SERVICE EXPERTS, Heating Air Conditioning & Plumbing is the most unprofessional and devastating HVAC company I have ever worked with. Their license number is #CAC1816603.
Be aware: If they manage to enter your house, they will leave an unpardonable path of destruction. The following is a retelling of my recent experience with them.
On the morning of April 10th, technician #1 showed up. He spent 10 minutes diagnosing my problem and said it was a leak in the AC coil. He collected $1,480 from me for the service.
The company then disappeared.
Technician #2 appeared on 4/14, removed the copper coil from my AC and replaced it with a lesser aluminum coil. (Later on we'll come to find out that this new coil had a leak in it.) They charged an additional $496.40 for just 4 ounces of R-410A refrigerant, which they put into the leaky system. After 24 hours, the A/C unit was leaking water again, just as it was before. They also failed to install a new filter when changing the coil.
The company didn't return again until 4/18. (All the while, my AC is still not working.) All the refrigerant they had put into the system was gone, which is horrible for the atmosphere (2000x worse than carbon dioxide). Without testing anything they assumed there must be a leak in the refrigerant lines going outside--a much more serious problem.
They tried to convince me to replace my entire system, and asked me to pay $9,000 minus the $2,000 I had originally paid. They also tried to get me to sign up for their 10 year Maintenance Advantage Plan instead of paying the $9,000, but based on the monthly payments it would have cost me nearly $25,000 over 10 years! They were incredibly pushy, and knew how vulnerable I was, but thankfully I refused their advances.
On 4/19, they came back to my house and said it would cost me an additional $700 to find the source of the leak with a nitrogen isolation test.
After the test, they admitted that the problem wasn't in the refrigerant lines but with the new coil they had installed themselves a few days prior.
Even after determining that their sloppy work was the cause of the problem, they did not return immediately to fix it. They said they'd come back on Friday 4/21. I rearranged my plans so I could be at home that day to await their arrival. I called the company three times throughout the day to get an ETA for when they would come. They kept pushing the time back and after waiting all day, they never showed up.
Because they don't work on weekends, the next day they could come was Monday, the 24th. If you can believe it, they did the same thing to me on Monday and never showed up--even after confirming the job would get done that day. My daughter was visiting me from out of town and for two days we had to cancel our plans and wait around at home instead of enjoying Miami together.
Finally, on 4/25 they returned and replaced their faulty coil that they had messed up in the first place--15 days after they came over the first time.
Even though I had paid $159 for a maintenance membership that would guarantee that they inspect the drain tubes, they left without looking at the indoor unit and left me with a leaky drain tube. I had to put a casserole dish under the tube in order to collect the water and protect my carpet. The container filled with water every two hours. I couldn't sleep through the night and had to hire someone else to fix it the next day.
On 4/26, I called a new engineer with 35 years of HVAC experience to review Service Expert's work. He said SE had left the kink valve outside without one of the caps. He also had to clean the drain pipes and extract half a bucket of dirty water out of the tube.
Service Experts should apologize and retrain their technicians for their irresponsible behavior, scare tactics, and price gauging. They leak hazardous refrigerant by being sloppy and try to bully customers into buying over-priced systems they don't need, and don't show up for work. They even tried to tell me that there's no environmental problem for refrigerant to leak out.
The emotional and financial toll was enormous. My house was so hot and humid for two weeks that my artwork and furniture was damaged. Two wooden tables I had just put a fresh coat of paint on were stained by the objects on top like a temporary tattoo where water and humidity leave a mark.
Due to Service Experts I was without AC for over two weeks in Miami! Do not make the same mistake and steer clear of this gang.