Cambridge has a good system in that you can ask questions online and someone is there to respond right away. They are quite easy in terms of securing an appointment and overall one of the cheapest places I shopped for.
Why the low rating? While I'm sure they did their job adequately (my breathing improved but this could also be due to the fact that I have an air purifier in my bedroom now), my actual problem with them was with how they handled billing and invoicing.
Since I was having severe allergies attack because of the dust (we recently renovated the place) I contacted them and they advised me that my duct needed cleaning. They also informed me that I could get my furnace cleaned but the issue would most likely be the ducts.
They quoted me for both services separately and even quoted a promotion price if I decided to have both services done at the same time. Because of my breathing, I couldn't be present on the premises until the service was completed.
My boyfriend was present to let them in, but I asked to prepay for the duct cleaning on my credit card. They processed the payment accordingly.
When the gentlemen arrived at my place, he suggested that both services should be done. We agreed. When it came time to charge (I had only paid for the duct cleaning), he was completely unaware that we had already paid for the duct cleaning and almost charged my boyfriend for both services. It was only until I confirmed that I paid for the service on the phone that he charged my boyfriend's card for the furnace cleaning only.
I tried to get in contact with them later to explain that they had charged us for an amount as though we had both services separately rather than at the same time. After a few tries,back and forth, and speaking to various people, the lady answering the call acknowledged that the wrong amount was charged and that she would refund my card immediately.
After a few days, my card was never refunded, so I called - she assured me that she would refund my card. Again, after a few days, she still hadn't done so - and when I called again, she said that she had passed on the refund request to accounting and that they had told her that they would do it. She seemed frustrated with them and said "you know what I'll do it on my machine". This happened 4 times, every time she had to recalculate the amount and every time she asked for my credit card number again.
When I was finally fed up since there was still no refund, I called and exchanged a few harsher words. She said that she would do it right away (after asking for my credit card number again). Later that day, they called my boyfriend, and told him that they couldn't refund my card, but had to refund it on his since the extra charge was put on his credit card. They asked for his credit card number and told him that they would refund him the amount.
When I called them as I was quite frustrated, they promised that they would refund it to my boyfriend.
In the various times that I called, I also constantly asked for an invoice as I had no record of the service. They eventually emailed it to me. When I checked the invoice, the amount was actually a completely different amount that I was quoted when we discussed my refund and that in fact, they owed me a greater amount than we discussed.
I emailed them again to explain that whatever amount they were going to refund on my boyfriend's card was wrong and that they owed us more. They apologized and agreed that we were owed more money.
They said that since a cheque (?!?!?! After asking my boyfriend for his credit card number???) was already in the post to us and that the difference was going to be reimbursed by cash - that they would leave in our mailbox. They then asked us for our address so that they could drop off the money. This is quite confusing as I was under the impression that they had already sent us the cheque so they should technically already have our address. It was also the same place where they performed their cleaning services.
Anyways, I gave them the address, and a few days later a cheque came to the mail for the initial smaller refund amount. The cheque was issued to my boyfriend's first name - no last name which was an interesting way to conduct business.
After that, I never received the extra refund amount. We emailed a few times back and forth; they asked for my availabilities a few times, but the money never showed up in our mailbox as they said. I finally emailed them a harsher email a month after the cleaning was done asking for someone to address the issue. I haven't heard back...
So yes, I guess they did the job, but I seriously question the competency of the folks running that business. Some basics element (maintaining records including addresses and billing information), logic, and common sense is seriously lacking. I wasted so much time and energy trying to get some money back that I was owed, and still this is unresolved. It's been two months. At this point, I've given up.
My own fault, I should have paid a little extra and dealt with a more serious, efficient, and organized company. After all, with the money I'm still missing, I would have ended up paying the same.
