ARS / Rescue Rooter

Eric S.

I called ARS on Wednesday for A/C repair - theybooked someone to be at my house on Friday. I hgave my name, number, street address and they told me someone would be at the house Friday morning (when I asked for them to be). At 9:30am Friday I call to make sure of a more specific time and I wasn't even in their system.

First impressions make a difference - and if you can't even get an initial visit right, why would I want to spend my hard earned money with you?

What The Heck D.

I know believe we have dooped several times by ARS. My initial unit went down Oct 2007. We called ARS, tech came out and diagnosed the entire system, he stated that my compressor was out. I ended up by and entire A/C Condensor (over $2600). The Technician misdiagonsed the unit, because a few days later our A/C was not cooling. We called ARS again to come out and they stated that it was a leak in the coil. ARS recommended a new coil, which cost and additional $1600. WTF, is this a raket ot what?
Not even 5 yrs layer mt Trane unit that ARS installed goes out again. The unit was still under warranty for the compressor. They diagnosed and stated that the compressor was out. The initial tech installed the wrong capcitor, tech could not repair. The next day a 2nd Tech came out diagnosed, said the compressor was out, removed my starter kit from unit and Tech took with him with out replaceing a new one. They wanted to charge me $998.00 just for labor to replace the compressor. They gave me a quote of $2500.00 for a compressor. Bottom line, be careful when you deal with these people. ARS has costed us a lot. I will not deal with these people. Customer is ver dissappointed with the knowledge of Techs and the racket.

Paul S.

Back in '07 I used the City of Austin program to get a new A/C system installed in my 1960's built house. It turned out that out new system had a few leaks in it and took a few service calls to fix. The guys that came out were always friendly and helpful. After a couple years of the A/C working perfectly, it stopped working. ARS offered to come out that night, but the late call fee was $119. I decided I could take a cold shower before bed and have the come out the next day.
Henry from ARS came out the next day and diagnosed the problem, which turned out to be a clogged run off. He showed me how to maintain my A/C rinsing out the drain and using algee tablets to keep it clear. He also cleaned out the A/C condenser.
Thanks Henry.
He's a real pro.

Sand L.

I could write pages and pages of sad experiences... I purchased a maintenance plan with these folks and it has been nothing but pure headaches. Watch out... supposedly, if you have a plan, the onsite visit to diagnose is at no cost, but every visit has AT LEAST an $89 charge even when nothing is wrong. They provide a time window that starts early in the morning and at 400p in the afternoon, we are still waiting for them to show! Every job requires lots of back-n-forth to feel satisfied or get the requirements right. As other customers point out, it is extra stress to manage this company. Ocassionally, we have a good experience, but you realize it has a lot to do with the character of the individual that is showing up who goes beyond the call of duty to get things right. Otherwise, as a service company, this one is a big disaster :(

Steve I.

Left me and my clients high and dry last night.

I called them at 6pm for a client who's AC went out since they advertise 24 hour service. They said they would call 30 minutes prior. I called back at 11AM and they said they had me in for the wrong address and would have a manager. No one ever called back and my clients went without AC all night in 100 degree weather.

I will say they are good about calling me every month trying to sell their crappy maintenance service.

Michele M.

I recently had a hot water heater installed. While I was pleased with the work performed I was not at all pleased by the EXORBITANT cost. I was charged $190/hour for labor. Seriously? Total bill was $1,600!! For a regular tank style heater. Had I not been without any water to the house as the old hot water heater shutoff wasn't fully working, I would not have used this service. And, after having been bent over by them I'll never use them again. This is unforunate for them too because they offer a lot of services and I could have been a lifetime customer for many future needs. Not now ARS, and I hope this posting keeps others from using you as well.

Theresa H.

Our air conditioner went out at 10 pm Saturday evening, and we have an old bulldog that doesn't do well in heat. Joseph was out by midnight, and we needed a new system. Ray was out Sunday morning, made a temporary fix, and spent a lot of time going over all of our options and making sure we got a system that fits OUR needs, not the needs of ARS.

Early Monday morning our new system was being installed. Jeremy and Sam (bless them for working in the heat all day) were professional and pleasant, and kept us informed as to their progress. Jeremy went over the instructions for our new system, maintenance needs, and even a minor electrical issue relating to our outside circuit box that will eventually need attention.

Ray called to check on us, and wanted to be sure that our family (human and animal) was comfortable.

Thanks to all the people that made our new AC happen, and for the speed of your response.

M W.

Tech was skilled. Management seems challenged. Issue was fixed but the week of scrambling was stressful for all involved.

Han G.

ARS is such a huge company one is bound to encounter different experiences ranging from excellent to horrible. Unfortunately, mine was horrible. I needed to get a competing bid to replace the HVAC system. Sales guy tried to sell me a $12,000 system with all the bells and whistles. When I balked, he gave me 2 other options, the cheapest still being 20% more than all other bids. When I showed him the lower bid he started bad mouthing the other companies. ARS has a much higher overhead because of advertising, commissioned sales force, operators, dispatchers, etc. Much better to go with a small mom and pop company.

Daniel S.

Scheduled an 8:00 am appointment (first slot in the day) and technician was 2.5 hours late. He blamed traffic. It was a holiday. Charged me $200 to replace the switch in my washing machine (a $35 part). The repair took 30 minutes to complete, meaning they billed me $330 per hour for labor, plus an $80 fee just to show up.