ARS / Rescue Rooter Orlando

I was In Home Depot in December of 2015. They (ARS) were in the store and running a special on preventative maintenance on Ac units. ARS sent Johnny to the house. He was very friendly and seemed to know what he was doing…
So a couple of weeks ago I had problems with my unit. I called ARS again and asked for Johnny to come to the house. They said they were busy and he would be there on Thursday. I got a call that he was too busy to make the appointment and would be there on Friday. Friday he came out and diagnosed that the unit was low on freon but wasn’t qualified to check the system. He called his office and got an appointment for Monday. On Monday near the end of the appointment window the technician had not called or shown up for the appointment. I called the office and was told again that they were too busy to make the appointment window and would send somebody out on Tuesday. I told ARS that I took the day off work and I needed them out TODAY! They told me someone would be out. A hour later I got a call that they wouldn’t be out on Monday but PROMISED I would be the first stop on Tuesday. At about 10AM on Tuesday they still hadn’t called or shown up. I called the office again and was told that the tech called my phone and I didn’t answer so he went to the next stop. BULL! I checked my phone and there were no incoming calls. While I was in the phone, I got another call and the person from ARS saying the tech would be there before noon. I told them not to send him because I had to go to work. Guess what? At noon I got a call from the tech that he was at the door and why wasn’t I there.
So I am out the money for the call and had another company out. Read the reviews I wish I had.

I also didn’t come here to read these reviews first. However, I also didn’t receive service so perhaps that’s a good thing reading down these responses. I did persue these folks based on the HD reviews (which I also just learned could be from paid responders!). Nonetheless, I sent in an appt request on line for an estimate for a single zone mini split system. The call I got back the next day was to schedule service to replace an HVAC system. Missed that call but called them back; got someone else who didn’t have any idea who I was or who had called me, however she agreed to schedule the appt for me for the next afternoon (Friday) btwn 3−6pm and that the service person would contact me within 30min of arrival. Got an email back shortly thereafter from the same person who called me the first time; responded to her that I had already spoken with someone else and an appt had been scheduled… no further response.
Fast forward to Friday @ 3:00 …4:00…5:30…I called in to ARS for a status update, new person to relay the info to, he found my service request and asked me to hold while he checked on the service guy. Five min or less later he came back to me to tell me «the service guy got held up and was running a bit behind», and that (woman’s name) would be calling me back within 5 min (same person who called the first time and sent the email). No call back… ever, at all.
7:10…called back to ARS, person # 4 I relayed my request to… then saw the little blue and white car parked outside my house… told her never mind, I’d take it from there. (still no one called me by this point nor had the service guy called to tell us he was on his way). Husband is fuming by this point.
Poor service guy… seemed like a nice guy, friendly smile, ready to help. Opened the door to tell him it was then too late… Friday after 7pm, dinner time. He was sincerely apologetic and relayed that they can only respond when they are given the work order. (hmmmmm…does that mean then that there HADN’T been a work order at all until we called in at 5:30 and they just weren’t honest enough to say they screwed up the appt???).
We told him how unhappy we were with that whole experience, first one, prob last. He again apologized and said he’d relay our frustration back to the company, apologized again and really did look frustrated and walked away like we’d beat him up (altho my husb was clearly unhappy and made sure he knew it).
That all happened just yesterday… it’s now almost 24hrs later… still no one from ARS has called or sent a follow up email nor an apology. I don’t really care about the apology necessarily. Disappointed that I now AGAIN have to try to find someone else with some level of customer commitment and interest in my service… thought that going through HD was a good start.
Going to Angie’s List now… silly me, should have just gone there in the first place.
ugh

