* I do NOT work for - NOR am I affiliated with Airmaxx in any way.
* My house A/C stopped working in the middle of this week's heat wave. I called several big companies with good reputations - but they all had service wait times from five to 14 days. So I made a couple of "placeholder" appointments, thinking I could tough it out and wait my turn.
* Wow, what a mistake. I turned into a "girly man" who couldn't take the oppressive heat in my house after just ONE DAY. I started looking at smaller companies, and I found Airmaxx on Yelp, noticing that it had racked up some great reviews. I called and "Estella" answered the phone. I'm sure she thought I was insane with desperation. She calmed me down and said Airmaxx would do their best to help me, but she made no promises. She was swamped with calls but was very patient with me..
* Miracle #1 of 2 - Estella later notified me that a tech might be able to see me if I could "hang on" for several more hours. Maybe she got a cancellation. I didn't care. I was grateful. (My pet parrot had been glaring at me all day, on the brink of a heat stroke.)
* Eventually, a fabulous technician named "Vlad" came to my house. This guy has BOTH knowledge AND skill. Most techs have one or the other, but not both. And as a bonus, Vlad was also very professional with a good attitude about providing friendly customer service. (If you can, ask for him, he's terrific.)
* The A/C furnace in my garage was built in 1987. I told Vlad I thought the motor blower was burnt out because the condenser fan outside worked fine. (I had no air flowing in the house at all.)
* Not so fast, said Vlad. He said the problem could be something more simple, like a capacitor or a switch failure. Vlad conducted a lot of tests. Now here's why this is important. While the problem with my A/C DID eventually reveal itself to be a bad motor blower - the point is that Vlad was trying to save ME money by checking inexpensive solutions FIRST. Talk about major league honesty. I was impressed.
* After the motor blower problem was confirmed, I worried that it might take forever to find a replacement for my furnace, which was built when the "Back to the Future" movies came out. I also worried that the motor blower housing mounts might have to be retrofitted, adding more $$$. I'm no expert, but I'm not totally clueless. These were the things I was really worried about! (Grin.)
* "Super Vlad" took the fried motor and old metal housing out, put them into his truck - and left. "I'll be back," he said, like the Terminator. Worst case, I thought Vlad "might" find a motor - but might have to do some serious riveting, drilling or whatever to get it to work with my ancient A/C.
* Around an hour later, Vlad came back. I found out he had gone on a scavenger hunt at commercial supply stores around town, looking for a fan motor that would work with my old A/C furnace. Folks, you're not going to find parts that will work with 1980s hardware in ONE DAY. But Vlad was persistent. He kept at it, like solving a puzzle.
* Thus we come to "Miracle #2 of 2." Vlad found what had to be the last "OEM" motor in San Diego County that would work with my 1987 Lennox A/C - sitting in a supply store corner somewhere. (Professional motor blower installations for NEWER A/Cs typically cost about $1,200 with labor. I ended up paying about $1,000 for everything.) In the end, we were both relieved. Vlad was happy that I was happy, and he got everything cleaned, installed and back up and running in my house in less than 30 minutes.
* In sum, Vlad, Estella and the entire Airmaxx team are honest, professional and deserve a big A+! They won't upsell you, they won't take advantage of you and they won't rip you off. Give 'em a try. I'm sure glad I did. I'm OK now, no longer on any meds. Thank you, Airmaxx - and thank you, Yelp! read more