Vernon Heating & Air Conditioning

these guys were great. Mario and Alex showed up on time to perform a check of my HVAC prior to the start of colder weather. I called them when I got a card in the mail offering a discount check up. Previously I had a service contract with Argent, but the past couple of years I feel like their service has gone downhill, so I was eager to try someone new. They spent quite a bit of time on the unit, cleaned it up, tweaked it a bit and offered a couple of suggestions and (of course) a couple of repairs/​upgrades, that I probably DO need to do. They were professional and courteous and explained everything. They even offered to change my filter, which Argent wouldn’t do because it wasn’t their job, even though the new one was sitting right there in the box and they had to take the time to put the old one back on anyway. WTH? I asked about the service plan (there was no hard sell) and it’s cheaper than Argent’s plan, so I’m trying it out. One big selling point is that, rather than a «reminder» card to schedule a service, Mario says they actually book your appointment (which I can call to change) and send me a card with that info. Argent could always find me to send me a bill to renew my service contract, but the past couple of years they never bothered to try to find me to actually perform the service, and frankly, I’m paying so I don’t have to remember. So, the check up was great, and I’m hoping the service contract works out as planned.

I never had the chance to have their service, because as a new customer they decided to charge me over $ 300 in back membership fees before I could even schedule a time. Disastrous record keeping, bureaucracy and their lack of a reasonable approach to what amounts to THEIR lack of a proper process, will prevent me from using this company.
Vernon believes that a failed attempt to contact me with an incorrect email address and with ZERO response from me, without my knowledge commits me to charges for which I have never received ANY service — EVER since we first bought our house in late March 2014.
Several phone calls failed to resolve a confusing situation, of which I had minimal knowledge until the third phone call — Vernon unfairly considers a «ghost» email 1 ½ years ago, sent to an incorrect email address for me… as a financial commitment to them. What kind of company that has never heard from you directly, never had any response from you, considers you already committed to paying them?
We bought our house in March 2014 and only moved to the area and moved in by Sept. 2014. However, the previous owner had apparently signed us up with Vernon and committed us to paying an annual fee. Which we never knew about; and we never paid. (I’d received a notice in the mail once from Vernon, indicating that I no longer had a membership with them, but was confused as I’d never contacted them and NEVER had any service by Vernon — even so I was still deciding on if we wanted to use Vernon or another HVAC service. I’d put any decision on a service contract off, but I’d NEVER been in contact with Vernon — ever).
So even though I’d never contacted Vernon and I’d never paid them a dime, they saw that I already had an outstanding balance due of over $ 300 including for a visit in March 2014 that took place BEFORE I’d even closed on the house.
A membership services assistant looked into my account and confirmed that there was «nothing» she could do in order to service my AC because of the past due amount. She checked the file to find that indeed the previous owner had signed me up for an annual service contract and had emailed me about it. Except that I’d never received any such email AND the email in their records was incorrect, not my email. So even though I’d never even been informed, I still owed Vernon over $ 300. Apparently, Vernon believes that someone else can commit you to an annual membership whether or not you yourself ever contact them or agree to this. I double checked my email account (the closest to the incorrect address that Vernon had in the record), just to be sure. — I’d never received ANY notice from the previous owner as Vernon believed, not in spam or anywhere. Most reasonable people would say… fine, you never had ANY service with us for a year and a half, let’s start as a new customer, under a new service agreement. But as the assistant told me, starting as a new member was NOT possible. I owed them.
Despite the obvious idiocy of this «past due» balance that I had NEVER agreed to, in order to have a technician visit, I’d have to pay the past due balance of $ 334 BEFORE they could even schedule a technician to visit — which would still be another charge.
I prefer not to do business with someone who claims I owe money before I even contact them the first time.

This is by far the worst experience, I called for emergency service because my heater stopped working and the woman that answered the phone said we can not send someone today although I called them at 9am. They had installed brand new heater in March 2014 and cost me $ 4000. I called them again at 5pm to try to get technical help over the phone on how to reset the system because it was under lock mode
And the same woman said to me we don’ t give technical support over the phone and was rude, even when I said we have little kids in the house and temperature is dropping to freezing point was still careless. I end up calling another company paid $ 400 for 1 minute job which took him 30 seconds to reset it.

Great service!
We had Vernon technician came to diagnose our heater (gas furnace) in December. Maybe because of the busy season, Mike showed up later then the scheduled time. He was very nice, professional, and especially clean. He definitely meet their company’s request: no smoke, no swear, drug-​free, wear shoes covers… etc. This gave us a great first impression to Vernon’s service.
Our gas furnace had a strange noise from several days ago. Mike told us it was from an old part. Instead of replacing expensive part and a long waiting time, he suggested us to changing a new furnace right the way, both cost around 5,000~6,000. He did a good job to explain why the whole system needs to be replaced and showed us the signs of wear and rust. It’s an old house so we believed the furnace is at least 10 – 15 years old. Eventually we decided to change a brand new heater and asked him to change our pipes as well. Although it was an un-​expecting holiday bomb, Mike did his best to answer our concerned and detail all we need to know. We had a 100% satisfaction to Vernon’s professional technician. Now I hope they have same level service on the new machine and installation.
Overall we are highly recommend Vernon Heating & Air.

