Summers Plumbing Heating and Cooling

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! The good reviews of summers MUST be the lucky ones. They sold me a LEMON of a furnace. In 2 years, they’ve had to come out over FOUR separate times to fix a brand new furnace. And in those 2 years, the times they were supposed to come out they had to re-​schedule me again, and again. Their only answer to this lemon of mine is for me to sign up for the «maintenance» program. ALTHOUGH, that doesn’t guarantee I wouldn’t have to pay for certain parts. I just KNEW I should’ve waited it out and gone with another company, but furnace busted in dead of winter, and they sure pulled one, a BIG one over on me.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Summers 3 times on a home I recently purchased and I’m blown away every time with their professionalism and promptness. My first encounter was a bad valve for the main water line coming into the house. Dustin Scheele was on time, diagnosed it right away and with their upfront pricing schedule, showed me the charge for the repair and had the job completed in no time. Brandon Gillespie came out for my cooling checkup and thoroughly went through my system and explained everything to me in terms I could understand. He’s definitely an asset to the company and while I hope to never see him again, it’s nice to know that if an emergency pops up, I’ll be treated kindly and fairly. I had a plumbing checkup and the field supervisor Jon Taylor came out and again, was very professional and didn’t try to up sell me things I didn’t need. It’s no surprise to me that the supervisors are just as courteous as the technicians. Every phone call, email and visit from Summers has been a pleasant experience and I’m very happy they’re close by in case I need them in the future.

They cancelled my appt a couple hours prior to the appointed time (illness of tech.) I had made this appt. weeks ago, travel most of the time and this was a short window in which I would be home. Requested they service my AC on Monday — told they were booked, requested they try to reschedule an appt. made for Mon/​Tue so they could accommodate me. Told «I understand, but we can’t do that» — They would have had 3 days advance notice for a reschedule, made with the client themselves. As we all know, there are many people who are home most of the time and are flexible. Apparently it is way too much work to attempt to see what could be done and rearrange a schedule. (I am certainly open to services calling me to see if I can reschedule to help out, or to call if a cancellation has occurred so that I could be covered sooner). Both phone and chat services were neither understanding, or willing to try to accommodate. Best offer was 2 weeks out. As I am on the road for business, have no idea what I will be scheduled to do at that time — that is why I made this appt. so far in advance.
Apparently they have grown so big that loosing a client, with bad feeling, is not a big deal to them. Somehow, I suspect there is a local company in Columbus that will be more than happy to gain a new client and provide service.

I had Summers come out and do a seasonal check up on my HVAC. While there, their «tech» (more like a high pressure salesman) told me I needed to replace my furnace (which was 6 years old at the time) and my water softener (which was 2 years old). They tried to get me to finance $ 8000 of product and service and did it very convincingly. I decided to get a second opinion to be safe. I’m glad I did. For $ 150 the other company got my system running better and saved me $ 8000 on stuff I didn’t need.

This company offered a really good deal on annual air conditioning tuneup last year so I decided to give them a try. I bought their 3-​visit package: (plumbing check, tuneup, AC check, furnace check). Two of the techs were really friendly (the AC and furnace ones); the third (plumbing check) less so. He pulled out a camera (kind of like the dentist does) and showed me the inside of my furnace, which had some rust spots. This didn’t mean much to me but he insisted that because of these the furnace needs to be replaced. Of course I was alarmed, so called my regular local appliance company for a second opinion and they said there was absolutely nothing wrong with the furnace. Plumbing guy said my water heater was such a poor model that the company doesn’t make them any more. I called the company and that said that they are making that model to this day.
Because of this shady advice, and because I had similar scheduling issues as the other customers, I gave their special offer a pass this year. It’s too bad, because other than the sales pitches, the techs really were friendly. But I am a single woman living alone and depending on repairmen to be honest about repairs. I just don’t feel I can fully trust them.