Well, hell, I wish I would’ve read these reviews before calling these incompetent, inconsiderate idiots.
Unfortunately for me, the person who just sold me the Florida condo used this company to service the air conditioner. We hadn’t even stayed there yet, and we already had to have a service call a month after purchase due to a leak from the unit upstairs that fried the electrical board which controls the air. We don’t live in Florida (hence, the VACATION condo), so I had to have my 75 yr old stepfather go there for the appointment. They tell him to be there on Wednesday between 2−6pm, so he is there by 2. No calls, no show. He called me at 7pm to say they hadn’t showed. I call and get stuck on hold for 30 minutes waiting for someone, and I get a rude call center person who says she can’t do anything. She says she will get a «manager» to call my stepfather. No one called him. It was all BS. I finally told the poor guy to go home after he sat there 6.5 hrs in the heat.
An hour after he left, I get a call from the service tech saying he had a bad day, truck broke down, etc. Well, that’s great, but you obviously have a phone. Did you think maybe calling the person waiting for you might be a good idea? He says he will reschedule the appt to fit my stepfather’s schedule which would be Friday morning between 8 and noon. I’m told we are FIRST ON THE LIST, so my stepfather should be there by 8am. He lives 45 minutes away, so he got up very early to beat rush hour and was there by 7:30am. Of course, he calls me at 11am to tell me no one showed yet. No call, no show. I call. I ask — no one knows. Can’t get the tech to answer his phone because he’s on another service call. What about «first on the list» do they not understand?
This results in my 75 yr old stepfather sitting another five hours in a hot condo waiting for these idiots. DO NOT use this company. They are horrible. Jasper, the tech, was a cool guy and clearly knows what he is doing, but I am starting to think he’s the only guy who actually does the work, and they give him an impossible schedule.
The icing on the cake was when the guy finally showed after 1pm, he installed the ordered part and then calls me to tell me there is no freon. I said, «how is that possible since that is exactly what you did on your service call a month ago and why I had your number to begin with?» He said, «Oh, maybe there is a leak». I said, «YES there is a leak since the paperwork YOU filled out says there was a leak and you were supposed to return to fix it!» Um, oh, uh… So, guess what? ANOTHER five days of waiting because another part had to be ordered, and they finally finished the work they were supposed to have finished before I even closed on this condo!
I am still beyond pissed off right now that they would do this and not have a care about it. Every time someone promises to call me back, I get NOTHING. I had at least six promised call backs during this fiasco, and I never got one — not even when I called the «corporate customer relations» number and complained. I had to call THEM back. And they were useless too. Furthermore, you would think with all of this terrible service, they would say, «We are so sorry. We will discount the charge» or something like that. But, nope. Let us waste ENTIRE DAYS for you with zero consideration, and then you can pay in full. No idea how this company stays in business.
TOTAL CRAP! I don’t care how hot you are that your air isn’t working. I’d sooner bring in a random guy walking around Home Depot before I’d ever call this company again. Stay away!

Horrible! First appointment day waited 4.5 hours after the scheduled time between 8 – 12 arrival! He shows up at 4:30! They never ordered the parts and did an obvious bad job because 3 days after they came there is an obvious leak! They said they will come out another day between 9 – 12 and at 3 we call and they say they are scheduled for a different day! Still no parts ordered and 2 full days wasted! They absolutely are worse than having no service because they are not ordering parts, coming out or have any concept of follow-​up! Every time you call you get a different story! That is plain and simple poor service! So upset that they are taking advantage of my parents! Shame on them!

I have read almost every bad review of this company and I noticed every review has the same auto-​response to every bad service review. They should have at least taken the time to contact each person or a written letter mailed. Clearly this is a company that see’s its customer’s as a Number on a list of clients. And who care’s if they mess up and waste people’s time and money. Sadly, I would not use this company or refer them to anyone I know.

I guess i could say i was lucky that they didnt come out. When i called an scheduled rhe appointment they said between 8am an noon an didnt come out until after 130. An then i called an rescheuled for that following friday an was assured between 8 am an 10 no show what a shocker. I called again an decided to let my husband reschedule he spoke to homer who stated to my husband that he would be first appointment which implies 8am no show so i called an canceled an decided that ars an home depot HORRIBLE!!!

