Hanks Service, Petrocelli, Joe the Rip-off rip off scam con artists Austin, Pflugerville, Round-Rock Texas
In the Heat of Summer if your Home Air Condititioner breaks make sure who you are calling for help. If you look in the Yellow pages of Austin and call around you will find that Hanks Service is the Cheapest ($45) for any time service call; but do not count on that, after you place the call a Guy named Joe will appear on your door step riding on a $50,000 truck.
It does'nt matter what is the problem (even if the circuit break is off) he will come up with a $900 fix. This happened not only to me but my friend as well. At first he told me that the entire condenser unit is bad and will cost me aroud 2600$ to replace but he admitted that the compressor was good so I asked him what is needed to fix it then he come up with a bad fan motor which will cost me $500 and a freon leak that will cost me additinal $400. It was almost 9:30 Pm, I did not want to stay in hot so I told him to just fix the leak and recharge for $400.
Later I asked a AC technician and learned that the Freon replacement shoud not cost more than $100 at most in after hour and the leak was problaly a fake. After the work was done he charged me $450 for the work that could be done in less than 30 minute. Few days later the same guy appeared on my friends house, luckly my friend called me and ask my advice since the Joe was asking $670 to replace the fan motor (which actually cost only $60 parts).
My friend told him not to replace it and leave but he demanded $110 or would call the Sheriff if he do not pay. My friend was mad but he is a peacefull guy so he paid him $110 even thoug the service call was $45. I think this Joe, Petrocelli and the Hanks Service are ripping people.
Zia
austin, Texas
U.S.A.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Jenn - Petrocelli Services, Inc.
Austin,Texas,
United States of America
Not a real person......Must be a Competitor
#6UPDATE Employee
Tue, October 18, 2011
We here at Petrocelli Services, Inc. have spent a great amount of time searching for any record of this incident. We have yet to find any name or date associated with this report. Our service call charge is $85.00 for us to come and diagnose the problem. Thats it. We are also not affiliated with Hanks Service but have nothing bad to say about them. Seeing how this never happened we believe this is just one of our COMPETITORS. Sorry for any confusion this false report may have caused our good loyal customers.
Jenn - Petrocelli Services, Inc.
Austin,Texas,
United States of America
Not a real person......Must be a Competitor
#6UPDATE Employee
Tue, October 18, 2011
We here at Petrocelli Services, Inc. have spent a great amount of time searching for any record of this incident. We have yet to find any name or date associated with this report. Our service call charge is $85.00 for us to come and diagnose the problem. Thats it. We are also not affiliated with Hanks Service but have nothing bad to say about them. Seeing how this never happened we believe this is just one of our COMPETITORS. Sorry for any confusion this false report may have caused our good loyal customers.
AC guy
austin,Texas,
United States of America
Petrocelli
#6General Comment
Mon, November 08, 2010
I read the rip off report that you created above. I have to disagree with your comments entirely. There is a huge difference betwen repairing a refrigeration line and recharging the unit. Recharging the unit can be cheap however repairing the condensate line can be quite time consuming and expensive. A simple recharge may have gotten the unit running again however with an existing leak is very dangerous to the environment and leaks harmful CFCs. You should really be clear on the information that you are posting about someones livelyhood as to have 100% accurate information. With the information given it seems to me like you were misinformed and angry at the cost of these repairs. his hvac credentials must be posted on his service vehicle though. Thats the law.
John
Troy,Michigan,
U.S.A.
Don't shop price
#6Consumer Comment
Sun, July 06, 2003
The problem here is that the homeowner looked for the cheapest service around. The cheapest is rarely the best. If the average homeowner knew the cost of putting a tech in a truck and sending that tech out on a service call, they would scratch their head over a $45 fee. Quality service work comes at a much higher price tag. The lowballers are the ones you see on NBC Dateline, being singled out as representatives of the HVACR trade.
My advice is to do your homework. Get references or call familiy, friends for word-of-mouth recommendations. But never, NEVER, accept the cut-rate bargain contractors. If you think you are getting a deal, ask the lowballer everything the service call covers, in writing. Then call a well-known, recommended contractor and ask for everything in writing. First of all, see if you'll get the work profile in writing and then consider how many times the equipment will fail in the future and you wind up paying several times more than what a respectable contractor would charge to do it right the first time.
Get your collective heads out of the sand and realize that you get what you pay for. Copy machine repairpeople charge $100 or more each hour for their work and have to know a lot less than an HVACR service tech -- a GOOD tech. You can live with a copy machine that breaks down. Can you live without heat or air?
Think about it.
Steve
Waco,Texas,
U.S.A.
Joe Petrocelli is not affiliated with Hank's Service
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, July 02, 2003
PETROCELLI, JOSEPH
PETROCELLI SERVICES INC
5706 COSTAS COVE
AUSTIN TX 78759
Travis License #: TACLA00009648C
Expiration Date: 11/02/2003
Type: AC
Phone: (512) 343-7949
Joe Petrocelli is not affiliated with Hank's Service. If the owner of Hank's is advertising this way it is a violation. Riding in a $50,000 dollar vehicle is not a valid complaint but if there is no company name or state license number on the side it sure is. If Joe told you something that was wrong to try and get your money then you have a legitimate gripe but if you are complaining about the price being high well then you are just experiencing a contractor passing on his expenses of doing business to you.
It is a contractors responsibility to tell you what is wrong and the cost to correct the problems. It is the consumers job to approve or deny the repairs.