Experience was based on a Groupon $49 for 2 mains and 10 ducts.
Scheduling: Easy with a call to the office
Contact: Contacted on time for directions, and they arrived on time
Duration: from entry to exit was approx. 55 minutes.
Fees: There are undisclosed fees for the service that are NOT listed in the Groupon and should be – 9% Materials and Waste Disposal Fee; 6% Energy Fee. They will be included on your invoice – they will mention them when you schedule, but when looking back at the Groupon I purchased months ago – there is no mention of them. Other fees list travel and extra vents are identified. Strange oversight.
Up-sell: Yes it will occur. If you don’t want it say “No”.
Outcomes:
* Clean Warm Air Main Duct & Vents – I could hear the crud being sucked out of the floor ducting for the main floor, and did take video of the main vent to verify its cleanliness (read about cold air returns and you will understand why I wanted to verify).
? Questionably clean ceiling vents in basement – contrary to their website that identifies brushes (square for mains and round for ducts – NO, they only have round contrary to website), ducts and vacuums, ceiling vents get a different process. They have compressed air shot in them to push dirt into the main duct. IMHO … this is questionable value as the vent is not removed, the vent is not sealed for the blast of compressed air, and seemed to only last a short time per vent. I assumed that this was just the preamble to the actual cleaning – I was wrong but didn’t know that until afterwards as I didn’t watch the entire cleaning process. I recommend that you do so. Not sure how they feel they can generate enough volume of air to remove debris from a duct.
X DIRTY Cold Air return main – there were 4 access points to the cold air return; 2 main floor large vents, and 2 small ceiling vents in basement that I had not put the vents back into. I decided I would do that after they were gone and started my work, but reached my hand up inside the cold air main duct expecting to feel cleanliness – NOT. Instead I grabbed 2 x chunks of wood, dry wall chunks, wire, dust bunnies, etc. NOT CLEAN. I called the office who had the techs call me. First Tech says that it was because of the small vents in the ceiling and they did the best they could. I asked “Were the 30” and 14” access points in the main floor not sufficient”. He passed me to tech that did the cleaning. He explained that they can’t get everything, and that there should be an expectation that there will be grit on the duct. I don’t have grit, I am picking chunks of loose stuff out. “We can’t get everything”. They offered to come and clean it again – I declined. I already wasted my morning, and if you can’t do it right the first time, why would I adjust my schedule to wait around again. I shall do it using my trustee shop vac and phone camera to check to cleanliness – hey, why didn’t they think of that. I shall include a picture of what was left in the duct to show the quality of work.
Overall:
* Clean Warm Air Main and ducts
? Questionably clean ceiling basement ducts
X DIRTY Cold Air Return Main
X Not all fees identified in Groupon that the customer must pay --- next posting is to them regarding.
I would not recommend them at their regular price or at their Groupon rate given the issues and concerns above.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $240.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Provide proof to customer before departure of the cleaning -- my phone camera and video camera were able to do so in under 5 minutes. Customer shouldn't have to but i am glad I did. Update website to identify cleaning method for duct types. Compressed air for basement ducts would have caused me not to purchase. Update Groupons to disclose all fees.
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Locate a company that will provide verification of their cleaning. Monitor the work to ensure you understand what is going on.