Beware of the glowing reviews and the all of the shiny trappings of good service. We have been with this company for a year-and-a-half now, and nothing is as it seems. Their technicians are polite and seem good, but management is running a money-making machine. In 30 years of home ownership we have relied on lasting relationships with plumbers, electricians, and HVAC contractors, but we have never had an ongoing relationship with a company that behaves like this one.
As one of their plan customers, we have 2 maintenance visits per year, one for the A/C and one for the heating, included in the cost of the plan. During their maintenance visit, if something needs to be repaired, they present us with an exorbitant flat cost for the item which we must approve. There is no breakdown showing the cost of the part and the labor, and as this is a small and needed item in the ongoing operation of our house, there is no realistic opportunity to shop around. As a plan customer, we get a discount off their fabricated price. Lucky us. They have us over a barrel. All of our past servicers have charged on a material plus labor basis and we have never paid charges as high as these.
We paid over $300 (after discount!) for a part that can be purchased on line for $50 and took less than 15 minutes to install. They combined into our "pre-paid" maintenance visit the installation of a part from a previous service call. As plan customers, we had already been charged $95 for the service call that diagnosed the problem (another new charge for us), and mysteriously, the needed part turned up just in time for our maintenance visit, but not before. Again, we were charged a flat fee of over $800 for a part that can be purchased for $300 and took less than 30 minutes to install. On top of that, they arrived for the service call without one of the filters that was included in our service plan. They never returned to replace that filter and we could not turn on the humidifier for the season.
As plan customers, we have access to round the clock emergency service. We called one night when the A/C was down in the hope of getting a serviceman out the next day. Although the automated system says that you will receive a return call from a tech within 15 minutes, our call was NEVER returned. Three times now, we have been quoted a time window for service and, after waiting around, had the tech call to say he was on his way and would arrive after the window had closed. Each time, the tech told us that the window Elite showed on his paperwork was longer or different than the window Elite gave us. The first time this happened, we thought it was our mistake, but after three such events, we know this is all part of the Elite charade.
We had air conditioning units replaced by Elite. The loose screws, metal shards, empty aerosol cans, etc, still litter our attic. Less than a year later, both units stopped working and it took a week-and-a-half to get parts. When the tech arrived to install them, he did not know where they went or what had transpired so far and finally left saying he had been given the wrong parts. Oh, and we still need to make that appointment with the building inspector to get the permit closed because, apparently, that is our job.
Responsible homeowners rely on their HVAC contractor to provide knowledgeable, reliable, and honest service at a fair price over the long haul. The trust in this relationship is especially important because, while you may be able to shop new systems or major replacements, whatever you choose is going to require continuous service and maintenance for the life of the system at significant ongoing cost to you. We feel Elite Air abuses that trust. read more
