J & B Comfort Systems Inc

Let me start by saying the call mentioned at the bottom of this review did not have to go the direction that it did. J and B had an opportunity to provide great customer support and chose instead to mistreat a loyal customer who was only seeking help to a problem.



To be fair, until now we have had good service from J and B. Our old York AC unit (installed by the builder) lasted about 12 years. J and B helped us squeeze out the last two years of use with refrigerant recharges and maintenance help.



We bought another York system from J and B based upon their past service. John, the owner, came to our house and gave a great review of available units that would work for our townhome. The meeting left us the sense that we were dealing with a quality and caring local business that we were happy to buy from.



Yesterday a contractor that was cleaning our furnace noticed our 2 year old AC unit was leaking ( 2 summers and about 7 months of actual use). I called J and B to see if they could come out and take a look but the person I needed to speak with was not available and they would call me back. I did not get a call back.



I called back today and after a short wait on hold I spoke with Barb. The conversation went in the direction that gives you a "sense of doom" rather than "finding a solution to your problem".



The conversation was centered on:

- how this could have been avoided if we had a service contract

- how was the other contractor involved

- how ultimately this is not a "new" unit



The conversation was then escalated by Barb up to John and was told that he would call me back shortly. (I was still doing fine even though the sense of "your new-ish AC unit is leaking and you're on your own" was setting in).



Honestly, at this point, all I wanted was someone to come out take a look (as they have done so many times in the past for us). I wanted the guy who sat at my kitchen table and presented himself as a caring local business owner, to get on the line and just be straight with me.



Unfortunately, this was not the case. I got more of the same from John that I got from Barb. It seems as if they decided on how to handle my call before John called me back. The conversation started with me explaining (for the third time) what was leaking and then went immediately to: "who was this other company that saw the problem and why didn't they fix it?" I regret even mentioning the other company because we could have just as easily found this problem ourselves.



I tried to ask that since the unit was so new, maybe they could come out and look at it for me and develop a plan of attack together. However, as soon as I mentioned the word "new unit", John cut me off with "it's not new, its two years old".



At this point it was clear that the conversation was not going to be collaborative, so I thanked John for his time, who in turn thanked me but did not attempt to offer any options (communicating that my future business is of no value) and we hung up.



Being a homeowner for 20+ years, I can take bad news about having unexpected expenses. I just have a hard time with spending thousands of dollars on a modern AC system and then just two years later, being treated like an unreasonable stranger who is asking for something for nothing instead of a valued customer asking for help.



If this is the post-purchase support that can be expected from J and B, then I cannot recommend them to anyone.