TECHNICAL SERVICES AIR CONDITIONING AND DUCT CLEANING HVAC inspection - Mike Kirkland scammed us!!! Cape Coral Florida

Technical Services was contracted to inspect our HVAC for a three year period. We purchased the service contract back in 2007. The first and second year inspections went perfect. The technicians said everything was good. The third year inspection was performed in April 2009 and the technician - Mike Kirkland preformed the inspection. He arrived at our condo in Ft. Myers, Florida and started his inspection. Within about 10 minutes he called me into the room where the HVAC unit was and he stated that we had a major problem. He had both front panels off the unit and showed me the AC coil unit was freezing up. He stated that the unit was low on Freon and he could not replace or recharge the unit because the Freon gas is no longer allowed to be used. He also said there was oil and rust on the front plate to confirm the leak that the Freon was low. He stated that we needed to buy a complete new unit and shut our HVAC unit down NOW! It would freeze up and start to flood the room. He gave us a quote on a new unit over $8000.00. I told him to put the covers back on the unit, leave it shut down and we will think about it and get back to him. He never even inspected the outside condensing unit!!!

Hearing the cost and noticing he didn't even check the outside unit, we decided to get another opinion. We called another heating and cooling company a neighbor told us about and we scheduled an inspection with them. They arrived on the same day and inspected our HVAC unit. The technician started up the unit and waited to see if the unit was working properly. I told him the issues that the other technicians mentioned and the new tech stated "he used the oldest trick in the HVAC book on us". When you remove the front covers the air is channeled onto the coils which will freeze up within 5 minutes. He said that a HVAC unit should be a sealed unit to have the air go through the filter then into the unit. When you remove the covers the unit takes the room air over the front of the unit and will freeze up the coils. He also went outside and checked the condensing unit and the level of Freon, which was also perfect. He did find a wire that was chewed on from a animal and replaced it within a few minutes. The inspection was concluded with no problems found.

We are writing this complaint to inform other clients or potential consumers considering using TECHNICAL SERVICES in SWFL to be very careful!!! With this trying economy, some companies are soooo desperate that the resort to these scams to hook honest consumers.

We would love to hear if any other customers of TECHNICAL SERVICES were ripped off? Please respond ASAP!!!

Steve - Ft. Myers, Florida
Ft. Myers, Florida
U.S.A.