Centraire Heating & Air Conditioning

Kay S.

I'm writing this review because I just had Alex from Centraire at our house to do a fall check-up for our steam radiator boiler system, and it went great. I had none of the problems mentioned in other reviews, so I'm not sure what those are all about.

He was on time, very polite, did a thorough check, explained what we should do with the boiler, and answered all my questions. He was here for a little over an hour and it cost $225, which is pretty similar to what other companies have charged for the same service.

It's getting very difficult to find service techs who will work on residential steam boilers! We've had two different companies stop offering to work on them for us. Apparently, the younger techs aren't comfortable working on them because they just don't see them very often, so as the older techs retire, companies no longer offer the service.

Centraire is the rare company that, because they do both commercial (which has plenty of steam boilers) and residential, they'll still service steam radiator boiler systems! So if you live in a really old house and still have this system, definitely give Centraire a call.

Laurel H.

Brief Version: Unethical and dishonest employee, Ryan, actively sabotaged my effort to prevent potential freeze damage at my rental property by lying to me about the room temperature, as he tried to cover for his negligence and incompetence.

Long Version: I initially called Centraire at 10am on Friday, Feb 15th to get a boiler fixed that was under warranty at a 4plex rental property where Centraire had installed 3 new boilers a month ago. I had a lockbox onsite so the technician could access the basement and the apartments as necessary.

They sent out Ryan. Ryan came out and left again without investigating or fixing a single thing.

Thankfully the tenant called me again at 4pm to notify me that the heat still wasn't working. I called Centraire again.

Again, they send out incompetent Ryan. And again, Ryan comes out and leaves just as quickly without doing a single thing. Doesn't go to the apartment, doesn't call me. No effort to resolve the matter, nothing.

Then the tenant calls me 8:00pm. Still no heat. This is when I learn that Ryan hadn't bothered to check the apartment or the corresponding boiler the two previous times he had come that day.

It is roughly 9pm by now, 11 hours after my initial attempt for emergency service. Ryan tries to say this can wait till tomorrow morning. I tell him no, it can't wait. I have been calling since 10am trying to get this fixed, which he neglected to do the entire day. It is sub-zero outside, and the tenant is freezing and the boiler needs to be fixed tonight. I'm also really concerned about pipes freezing overnight.

This is where Ryan goes from incompetent to maliciously deceptive. Ryan goes to the apartment without heat and claims the apartment is currently 67 degrees. I'm incredulous because the apartment has been without heat for roughly 12 hours now, and the tenant says it was significantly colder. I ask him to send a picture of the thermostat via text, but he doesn't. I call his boss.

Meanwhile the tenant is gathering her things and her children to spend the night elsewhere because the apartment is too cold. But not before she sends me a picture of the thermostat. It reads 58 degrees room temperature. So sure enough, Ryan had been lying to me to minimize the situation.

Just then I get a text from Ryan with a picture of the thermostat. Apparently his ""on-the-fritz"" phone was magically able to send texts again after he got a talking to from his boss. But somehow the thermostat reads 67. How is that possible? Turns out manipulative Ryan had taken a picture NOT of the ""room temperature"", but rather the ""set to"" temperature. The thermostat is digital, and reverts to ""room temperature"" reading a few seconds after you manually adjust the ""set to"" temperature. This means Ryan manually set the ""set to"" temperature to the temp that he had lied about, quickly took a picture before the digital readout reverted to the ""room"" temperature, and then sent me the picture to try to pass of the ""set to"" temperature as the ""room temperature"" and hoped I wouldn't notice. All in an effort to back up his lie to deceive me about the actually temperature in my apartment building.

It is very disturbing when someone you hire to help is actively sabotaging your efforts to get a problem fixed and intentionally providing inaccurate information so you can't make informed decisions. Dishonest people like Ryan don't deserve the responsibility entrusted to him. He could have caused severe property damage, and frozen pipes was a real concern, not to mention the significant inconvenience to the tenant in having to stay elsewhere.

And if all this wasn't enough, Ryan didn't bother to lock the tenant's vacant apartment behind him when he left for the night, creating a security threat for the tenant. Ryan also removed the key cap for the boiler key which was labeled. Ryan is negligent, dishonest, and malicious.

Centraire is responsible for the quality of their employees. I'm not sure why they are not bothered by Ryan's actions, but it reflects poorly on them as a company.

Linda S.

I've finally given up on this company. My unico AC in my attic (because my house is 100 years old) cracked a line in the cold winter and leaked all over my 2nd story costing me $10,000 in damage. Centraire did not install the unit but when I moved in I had them service it because they had serviced my previous home. Why did they never once in checking it tell me that the lines needed to be blown for winter? There is a little horseshoe pipe coming out of the unit where water sits. That's where it cracked in my cold winter attic and leaked all summer till we saw water coming down a door frame in September. It would have been nice for the serviceman to suggest I blow the lines out at end of summer to preserve the unit. After all, I have them out to check it so I avoid any damage. I didn't know blowing the lines was a thing until another serviceman came out to repair the lines. Makes me think Centraire didn't tell me on purpose to get more business but now I'm sounding like my 80 year old grandma. I'm a trusting person but am now looking for a new HVAC company. Yes. Maybe I could have figured this out on my own but come on service companies. Don't assume we know everything you know. Please someone tell me a good HVAC company who works on the unico system (the tubes flowing out small round holes in each room.)I have yet to find someone who is really knowledgeable I feel I can trust.

Peter L.

Service is terrible. We were charged a ""service fee"" after having two techs come out two different times and told us two completely different things were wrong with our ac/heating unit. Nothing was ever fixed. Terrible experience. Would not recommend this company to anyone.

Bill W.

Tech was 30 minutes late. No apology upon arrival. Didn't offer to remove shoes and charged $225 for 30 minutes of work (fall maintenance). Won't use them again.

Brian J.

Called Centraire to fix my AC. The Tech arrived on Friday and said I was low on coolant. He recharged the system. They charged me $130 trip fee and $130 for his half hour of work. Called and talked to Brian about the almost $500 bill and he said he would drop the price by $90.
By Saturday the system was working worse than it was before. They then came out the early next week. A new tech was there about 20 mins and said there were some loose wires and got the system working. Two days later we turned the system off as we left for vacation. Just turned system on and it doesn't work at all.
BTW-Just checked my credit card bill, they didn't drop the price like they said they would.

Jess S.

Got charged $260 to come and state that my filter was too dirty to maintain proper heat so they replaced it. Tech spent 5min at my house and didn't look at anything else with the furnace. Problem still existed and I decided to use a different company. They pulled off the furnace door and found a bad sensor. Bill was less than $175 and problem got fixed. Would not recommend them.

Greg M.

I expected more cleaning, inspection, and attention to detail for the $195 they charged for an annual service check..... Extremely poor cost-to-value. Never again-----too many other options offering better value for similar minimal service & time. ....Also, pay by check-----receipt had all credit card info visible!?!?!?!?

Mitchel M.

I was upsold a thermostat without being told how much it would cost and ended up being charged hundreds of dollars for it. The overall job was a $30,000 job in a 5 unit building and the thermostat I received and charged hundreds and hundreds of dollars for can be found on amazon for $69. The other unit owners who asked for the same thermostat were charged hundreds of dollars less. The job also took a week longer then originally communicated. They would not accept a return on the equipment when asked. This one small request being handled differently may have changed my opinion overall but wasn't. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

Sandy Y.

Beware of this company.
Unqualified and not honest....
My company and I tried working with them on install jobs, and found out hard way they dont know what they are doing, and are not honest with pricing and following through with agreements.