Duke City Heating & Cooling

Larry B.

We had a great experience with Duke City. From the beginning process to the end, we are thrilled with the service received. The scheduling, the estimate, the installation of product and the final bill processing all went smoothly. Their prices are reasonable, offer quality products and efficient in the install.

A big shout out to Gloria, Mike, Estevon, Adam, Josh & Tom! Everyone was professional, knowledgeable, kind and considerate in each of their respective qualifications. We absolutely recommend them and will continue to do future business with them.

Evan M.

We recently hired Duke City Heating and cooling to replace our old swamp cooler, and the installation was not so great. Their attention to detail, and professionalism was severely lacking, to say the least. The guy who showed up to do the estimate immediately locked his keys in the car, and I had to wait until someone from the office brought his keys out. This should have been my first clue to go with someone else, but I instead brushed it off because I understand everyone makes mistakes. I went with them because the estimate was reasonable for the amount of work (They had to replace the plenum and downward ducting, because it was rusted.). When I made the appointment, I was told that they would show up sometime between 9 and 10am. They didn't show up until 10:15. This is minor, but still kind of annoying considering the amount of work they had to do. Because of the current pandemic, I just left them alone and didn't go out to watch them while they worked. This was a big mistake. When they were getting ready to leave, they asked to borrow a broom to clean up, but they only swept out my garage and not my driveway or walkway. I didn't notice this until after they had already left, but it aggravated me enough that I immediately went on the roof myself to check their work. Up there I found a complete mess. There was roofing cement all over the place. There were about a half a dozen old rusty roofing nails just laying around on the roof. The plenum curled up in the front, and didn't sit flat on the roof. The tar job around the plenum looked like it was done by a three year old. There was tar all over the unit. The front inlet panel was bent and looked like it had slid across the roof at some point, because of the black streaks of roof cement all over it. They had also installed my old scale eliminator filter, from last season, without ever bothering to ask me if I wanted to continue using it. I didn't because they never work for more than one season, in my experience. They didn't even bolt down the legs to the 2x4 runners they had put under it. Then to top it all off, by the time I called the office to complain (about 30-40 minutes after they had left) it was blowing hot air. They were apologetic, but since they were closing soon they said they would have to call me the next day. Leaving me with the mess, and a cooler that wasn't even working. The next day, I didn't get called back until lunch time. The guy I spoke to told me that they couldn't get back out to me until Friday (It was Wednesday). This was frustrating, but I didn't have any choice but to wait. So, after talking to him I went back up on the roof to see if I could at least figure out why it wasn't working. It was an easy fix, because the guys had bent down the float arm so far that it just wasn't refilling with water. How people who do this for a living let something like that happen is still beyond my understanding. After I at least got it working (Thank God, because it was almost 90 degrees that day) again, I got a text that someone was coming out to take a look soon. Great, I thought, finally some help. My expectations of how they would correct all this mess were clearly way too high though. The guy screwed down the plenum, and the legs, but couldn't clean the tar off the unit (He didn't have anything in his truck for this job, is what he told me.), and didn't even attempt to clean up the globs of it off of my roof. I had him check the attic as well, because I hadn't done it yet myself. Up there they had left pieces of ducting, and they hadn't sealed the joints because there was cold air leaking out. He fixed that, but in the end for all this mess all I got was $100 knocked off my $3400 bill. I appreciated at least getting some sort of break, but considering how botched this whole job was it didn't feel like enough. He also made excuses for his guys rather than just being apologetic. That was also aggravating. They were all nice and polite, even the lady in the front office, but nice doesn't make up for all the mess I was left with. I'm still cleaning up the mess from them, as I keep finding trash, from them, in my backyard. I don't think I will be going back to them, and now I am left praying that nothing goes wrong with it for the next year, while it's still under warranty, because this entire experience has not exactly inspired confidence in their work.

Lindsay W.

We have been really pleased with this company. The previous business that handled matters related to our room HVAC were not dependable so we searched on YELP and read all the good reviews about Duke City Heating & Cooling. We called and received an appointment fairly quickly since our new HVAC system had sprung a leak! HVAC professionals arrived at the appointed date and time and texted about a half hour before arrival to confirm. They are skilled and efficient and completed then work and then provided us with photos (since the system is on the roof). About a month or so later we had a plumbing issue and they were equally as professional about scheduling the visit, letting us know they were on the way, arriving at the appointed time and fixing the problem. We highly recommend them. And Gloria is very empathetic and helpful when you call and explain the problems to her!

Philip S.

Our furnace stopped working. We called Duke City, and they were able to come out same day (on a Thursday). Great. They diagnosed the issue within 30 minutes and were gone within the hour. Excellent. Unfortunately, they had to order the part, which wouldn't be in until Monday. Originally, the technician stated we'd pay expedited shipping on the part but they'd be out first thing Monday morning to get the part installed. I asked the tech before he left what was the price for everything. He verbally estimated $350-$375. He said the part was cheap and the labor would be the expensive part. I wasn't given the price in writing, showing the breakdown of the costs (this was my error, I should know better. They called us Friday evening to let us know they couldn't make it Monday as they were short on technicians. So after being quoted a price WITH expedited shipping, and to the fault of the company, we waited for install- we expected that original price to go down. They came that following Wednesday, and it was fixed within 30 minutes. (This is a total of roughly 2 hours of service, generously.)

