Sam’s Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc.

This guy is as good as it gets from a local, family owned company in San Diego!
We had an A/​C breakdown a month ago during the very hot spell and he came out immediately and helped us out and got everything taken care of! You normally think for the amazing service that you will compromise and gladly pay a little extra, but I think that was the best part. He was much cheaper in pricing than the larger companies were and the service was much better.
Amazing service + kindness + cheaper pricing (I’ll guarantee it!) = awesomeness
Thank you Sam — we hope that we don’t need to see these people often but if you do he is the best choice!

Had a hard time getting other companies to even call back. Once I found Sam, he made an appointment to come out the same day. We are seniors and had been without air conditioning for a week during a very bad heat wave. Sam was great. He knew what he was doing, and got the job done fast. I would not hesitate to call him for any heating or air conditioning problem. Great guy and reasonable prices.

Was referred to Sam’s after «the other guys» said they couldn’t fix my unit, since it had a «Pancake» style condenser (80’s tech, I’m told.) On hearing I had to call in a «specialist», my heart dropped as I envisioned money being vacuumed out of my personal money bin (aka my checking account) ala Duck Tales. But on receiving the estimate, I was shocked to find out that not only could Sam do it quicker than «the other guys» — it would be about 1500 DOLLARS cheaper! So needless to say, I asked Sam to do the work, and my renters report that North Park may be sweltering — but they’re *chillin’* in my condo; P
Sam was also very friendly, easygoing and professional, it must be said.
Would HIGHLY recommend this guy.

Sam was great, he and his son spend an hour troubleshooting my AC and since they could not fix it on the spot there was no charge for the diagnosis. They were honest showed me exactly what was wrong and gave a fair price to repair. I did not have it fixed right away, shopped around but came back to Sam’s. I went with an entire replacement in my condo since the original unit was not worth the repair investment. Sam’s replaced the unit with a 10 year warranty for 45% less than a Major warehouse backed installer.

Sam went out to my rental property on a Sunday within 2 hours of calling him. My reason for calling was for a second quote for my non operational ac unit. It turns out the first quote from another company had added things that didn’t even need to be done. Sam did the job for less then half the price and in a timely manner. I will definitely be calling him first in the future.

Please note that I am writing this review based on one-​time encounter.
Our very old air conditioner stopped working two days ago in the middle of the current heat. I called for help, but whoever I called had only available appointment from 3 to 8 days in the future. Likely I came across Sam’s phone and he offered to stop by after hours the same day.
He found the problem and quickly fixed for much less than I initially expected. I was most impressed that he did not try to sell me any extra and suggested to carry on with the current unit after finding that it is in acceptable conditions.
Looks like I found a good specialist and he found a new customer.

I have to admit I was a underwhelmed in the beginning but am now a believer. Sam was called in after ASI came three times (another story for another time) just to tell us that the A/​C unit had to be replaced. They wanted to charge well over $ 5K and my property manager wanted to get other estimates (which is was completely fair). So, back to Sam. I got a missed call on a Sunday afternoon and it turned out to be Sam. He was in the area and stopped by but we weren’t home. We finally set up a time to meet a couple days later. What I like about Sam is that he is willing to come after 5pm. ASI will not come after hours so I was forced to leave work 3 separate times (without pay) just to wait the 4 hour window for them to come by. Sam on the other hand had no issues with coming after typical work hours and based on his Sunday stop by, would be willing to come on the weekends as well.
I was not home when he came by but my husband was and he works in the HVAC business for another company so he knows «what’s up» so to speak. He was very impressed with Sam and his technician, they managed to look at the «beyond repair» unit and fixed it in about an hour. I came home to a cool apartment unit which is a big deal since the temperature in San Diego was hitting the high 80’s this week and I’m 30 weeks pregnant. Hot and pregnant do not make a good combination!
In my opinion, the biggest difference between ASI (or any larger HVAC company) and Sam’s is that ASI (or any larger HVAC company), the techs don’t care if they fix it or not, they are going to get paid either way. That is how it is when you work for larger companies, the accountability gets thrown out the window. Not saying ASI is a bad company, this is just the way the world works. If I were the tech that came by that day, the last thing I would have wanted to do was say on the roof for God knows how long to try and fix an A/​C unit that is pushing 20+ years. Saying it needs to be replaced vs. fixing is completely believable. Sam on the other hand does not have a large operation like ASI. You can see in the previous reviews as well as this one, that he takes pride in his work and takes pride in customer satisfaction and building a solid customer base. You don’t hear Sam’s Heating and A/​C commercials on the radio or see them on TV (at least I haven’t). I assume that reviews on Unilocal and other social media are his marketing as well as good old fashioned word of mouth.
I am happy to take this time to write this review because I am thankful that he took the time to see if the unit was salvageable. In the summer, not having A/​C is not an option. I even let my property manager know that they need to go through him first and not the larger companies if there are ever issues with any other A/​C units. I know when we finally own a home and if we are still in San Diego, Sam is the first person we are calling if our unit is not working properly.

