During my initial phone call to schedule service, I talked at length about the service I wanted,…read moreand I made it very clear that I wanted a "Roto-Brush" air duct cleaning cleaning. I had just purchased the home and wanted to get a great baseline for all of the maintenance and cleaning of it. The previous owner had a dog with a thick coat.. I wanted all of the nooks and crannies of the vents physically touched and cleaned. I was quoted prices for both "Air-Whip" and "Roto-Brush" services, both were average prices for the respective service, and we scheduled an appointment for "Roto-Brush".
The guys showed up early for the appointment, which was nice.
While they were performing the service, I realized they were using the "air-whip" method, not the "roto-brush". Also, as we had painted most of the house, many of the returns and vent covers were already off. They did not remove the ones that were still installed, and just kind of blew into the vents with their air.
Near the end of the service, they took my air filter and pointed at stuff they blew out of the ducts, and identified some of it as "mold" based on the color of the dirt. It wasn't mold.. it was soot, and I declined their expensive up-sell attempt to rectify my "mold" situation.
I kept watching, waiting for the roto-brush to make it's appearance. It never did. When they proclaimed they were finished and presented me the bill for the service, the price was that of the quoted Roto-Brush service. I asked about why they used the air-whip and they were adamant (borderline defensive) that they never do roto-brush, and that the air-whip was just as good. I personally disagree that no-contact cleaning is just as good as a cleaning where surfaces are contacted with something other than fast-moving air.
Looking at the statement, I saw that the billing code for the cleaning was "RB1"... I said, "hmmm.. I wonder what that RB stands for... probably roto brush?" to which he said, "yeah, probably". I ended up having to call the office. I talked to the same guy who had scheduled me a few days earlier and recapped our previous conversation. Once I had him on the same page, I informed him what happened, and he seemed at a loss. I ended up putting the service tech on the phone with him (my personal cell phone), and the service tech took it into the other room. I could still hear both of them, and an argument took place between them.
After the call, the service tech amended the price to the "air-whip" price, which was quite a bit less than what they had just tried to charge me. I paid, they left.
As they were leaving, the techs were audibly grumbling between themselves about how they made less money. I felt they could have at least waited till they were out of ear shot before complaining that they were not successful in separating me from more of my money they they deserved to.
My opinion, based on what I saw and heard during the visit, is that they had been doing this racket for a while, doing less service than the office sold, and convincing unsuspecting customers that they got the service they paid for. In this case, I knew the difference and had the gumption to stand up for myself and make sure I paid for what I got.
With air duct cleaning, and any time you pay someone to perform ANY service for you, please make sure you educate yourself as to what to expect and how to identify what they are doing. Had I not known better, I would have gotten ripped off.
Even if the billing/work issue had not happened, I'd still rate the quality of their duct cleaning a 2/5, based on the quality of work performed alone. Duct cleaning companies are plentiful,.. do your research, as your friends and neighbors, and choose one that will take care of you and make a long-term customer out of you, not a company that seems to just want to shake you down and move onto the next job. I would have loved for them to have taken better care for me, as next year, I will be starting my hunt for another company all over again.
