Custom Aire Heating Repair

I hired Custom Aire to install a new AC unit and attic air handler about 5 years ago. I had them come out every year for the preventative maintenance. 2 years ago they came out and found a defective fitting on the unit. This allowed the refrigerant to leak out. Custom Aire covered the part but charged me $ 800 for the refrigerant. This year I had another problem. The primary pan that carries the water out was cracked and they would have to send another tech out to price the job. At that point, I hired another company to come look and see what they were talking about. The pan was definitely cracked, but there was also 2 rolls of electrical tape jammed next to the pan. When he took them out, the pan basically collapsed. The tech told me that the pan was never installed properly. It was pitching to the wrong side. The pan was never working and the only thing carrying the condensation out of the attic was the secondary or emergency pan. If this pan had become clogged or filled, I would have a had a huge leak in ceiling. This incompetent company was the only people that worked on the unit since its installation. After contacting the company, they were first appalled at what happened, then gave me a run around for the next 9 months. STAY AWAY… they turn over technicians all the time and they do not care about customer service. Still waiting for what Scott Schnieder told me would be a «fair and equitable» solution

We hired Custom Aire in 2010 to install whole-​house air conditioning in our old Philly row house that did not have pre-​existing ducts. They were the only contractors we consulted who suggested putting the unit and most of the ductwork on the roof, and then dropping the necessary ducts into the house via the closets. We really liked the design and the price seemed reasonable, so we hired them. The installation job was very sub-​par, however. There was water leaking almost immediately from the holes in the roof, and because they put no insulation around the ductwork on the roof, condensation caused further water leakage in the ceiling in the winter. The company came and made repairs free of charge during that first year while their work was under warranty.
Just recently, however, the air conditioning unit utterly failed – the compressor, the condenser fan, and the fan motor. Although Custom Aire’s info. says everywhere that they are a Carrier dealer, our original sales contract said they’d install a «Carrier/​York». Of course when it was a York, and not a Carrier unit, that they showed up with for installation, we didn’t realize that they were giving us a lemon. Although the parts that needed to be replaced are under warranty from York, the labor was not. Custom Aire said we’d need to pay $ 3,000 for the repair initially, and then when we balked, they came up with the magic number $ 2,400 for no apparent reason. We paid 3 other contractors to give us alternative estimates and one of them (called ECI) ultimately repaired the unit for about $ 1,000. Still, we are stuck with a crappy air conditioner that might fail again at any time and has only 2 more years of warranty left. Beware of Custom Aire – they do shoddy work and they charge waaaay too much.

I had a great experience with Custom Aire, both for installing our Air Conditioning and Heat, and for their routine maintenance.
Prior to selecting Custom Aire I bid out the project to 4 different companies, and did not show any of them the bids. I wanted it truly to be a comparison based on what they recommended for my historic row house (over 100 years old) with 4 floors.
With each team I wrote down a series of questions and asked them the same thing, I then asked them for their recommendations… Although all the bids were seemingly similar, I found that Custom Aire was the most thorough.
After doing the initial walk through, they asked if they could bring 2 of their engineers out to see the space. They then provided me with sketches, a formal bid, and cut sheets of manufacturers and pricing differences. If anything they gave me at first too many options, and I needed to narrow them down!
In contrast, other places were quick to give me a quote, for practically the same price, but without the additional info!
Their install job was clean, smart, and the team was very professional. Highly recommend Custom Aire!

I was stuck in a situation where I am physically not able to be in my rental property to address a kitchen leak that I believe to be a clogged drain pipe from my AC condenser. My tenant called and I remember that the original unit was serviced by Custom Aire. So one of the technician came out, saw that my unit was very old and pretty much instantly recommended a complete replacement of the AC system. So i got the quotes, about $ 6500 for condenser and furnance and they claimed that the water heater had to be replaced as well for $ 950. Being naturally skeptical, I began conducting contractor searches. Initially, I was forwarding CA’s quote to other contractor, everyone said it was high but their prices were within $ 500. Then I realize these other contractors are probably «feeding off the frenzy» and giving comparable but slightly lower quote. Finally, I got a quote from the Homedepot Recommended contractor, J Gillies, and their estimate was $ 4175 with homedepot 0% financing for 12 months. Realized that I am getting a pretty good deal, I throw in a water heater and humidier for a grand total of $ 5075. Saving over $ 1500, with extra appliances. Not saying CA was trying to take advantage of that fact I am out of state but it is hard not to considering I saved over $ 2000 going with a different contractor with the same basic grade of equipment. The quote from CA was a Payne unit and the unit I got from John Gillies was trane. Both 13 seer AC and 80 btu for furnace.