General Air Conditioning & Plumbing

Cyndy B.

Prior to this summer, my father had been very happy with the General, unfortunately all that has changed.
In May The General called to make an appointment for the annual routine maintenance check, in the latter part of June. Since it was a routine check, we didn't feel it was necessary to have my sister be there.
They arrived promptly checked things out and told my 97 1/2 yr old father that he needed 2 new a/c units and also new furnaces and a coil. There had been no problems with the units, and his a/c bills were under $200 for a 4,000 sq ft house. The cost of each unit was $10,734 ea, for a total of $21,468.
I moved in with my father in September and found his credit card bill for over $21,000, and he didn't remember what it was for. I called The General to ask for a break out of the bill because I felt it was extremely high. I was told billing would get back to me. I heard nothing for 3 days so I called again. I received a call from the man who sold my father the units, and I explained that I felt that the charges were high, and that I felt my father had been taken advantage of because of his age. I was told that there is no break out on the units, they are sold as a package, which I can understand. What I don't understand is why they did not offer financing on such a large amount of money.
Apparently there is a program called PACE that will allow you to finance over a period of time and pay through your property taxes, which you can then write off on your income tax. Sounds like a great program, unfortunately it was too late, since they had already installed the units.
Now my father has a $21,500 credit card bill and is paying $250 in interest a month.
I went into the Generals office and spoke to a sales representative, who checked into the situation. Apparently they run tests to see how the acs are functioning. Both of my fathers units were right up there on the high end, where they would RECOMMEND replacing, but they were not over the recommended number.
The sales rep set up an appointment for us to talk to someone who would finance after installation for the PACE program. I was under the impression that we were having someone come to the house. After waiting a half hour, I called the General, and was told that there was no appointment set up, someone would get back to me. In the end, I did get in contact with the financial company, and was told that they could not financé because Mission Hills is on tribal land (even though the lease runs through 2054).
I truly feel that my father was taken advantage of because of his age and his trusting nature. He's a man who believes in the adage, ""if its not broken, don't fix it"".
When I told the gentleman that sold my Dad the units that I felt he had taken advantage of him, he said that there was someone else at the house, and ""cleaning lady"" or ""caregiver"". Our cleaning gal does not speak English, and she would have no authority to advise my father.
I have 3 left messages at the General last week, to see if there is another option for financing, and no one has returned my calls, which is why I have gone to Yelp to make others aware.

Mike J.

DISHONEST!!! Our AC went out so we called this company and they sent a tech out. He ""tested"" the sytem and told us that it was leaking in both the outside unit and the inside unit. He also said that the freon for our unit was no longer available. The MINIMUM for a new system was $9700. So, not being a total fool, I called a construction buddy and had him recommend a company for a second opinion and pricing. The other company came out, tested the system and had us watch as the tests were done. THERE WERE NO LEAKS in either the outside or inside units. Furthermore, while the original freon for our system is no longer available, THERE IS A REPLACEMENT! Our AC has been working great with a quick and inexpensive fix. BEWARE!

Terence C.

I had to laugh at a commercial for The General this morning. It showed what could best be described as a disastrous installation of an air conditioning unit. Why the laugh? Because we recently needed to spend thousands of dollars to fix a disastrous installation of air conditioning units in our home in Rancho Mirage. In January 2009, the home owner contacted The General, in part because they are Lennox distributors. They advised that the desired Lennox units were unavailable but that the Amana units they had in stock were equally good, top of the line and energy efficient. As it happens, these units had a SEER rating of only 14, barely legal in California. The house is 4,000 s.f. with cathedral ceilings in most of the house. More likely explanation is that The General had no Lennox units in stock but sold us inferior Amana units which were outdated and The General saw a chance to dump old inventory on unsuspecting consumers. In other words move the crap and charge the same price as the better quality Lennox units. As for the installation, it was laughably derelict. We contacted Desert Air who sent two technicians who spent an entire day reinstalling one of the units which had been installed on plywood with a 1/4"" thickness and the drain was placed so that the filters were nearly impossible to install. The other unit had a drain which was installed with the pipe going upwards, preventing the water from properly draining, causing water to pool in the chamber beneath the unit. The effect was the A/C units were grossly inefficient and consuming excessive electricity. We would NEVER recommend the General.

Trish M.

I am writing a negative review I'll just put that out right away. my daughter called THE GENERAL for an air conditioning problem and they sent a technician who said the problem was a coil. He called John to come an explain what the cost options were for us, (we're the home owners). Well John came and told us $4015.00 for the coil and $10,838.00 for a coil and condenser which he highly recommended we get. long story short we called the furnace people who had put in the furnace 4 yrs. ago and they said the coil was covered under warranty and all we'd have to do was pay the labor. After they came and checked everything out it wasn't the coil at all it was the condenser which they replaced for $3500.00 and we're very happy with J.Anthony's work and their business ethics. Would not recommend The General to anybody, ever

Rita S.

A C went out. Good news tech came out on Sat. quoted 3 prices. I took middle at $579. He said $932 would fix it all. That night AC went out. Another tech came out and between the two bill came to over $1100. I understand being charged for the extra call but not the extra money between the two. Answered questionnaire, received no reply just another questionnaire! Very unhappy customer

John O.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about General Air Conditioning Services. Daniel, who is an amazing representative came to our home on a Friday, we signed the paperwork, and the system was installed the next day. We purchased the Lennox SC25 unit which is spectacular. We instantly began seeing savings on our utility bill and the house consistently stays cool with the iComfort system included. I would recommend this company to anyone who is looking for a top of the line product with top of the line service. Thank you General for our new system and your excellent customer service.

Don E.

I am very pleased with the service provided by Shawn 6/16. He's done a/c maintenance on my Lennox before when DCS was the provider. He got it all done in quick order with optimum performance. A very personable fellow he provided me with a pointer or two. Because of allergies, at his suggestion, I purchased a high-end filter of which I was badly in need. I look forward to his service again in the Fall.

Myron H.

I recommend this place to everyone! Chis was our technician and was Great!!
Very Professional we signed up for the yearly maintanance and are very happy with this company!!

Jim D.

Well, they did come out the same day. That was nice, especially since it was Saturday. However, the unit was on the roof (2nd floor) and the tech they sent was young, but a little over as pulled some crap about not being able to get up there. It's now 5:00 and I'm suppose to get who? I don't get it! Just be sure to tell them the location of the unit before making an appointment. Wouldn't want to go all weekend with no air!

Gary W.

Kudos to Patrick, the manager at General Air Conditioning, who followed up promptly and resolved my issues. In fact I subsequently used them to update the duct work on my house and the results have been excellent. Now time for some new aircon units.