Sila Heating & Air Conditioning

Jeffrey S.

Dave arrived on time, was kind, clean, professional and I now have a whole house humidifier hooked up with a Nest thermostat. It's my 2nd time using Sila with the Yelp coupon and I'd definitely recommend them.

Kaija L.

The jury is still out for me on Sila. Looking at all the glowing reviews I was hopeful we'd found a solid, quality HVAC company in Boston that would earn our loyalty for years to come. We're new condo owners and had a Mass Saves energy assessment in the spring after the harsh winter. We weren't shocked to learn our furnace is older -- we knew that when we bought it -- but we were shocked to hear that the AC system runs on a banned coolant that is hard to get and will be nearly obsolete in about 12 months. Wanting to be proactive, and possibly use the Mass Saves Heat Loan benefit, we started getting quotes from several HVAC contractors.

It started off well when Guy arrived to our condo in a timely manner (early actually) and even went so far as to put booties on his shoes to not scuff our wood floors. He did a heat load, looked at our 15+ year old system, mentioned a ballpark estimate, and promised a quick quote. And he delivered on that promise. The problem was the quote was significantly higher ($21,000) than the ballpark ($16,000) AND he kept trying to ""throw in"" a water heater. We found the make and model on Amazon for less than $800 (they were charging $2,500+). Plus the water heater had HORRIBLE reviews from customers all over the country.

Guy then quickly changed the quote and dropped about $3,000, saying he had gotten ""permission"" from his boss to give us the water heater a bit cheaper if we were willing to book the job by the end of the month. It felt like I'd walked into a car dealership! When we didn't respond promptly enough to that offer, he sent a third quote that was cheaper still, and again with the message that he couldn't possibly go any lower than than quote...so long as we booked by the end of the month.

I don't think this is typical and I want to believe other people's great reviews, but I have serious reservations.

Kevin D.

My interaction with SILA started after the original guys I hired (Central Cooling and Heating) backed out of the job, after I had already put down a 1/3 deposit. Quite frustrating when you are in the middle of 2 heat waves, and their acceptance of the job basically stopped the process of me pricing out vendors.

Central Cooling cancelling the job was the best thing that happened to me this summer, as it opened the door to SILA...

SILA's team left my condo about 3 hours ago, after a very long 10 hour, 4th floor, city job, and I am still just blown away with everything about the experience. I don't have 1 negative thing to say about these guys. From Graham that gave me an estimate and oversaw the project, to Pete and Jesse that replaced the old system and installed the new system... These guys are just 100% PROS!!!

Seriously, look no further if you need your HVAC serviced! You will consider yourself lucky to have come across SILA.

Off the charts, head and shoulders better than any of the other companies we got estimates from!!

You're welcome Yelp! I wish they were all this good!!!

Green V.

Technician was polite and thorough in explaining the problems. But charge to replace the capacitor was $240 - very high cost to replace for $20 worth of capacitor. If I had choice I would have not gone with the replacement. But make sure you check their quote and compare it with others around before you go with their service. I hope it will save some $$$ for someone. Giving it two stars for ridiculous cost otherwise overall experience was good.

John K.

My experience comes with a lesson. I called Sila after using another local AC company. When the other AC company left me high and dry without fixing anything, I called Sila.

Our service was scheduled for the day after I made first contact, which was awesome considering the temps have been in the mid 90's and humid as hell. They were super responsive. My service technician Peter, arrive promptly at 7am and got right to work. Very professional, walked me through everything he was going to do and while he was doing it. Explained all the gauges and readings, while doing the work so a normal person like myself could understand. He spent extensive time making sure his diagnostics were correct and he was doing the best service for our equipment. In the end, he got our system running as efficiently as possible. I can't say enough for Peter's professionalism, understanding, and patience with me and our equipment.

Now for the lesson. Sila might not be the cheapest AC service in town, but if you want our equipment maintained correctly and efficiently with no excuses, call Sila. It will save you money in the long run to use someone that knows what they are doing. Peter and the team at Sila are those people!

John Q. P.

On the second day of a heat wave our AC failed. We called for service at 3pm, and Anthony came at 5:30PM. I figured we would have to wait a couple of days, but they were there in 2 hours.

The problem was simple, so it was a simple fix. What was outstanding was the quality of service and the friendly professionalism of Anthony.

Their coupon is also a great deal. Don't miss it!

