Black Hills

Chris C.

First time using them so I have no prior track record to offset my negative experience. Not ONE thing on my routine inspection/filter change went as expected. Below are a few major points but not all encompassing.

My furnace ""developed"" a new problem while the tech was wrapping up. Yes, it's older but worked fine - no acting up or issues. The tech wasn't forthcoming about having a problem. I had to ask. I could hear him talking and it was obvious something was wrong. He kept saying he was ""finishing up"" and would be done in ""a few more minutes"". You can only hear that so many times before wondering what's going on. Once I asked, he explained he couldn't get my fan to stop running. This is after the service is complete AND I bought a new part at his recommendation. He called another tech to come out with an expected arrival in 30-40 minutes. With that he left for his next appointment. The second tech (over one hour later) advised the fan trouble was just a ""coincidence"" and had nothing to do with the work they performed. He did however, recommend I buy a new furnace from them because of the age of mine and the ""multiple"" issues it has. But it didn't have any issues before! I usually use PSE for my annual inspection but heard BH's ad on the radio and opted to support a local business instead. So disappointing that they offered subpar service compared to the giant entity that is PSE! I missed over 4 hours of work for an appointment that was scheduled to be 60-90 minutes because I had to wait for a second tech. BH got my inspection money, money for the new part they recommended on top of recommending I buy a new furnace from them. Meanwhile, I have a furnace worse off, that may or may not have been caused by their work, lost half days pay and only received a portion of the described service. I realize things can happen. But in my opinion this was handled poorly with the emphasis being on selling me a new unit with no ownership whatsoever for the possibility they may have contributed to the fan problem. I hate to be cliche but can't help but wonder if a man would have received the same info and service as I did as a single woman. Perhaps they're a good company and mine was the one-off? I don't know. The experience has left me feeling icky and I can't recommend them in good conscience.

Kathy P.

Black Hills Inc, Heating & AC. Tech Nathan, called to ask he could come by earlier. Excellent! Nathan was professional & courteous. He cleaned & repaired our heat pump, so we are ready for for winter. I will definitely use them again. Good job!

Kevin P.

Originally called them because previous owner used them. Outside Fan unit of Heat Pump was not coming on. Their Technician (he stated he was a junior tech) came and replaced the relay switch ($200+) which got the Fan running again but then told me my Reversing Valve was bad and had to schedule to have that replaced. He came out a second time and replaced the Reversing Valve ($400+) and informed me it was good to go. He also sold me a Silver Maintenance plan for $16.99 a month. Since it was February, there was no reason to set the cooling, I never checked the system. In June when it was hot I turned my system to cool for the first time since the repair and my vent registers were blowing 89 F. I called Black Hills to tell them the system wasn't working and was told they would come and look at it in two weeks but it would be a $110+ diagnostic fee even though they did the repair in February. The same repair tech came out and spent 15 minutes and told me that my compressor was bad and needed to be replaced because it didn't have enough pressure and wasn't moving the Reversing Valve. I asked him if he meant the same Reversing Valve they just replaced. He then stated it would cost me $2200 to replace the compressor but since it was an ""old system"" (my system was installed in 2007) and it would be better to put a whole new system in instead and if I wanted the Senior Technician to come and talk to me about Complete Systems. I told the tech that the compressor was still under warranty from Trane and he said that $2200 was the price to replace the compressor under warranty. I told him to have the senior tech come talk to me. The senior tech arrived and never bothered to even look at the work the Junior Technician did. Instead he had a pre-printed sales binder of packages and showed me two options, the propane/electric system for $13,000 or the electric system $12,000. I own a 1320sq ft Rambler 3 bdrm house. I told him I will call if I was interested. I called an authorized Trane Dealer and explained my predicament to them. I also told them the quote of the Compressor replacement and she said that would be the close to the cost if the compressor wasn't under warranty. When I told her the price of the whole system replacements she asked if I lived in a commercial building because those price quotes were more than double what they charge for a house my size. My new companys technician came out to look at my heat pump and after he got the panels off, he called me over to show what he found. He showed me how the Reversing Valve they put in was superheated during the brazing that it discolored the metal. He thought that the plastic internal parts may have melted. He also said that it was a very sloppy job. Electrical wire insulation were burned black from the blow torch and so much brazing was used it dripped from the copper tubing like stalactites. The new company technician explained to me that he was unsure what the Black Hills technician had done but was pretty sure that the Reversing Valve was bad because of the severe heat discoloration of it and all the excessive brazing welds. He also stated that the compressor could also be damaged. He consulted with his boss and they though the best plan of action would be to replace the Reversing Valve and Compressor. The total cost to repair both we be $1300 as opposed to the $2200 to replace just the compressor Black Hills quoted me. I said please do the work. Because Black Hills just came out and charge me a $110 diagnostic fee for 15 minutes to assess a problem they never fixed, the new company cut their service fee in half and only charged me $60. The new company came in, replaced both parts and the system worked. A few days later my air vents were blowing hot air so I called the New company again and told them. The NewTechnician came after hours the same day I called them and identified that a pinhole leak occurred. He evacuated the system, repaired the leak with new brazing, recharged the system which took him almost 4 hours to do and in the end he said it was NO CHARGE because it was his fault. He also gave me his direct cell number in case any other problems came up over the weekend. The New Company showed me what a quality, reputable business looks like. I didn't find that at all in Black Hills Inc.

