl space is encapsulated and dehumidifier is added.
SK's insurance cuts check to replace flooring (we are now displaced an additional 6 weeks from moving in).

October 2018 Downstairs is close to holding humidity, upstairs is not. SK recommends a dehumidifier for UPSTAIRS now in addition to the one in the crawl space. For 3k.
House finally holding proper humidity level.
Nest thermostats installed by SK keep adjusting on their own, without any schedules, calendar or learning on. They were alerted, never followed up. I spent 2 hours on the phone with Nest and had to reset both units including checking the wires behind them for shorts (because yeah, that should be something the homeowner should have to do). The App still doesn't properly work with the units. I'll be asking for new ones next.

November 2018 Our contractor notices a HUGE puddle of water in the crawl space (now encapsulated) under the furnace. SK comes out and says they forgot to hook up a coupling to the drain line. They fix it, then leave. And leave the mess of all the water that leaked out (8 beach towels worth of sopping up). And although this last part isn't the biggest deal, its certainly the last straw.

Hope you have a 4.8 star experience if you choose to go with SK, sadly our experience was anything but...

Eric was very professional and thorough. He came out on a Saturday to fix my furnace that would not ignite. He spent the time to ensure it was working properly and checked and cleaned normal maintenance items. He also adjusted the first stage gas flow which, was too high, to prevent over heating and possible causing failures. Will use them again and recommend them to others.

They came out charge me $89 to tell me what I already knew and then tried to get me to put in a new hot water heater that you can buy at HD for 409.00 but charge me $1,800 what a joke and waste of $89 bucks don't make the same mistake.

I signed up for a special they had going on for $89, which would give me a tune up for the A/C in the spring and furnace in the fall.  

The spring tune up cost me an extra $275, because the technician found something wrong with my relatively new A/C.  It was working fine prior to his visit.

For the furnace tune up today, the tech determined my Trane thermostat was broken.  Funny, it was working fine before he got a hold of it.  Anyway, $366 later, they installed a new Trane thermostat.  

Two visits.  Systems were working fine prior to each visit.  Never again.

Did a great job installing a new toilet for us. Timely, professional, and courteous. I highly recommend.

I recently called this company for a quote on some shower plumbing I need repaired. The woman who answered explained they could not give out a quote on the phone. I accepted this response, although several other plumbers have been able to since it is a straightforward repair and we only need their price. She said they could come out to the house to take a look within a week and that it would cost $90 for the service call, and they could show-up to do the work that day unless they needed to order anything. I quickly hung-up. I did not experience their actual work, but find it absurd to pay $90 for them to tell me how much l have to pay for service. With so much competition in the plumbing arena, I HIGHLY suggest you keep looking, as I have found free estimates to be commonplace.

You should be ashamed of yourself. I got a call to come out for a check up. They proceeded to tell me my one year old unit was bad, worthless, warranty worthless, compressor not working. I  needed to
spend 8800 for a new system. This not being my area of expertise I agreed. Then called back and cxl it. They still
tried to come 3 days in a row acting like I had never said that. Texting and calling.
Fast forward a reputable company came and said all is fine I just needed a small inexpensive part.

This company is deplorable! They should be put out of business. They are liars and I will continue to inform others of this. Will continue to put bad reviews anywhere I can. Shame on you and your sleazy employees.

My issue with this company goes back a few months when my wife and I decided to get new countertops for our kitchen and add a new drop-in sink and garbage disposal.  She called Schneller to hook up the new sink, garbage disposal and the existing dishwasher.  She was told over the phone, the service call would be cost about $80 or so (she can't remember the exact amount but it was under $90).  She understood this wasn't going to be the final bill and sort of had another price range in mind for the work that needed to be done.  The plumber comes out and gives my wife a quote of $520 for doing this work.  My wife is very sweet and ignorant when it comes to hiring contractors and labor, but understandingly she's not wiling to wait another 3 to 4 days without being able to use her kitchen, so she nervously said yes.  The dude spent less than an hour hooking up the sink, disposal and dishwasher.