Nick P.

This review is very delayed but I wanted to share my experience. My Boiler's starter went out, granted at the time the boiler was 25 years old. I called Sila because I found them on Angie's list and figured since they had so many positive reviews that I would get a knowledgeable tech that knew what he was doing. I scheduled an appointment and had them come out. The tech looked at the boiler and didnt know what to do. He called the main office and provided all the information about my weil mcclain boiler. After he got off of the call, which probably lasted about 45 minutes, he told me that I would need to replace the boiler and it would roughly cost $12k. At the time, I could not afford that and I told him I would have to get back to him. He was in my apt just over hour and a half charged me around $280 for coming out. I asked him why so much and he said he because he arrived at 1 (our scheduled time) but he sat in his car for another 15 minutes before knocking on my door. I also had a coupon for sila and he said that he could not accept it for some unknown reason. At this point I just wanted him gone. I paid the money and googled this item. I paid $60 with shipping for a new starter and installed it myself. It has been running flawlessly for the last 3 years! Thanks for wasting my time and money Sila. Now I wish you would stop sending me your coupons in the mail.

Lisa S.

John G. was very thorough in his explanations and helped us understand other potential future problems, as we are new to this house. He was punctual and professional. My only complaint is the price, although I would need to shop around to see if this is indeed the going rate. If you do go with Sila, John G. is a great technician to work with.

Kevin H.

I definitely have better experience with other company than Sila. I had cooling issue with AC unit last week (it was very hot) and set up an appointment with Sila. I was given a 3 hour window in an afternoon and was told will get a call 30 minutes before their technician come over. As a working professional, I had to plan my schedule and move around meetings and save time for commute etc. In the end, I likely missed their 30 minutes heads-up call while in the green line subway. Finally, i saw the last missed call and called back 3 minutes later. I was told that they called me several times and now they dispatched their tech to other locations. It was 2:50pm and they cannot fit my request that afternoon any more. So there goes waste of my entire afternoon. Thankfully, i resolved my issue with another company today (took only about 20 minutes).

Since I never actually entered contractual work with Sila, I cannot speak about the quality of their service. I only hope that it is as accurate as they are about time. After all, the charge is on a rolling 1/2 hour rate. But I do feel the pain that the other reviewer said about Sila in his ""story about empathy"". They could have called much earlier say 1 hour ago if they are so punctuate about time, giving us customers more time to anticipate. They could also have left a message on my phone so that I know they have called, instead of me wondering whether they have called when there is no missed call shown on the phone. They could also ask for a much narrower time window as opposed to a 3 hour whole afternoon while Sila is operates on an 1/2 hour or even minutes.

Anyways, given all other positive reviews, i guess my experience is perhaps just one exception. But if you do work with Sila, you need to be very careful about time. If they tell you between 2 and 5, you better be home by 2 (which i did). And you also need to make sure your phone has signal and ringing fine at least from 1:30pm (sorry subway is no excuse) .

What's more troubling is that, Sila came across as being ""indifferent"". When I finally saw the missed call (2:50pm) and called back in 3 minutes (2:53pm), the conversation was cold and it goes like this --- we called you, you did not answer, now we go somewhere else, would you like to set up another appointment, period. I am sure Sila is very busy. It's great that many people are working with Sila and i am sure its for a good reason. But often times, it's better to keep things in perspective. Having more customers also give you a bigger responsibility to treat customers with respect. Being ""indifferent"" to your customers can hurt you in the long run. Boston presents a lot of opportunities for contractors, especially with recent booming economy and housing market. But it will be dangerous to assume a stand and saying "" I don't really care that much if you want to work with me. I already have many many people calling me"". It's easy to repair AC system but not that easy to repair customer trust and relationship.

I hope that my experience is just one little exception and you are taking good care of your current customers and future prospects. If you do, it would be a great thing for you and us customers, because it is not that easy at all to find a trustworthy contractor to work with in this big city.

Nicholas H.

John G from Sila breathed new life into a system that was on its last leg. The AC system was not working and there was water all over the floor.

Within a hours the had the furnace and AC working better than it has in 10+ years. 3 days later and not an ounce of water on the floor. The system turns on half as much as it used to. John was extremely professional honest and to the point. Told me exactly what needed to be done and what the cost was going to be.

Sila is a top notch company and would recommend having them on speed dial.