John Moore Services Outrageous Estimate for heater repair Houston, Texas

Three weeks ago we started having problems with our central heating.  We could hear it turn on but it would then cut off as if the electric ignition wasn't working.  We called a couple of places and the earliest I could get help was the next day.  Mid February was pretty cold so we called John Moore Services because we knew someone could come out that day and the estimate would be free.  I avoided calling them in the first place because I always heard that they are very expensive.  That night, the technician came out and after going up and down into the attic repeatedly, told us that we had a bad circuit board and that we shouldn't run the heater to avoid worsening the situation and the fire hazard.  He told us that eventually it would affect the AC as well and we needed to take care of it immediately because the prices of parts would rise as we got closer to summer.  His "Good Solution" on the paperwork?  $1300.00 for a new circuit board and Hot surface igniter. A better Solution was to get a new Honeywell Non-Programmable thermostat along with the circuit board and igniter at a price of $1,469.00.  The best solution? A brand new Goodman Furnace at a price of $3,299.99.  

We told him we would call him back and waited to see what the company I originally called would say the next day.  Guess what they said?


There was nothing wrong with our circuit board and it probably had another 5 or 6 years left.  He told us that all we needed was a heat sensor.  The cost?  $245.00 and the work was complete in 10 minutes.  As I said, that was three weeks ago and the heater has been working fine since.  No more problems at all.  If you call these folks, get a second estimate before you hand over large amounts of money.  I'll never call them again.