I'm in a line of work where we hire contractors all day long and know the cost of doing this work.  I also hire attorneys out of New York City who charge me cheaper rates than $520/hour. My wife called me at work, and I about lost my mind over this cost.  I called Schneller and left a message on Facebook.  While the woman taking my call and responding to my FB messages (and probably will to this message) was very nice and professional, she had no authority to reduce the bill.  The plumber's manager got involved and wouldn't budge at reducing their cost less than $425 - even though he confirmed via GPS tracking that the plumber was at my residence for under an hour.  What do you do?  I paid them just to end the saga and not have a lien placed on my house.  

But months later, I'm still stewing over this matter, and I tell most people I know never to use them unless you want to be charged $520/hr and later have them back off $100 because they felt bad about such a BS rate.  To me, it's not about the money, it's about integrity, honesty and what you stand for.  They weren't there to serve my needs for a fair price, but to take advantage.  I don't want Schnellers to contact me and try to make it right.  It doesn't matter anymore.  If I have to call and remind you that you took $520 of our money to work less than one hour, and you're willing to take off $100, that shows me you have no integrity, and you're willing to take advantage of people, especially sweet, ignorant people.  See...months later I'm still mad about the situation and have to calm down now.  Peace!

Recent snow storm our friend's furnace Was acting up, the guys that came very unprofessional, tried pushing service agreement prior to estimate, also had one guy asking about things in her garage .. if he could buy. creepy needless to say she felt very uncomfortable did not have them back. someone else came was honest repair fraction of the cost from this unprofessional company.

We use Schneller for our HVAC and plumbing because unlike many other similar businesses, Schneller has been around for many, many decades and they continue to grow in our community.  We know they'll be around to service and warranty the equipment and service they sell.  We've found them to be professional, considerate and good communicators.

We were very happy with the prompt service we received from Schneller when we had a sewer backup in our finished basement.  Yuck!  WE've never had one before and likewise had never used Schneller for this service.  

We woke up to 6 inches of water in our basement due to an unusually heavy rain and old sewer pipes.  Of course, the heavy rain caused issues for lots of homeowners so we were so happy that Schneller prioritized our call for help and appeared within 30 minutes with the heavy equipment needed to clear out the main sewer line.  Can't ask for more than that!

VERY happy that their plumbing manager was so knowledgeable because the equipment did not clear out the (nearly 100 year old) line!  The technicians called their manager and he taught them a trick that only very seasoned professionals would know.  Within an hour the line was cleared.  YAYYYY!  

Schneller also helped expedite the clean up by informing us of some of the professional services in town that deal with flooding and we selected Dry Effects who were awesome too.

My furnace went out today. The tech was so nice and professional. He explained the problem to me so that I was able to understand. He offered me the maintenance service and explained the benefits but was in no way pushy or trying to make a sale. I inquired about having a check done to the furnace and air before spring as I am putting my house up for sale and he explained that process as well. I would highly recommend this company to anyone.

We had Pete Knochelmann come out over 3 weeks ago for a quote on a new system and he never sent us a quote/estimate and has been unresponsive since his initial visit almost a month ago.

We are just trying to simply buy a new system and if this is the customer service and responsiveness we can expect from this company I would suggest to friends and family moving on to another heating and cooling company for a new install.

These guys are awesome. John Snowden, the installers and Adam persevered when we had a issue with our zoning system . They worked on our problem until it was solved. They replaced our furnace & AC and we have great., even cooling and heating after 14 years of extreme cold or hot spots in our house. I can't say enough  about how nice, genuine and professional they are to work with and how hard they've work to make things right for us. We highly recommend them.

I could not be more disappointed in what I thought was a 'family' company. A plumber 'fixed' my basement drain by shoving 6 towels down it before adding a cap to help with a foul odor. This action has flooded my basement 3 times since.  My basement never flooded prior to the 'fix'.  After asking the company to resolve the new problem cause by their plumber, they told me no one would come out to fix the problem Schneller created because they can't find record of someone at their company doing this specific task.