I find it interesting that my 1-​star Oct 2014 review has disappeared. I was writing again to update that John Vernon called my husband after my negative Unilocal review, but didn’t bother to call again after my husband returned his call. We were loyal customers for a decade, paying $ 42/​month and the best they could do is dismiss our legitimate concern saying we should go our separate ways and not returning our call.

So I was turned onto Vernon by my last landlord who always used them for any hvac issues that we had over the last two years. They were on my short list for who to call when I bought my own house and needed my furnace serviced before winter. I called on Thursday and Mike was here on Saturday for the inspection. He informed me that we needed a new unit since the heat exchanger was literally falling apart. He suggested a unit in our price range and good for our small house and walked us through financing.
On Monday Mike C. and Andy M. were out before 9am for the installation. A couple hours later and voila I had a warm house. They cleaned up and were on to the next job. Everybody we spoke with or met from Vernon were very professional and helpful. I will for sure be using them from now on, especially since they’re warranties are great and the price is worth the work.

A new technician made a «mistake» in quoting my wife a price for a service. When I called to notify them of the error they immediately became defensive rather than apologizing or thanking us for the business. She was quite rude. So either it was a bait and switch from the jump or just poor customer service.

We’ve been using Vernon heating and cooling since we bought our house. We’ve been using them about 15 years. Today, George Riley came out to the house to diagnose our heat pump. Unfortunately, we need to get a new unit. He did a great job explaining everything very thoroughly. We feel very comfortable with Vernon heating and cooling. We totally trust them.

The one guy with any experience left. I recently had a leak in my brand new AC unit and requested Phil to come out. He was the guy who looked after me. many months ago. Was saddened to hear he had left but I decided to try them out anyways, big mistake. The guy who did come. over was late and unprofessional.

I have been a customer of Vernon Heating/​Air Conditioning for about 10 years and I would never go with another company. From the very first time I called them and still to this day they have always been on time, professional, and well priced. The last time they came out for maintenance the technician Phil was great and definitely ended up saving me some money after catching a few things wrong on my control board. Five stars all the way!!!

Vernon to the rescue!
We came home from the Thanksgiving holiday to a cold house and a 2 inch thick wall of ice around the condenser. I called Vernon at 3pm, and Phil was out by 6pm to check out the system. I knew it was most likely on its last leg based on its age and condition, so I wasn’t surprised when Phil suggested that we replace it vice repair it (although he did offer that as an option). After walking me through several options within our budget (and not pressuring me), we agreed on a unit, and he said they would be out the next morning to install it. Sure enough, Phil, Zach, and Brian were out the next morning at the promised time installing the brand new system. They were exceptionally polite and professional, and they were very careful with our home. After installing the system and removing all of the old materials, Zach walked me through how to work all of the new components, including the humidifier and touch thermostat. When it was all said and done, Vernon had us warmer than ever just over 24 hours after we called them. We will certainly be calling them for all our heating and A/​C needs, but aside for their 2x year service, I don’t think we’ll need to worry about that any time soon.
PS — After the cold winter we’ve just had, I’m so glad Vernon came through!

Crooks — BEWARE.
Had a problem with A/​C; their rep showed up, and diagnosed a problem worth about $ 3,000 of repairs. Something in his manner made me suspicious, so I called a different company for a second opinion. Turns out my outside vent was clogged by leaves; it was diagnosed and fixed within 5 minutes; for a grand total of around $ 100.
Furious, I called the crook back — he did not even deny it, just tried to apologize and placate me.
Stay away!

Well… Vernon’s technicians are hit or miss. About half the time we had a good one, and half the time a bad one. The good ones were helpful and did good work; the bad techs installed a humidifier in the wrong location on the furnace and another one claimed we needed to replace a 15 year furnace (this is the reason I got rid of them).
The Good & hence 2 Stars: Of course AC went out on hottest 2 days of year. Vernon made it out to my house in less than 24 hours, and I called at 6:30PM and a person answered the phone! I realized earlier this year that I had not gotten the AC serviced in several years so I signed up for the service contract. Annual maintenance fees are very reasonable & includes 2 inspections per year. The technician, George, was courteous and took time to explain items & answer my questions. The $ 149 diagnostic charge is a bit ridiculous but it is their way of keeping their service contract customers in the front of the service line. Even without their service contract initially, their response time was good.
The Bad: We had a humidifier installed on our furnace and the tech was too lazy to put it in the correct place because he would have had to get on a ladder (really isnt that part of your job. Luckily for us (irony here), the humidifier started leaking water and need to be fixed while it was still under the 1 year warranty. The GOOD Tech noticed that it was in the wrong location and ended up reinstalling the humidifier at no cost to us and fixed it so it was not leaking (we got lucky here since it was still under warranty. The 3^rd strike for these guys was when their tech came out for the fall annual maintenance check on the furnace and claimed the furnace was making knocking noises which I previously did not hear. He said the only way to fix it was buying a new furnace. I said «BS» and hired another HVAC company. All the furnace needed was a new capacitor.
Lesson learned: if you get a good tech from them, request the same one again & again. Your inconsistency of field technicians was too much. Adiós Vernon!