Big C & Sons

These guys are absolute crooks. I had water dripping out of the dripping pan. I called Big C and Sons and the contractor came out to diagnose the problem. While checking out the AC system, the contractor kept coming up with different reasons he believed caused the water dripping. He could not find the problem but tried to «hustle» me out of more money then the cost to diagnose the unit. He tried explaining that because he spent more then 1 hour in my home looking for the problem, I should be charged an additional $ 150 for the diagnose. When I disagree he went to disconnect his freon tester and purposely removed one of the wires from the condenser unit. Before they came I only had a simple problem with water dripping out of the dripping pan. Within 3 hours after the contractor left, the compressor stop working and the entire house got really hot. The next day I called them and the owner was rude and refuse to send the contractor back out to check the problem. I called another contractor and they couldn’t find the issue and told me I needed to replace the entire unit. I had to rent a hotel for 1 day ($ 200) and stay away for several other days. I called yet a 3^rd contractor because I was convinced that the unit stopped working because of something that the Big C and Sons contractor did. The 3^rd contractor confirmed that the Big C and Sons contractor purposely removed one of the wires from the condenser unit. If I didn’t call another honest contractor, these guys would have caused me to lose about $ 5,000 on buying a new unit. Beware of these crooks and keep them away from your home.

I don’t believe Peggy L. could have had this experience with Big C & Sons. I have had them service my A/​C and do maintenance checks for the past two or three years and the service has been beyond anyone’s expectations. I called the owner and asked him about this report and he said he had no idea what this lady was talking about and from what I’ve observed and seen on other reviews which echo my own view, I believe him. I have no doubt that Peggy L. had the experience she describes but I also believe that she is mistaken about whom she called. She does admit that it had been a year and a half since she had it. I strongly suspect that, as time passed she confused the name of the cheating company with that of the company that proved to be her «dependable a/​c person.»

I don’t know about that other reviewer, but I have had nothing but excellent service from Byron and this company. I found them through Service Magic, initially. I had inherited an old house with an old AC unit. It needed to be replaced. They, first off, showed up on time on the same day I called. Then, Byron went over options for me. I ended up paying about $ 1000 less than I expected. Since then, I’ve had to call twice for service issues. Both times, Byron came within an hour and fixed the issue. (Both times were my own fault. I didn’t clean the filter and the unit froze up.)
I highly recommend Big C and Sons!

I am writing this review based on an experience I had with this company about a year and a half ago. Why am I writing this now? For one, I could not find a way to rate this company as they were not listed here and I had to add them. For another, I just had another a/​c company fix my unit and asked about the problem I had fixed with this company earlier, and they told me what it really should have cost, which confirmed this nagging feeling that I had been completely CHEATED. TWICE.
DISHONEST is how I would sum up this company or at least the representative who came to my condo in Miami, FL that day. This was a rental unit. I was living in California and my tenant called to say the a/​c had broken down and was not cooling. I used Service Magic to find Big C and Sons because I thought going through an agency would ensure honesty. I was wrong. A rep from Big C and Sons came over to look at the unit and then called to tell me the cost of replacing a spark plug or an electrical piece (he would not tell me exactly what the part was and was very vague) and that it would cost $ 375. I hesitated because that seemed very high, but my tenant had wanted the a/​c fixed yesterday, so I said to go ahead. I didn’t know any better. The real cost for a job like that? My dependable a/​c person said no more than $ 150, including labor and everything.
3 MONTHS LATER… BROKEN AGAIN. I called the company back and asked them to fix it. They said they would charge me $ 125 to come out again. I said WHAT?! Don’t most companies have at least a year’s warranty? Stupid, stupid me, I said fine, because I thought that another company might charge me the $ 375 again. Now I know I was charged a total of $ 500 for work that should have cost $ 150 at most.
Fool me once, shame on them. Fool me twice, shame on me. But don’t take advantage of people struggling to pay a mortgage that has lost 75% of its value, for regular, everyday people (I’m not an investor) who live across the country and are trying to manage a condo from there, and for not guaranteeing workmanship.
Big C and Sons, go ahead and respond to this review. I dare you to… maybe this rep of yours was just one bad apple in your bunch, but I want you to look up my invoice and tell me that I was not cheated. I want you to tell everyone exactly what was fixed and why it would have cost $ 500, and why I was charged twice for bad workmanship. Because I want to know myself.