I know for a fact two men from Schneller were at my house and 'fixed' my drain, one left to get a part to fix the drain and returned.  However, the company doesn't care enough to ask those two men about the drain fix.

To Lisa K's response:
Your response is disconcerting.  Please check with Gene Anderson & Nick who were the 2 technicians that were at my home.  One of them asked us to look down the drain to show us how dry it was.   There were no towels down the drain.  After the second flood, my dad took the cap off and there were 6 towels in the drain.  Myself nor my 4 or 6 year old took the cap off to shove the towels down the drain.
Because of Schnellers actions and response, I have lost all trust in the service industry.  Extremely disappointing.

( I came to this site to place a review because I don't think going to reviewbuzz.com provides a clear explanation on how to accomplish one. )
Rick and Kenny were at my home today and, as usual, I received the reliable, high quality, friendly Knochelmann family heating system tuneup service I have always enjoyed since I bought my home in 1999.  
Unfortunately, I had to rely on  other HVAC experts for a time and was genuinely relieved when I received a card in the mail to find that the Knochelmann family was back to serve.  Call it Schneller, call it whatever, as long as the K brothers are in charge, I know I'm well-covered for all my heating, air conditioning and plumbing requirements.  
Rick and Kenny, or one of the other impressively trained technicians, will be back in 2 weeks to perform an AC tuneup and I'm confident they'll ensure a comfortable summer.

My mother's heat pump failed in early 2020 while she was in the hospital.  I had SN install a new heat pump system.  Initially, everything worked great, and used less energy.  The first semi-annual service was great.  Things went downhill from there.  The second semi-annual svc was lacking in professionalism, with the tech even talking negatively about Kris.  The next day, I got a call from my mom stating that the AC wasn't working.  The Tech forgot to flip the outside breaker back to the on position. Called SN, and basically got an oh well response.  3rd semi-annual service was last week.  Everything seemed fine, until today.  No heat is coming out.  I can see the system running on nest app, but not heating.  I make another trip over to discover that the outside unit is icing up.  What's the purpose of the semi-annual service if the unit is going to stop working less that 1 week afterwards?

My daughter and future son-in-law had Schneller Knochelmann come to their home to install a kitchen faucet they had already purchased from Amazon and to reconnect a garbage disposal that was already in the home. I was there when they arrived as my daughter was at an appointment and future son-in-law was at work. They told them that they would give them the cost when they arrived, which they did not do. They then proceeded to charge them $600+ for the work. They charged $264 to install the faucet and $264 to reconnect the garbage disposal. In hindsight, my daughter should have refused to pay them but she was to quite sure what to do. They were not even there an hour and a good part of that time was the main guy training another guy how to do things. To put in perspective how this is absolute robbery, we had an extremely reputable well known plumber install our new kitchen faucet and were charged $129. They called to complain about the charge and Schneller Knochelman would do nothing. Beware, only use Schneller Knochelman if you want to get ripped off. They should be ashamed for ripping off young homeowners!

We recently asked Schneller to service our furnace with their $69. special.  Corbin and Jeff arrived on Time, cleaned the furnace, made some adjustments, and did a fantastic job of turning out the lights and locking all of the doors.   Service Technicians who you can Trust with Your Keys!!   Great Job Schneller!!

Do not recommend.

This company is making money on giving quotes through an unnecessary visitation that costs $99.

My only issue was a smell from my toilet and thus a repair to the wax ring under the toilet. They quoted me at $800. Just to fix that issue. I can't imagine their cost if it was more than just a repair to the wax seal.

The only reason I am giving them two stars is because the person who came and gave a quote was nice and understanding when I told them it was out of my budget.

This company is a scam, outrageously priced (compared to other quotes I have received) and required an unnecessary $99 fee for an issue I explained on the phone. If I felt like they needed to see it to understand the issue then I would not feel like this company makes money through scams.

