R.S. Andrews Tidewater – Heating and Cooling

I only had a tune up on my unit, but the customer service agent was very professional and the technician was on time for the appointment (actually early) and also professional and courteous as he completed my scheduled tune up.

As I write this I am still waiting, today is Wednesday, (6÷15÷2016) on a part for my unit to be repaired. I was so pleased on Sunday when the unit went out for a tech to show up to my house, take the capacitor with him and lead me to believe he would return the next day with the part and repair my unit. Well I am still waiting and it’s Wednesday after two calls to customer service, Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon still no part and no one from this company has called me. I did however speak with the same woman at the office on the phone two days In a row who told me I would get a call when my part comes in. She does not know when that will be because it’s not in her computer. I looked the part up on the Internet and I could have had it by now.
I have a few thoughts on this… since I already paid in full almost $ 600 for this service and of course an up sell of a switch and a hvac maintamce tuneup in the now and heater in the fall you would think I might be able to get a better estimate of completion. I’m currently looking for another company to provide all of these services because I don’t believe in rewarding poor behavior.
In all fairness I will continue to update this review although I don’t expect this company to redeem themselves and I do expect to have more issues to discuss. The only positive thing I can say is the tech was good and very personable in his new truck… that’s why they get a star. This company needs to read and heed the reviews that are written because a lot of consumers do read reviews and act based on what they see.

R.S. Andrews installed a new heating/​air conditioner unit in our home 18 months ago. This week we had a damper get stuck, causing two zones to cool and one zone to close down. Calling their service department, I was assured that they could stop by after hours to see to the problem. Jason arrived promptly and after several trips to the attic he quickly fixed the. damper problem and we were back in the cooling mode. He was polite, and tested his solution several times before leaving to ensure that it was indeed fixed. I would recommend this company not only for their product but for their excellent service as well.

Needed service on a top of the line Climatemaster 5.5 ton geothermal unit installed by an incapable and poor contractor who has been nothing but a problem since we laid out over $ 23k for the install. It was nothing but problems since day one. RS was able to come out on Mothers Day with no extra fees for a holiday/​weekend! Wow. Never had that kind of service with the other company EVER and I had a service contract plus personally knew the owner. I cannot say a good word about the other contractor but can about our first experience with RS Andrews. While the fix wasn’t inexpensive ($ 700) it was necessary since the bad contractor was out in the last few months and caused this failure of a slow leak from the valves they had gauges on. Lost 6 pounds of r-​410 over 3 months with the slow leak at a cost is $ 110/​pound thanks to the inadequate and incompetent service of the other company. Bought a service agreement with RS even though I have one with the other bad company which says something about how bad we have been treated over the years! Only stuck with the bad company because we had a service contract since day one and warranty but that didn’t really help when he had no less than 25 services in the past several years on this top of line system. Will have to pursue the bad company in the legal system to obtain a refund on the unused portion of more than 50% of the most current contract but someone has to stop these bad businesses from harming others. What a nightmare but hopefully we found a reputable provider and never have to deal with AC Specialists again! Would recommend RSA based on our first experience. Mark Y was our tech and he was great to deal with even on a Sunday late afternoon/​evening when he should have been home enjoying a weekend. Thanks RSA!

I signed a one year maintenance agreement for my HVAC system. Cedric came out to service my unit a couple days ago and he was professional and pleasant to be around. He wouldn’t come in without covering his shoes and explained to me everything I asked about. He was quick and efficient and got the job done.
When I called to schedule a spring maintenance, loretta let me know that this company offers a maintenance agreement that consists of 1 spring and 1 fall service. This was only $ 60 more than just the single maintenance, plus discounts on repairs and no service fees. Pretty good deal if you ask me considering I paid $ 240 this winter to have dead frogs removed from my heat pump!
The only thing I’m a bit concerned about is that my service agreement mentions that the tech is supposed to check my ductwork. When I asked him about that, he said no, I just service the unit. The unit is really the main reason I scheduled to have him come out, but if the ductwork isn’t supposed to be checked, then it probably shouldn’t be in paperwork they send when you sign a yearly agreement. I’m not too concerned about my ductwork, it’s all fairly new, so I’m still going to give 4 stars. Mostly for the professionalism I got from Cedric and Loretta.