I called Sam after another company wouldn’t be available for 6 days and another company didn’t work on Condo units (Guthrie and Sons, FYI). Guthrie and Son’s referred me to Sam and I was a little wary at first because of the low number of reviews. I reached Sam directly and he said he could come to my place in a couple of hours.
Sam has been in the business for over 30 years and his experience shows it. When he started diagnosing, he started with the basics — breaker box, thermostat, etc. When those weren’t it, he quickly found the issue with a blown fuse. At the same time, he said my A/​C was «cool» but not «cold» and it could be fixed by adding freon to my unit. The greatest thing is that is totally didn’t push me to do it. Seriously — he didn’t push the issue at all.
Secondly, my neighbor saw the Sam on the roof and asked him to look into his unit as well. Sam kindly obliged and let my neighbor know what was wrong with his and also made observations on the other 2 units. My neighbor had no freon in his unit at all and same thing — he gave my neighbor options to refill but said there COULD be a leak and let him know it could fix it, it could be gone in 2 weeks, gone in 2 years — again not pushing the sale.
He also gave my neighbor and I information on the elimination of freon and the move to the new coolant, how much it will be to replace our units and the coils and the reason why we should — WHEN our units finally break.
I would highly recommend Sam — he’s got a legit truck, incredibly knowledgeable, not pushy and will answer any questions you have.
Accepts Credit Cards over $ 1K

My wife, son and I had just moved into our new home during the hottest weak of the year and found out that the AC, which had worked great during the inspection and the walk through wasn’t working — at all. The contractor who was working on our house told us «his guy» could fix it — and he stopped by and spent 10 mins looking at the unit and decided it need to be entirely replaced (upwards of $ 4000). I couldn’t believe that was really the case.
Luckily I found Sam via some quick searches. As the other reviews indicate, Sam is incredibly sharp and has the highest levels of integrity. He pinpointed the real issue (a busted capacitor) and made the fix in less than 30 mins. He put in some extra time to make sure it worked fine and weeks later, we still have a perfectly running AC unit.
I can’t recommend Sam enough. If you have AC problems, give him a call.

Sam is Great,
It was hot as heck about 2 summers ago and my AC broke, Called 18 different places and nobody could make it, Except Sam. he was out in a few hours. Didn’t try to burn me (like you see on those dateline shows) and was really honest about what he was doing. So, when I moved to Texas and was selling my place. I naturally went to him to service the AC before I sold the place.
Now, keep in mind, I gave him my garage code, I was in Texas, he went in, fixed the things I knew were wrong with it and the only thing he even recommended that he do is put a new filter in it. (the cheapest thing you can do).
I was not there, he could have told me that a freaking cat destroyed my AC and it would be 2k to fix, that was not the case. He said, Meh’ Looks fine, did some adjustments and gave me a small bill.
As far as I’m concerned he has shown the highest moral character and values when he really had a blank check from me.
Thanks Sam.

There is no need to search any further. Sam and his team are efficient, reliable and extremely trustworthy. If you are in the market to replace a furnace, or to have central air installed this is the company you want to hire for the job. It was a pleasure doing business with Sam, and I would do so again in the future without hesitation