I've been using Autumn since 2022. Back in the day, I had a drain line blockage. They came here,…read morecleaned it out, and it's good to go. They charged me 99.95 dollars for everything. In 2023, charged me 99.95, also talked me into installing a "high quality" capacitor for 152 dollars and I accepted it. In 2024, cost 99.95, also talked me into installing a "drain pan treatment strip" for 35 dollars, which should help with the drain blockage issue. I accepted it. All those years were pretty much the same thing, drain line clean for a fee of around 100 dollars. Guys back then were nice, professional, courteous and tidy. I hired them again this year, terrible decision.
I called them on Friday, asking to have the same service. During the call, I mentioned that my drain line is blocked again, and I need it cleaned. I did not ask for anything else, and specifically asked to just clean the drain line and I mentioned I was a repeat customer. The guy sounded nice and said he could come out the next day between 9 and 11 AM, and said "there will be a FEE of 80 dollars, is that OK?" I was decently surprised since it's next-day service and it's slightly cheaper than what I paid before. Since it's around the same ballpark I thought maybe there's some sort of old customer discount or promotions etc. So I didn't question much and booked the appointment.
Next day I was gone, my wife was at home. The technician was rife with cigarettes smell. My wife couldn't be near him. He showed no respect for our house, walking in and out with his dirty boots. This is unacceptable. I am not asking him to take off his shoes, but have some shoe covers ready. My wife had to spend the next few hours cleaning up all the stains air out the cigarette smell with our HEPA filter. I cannot believe the disrespect. If I were at home, and you showed up to my house like that, you are out and done.
The technician did the job to clean the drain line. And the up-charge started. Said capacitor was slightly out of spec. Again, this is supposed to be a "high-end" capacitor that YOUR company installed 3 years ago, and promised us this will last at least 5 years. Then said we need to install this "hard start kit". Nope not gonna do it. We do not fix things that are not broken. Don't tell customers something is a requirement when it's not.
The bill? 79.95 for the service call, 185 for drain pan clear out+treatment strip, 3% electronic transaction fee, 40 for weekend (this was subsequently waived) for a total of 272.90 for a drain line cleaning. Are you out of your mind? So I called the owner. He said the FEE of 80 is just a come-out fee, and anything else will be on top of that. I've used them for 4 years and they never mentioned an additional fee of 185 to just clean the drain line. He said it's just industry standard. The fact that he's already not charging me the 40-dollar weekend fee is already going above and beyond. EXCUSE ME??? What industry standard? Whose standard? If you told me it's 80 dollars just to come out, I would definitely not choose them. I have another guy who has flat-rate drain line cleaning that I could go with, just not next-day. This isn't a call for diagnosis, this is just drain line cleaning, just like the past 4 years. Look at the top of my post for their previous price/charge. We've never paid more than 100 something dollars for a simple drain line clean. 185 to clear the drain line ON TOP of 80 dollars COME OUT FEE is out of this planet level of stupid. On their website, one service is FULL SERVICE MAINTENANCE for 99.95. Why don't you hook me up with this instead? You've done that before. Why bait-and-switch? Are you trying to rob your customers? I said this is unfortunate to the owner and he said no this is not unfortunate this is how it works or they cannot stay in business. No accountability, no integrity/honesty, no clear communication. Years of trust and understanding mean nothing to them. I wished him a good day, and this will be my absolutely last time ever to deal with them again. Go ahead and type in all CAPS because apparently that's the professional way to talk back on the Internet. People, please select the lowest reviews option to see the different voices. Check out Yelp reviews as well. You have disrespected my house, trust, and my emotions and money, and I will happily give my money and business to a competitor. Good luck with your "industry standard". If you are not willing to do your job right, someone else will. Those who do not respect their trade will not get the proper respect back.
