Abacus

Michael C.

I needed service on my AC after an electrical surge. Turned out my control board was fried which I discovered on my own. The service guy insisted other things were fried too, but wouldn't elaborate when I asked questions. He then sent me an invoice for $1200 for a new control board and pressured me to pay for it immediately. I was hesitant and thought it was very high. So went to Amazon and found the new OE control board for only $80! That's a 1500% markup. It's clear, don't trust this company! The service men likely get commission and are incentivised to mark up prices and sell you things you don't need!

In the end, bought the control board on Amazon, installed it myself in 20 mins... AC back up and running!

Roger F.

They probably do excellent work, but this company's services are not for me.
I had a outdoor water hose faucet that broke and made an appointment with them to come over and get an estimate for fix/repair. They made it real clear they wanted to charge me $49 as a "call out" fee. In other words, an estimate fee.

The guy came over and I explained what was going on. He then proceeds to punch all the information in his little Ipad thing to calculate the estimate. Apparently they have these little ipads with program to calculate labor, time and materials. About 5 mins later he came up with $237! WTF? To replace a small outdoor water hose faucet? He then starts explaining some B.S. about "well if you had a membership with us you could save 15%." LOL I asked how much is a membership? He said $50 a year. I asked could he call his boss to see about a discount. He was talking with his boss on the phone for a few minutes then he came back and said, we can give you a $6 discount. LOL. I said sorry Charlie, you all charge way too much, and sent him on his way. I mean really. He couldn't even break it down into how much for labor and how much for a simple faucet fixture (about $7.50 @ Home Depot). He said "Well the program calculates it all". LOLOL I sent him on his way.

Jeff N.

I'm new to Houston and I had a major leak after only living in my home for 10 days.
Not knowing whi to call I used Abacus
I remember a TV commercial.
Glad I did. I had to call at 6pm on a Saturday night. To my surprise they only have one dispatch fee $49.99
Not much for after hour call.
The leak was repaired and he tech cleaned everything.
The service, the personal and the office were all terrific I highly recommend Abacus to anyone needing plumbing help.
I would have given 5 stars but the repair cost was a little high.

J G.

Same post to Google: Your service to my house today was absolutely unacceptable. I pay for the annual maintenance & switched to your services bc my neighbor has had a good experience. After the service tech tinkered around for a longer check up than most other techs in the past & bringing an extra person which seemed like they were training; they spoke to my partner and kept telling him we needed a new furnace and condenser which yes, i knew that, but it was working fine before you came. Now, the AC has not worked since they left. I thought it was Nest. Waited until 9pm at night to call and ABACUS is now sending a tech over right now as I type this, but I wanted it known that I went to my garage to clear the pathway to the back door to get to condenser and guess what. When I went to check the area your technician of 16 years experience left the equipment box open with a part outside of it. I am not a technician but I can tell you the piece he did not plug back in says "ON". I am so horribly displeased, pissed and mind boggled at this lack of attention and checking the area before leaving. APPALLED. I was shopping for new HVAC anyway and right now, your services is not in the running for my business of a new HVAC. I am tired, its Friday and I work hard. I DO NOT DESERVE THIS NOR DOES ANYONE who lives in a humid and hot area even though it is April!

Louis V.

We had a circuit breaker that was tripping intermittently. Abacus sent a technician to look for the problem. We couldn't get the problem to repeat while he was here so I asked him to just replace the breaker. He tried to sell me a whole new panel box for $4,000. No. Just replacement of the breaker itself, a 15 minute job, was $436. I looked up the cost of the breaker on Amazon. It was for sale from $27 to $65; most around $35. So they wanted $435 for 15 minutes work to replace a $35 part. I declined. Don't bother to even call them because you will be on the hook for their $50 service call even if they don't do anything.

Donald B.

I had Abacus come out for our annual A/C check up recently. Our home is less than 5 years old and Abacus had done the A/C check the year before and I had no issues. The technician indicated that we may have a leak as the pressures for one of our A/C units were not where they should be. I told him we have not had any problems with cooling in the house and he said we probably haven't noticed because it has not been that hot. I was then surprised when he told me that he could check for a leak, but it would cost me about $225 dollars for his leak test.

I thought this was odd since I assumed that is why I had him doing this annual inspection. I asked him what our options would be and he said we could recharge the system. I tried to get out of him what that would cost and he quoted the prices that Abacus advertise per pound. I asked him how much he thought he would have to put in the A/C units and he gave me a vague response. Mind you that at the time he indicated that only one of the A/C units was not performing as it should and had this supposed leak. We reluctantly agreed that we would allow the recharge.

I was shocked when the technician finished the job and told me that he had put a ridiculous amount of coolant into both A/C units and then told me my bill was more than $600 for the visit.

