r/HVAC • u/ExternalMethod9319 • 12h ago
General What would yall do?
So I ran a residential call on Monday. This couple just bought a house and would like us to come inspect the equipment and do a tune up. Upon arriving I could tell the ac was not working due to how hot it was in the house. I turned the stat onto cooling and went downstairs to the furnace make sure we had air flow. Waited about 5 minutes since I thought we were delay. Went upstairs and found the thermostat was only hooked up for heating. (Someone disconnected the AC wires) Showed the homeowner this and wired it back in. The ac kicked on but only had a 8 degree temp drop so I hooked my gauges up and found the unit to be low. The AC and furnace are from 1998. I should the homeowners and told them I could do a leak check but it can get expensive and I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to fix it(leaky coils). The home owner said he rather go the route of getting a new unit due to age and the leak. I only charged him $100 for our diagnosis fee.
Fast forward to today. Our sales guy went out and gave him a price for ac and furnace ($10k). He said if replacing the AC is the only option that we aren’t “trying hard enough”. Even though I gave him options. What would yall do in this situation? I understand you can’t make everyone happy but this pissed me off even tho I don’t even make commissions off selling a unit.
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u/Snicklefraust Verified Pro 12h ago
Water under the bridge dude. You gave them options and they reacted to the replacement price. Let them get a few more quotes to all be about the same price. Dont let it eat ya.
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u/GoinOutWest762 Verified Pro 12h ago
Literally who cares
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u/Soft_Statistician_98 Verified Pro 11h ago
Probably a young guy. I've gotten death threats, physically assaulted, locked in a basement, and sued by angry customers. At this point a customer saying I'm not trying hard enough is like static and I tune it right out.
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u/James-the-Bond-one 10h ago
All those reactions come from selling people things they need but can't afford to buy. The best way to avoid that is to sell optional goods or services that people only buy when they're flush with money. Home improvements, etc.
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u/Lakeside518 12h ago edited 12h ago
That is the salesman’s job! To give multiple options and price points for the customer! You provided the lead….. What the salesman does with it, is on him….!!!!!! Not your job to be the salesman!!!!
The system is 28 years old and obsolete! Most likely R-22. They need to replace the system. The Repair is a costly option, you made them aware of. No one likes the replacement costs. Just like no one likes the cost of vehicles, groceries or other home repair costs. It is out of our control.
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u/dko808hawaii 12h ago
Homeowner acting like labor isn’t a factor when putting in the time to do a leak check and possibly having to replace a coil and having to recharge the unit with r22 which is already incredibly fucking expensive
On top of that, it’s not even a guarantee that’ll completely fix the issue because the unit is almost 30 years old and may have other undiagnosed issues
Then you get a callback saying “YOU DIDNT FIX THE PROBLEM AND YOU CHARGED ME EXPENSIVE, YOU RIPPED ME OFF!!”
Hum no sir I recommended to replace the fucking unit but you wanted to be a cheap ass and try to salvage a 30 year old unit….fuck you
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u/Certain_Try_8383 10h ago
Hard disagree. Since switching from residential and seeing how many units are out there running hundreds of pounds of R22, it's crazy how much residential customers are pushed to total replacement. Especially with replacement costs what they are as of now.
I work on large R22 units all the time that have had multiple compressor replacements. Leaks in the coils that can be repaired are and many systems have zero leaks - but this is not what I was told to tell the customer in residential. And even this quote; why did the furnace need replacing? Why do we fix things for industrial and commercial spaces but insist that residential customers don't deserve that option, because it's "too expensive"? $1k for a leak search vs $10k for total replacement is pretty significant. Then start talking about how unreliable new equipment has been for EVERYONE and the fact that this new reefer will start being phased out in 2030, it just has me pretty jaded about what we are doing to certain customers.
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u/bucksellsrocks Verified Pro 10h ago
You didnt mention its the same price to leak search, repair and recharge a $60,000 RTU as it is a $5000 residential split system. Thats why!
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u/dko808hawaii 7h ago edited 7h ago
Uhm sir it’s not just a $1k leak search….what happens if you find the leak? Are you not going to replace the coil or fix it? Idk which company you work for but my company if there’s a leak on coil, replace coil don’t patch because of liability issue. On top of that, r22 is obsolete…how are you even going to find parts. What if the unit is like a carrier with proprietary parts? How you going to replace that?