I bought 2 Air conditioner units at Home Depot 3 years ago. They subcontracted to ARS rescue rooter. I bought 10 years labor and parts service from ARS rescue rooter when they installed the 2 units. So whenever I make appointment, either they don’t show up or they will come 4 or 5 hours late. I made an appointment for today several weeks ago for routine maintenance (Tune up). They told me that someone will be here between 9am and 1pm. No one showed up. I called the Orlando office and confirmed the appointment yesterday and this Morning as well regarding the appointment, Really frustrated with their service. Planning to take legal action against them as I am stuck with them for another 7 years as I have already paid for the 10 years parts and labor.

Stay away at all costs for your mechanical related work. The initial install of a brand new Rheem split air conditioning system has been nothing but annual service calls for us. Their installers must have been journeymen as the system continues to leak expensive refrigerant. We had the evaporator coil replaced under warranty with a brand new Rheem all aluminum coil thinking that would remedy the leaks in the system. It’s the peak of summer and the unit cannot maintain a 75 degree set point!
This only means one thing, the initial install was shoddy and the journeymen likely took the lazy and cheap way of doing things. I would give them 0 stars if possible. The only reason why they are still in business down here in Florida is because they’ve partnered up with Home Depot.
There are plenty of reputable shops around! Stay away from this one!

Joe is the best! He’s the reason I would choose ARS next time

Horrible Plumbing services. Inspected my drain pipes and explained to me I had channel rot as flowering is why my tub, shower and toilets were backing up. I then had another plumbing services come inspect my drain lines and I had no issues, just a simple cleaning was needed.

THIS COMPANY HAS NO ETHICS, NO CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND NO COMPETENCY!
I was introduced to ARS through Home Depot for the AC checkup special they advertise in store. Boy do I wish that day NEVER happened. Over the last 18 months, I have had nothing but headache after headache with this company.
Nothing but lies and deceit from day one with ARS. The salesman lied about my old system, claimed it would be soon «illegal» offer maintenance due to it using 410. He then proceeded to lie and sell me features for additional costs that were either standard features or didn’t exist at all.
Got to the install day and the install was shabby at best, the crew left my wife with a huge mess to clean up, the breaker was hanging from my wall by the wires and the thermostat wasn’t even configured properly.
Contacted ARS, I was introduced to the manager, Tim. He apologizes and promised this «never» happened but they would be happy to send someone out the next day to rectify the issue. My wife took off work so we would have a working AC unit in our home but apparently that was too much to ask, as NO ONE ever showed up.
I called to speak with the manager, Tim, again the following day to inquire about the service call and no show. He again promised this «never» happens and wanted me to rest assure the issue would be resolved the following day. My wife went ahead and took off work another day so we could finally get a working unit multiple days after the initial install. What would you know… NO ONE showed up once again.
I called again to speak with the manager, Tim, principally to express my complete dissatisfaction with their company. He offered to make the situation right which started with finally sending a tech out to finish our install properly.
After the install was completed I called the manager, Tim again to work on a resolution regarding the salesman’s lies and over charging coupled with multiple days wasted trying to meet their techs who continually did not show. It was at this time I was introduced to a supervisor, Melissa, because Tim was «no longer with the company».
Melissa worked with me to mitigate the issue. Once finally coming to an agreed upon solution for the lies, overcharging, missed appointments and all around lousy service, when it came to coming through on ARS end, who would have guessed that Melissa is now «no longer with the company».
So now going on 18 months of back and forth with this company, I am now working with someone Jennifer who likely wasn’t employed when these issues began, they have come through with half of our agreed up resolution and aren’t willing to honor anything further as they «cant access Melissa’s notes or emails»
THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM!
BUYER BEWARE!
YOU DO NOT WANT THIS HEADACHE!
SAVE YOURSELF THE TIME AND TROUBLE AND STAY AWAY!!!