Summer has always been very friendly and courteous with me. I know they have had scheduling issues in the past, but they have increased their workforce and have been very attentive to my needs and schedule. The other day after working on my water heater, I called to let them know I was still having some issues. They came out that same day and didn’t charge me anything additional because they admitted they should have noticed it during the previous visit. The service employees are very friendly and aren’t pushy on parts and service. They make helpful suggestions and offer tips on various home improvements.

Updated 11−20−14 to add my final experience with Summers: I scheduled a service call for today and burned a vacation day from work to be home for my appointment. I was given an arrival time between 2:00 and 4:00 pm. At 1:50 pm I received a call from a Summers customer service rep telling me that they would have to reschedule my appointment because they had «too many emergencies today». I told the representative that I had taken a vacation day today for my service call and asked if someone could come after finishing with the emergencies? «She said «I have no one to send but I can reschedule your appointment for two weeks from now.» Seriously, two weeks is their next available appointment? AFTER they cancelled my appointment, last minute, causing me to waste a vacation day? Paying $ 150 per year to join their «Priority Club» means nothing when it comes to scheduling.
Done. With. Summers.
I have given them way too many opportunities in the past several years simply because I like their service techs but I can no longer deal with their serious lack of consideration for customers and impossible scheduling.
End of update
I have no complaints with their service employees but the customer service isn’t very helpful or friendly. It is difficult to make an appointment, unless you plan to take a day off work several weeks in advance. It seems no matter how far in advance I try to schedule the date/​time I need is not available.
The customer service reps seem to take great pains to ensure that their service techs aren’t inconvenienced. They call a week ahead of time to confirm your appointment, and then they won’t send their service people until they receive a verbal confirmation over the phone on the day of the appointment, even though you have already confirmed the appontment. And it doesn’t matter if you work a mile from your home, they won’t allow a service tech to head to your home unless you are there waiting.
On my last service call (which was just an annual cleaning) Summers called to confirm my appointment a week ahead of time. I know from prior experience that the tech usually arrives at the end or after the two hour appointment arrival window that is given. So I have to leave work and wait at home for up to two hours, often much longer, while I wait for the tech to arrive AFTER I give a verbal verification that I am home, waiting.
I will point out that I have NEVER missed an appointment or made the tech wait for me so Summers has no reason to believe that I won’t be there when the tech arrives.
When the customer service rep called me to say that the service tech was ready to «head to my house» I asked how long it would be so that I didn’t have to leave work if I was going to be waiting two hours or more. The rep told me, «I don’t have that information, only that he will head your way as soon as you are home to give verbal conrfirmation.»
I asked, «Head from where?» She told me again that he would simply «head my way» as soon as I was home to give a verbal confirmation. I explained that I worked very close to home and didn’t want to leave two hours before he showed up. I explained that if I knew where he would «head» from it would help. She again stated, less patiently this time, that all she could say was that he would «head my way» only AFTER I was home to give a verbal confirmation. So was he going to «head» from Carmel? Greenwood? Terre Haute?
So I gave up and went home so that I could give my verbal confirmation, and of course I waited the usual two hours for him to show up. I always end up thinking, «Who is the customer here??» Everything is done for the convenience of Summers, rather than their customers.
One time I had an appointment that I had made weeks before, and Summers had called to confirm one week before. I had taken the day off work to get my furnace serviced but no one from Summers called to tell me that they had cancelled my appointment that day. And when I told the rep that I had taken the whole day off work because of that appointment, which they had confirmed the previous week, all she said was, «When would you like to reschedule?» And then their next available appointment was weeks away, even though Summers had neglected to call me to even let me know that they were cancelling my appointment!
I have been a Summers customer for several years and although I like the service techs I am about done with Summers. It is too difficult to schedule an appointment and I don’t care for their lack of customer service.
I have paid to join their priority service club every year but it seems to make little difference. I still can’t get a convenient or timely appointment.

Well over a year later. never heard from the president of Summers. I still have the tool left in my furnace.

Great Quick Service. Very Friendly!