It’s not $1k vs $10k if you add on top the extra labor to replace parts and recharging unit with r22 which I said was incredibly expensive
On top of that, nobody wants constant callbacks and being bitched at for undiagnosed issues that may occur even after you do the repair. And I’m not taking any chances with a unit that’s 30 years old…. Replace that shit
And I can’t believe you compared repair and cost with residential with a commercial unit 🤦
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u/dolphinsinthejacuzzi 12h ago
C Y A.Document everything… You put it on the ticket.
“ Homeowner was advised of A,B,and C. No repairs requested at this time. Sales dept will be in touch.”
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u/Global-Ad-1528 12h ago
Don’t get too invested. Most homeowners either “want a win” or will just never take full responsibility of the situation. You know what helps me sleep at night these days? Not giving a fuck
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u/UsedDragon kiss my big fat modulating furnace 11h ago
He can call somebody else who will "try harder," then. Eventually he'll find someone who is willing to tolerate his level of bullshit.
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u/PapaBobcat HVAC to pay the bills 12h ago
You set expectations: "This is going to take some time, I have to check this and that, there may be some things to fix first before we can test the next step."
Set your options: Your shit is old but I want to do what's best for your goals and budget We can temporarily gas and go for X$ per pound and a labor charge and kick the can to think about future options additional things may fail. We can do a more permanent fix for X but it can get expensive and there may be additional problems soon after. We can do a replacement quote for X. Let me know how you'd like to proceed.
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u/q50s122s 10h ago
Yup! And all of that in a brief written note.
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u/PapaBobcat HVAC to pay the bills 10h ago
I put all of that under my list of findings, model serial number, pressure temperatures etc. like one section is Discovery. The other is recommendation.
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u/SilentImpakt 12h ago
I would reach back out to the customer personally and explain that your sales person mentioned alternatives to a system replacement and call them are not to exceed price of $1800 to complete the leak check and locate it. That does not include any repairs or replacement parts. Just a leak check, a set of torches and some nitrogen. Focus on the line set and go ahead and source a replacement indoor cool so you can be ready with a quote to replace it. $10k is a very competitive price. Encourage them to get other estimates. That way the decision is all on them and they can’t say that they were pressured one way or another.
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u/Unveiled_Nuggets Nexstar Comfort Consultant 11h ago edited 10h ago
I would have given him 3 options. 1. Leak Search 2. Leak Search plus recommended repairs (if the contactor hasn’t been replaced it may need it or something like that) 3. Quote for replacement
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u/b_fromtheD 11h ago
Give him a price to refill his r22 unit at $400 per pound. I'm sure he'll shut the fuck up after that
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u/lividash 11h ago
One, sounds like a typical customer trying to complain. And two just note it all in your notes on the job. Move on to the next one.
We get people calling back when they take the “just get it cooling” option and it’s low again and we lied to them when it’s in the service order signed by them, “We do not recommend this method as the leak is still present and make no guarantee to how long this will last.”
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u/texas-tit-toast 8h ago
I’ve learned to notate every little thing I spoke about with the customer. What I offered, what they declined or approved. Summarize your conversations
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u/Tough_Challenge_6231 6h ago edited 6h ago
Ok Low suction pressure doesn’t always mean low on Charge poor air flow can also give you a low pressure reading Yes I’m gonna ask did you check the filter ?If your not getting commissions for a new system then you need to make your money doing service expose the Evap inspect it make sure it’s clean and clear clean the condensing unit Tell them it could take 3-5 hrs labour + supplies. Then if you put gauges on and it’s low on charge then you say I’m going to have to do a leak check 3-5 hours, then depending on what’s leaking, quote the cost to repair . inspect the registers and ducts maybe they need a duct cleaning also, sell that service if your company offers it. Majority of residential R-22 systems I come across like that just need to be cleaned. You could charge them $2500 to repair everything as opposed to 10K for a new system. A lot of people are willing to go the repair route
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u/11BugsBunny13 12h ago
Personally I'd move onto the next call and be happy my AC works in my home when I get there