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• By Shannon L.

  June 17, 2022

  remove and reinstall external HVAC units

  $2,414

  Prior to 2022, I had good experiences with G&S Metal. Prompt and friendly service with reasonable prices. Unfortunately, the pandemic has affected our local HVAC companies. We had to replace our 112-year-old foundation. This was a huge, four-month-long project. To begin, we had to have our blowers moved out of the way for the duration of the work. Then, once the foundation was complete, we had to re-install them.

  When calling to remove the units in December 2021, I got an appointment for two days later. The two-man crew showed up early, removed the units, and were finished in less than two hours. I didn’t suspect anything had changed with their service. In fact, the crew said I wasn’t going to be billed until I reconnected the units. I was happy about that since the foundation work was extremely expensive!

  When removing the blowers, the R22 refrigerant must be collected and stored, since it’s harmful to the environment. This refrigerant is worth more than $400 per pound in 2022 since it is no longer produced, and most units built prior to 2020 still need it for cooling.

  Fast forward four months.

  I called to schedule the reconnection. It took several weeks to get a call back to schedule a time for the work. After getting the first appointment, it was canceled two days later. After another week of calling back for a reschedule, I was put on for the following week. When four techs arrived, they said the ground was too soft to do the service then, they wanted to wait another two weeks.

  When the crew finally returned to re-install the units, I was happy I have Ring cameras all around the house, and inside too. One member was taking as many as five smoke breaks an hour (see attached images). The other was a slow mover and liked to take air-conditioned breaks in the van. Seven hours later the units were reinstalled, and we had cool air again!

  I was disappointed it took so long to get the reinstallation scheduled but was ok with the amount of time it took two people to reconnect, recharge, and get the units up and running again. Until I saw the bill. $2,414.00. There was only a single line item: “Remove outside units and reinstall”.

  Even if you ignore the smoke breaks, phone calls, and air-conditioned breaks and assume they worked all 9 hours. That’s $268.22 an hour for labor. Not to mention, that $2,400 would have been a significant down payment towards a new more efficient, and environmentally friendly system. When I called for an explanation, I never heard back. It’s been almost a month of radio silence from them.

  I must wonder if the delay on reinstall was due to the value of the refrigerant that was reclaimed from my two systems. In the two systems, there were about 24 pounds of refrigerant. $9,600 is a great deal of money. When I started calling other HVAC companies to re-install my units, I would have had to buy that refrigerant to re-fill the systems. That’s why I ultimately waited on G&S to complete the work.

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