If you are reading this and did a Google search or used another search engine (Yahoo, Bing, etc.) for Heater repair, or furnace repair, or AC repair in Houston, Texas. Or if you did a search for Houston Admiral (which is what I should have done before calling them), I am sharing a very bad experience that happened to me because of this company. While you may not get the same treatment, I would advise you to be more careful in your choice of someone to make repairs on your home. As a business owner myself, customer service and integrity are very important to me. It is equally important when I am on the client side of things. When I am selling my photography services, I express to my clients how my service is worth what they are paying so that they see that they are getting a good value for their investment. I expect the same from the places I spend my money on. Unfortunately, that did not happen when I got ready to get my home furnace repaired during the recent cold snap in Houston.
As my grandmother used to say, “Always follow your first mind”, and that is what I should have done. My downstairs heater unit went out and I placed a call to Sears home repair and scheduled them to come out on a Monday, but, not wanting to wait, I looked for another company and while driving to a photo shoot, I saw the truck for Houston Admiral and decided to call them. They were able to come out the same day and their service charge was the same as Sears, so I thought, why not?
After looking at my unit, it was determined that a circuit board needed replacing (the furnace unit in is the attic and I suffered damage from Hurricane Ike last year, so I knew it was going to need repair and that God, I was covered by State Farm insurance. I was given the cost (over $1300.00) and when I was about to decline and get a second opinion (which I should have done), the Technician told me, “you can give us a check and we’ll just hold it until your insurance pays”. In my gut, I knew something was wrong with that, but I did it anyway. He took the check and wrote on the envelop, “hold until contacted by customer” and the part was repaired.
Fast forward three days and I go to get gas and my debit card is not working. I check my bank balance and discover that I am $800 overdrawn and further discover that they cashed the check!!! I contact them and let them know what I was told and Roy, the office manager tells me that he is going to take care of it by giving me a check to make up the difference. I call back the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, and… (You get the idea) and each time someone was supposed to call me back.
By the time I reach someone (no, no one called me back), I am told there is nothing that they can do because the Technician should not have told me that and they changed their policy after this happened to me (basically, they were only helpful until they were sure they got their money then it was screw the customer). I tried reasoning with Roy and explaining that this was not the way to treat a customer, but without taking it any further, he told me again that there was nothing he could do. After State Farm paid on the claim and I deposited the check from them, I recovered most of my money except for the NSF fees of over $200.
Since they did not offer to help me and basically lied to me and strung me along, I let them know that as an unsatisfied customer, I would let others know not to use them and would not be referring them to anyone that needed heater or AC repair. Since I also work for a very large homebuilder, D. R. Horton, Inc., I also let them know so that is they tried to submit any bids for work; they would be rejected because if they cannot take care of one small customer, how they can take care of a major business.
In this economy, it’s sad when a business places more importance on money over the customer not realizing that if they take care of the customer properly, the money will come.