I contracted ARS through Home Depot for the installation of a Rheem AC unit in my house. The crew who came to install the unit seemed to do a good job and were professional. However, after just nine months, the AC sprung a leak. I called ARS and they returned to inspect the system. The technician didn’t strike me as being very competent. He said there was a leak in one of the copper pipes near the air handler and he «fixed» it. However, eight months later, and by this time the warrantee had run out, the AC stopped cooling again. They sent the same technician out and he used an instrument to search for the «leak.» Presumably a new leak that he had missed the last time. He couldn’t find it but said a more extensive search, using fluorescent dyes, could be done. But the dye test was «very expensive.» I told him I would think about it. He loaded some refrigerant into the system and charged me $ 119.00 for the after-​hours service call. Then he left. The next day, I called another company to come out and look at it. The other company — Vortechs, did the dye test (it wasn’t so expensive) and found that the coil was defective. The technician surmised that it was like that when it was installed. It’s made in Mexico and I understand that the quality control there is not too good. Fortunately the coil itself was still under warrantee. Vortech ordered the replacement coil and I paid a reasonable amount for labor for them to install it. The replacement is an improvement from the original. Apparently Rheem noticed the high failure rate and changed the design. Thanks to Vortech, the AC is running like a champ. I wish I had called Vortec in the first place.
That’s it for «Home Depot.» I hold them partially responsible for this since they never bothered calling me after the installation for my feedback on ARS. And because I trusted them for providing a good installation contractor. I will never order anything from Home Depot again.

Home Depot needs to re-​evaluate who they contract out, I had a HORRIBLE experience with ARS Rescue Rooter. My family and I were recently without A/​C and I was pricing thermostats in Home Depot because I believed that was the problem I was having. While there I figured why not have a pro come out just so I can be sure of myself, so I paid the $ 80 to have one of their trusted contractors come out. The ARS Rescue Rooter tech came out, asked me what’s going on with my A/​C, I explained the situation, and he literally took no more than a peek at the entire system (Literally, not one screw or cover was taken off the entire system and not one tool was used except his personal cell phone to talk to a friend) and after he took a peek and got off his phone, the ARS Rescue Rooter tech told me, «It’s your peanut relay and those are easy to fix but your problem is that the peanut relay you need does not exist. You’re gonna need a completely new system, there is no way I can fix that because the peanut relay you need was made exclusively for your system that isn’t even made any more.» Then he offered me a system for $ 7,800.00 with all kinds of discounts, including military (I never served) and got the price down to $ 6,500.00 and then tells me he enjoyed taking the sales departments $ 1,000.00 commission because sales love to stiff people. After all this lecturing about how much experience he has with HVAC and «especially» my specific unit, I almost fainted with joy as Stephen Chaplin (oops) began reversing out of my driveway. I heard good things about A-​1 Heating & Air so I contacted them for a second opinion. They came out, $ 80 diagnostic, found my thermostat to be bad and changed it out in less time than the ARS Rescue Rooter tech had been at my house, literally. Good thing is I have hand written estimates from both of the companies :) I WILL NEVER IN MY LIFE USE OR REFER ANYONE TO ARS RESCUE ROOTER! A-​1 Heating & Air saved me almost $ 6,300.00!

Update. Within 24hrs of my appointment, Jennifer form customer service contacted me and I explained the situation to her. Jennifer understood my position and offered to refund a portion of the price I paid for the service. We came to an agreement that was satisfactory to both parties and ARS credited the money back to my account within days. I thank Jennifer and ARS for following up on the matter and ensuring my satisfaction.