I called the next day and spoke to someone at Abacus that assured me they keep very accurate records on the weights of coolant that they put into units and that they would have applied the $225 leak charge to any repairs they would have to make. The technician had indicated that I probably had a leak in my evaporator coils in the attic, and that they could replace the parts under warranty and just charge me the labor to the tune of $2000-$2500!!!

I called another A/C company and they came out and did a leak search for free! Amazingly, we had no leak! Isn't that ironic, an A/C unit with less than 5 years of service, with no apparent issues, required lots of coolant, but there is no leak! I think Abacus is trying to run a scam. I think the technician was going to tell me that the evaporator coils were bad, and then get parts under warranty, and then hand me a bill for all of his expensive labor. Needless to say, do not get the $99 annual HVAC BAM program that Abacus offers. I hate that their are businesses that try to take advantage of people that wouldn't know to question their tactics or service.

I have filed a complaint with Abacus and they have yet to even call me. I called them after about 24 hours and was informed that their management responds in 24-48 hours. It has been about 4 days now with no response. If they have all this data that they are supposed to keep for records of coolant, I hope that they will be transparent and show me the records from the technicians truck. Unfortunately, unlike their frequent commercials, I don't think "You can count on us." applies to this company.

Jim B.

My hot water heater crapped out Saturday. Called ABACUS. I thought they were coming to install a heater. Instead, they had a snake oil salesman come out to give me a quote this afternoon. His price for a tankless water heater was $22,000 !!! He would not give me a breakdown of the materials,, labor, etc.

A replacement 40 gal tank heater was $3300. Again, no breakdown

Went to Lowe's. Bought a top of the line AO Smith heater for $599. With new drain tub and plumbing connections is was about $670. Grabbed by son in law and his brother to help me get the damn thing in the attic. Paid them a couple of hundred for what amounted to 1 hr. work (not including the extra 45 minutes with me doing the hookup).

I am a time and material kind of guy. I don't mind paying a good plumber $150-$200/hr, portal to portal.

I am all for businesses making a profit. That's what keeps our economy working. But these guys are ridiculous. Shame on Michael Berry for bragging on these guys.

Michael R.

Called to give me a quote for new a/c units. I took off, met them at the appointed time. Alan asked me allot of questions but kept having to call his manager about the job. As though he had no idea what he was doing. He asked me about my home, told him flooded with Harvey. He says he can't help me nor offer me an estimate because we flooded. As I sit on hold to complain and their company hold message claims they're the leader in honesty and integrity! Been through enough already and now lost a day at work, just terrible

Jamie E.

I have no complaints about the electricians that gave the bid and performed the work. They offered a good solution for the work I wanted done and were very professional when they were in my home. However, I am very unhappy with the company. Here are the things that will cause me to not use or recommend them in the future:
1) The work itself is very pricey and they tried to sell a "membership" which is only good for electrical (not plumbing or AC work). I decided to go with the company anyway because I was in a time crunch and trusted the electrician who came to do the bid. I asked that he be the one that return to do the work.
2) I took off work on the day the work was scheduled. Toward the very end of the appointment window, I received a call that the electrician was running late, but on his way. Some time later, the electrician himself called to say he was not prepared to do the work that day. I was a little irked, but he said he would come the next day at 2pm. I needed the work done, so i agreed that would be fine.
3) the next day, the company said he would not be available because he was on another job. They said they would send someone else. At this point, I getting pretty disappointed with the overall experience. I told them that I felt it was fair to ask for a free membership. After some back and forth with supervisors, they agreed.
4) When the electrician arrived, he said that I could not use the membership that day. Therefore, I would be charged full price. The member discount is 15%. He said he could not help me with figuring out price, but that I could call supervisor, who would have to call a manager.
5) The supervisor offered me 10% off. I said I wanted 15% (the member price) and that I did not want a membership for future work as I don't plan on having any other electrical work done). She recontacted the manager who said NO WAY... 10% off is the max and that I should feel lucky to get that as the original bid left off a bracing so I was already getting a deal. $700+ dollars for moving a wire that already has existing switch and ceiling holes to run it through is not a steal.
The layers that I had to go through to request a discount based on a no-show and a different technician were ridiculous. The difference between what I was asking and what they were willing to give was 5%. The manager should be ashamed that he could not assign a 5% value to making a customer satisfied. This company is more about selling memberships and overpriced services than pleasing customers.

Janice J.

Every time Abacus talks me into a year inspection contract, I forget and sign up. All they do is want access to your equipment so they can try to sell you equipment. I bought top of the line hvac equipment 8 years ago and do twice yearly inspections.


Does anyone know an A/C / heater company that isn't trying to sell you parts?

I do not trust that this company is not all about sales.