Total cost $374.06, after they were nice enough to give a 5% military discount. Again, an invoice wasn't provided. However, I paid, and they were on their way.

My wife immediately pointed out the math didn't add up, 2 hours of service ($85 x 2 + $55 for a part = $225 plus tax). She called after the tech left to follow up regarding the charges.

I received my invoice the next morning around 8:30, as follows:
$195.00 for the part (hot surface igniter)
$170.00 for labor (2 hours worth)
Plus tax

I began to do research, as the original quoted price for the part was roughly $55. (Companies in the area won't release parts prices or sell to the public, only contractors, so when I called myself, prices could not be provided. However, I found the price for the part online, ranging $49 to $58, which is not the wholesale price that contractors get.)

My friend, who works for a local HVAC company, did a little research for me today. Here were the costs of the parts, as quoted by the 4 parts companies that they called -
1) $17 (the company Duke City got the part from - Johnstone Supply)
2) $13.76
3) $16.57
4) Same price as above, but plus shipping.

Duke City charged me $195 for a $14-$17 part through their company. That is flat out robbery. I understand wanting to make a little extra profit. Business has to make money. But, even giving them the benefit of the doubt, and saying they spent $20 on the part, that's almost 10x the price of the actual part!

My wife called Duke City and questioned Gloria, regarding the markup. She told my wife, ""Well, that's the price that was quoted by the first technician that did the diagnostic. I don't know where the miscommunication happened."" Upon further request of resolution (as an ""oh well"" is not sufficient, she was told one of the business owners would follow up by tomorrow morning).

We will never do business with this company again. I will spread the word. Through social media, word of mouth, etc.

UDPATE
They sent me the invoice that they claim came from the parts company (Johnstone) and they broke it down as $88.60 for the part, and $99.55 for the freight/handling. Remember though, up above my friend clearly got a quote of $17 from the same company, for the same part. So something is up. Also, $99.55 for freight/handling?! They paid for what? Expedited shipping? Even though they knew they couldn't make it out until 3 days following their original promise of installation (Monday)? Give me a break. Not buying any of it. Regardless, if they gave me that price breakdown on the initial day of diagnoses, I would have turned it down. But, they didn't. They just verbally gave me the estimated cost of the whole project. Their verbal breakdown nowhere near matches the black and white invoice. Which, again, was 4 hours of service and a $55 part.

At the end of the end of the day, yes- the original price matched. But Duke City changed their breakdown- now, our invoice shows TWO hours of service and FOUR times the original quoted price on the part (when, really the part is only $17, as verified by another local HVAC contractor).

Now, my own opinion is that Duke City works with this company to inflate the prices of the parts that they sell. (We were also told by our friend, Johnstone will match a company's original quote to a client in an effort to support small businesses, regardless of what the actual price is.) This leads to return business for the parts company, and increased profits on behalf of Duke City for parts. (No wonder these parts companies won't release the price of the parts to the general public.) No matter the reasoning though, it's clear there is really something morally questionable about this company. Do business with them at the risk of your wallet. Imagine how many people they did this to before us?

Leah C.

I called Duke City to help me out after another company left me hanging. I am very pleased with the quick response and the quality of work was very good as was the price. Communication was excellent and the touch back with estimates for further work was quick and reasonable. Thanks Duke City Heating and Cooling.

Anita C.

This group of people are the best HVAC people I have ever worked with. They are honest, friendly, highly skilled and knowledgeable, and best of all, they are excellent at communicating with their clients. From scheduling and reminders to a call/text when they are in the way, they will always let you know what to expect. They show you parts that need replacing, but don't push you purchase. I wish all service businesses operated like these guys! Thank you Duke City!!

Rasha Y.

Extremely disappointed and pissed with these guys. They were very nice on the phone and made an appointment to come out. They said they would email me an estimate. When I called back I spoke to Gloria who advised they do not have time. When I tried to get clarification she advised they have no time for an estimate or to work. This is very unprofessional. If one is slammed, I get it, but do not waste other people's time and claim to be willing to do multiple jobs and then disappear. We contacted another company who came out and even fixed my most emergent problem same day. He will be coming out to fix the rest. Cristal electric is much better and much more professional than duke city. Very annoying! Bad customer
Service. It is very unfortunate because they did seem very nice!

Morgan L.

Love these folks. They're super helpful, and we've been using them since we first moved here two years ago. Gloria always makes me feel like they remember me, and value my business, and the techs are great too. Even when we have weird stuff happen with our system, Duke City gets everything fixed so we are cool (or warm) and comfortable in our home.

Chris S.

Big thanks to Paul for coming out to our new home and installing ceiling fans and swapping one of the light fixtures.

It's always a stressful thing working on a brand new home, in a brand new area, but Paul and Duke City Heating made things easy. We also plan on using them for all of the yearly maintenance and any other projects that may pop up.

Elizabeth T.

We have had them come out several times to assist us in fixing up our foreclosure purchase. They have been prompt, easy to work with and Adrian has been super friendly, knowledgeable and the prices are reasonable. I know we will have more work done and we will definitely call Duke City!