- Report: #915187
Complaint Review: Brandon's Comfort Specialist's - McKinney Texas
Reported By:
sgb1959 -
Plano, Texas, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Brandon's Comfort Specialist's
None given McKinney, Texas, United States of America
Phone:
214-544-3517
Web:
http://www.brandonsac.com/
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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Brandon's Comfort Specialist's Parts marked up 400% McKinney, Texas
Don't be fooled by their $75 trip charge credited back if the repair is greater than $150. Be assured with their mark up in part prices it will always exceed $150. Don't get me wrong, I was very grateful they could come out the same day to make repairs on my AC as it was a hot day. But had I known of their pricing policy up front I would have kept calling. But the $75 fee seemed in line with what I'd paid other companies so I said come on out. The service tech quickly diagnosed my AC problem as blown 'run capacitor' which they keep on the truck. He says the ONLY part they keep has a 5-year warranty and is $340. He quickly departed to install and I thought about it and googled AC repair and found Service Magic website reflecting 'common AC failures. Low and behold there is run capacitor listed and Service & Parts average cost for my area: $163. So I went outside and asked the service tech about the price and he said he could remove it and order a lower quality one like the one he just removed from my unit. I said well that lower quality one has lasted 11 years since the AC was installed. But given my alternative was family staying in hot house I felt had to accept their part price. After getting invoice and seeing that it's a Turbo 200 brand I found it several places online from $50 to $75. At WW Grainger (a wholesale supply company that's been around for about 80 years) it was priced at $71 so even with tax & shipping likely would be less than $100. I called the company and asked for callback and Jason quickly returned my call. He justified the price by stating the cost of the truck, the service tech, other overhead must be covered. I guess if that's how they want to run their buiness (low service charge but sky high part prices) then that's fine but I feel like the general public needs to know so they can keep calling rather than paying double the average price according to Service Magic.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Brandons
Highland Village,Texas,
United States of America
Brandon's Comfort Specialist Flat Rate Pricing
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Mon, July 23, 2012
Brandon's Comfort Specialist uses "Flat Rate Pricing" as many other reputable HVAC or Auto Repair shops do. The reason for this is to NOT allow price gouging by a technician and to allow us to show customers what the price will be after the diagnosis and before the repair is made.
This customer has a 12 year old Goodman AC unit. The cost of a OEM capacitor for a Goodman unit can range from $153.75 to $209.83 installed, depending on the exact model. This capacitor comes with a 1 year warranty if it is installed by a licensed HVAC contractor. There is no way that we can carry on our service trucks all the different makes and models of capacitors for all the many different AC systems. We offered to get the OEM part, but the customer didn't want to wait. So HE chose to authorize us make the repair at that time.
Brandon's Comfort Specialist believes that by supplying a Universal Turbo 200X capacitor's is in our customers best interest because they come with a 5 YEAR WARRANTY, which includes the diagnostic and trip charge for us to return and replace the capacitor again. All for $340.00 and are UNIVERSAL.
So for $340.00, the customer receives 2 - $75 diagnostic / trips ($150.00), 2- 200X Turbo Capacitor's $100 each ( $200 value) plus the KNOWLEDGE and EXPERTISE of a LICENSED, REGISTERED, INSURED and BACK GROUND checked HVAC technician. Of course, you can always find a product or service cheaper after the fact, just make sure you have ALL of the facts.
