K. Little

It is unfortunate that I have to write this review and I do not do it lightly. While it seems like most of the technicians and staff at Aire One are truly honest people, the company's unwillingness to acknowledge their mistakes has cost us a single-income family in the middle of a stressful move an unnecessary $4,000. Other potential clients need to be aware. We first called Aire One in late May about water leaking from our furnace when the A/C was turned on. At the time I suggested that the problem may be the drain line, a cracked drain pan, or the condensation pump. The technician performed his own diagnostics and noted that it was low pressure in the coolant line and a very dirty A/C coil that was causing the leak. He suggested two options: clean the coil and recharge the coolant or replace the A/C. Since we were in the middle of moving and on a small, fixed income, we decided to do the cheaper option and paid to have the coil cleaned and coolant recharged. When a (different) technician arrived to clean the coil/recharge the coolant he let us know that due to the age of the A/C the coolant could not be recharged and the whole A/C unit had to be replaced. He did not try to clean the coil to see if this fixed the pressures and the water leak. He did not even suggest this. He gave us no other options and did not even begin the cleaning. Since it was presented as the *only option* we went ahead with gathering quotes for a new A/C. When I spoke to Adam, the rep. who provided the A/C quotes, I let him know that I was worried something was overlooked. Both verbally and in writing, I specifically mentioned a clogged drain line, cracked drain pan, or condensation pump as possibly causing the leak. I asked him, before having the A/C replaced, if those had been checked. I explained to Adam that we were moving, economically strapped, and wanted to spend only as little as necessary. We were moving and had to provide a working A/C for our home's buyers. Adam assured me that all of these areas had been checked and were noted in the first technician's report. Several times in discussions with Adam I asked to see the technician's report. In hindsight, we shouldn't have moved ahead with ANYTHING before seeing the report but I trusted Adam. With Adam's assurance that the technician had checked these areas it was in the report, he said and with assurances that a full A/C replacement was the only option (as the second technician AND Adam assured us) we bit the bullet and spent $4,000 we did not have. Never in the process was it suggested that the original repair could still be attempted. Despite the original technician suggesting a cleaning/recharging, the second technician insisted it was too old to recharge the coolant and, therefore, no repair whatsoever could be attempted. It had to be replaced. It was the only option. The A/C was replaced and on the very first hot day, upon turning the A/C on, the leak from the furnace was back. In the exact same places. The exact same leak we had witnessed earlier which prompted our original call. When Aire One dispatched a technician the next day he quickly found a clog in the drain line, cleared it, and the A/C has not leaked since. When I was finally able to see the original technician's report only provided to me after formally filing a BBB complaint it does not contain ANY mention of checking the drain line, the drain pan, or the condensation pump as I requested AND as I was assured had been before jumping to the conclusion that the complete A/C must be replaced. In the end, a single-income family, in difficult economic times, in the middle of a move, despite all requests to spend as little as possible, and with all assurances (in writing, for goodness sake) that everything I asked had been checked, were sold an expensive A/C unit that we did not need because we were told it was the only solution and falsely told that everything I asked about had been checked. It hadn't.