Not happy with the company. Used them only because my deceased father had been using them in this house. Have had 4 service calls in the last two years and the system is always out of Freon. Maybe somebody should check for a leak!!! A/​C units are not supposed to lose any Freon. Each time I wasted and entire day or even two waiting for them to show up. Called for yet another problem and said I was interested in perhaps getting a new system. MISTAKE.
The guy arrived and told me a blower motor and control board were bad and would be about 1700 dollars for parts. Then he said my compressor was probably bad, and that would be another $ 3000.00 to $ 4000.00 to replace. Looked them up on the internet and found retail to be ¹⁄₃ of that. Unit was out of Freon again, and he told me nothing could be done except replacing the system. Kind of stumbled over that some laws would be broken or something to repair it. Then quoted me $ 8,000.00– $ 10,000.00 for a 15 SEER system for the place. Then he told me it would probably be more because they would just HAVE to replace all the ducting. Once again some vague ref to laws being broken. I explained the ducts had recently been inspected by Duke Energy and deemed to be fine. Had told me that Carrier systems sucked because they have special size filters and high parts cost… then tried to sell my a Carrier system. WTF? I found a parts only cost of $ 3,000 to $ 4,000.00 for the same rated system on line. They want $ 6000.00 or more to install?
Maybe the problem is that I know how A/​C systems work. I fix them on aircraft, and can explain every step of the way how they function. I understand parts costs and markups… and service costs. I am seriously considering just buying a system and doing the install myself at this point. The pushy Jersey accent didn’t impress me. I know just as much about A/​C theory (maybe more) as the tech did. Just because I don’t have a uniform shirt, doesn’t mean I am stupid.
Follow up– Kudos that they tried to follow up, but at this point I prefer no more contact with them. Rolled up my sleeves and jumped into the system to diagnose it. After 30 minutes of work I found that the blower motor is fine, but the blower controller is bad. This is not the «Control board» the tech had pointed at and claimed was bad, but an integral part of the motor assembly. Complete set up for both parts can be found for as little as $ 511.00 on-​line. Controller is barely $ 300.00. Total labor time from diagnose to replacement was under 2 hours. Weigh that against the qoute of «1700 bucks for the parts alone…». Now that I’ve dug into a home heat pump set up, they are simple as dirt in operation. Going to help a buddy install one ground up in his garage next month…

We signed up for a great deal at Home Depot for an AC tuneup. Shane came out, did a thorough check of the system and offered great recommendations. Rick came out and completely sold us on a great system upgrade including a Reme air purifier and Nest thermostat. Jason and Alex were our technicians who installed the system in 2 days (on a holiday weekend even!). Their work is amazing! Courteous, informed, and quite able to answer all of our questions! We would definitely use ARS again for any of our needs

Great job with the preventative maintenance of my AC. Steven Miller the technician they came to do the work was great! I would have given this company a five-​star review except for the fact that they botched my first appointment. I’ll use these guys year in and year out as long as the service stays the way it’s been.

This is the last company I would use. They ripped my 89 year old mother off totally. She did not need a new air conditioning system but convinced her she did. Her system was less than 5 years old. Then they convinced her to buy a 10 year warranty for $ 800. She has dementia and they took advantage of that.

I signed up for Home Depot to give me a quote on a new AC unit. They subcontracted the job to ARS. The company sounded very professional on the phone and communicated very well. When they arrived, (30 minutes late by the way but no big deal) they immediately told me that I definitely needed a new AC and they had some great specials. Hello high pressure salesman.
I wanted a heat pump for efficiency and they told me it wasn’t necessary and I should just get a straight AC unit because it wasn’t worth the price. The price they gave me for a 3 ton 15 SEER unit straight AC was about $ 7500. I insisted I wanted a price for a heat pump since that is what every other contractor recommended. The basically rolled their eyes an insisted it wasn’t worth it.
The price they came back with was $ 13,000 for a 3 ton heat pump! Are you kidding me? My house is less than 1900 sqft. I politely asked them to leave. The next day the manager called me to follow up and graciously offered a discount for my experience. I passed. They called again several days later, this time an even more senior manager. He offered to put the Heat Pump AC unit in and give me such a great deal that they would actually lose money. Really??? I felt like I was at a Time Share presentation. He offered the heat pump unit for about $ 5700, more than half of the original price of 13K! I was offended that they had such an incredible mark up and were backed by Home Depot.
Very Disappointing!