Update:
Just found out the issue they quoted me for was not even the issue at all so they pointlessly quoted me $800 and charged me $100 to tell me the wrong thing. Could not be more disappointed with this company. Taking my review from 2 to 1 star. Always going to trust smaller plumbers over this company,

I hired Schneller and Knochenmann to troubleshoot an AC unit that kept losing it's charge.  They were unable to find a leak in the system and ultimately, I ended up buying a new unit from them.  After spending $1000s, the unit still lost its charge. It was determined that the leak most likely was within the walls and the best thing to do was to bypass the system with new tubing. Tired of going year after year with no AC in the summer, I agreed to the service.  Since then, Pete Knockelmann has completely ignored me.  I have emailed several times to set up the service and I either get no response or oh we'll get to you next week.  He even said he wouldn't do the work until my neighbor's work was done.  Well, that was months ago and still nothing from Pete.  I even asked him if he was still interested in the job which he said yes.  After months of no responses I called his office and was told he was in a meeting and he would get back to me.  That was 2 months ago.  I don't know what is going on with this company. It used to be so good and had great reviews.  This behavior is nothing short of a complete lack of professionalism.  Pete promised me he would make it right.  He also acknowledged that I had spent a lot of money with his company to fix this problem.  I just simply don't understand.

I always ask for Rick Hubbard of Schneller Heating to service our boiler.  He is the ultimate professional.  He is extremely competent, knowledgeable and thorough.  He did our annual service call today.  I couldn't be more pleased with Rick and this company.  I recommend them unconditionally.

I hired this company to perform a tune up of my rental property's furnace. The tech told me that while performing the tune up, he noted that the heat exchanger was cracked. This, according to him, would lead to CO2 gas escaping into the house and was a safety hazard. I pointed out that there was a CO2 detector less than 20 feet from the furnace and it had not gone off. The tech shrugged and said, Maybe it's not leaking CO2 now, but it will eventually. He also informed me that the blower motor was leaking oil and would overheat and seize up at any time because of this. The cost to replace these items? Over $6k.

I was suspicious, as the heater, while not new, had been working just fine. Also, none of my tenants had died recently from CO2 poisoning. So I called a different tech to come out and have a look. This tech pronounced the furnace to be in perfect working order. When I showed him the estimate, which mentioned CO2 leaking from the heat exchanger, he laughed. He said the unit was NOT cracked, and that it was absolutely impossible for CO2 to escape even if it was. (I did a Google search later and found several articles confirming this.) Moreover, he stated that there wasn't any oil in the blower motor, and that even if there was, and it did start leaking, there would be no reason to replace this part until it stopped working.

I expressed my displeasure via the BBB over this blatant attempt at fear mongering to fraudulently obtain my business. The company, of course, denied any wrongdoing. The service manager claimed they had pictures of the cracked heat exchanger and would be happy to show them to me. My response: if the tech took photos, why weren't they included with my estimate? And how would I know whether pictures that were given to me three days after they were supposedly taken actually showed my furnace? Furthermore, the tech's explanation about CO2 escaping was categorically FALSE.

It's my opinion that this company follows dishonest business practices. They find problems that don't exist, tell blatant lies about nonexistent dangers caused by these nonexistent problems, and try to scare you into needlessly spending thousands of dollars.

Our house had a seized water valve, so we had no water until it is replaced. We called Schneller because of all the great reviews online.

However, the first time the technician came out, he did the installation incorrectly, and the water company could not turn the water back on. The technician blamed the water company for being picky.

We were desperate to get the water back on, so we paid the technician to come out a second time. This time, the technician installed a valve with the wrong size, and the water company again could not turn the water back on.

We wasted nearly $380 with this company ($229 for the first visit and $150 for the second). Whether they are incompetent or careless, I am not sure. I am sure though that this is not a company that I would ever recommend for plumbing services.