Rachelle A.

Love Love this company we get our filters changed by them every 6 months and the best thing about it is that is free!! The girls that answer the phone are awesome and always super friendly and the technicians are always very nice and professional about a year ago they cleaned our ducts and my son hasn't had an asthma attack since.. I've already committed to have them add a heat pump system for us when we move next March and we can't wait

Annonymous A.

updated review,
after I called and talked to the manager who was very understanding about my frustrations of me missing so much work to get all the inspections done, he sent me a check in the mail to make up for the work i'd miss which i very much appreciated. and it was to me within a couple days which was also very cool.
though come to find out after the 3 inspections that the installer did forget to do a handful of things like a barrier to protect the furnace and some kind of pipe/covering over a wire in the heatpump and filling in the wall holes that the tubes go through with putty of some kind and he didn't set the thermostat where it needed to be to get approved for the PSE rebate, though they paid us for that up front so really they just screwed themselves out of that. the PSE inspector fixed the thermostat though so that we would be using our heat pump/furnace to the best effeciency and that black hills would approve for the rebate reimbursement.
all and all, an ok experience, now I just need to find time in my life to set up ANOTHER appoinment for black hills to come out and fix the things that the inspector forgot or just do them myself.

M G.

Trane heat pump stop working had Black Hills tech come out. For some reason heat pump started working again on its own. Black Hills tech made sure everything was in working order. Friendly and honest.

Patti G.

Managing a rental, I had Black Hills come and check the gas furnace. A service call runs about $109. They had me sign up for the ""gold plan"" touting it's value. For this, I pay about $30/month believing it would offer discounts for repairs. When this year the heat exchanger was cracked, though still under warranty, I found that the ""value"" i had purchased was literally zero. In fact, I'd paid Black Hills exactly $720 over two years so they have gotten $500 of my money for nothing if you consider that I've paid for 2 years of inspection visits at $109. I brought this up to the sales manager and he offered to meet with me and give me a bid for a new furnace. His bid was outrageous...never specified the exact brand and model number of furnace, and clearly made up the numbers as he went along. My husband googled what a wholesale furnace company charged for the furnaces he mentions; wholesale prices were in the $1200-$1400 range and the quote for the work on our place came to a whopping $4367.77. This was the price after he penciled in a $467 ""discount."" This was fully $1200 more than any other bids we got. I'd advise to stay away from this company; their sales pitch is, in my opinion, dishonest, and designed to scare you into believing your furnace is unsafe and about to blast you with carbon monoxide, when in fact, a bit of research will show otherwise. Don't sign up for the maintenance plan, it's a total waste of money.

Steve D.

Called this contractor twice to fix a problem. They did not fix the issue but did refund my money for the second call they should not have billed me for in the first place. They bid over $400 for a 5 minute job with a $12 part (transformer) that would have been installed on a third visit. The root of the problem was a miswired thermostat both of their technicians looked at. My brother, who is a contractor in another state, helped me troubleshoot and fix the problem with a phone call I should have made in the first place.

PS - They also gave me a ridiculously overpriced bid on a new furnace. I passed.

Josh G.

My realtor recommended Black hills last year when I sold my house to have them come and service the furnace. The tech came out, crawled up in the attic, disassembled the furnace and then cleaned it and put it all back together perfectly...all for about 100 bucks.

In my new house, about a week ago my furnace went off and we restarted it with no problem...then it did it a few more times. So we called Black Hills again and the tech came out first thing in the morning and went all through the house, the attic and the garage and showed me all about my new house and furnace. He did recommend a few upgrades that make sense. He fixed the problem within minutes and looked up the manufacturer of my furnace and found a part that had been recalled and he will come and install it when the part comes in.

They also offer a military discount!

Great business and I WILL use them again and recommend them to all my friends.

Laurel B.

Called these people to do a routine maintenance visit on my two year old gas furnace. While in my garage, they took it upon themselves to look up the serial number of my Whirlpool hot water heater right next to the furnace and informed me that it was in need of replacement (due to the age) and they could schedule me next week for $1500. including tax. Nice. According to him, these things have expiration dates of 10 years.
First off - it's working fine to date, no leaks, rust, corrosion, weird noises or anything - just 11 years old. Puts out all the hot water we need, so we are fine!
Secondly, it's pretty obvious that they are just trying to drum up business for themselves. Now I'm wondering if they spent enough time on my furnace maintenance since the bid for the water heater looked like it took a long time out of the hour they were here.
Thirdly, with the holidays approaching do you really think this is something I am going to do right now when I don't have any issues with my water heater? I mean who can just cough up an extra $1500? Not us!
I'm sure we will need to replace the thing soon, but I think it's pretty sleazy to come into our home for maintenance on a furnace and spend time looking for additional bid opportunitie$ with our other appliances. Won't be calling them again.