Six months after my last review on this horrible company I am now sitting in the sauna that is my home in Suffolk, VA during a heat wave on Christmas with my AC cranking away & NO air circulating at all. We are all sweltering in here. I called at noon & they said the tech would contact me on his way here in 1 – 2 hours. We will see if this actually happens. As far a I am concerned they are going to fix it free of charge today & then pay for another company with a much better work ethic to come replace my 6 month old unit that I was told is the «most reliable & long lasting in the business» for one that lasts longer than 6 months. I will continue to update this as they continue to suck more and more.
UPDATE at 12:25pm: Ryan called & said he has two calls ahead of me & he will keep me updated as his work progresses. He was fantastic on the phone & very nice. Again, totally unlike their answering service people. At least with Ryan responding I know that the service tech has received my information & has me on his list. This is only SLIGHTLY better than last time. I will continue updating.
UPDATE at 12:45pm: Pete, the Service Manager called to check to make sure Ryan had been in contact with me, but he had to ask which tech called me which was a bit odd since Ryan said he was the only tech working today. Completely understandable I told both Ryan and Pete on their respective phone calls to me. I understand this is Christmas however, that does not excuse a brand new 6 month old AC unit from breaking down this soon after being told it was the «most reliable & long lasting in the business» by the sale rep in July. Pete asked me to do some stuff to help the system prep for the tech to arrive, so I did all of those things right away. And now we continue to wait.
UPDATE at 3:30pm: Well, now it’s been hours since I even got updated by anyone. Not looking promising for this company.
UPDATE at 3:37pm right after I posted my last update: After 3 hours I got another update call from Pete, the Service Manager, and all the update was that Ryan was still hours away from even making it to my call. I have a feeling that what happened to me 6 months ago happened again & they have completely forgotten about me and put other calls ahead of me causing me to be unnecessarily pushed back again and again and again. Pete also asked me if any air was coming in yet as if the line was frozen it should have fixed itself by now, and I repeatedly told him no, and he kept asking me that & talking about it like that was the issue. I understand trying to troubleshoot on the phone, I really do, but after I say no the first time, the answer is not going to change. No, there is still no air flowing through my only 6 month old unit that I was charged thousands of dollars for that I was assured was the «most reliable & long lasting in the business». This is not looking good for them at all. At this point I am going to report this well documented incident along with the previous fiasco from July/​August to the BBB and Hampton Roads’ business associations. This is unacceptable.
UPDATE at 4:07pm: Ryan just contacted me to let me know he is on his way to his next job, and that should be the last one before me. I hope this is true as now that means he might be here sometime before midnight if this is in line with my experience with this company back in July/​August. Hours of waiting & having our Christmas plans ruined due to no AC. Too hot to cook, can’t go out because we have to sit here and wait, so we are again at their mercy. It’s not Ryan’s fault. As I have said before, their techs are usually great, however we will see once they say once the issue is after having my brand new unit break down just 6 months into it’s use. And I do not over use my AC. I keep the room temp at 77 during the day & 82 while we are sleeping. This is not over use by any means. This is a bad installation or a bad unit. Either way, they need to fix this & the company itself needs a customer service philosophy overhaul. I think I will looking for a new company.
UPDATE at 6:30pm: Ryan just called & was very polite & tired. He finished his last job, as he was instructed (so I have a feeling they sent him on more jobs before me than just two). As I keep saying, I do not blame the techs. He plans on getting here around 7pm, so we will see how that goes & what the problem actually is. We have finally been able to open the windows though for air-​flow as it is finally cooler outside than it is in my house. 81 degrees in here right now with a 6 month old AC system.

They were pleasant and courteous and the installers were as well.

Beware. Cheap prices do not mean quality products or services. Shop around but I would stay away from this business. They are know to install old systems and the workmanship is terrible.

It’s feels great to be able to recommend an HVAC company to friends and Unilocal family. Our family has been a customers of R.S. Andrews since moving to VB nine years ago. This company was first recommended by our local realtor when moving to the area. We are so thankful for this referral.
Here is our score card if you will:
–9 yrs of excellent service (usually come out twice a year)
–new purchase of two A/​C units and two heating units that have worked great
–reasonable annual contracts to keep your equipment running great and provides emergency service at no additional cost
–professional service tech’s who know there stuff, perform their duties with a smile
–friendly and helpful office staff
–supervisors that care about customers and when a concern arises they address it
If you have HVAC needs I would not hesitate to contact them. What you will find is the kind of service that you expect, the cost that is within budget (they DO NOT work on commission trying to up sale parts/​services) and usually the same tech comes so you can build a relationship with them.

I thought I was done with my review of this company but as you can see I was contacted by the general manager who says he had never been informed about the issues I was having and was and shocked by the poor service I had received. He requested that I contact him to discuss the situation. At that time I had no intention of writing any further review but was interested in hearing what the general manager had to say. I called the next morning and was told he was in the building but not in his office so I left my name and number so that he could contact me when he returned. Four hours later I had heard nothing so I called again and was informed that the General Manager had not come in that day and would not be back in until the following Wednesday. Now I have no issue with an individual taking time off to be with their family but I do find it ridiculous that members of your staff has no idea when their General Manager is going to be out for six days. However, I waited for my return call on Wednesday and again on Thursday and when it did not come I again called the general manager and was told he was out and would not return until after the new year. Again, no issue with a person taking time off to spend with their family but if I were only going to be in the office for two days out of the next fourteen I would have returned my calls or maybe not requested that customers contact me just before I go on vacation. It is now the of January 2, 2013 and I have just tried yet again to contact the general manager and have been told once again that he is out of the office and that his staff has no idea when he will return. I would also mention that at no time did anyone offer to put me into contact with anyone else who might be able to offer assistance in the general manager’s absence. This pattern might explain why the general manager had no idea about the original situation we had with his company almost nine months ago. To make things perfectly clear, we did attempt to contact him twice during the original issue but received no return call. If you are not receiving your messages or returning calls to your customers then how would you know when there is a problem? But wait there s more. Lets go back to just a few days after the original issue. I was contacted by the Home Depot with a satisfaction survey and relayed this situation to them. Shortly thereafter I was contacted by the customer service representative I had originally been dealing with. Come to find out he is not actually a customer service rep he is a production manager or scheduler or some such thing. Anyway, he apologizes saying that he should have listened to my issue and concentrated on resolving my issue instead of simply defending his technician. He then offered to replace the blower motor should it fail within the next year. Now this may sound like a grand gesture if it were not for the conversation I had with this individual the week prior. During that conversation we discussed exactly how these motors work and what would or would not cause damage to them. So really what was offered was the one thing this individual thought he would never have to pay out on. The entire point of this review was not about getting something for nothing. I have never asked this company for a thing other than to install a system in my house as contracted and to correct a problem they created. They refused to correct the issue as identified by the customer and attempted to charge an additional $ 598 for parts that were not required to correct the issue. Again, when your opinion of the company becomes more important than the customers opinion you are going to have issues. In this day and age customers have tool such as this to make their opinions known. Poor customer service will not be rewarded with continued patronage. We have options