Texas A/C & Heating

Had great service for years, until I chose a higher-​quality bid from a different company on an HVAC replacement.
Now, because I’m not one of the, as he puts it, «loyal ones», I’m not a customer he will service anymore.

I have called them before and had decent service, the guy who comes out is surly, but generally got the job done despite his rude demeanor. Our A/​C breaks Friday night, I call him Saturday morning, 2 hours later get a call back, says he’ll be over the next day (Sunday) in the afternoon or maybe the evening. I decide that it can wait and he gives me no reason to believe he won’t be showing up on Sunday., since he said in the evening «at the latest». I call him at 4:45pm on Sunday wondering when he’ll be at my house. He calls back at 7:15pm telling me he won’t be making it at all. If I had known that was a possibility I would have had a back up. I would not have waited for nothing. He needs to be more realistic when planning his jobs, because now he’s officially unreliable. I ended up having to call an emergency repair service to get it fixed, and now it’s after he had told me he would have been here and it’s costing me more money now.

One week prior to signing our purchase settlement on our home, Texas A/​C & Heating was called by the current homeowner due to concerns relating to the central A/​C system not properly cooling. One of their service technicians purportedly conducted a system leak check and reported that the freon level tested substantially low, and that the purported leak was originating from the location of the evaporator coil located in the attic. Subsequently, the evaporator coil was removed and replaced at the homeowners cost of $ 1,800 and everything appeared to be in operational order.
We moved into the property in June 2011, and the A/​C system appeared to be operating adequately throughout that summer. We shut down the A/​C during the winter months (from approximately late November thru mid/​late April). Only when the house temperature started reaching the upper 70’s, did we try using the A/​C again. Initially, it ran fairly cold for maybe an hour or so, but gradually began feeling progressively warmer… not hot, just warmer. After several weeks of this, the blower would continue to run for hours at a time; forcing slightly cool air through the vents… by this time, we were having a difficult time maintaining temperatures below 80°. I contacted the previous homeowner about the situation, whom advised me to contact Marc Cook, since they were the HVAC company that serviced the system in the past.

So, I called & spoke with Marc Cook and explained our situation, and asked if it could possibly be related to the evaporator coil they recently installed, which he replied, «absolutely not!». After that point, he became extremely defensive and was a bit difficult to reason with. After going around in circles with him, I reluctantly agreed to have one of his service techs come by to check it out, which he was going to charge us a service fee of about $ 85 and who wouldn’t be available for about a week. So, I decided to call around to try and find another HVAC company that could possibly come out before that time — especially with the outside temps being in the upper 80s to low 90s at that time… and wanted to also find someone who wouldn’t charge as much regarding the service fee.

I found another HVAC company who sent someone out the following day, and charging around $ 50. By the time the technician arrived that morning, the condenser unit tubing was frozen from running prior to them arriving and needed to be thawed out. After shutting down the system and waiting about an hour or so, he was able to test the refrigerant levels, which again tested noticeably low… the system ended up requiring 5 lbs. 5.4 oz. of refrigerant (service plate on unit was labeled to hold 11 lb. capacity).
Before leaving, the technician asked me if I knew anything about the condenser unit being over 20 years old… I told him, it can’t be, the house was only 10 years old itself. He walked me out to the unit and showed me the plate, showing a manufactured date of June 1991. Again, I contacted the previous homeowner inquiring about the outside unit… he then explained that the original unit literally blew-​up one early morning a few years earlier. He was acquainted with Marc Cook and spoke with him about it… I was told that Marc Cook had personally installed it himself.
Since 2012, I’ve had several different HVAC companies conduct basic leak checks of both the inside evaporator coil and outside condenser unit… all tests indicating the outside unit being the location of the leak. The following year, we once again had to have additional freon put into the system to hopefully make it through another summer, while waiting to try and hopefully resolve this matter via the previous homeowner and Texas A/​C & Heating.
We finally ended up having to replace the outside condenser unit, including the fairly new evaporator coil (even after only 3 years after being installed by Texas A/​C & Hearing) in 2014. The previous homeowner agreed to pay for half of the cost in replacing the system and honored that agreement. To date, Mr. Cook has not accepted any responsibly regarding any of this. A compliant was initialed with the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation (TDLR) against Texas A/​C and Heating in May 2013… in June of 2014, after waiting over a year for a decision regarding the filed compliant, the TDLRs decision was that they could not pursue this matter and force Mr. Cook to honor his advertised «guarantees» to possibly correct this issue… and because we (the current homeowners) and Mr. Cook did not contract the work in question with us directly… that was also Mr. Cook’s only defense.
The point being and still is… Texas A/​C & Heating/​Marc Cook DID do the work at this property, and did absolutely nothing to try and help resolve any of it at any time. As a state regulated & licensed HVAC company, I believe Mr. Cook should have been held somewhat accountable for what’s transpired here regarding his involvement in this matter. Caveat emptor!

I have been using Unilocal for years to find restaurants when I travel and always have an opinion but I have never taken the jump of creating a Unilocal account to write my own reviews no matter how many times I tell myself that I need to.
Well, the wait is over. Texas AC & Heating was the straw that broke this camel’s back. I created my account (finally!) so that I can give Marc a 1 star only because 0 stars is not an option.
To the review:
I just bought a house and part of the contract was for the Seller to have someone come inspect and perform maintenance of the AC. The Seller had Texas A/​C & Heating come. (Yes, I am writing to say how bad this company is and I didn’t even pay for it… someone else did. THAT’s how bad they are.)
The Good: They did provide a quote/​estimate and the final price was spot on. They performed the work within days of original contact (no rush was requested as it was just maintenance.)
The Bad: Marc sent a technician who did sloppy work. For example, they added an extension to the condensate line outside the house for it to meet code. Instead of using the soft tubing (like usual) and routing it nicely, it was attached with PVC pipe and just stuck out from the side of the house (the required 3′, of course) into the yard so people can trip on it and the lawnmower can eat it. Also, they didn’t seal any of the leaks in the main heat exchanger… these were obvious leaks that I pointed out to them… with photos, no less!
I had called Marc a couple of times for details on the service and he was rude and showed no sign of caring. I asked about the condensate line because I wasn’t sure if what they did was normal (just running it straight out into the yard). His reply was along the lines of what were you expecting? I said that I thought it may be been run along the other tubes/​wires and ejected at the end of the condenser pad or at least staked into the ground instead of being left floating like it was. Marc said that he could come by and put a stake in it if that would make me happy. What a condescending a$$hole!
Anyway, if it wasn’t clear already, I recommend against Texas A/​C & Heating for ALL HVAC needs because their service is shoddy and their attitude stinks!
Use Accu-​Temp! (
)

Had a positive experience with Marc and Brian last week when they put in a whole new HVAC system for me. I had lots of questions and they answered all of them and took their time to be sure I was happy. The system works great and I thought the price for a whole new Carrier system was excellent. THANKS again.

Marc came referred to us by a neighbor when we needed a new HVAC system and we had a great experience. He answered a lot of our questions by email, which was great because sometimes it’s hard to connect on the phone. We probably tested his patience in that respect because we did a lot of independent research and asked a lot of questions.
He had the best price (we checked 2 other people) and his crew was awesome. They spoke perfect English, which helps a lot, and were just fantastic. We ate lunch with them and got to know them… great guys, and great attention to detail. They didn’t cut corners or rush the job, despite the fact that it was hotter than the sun in our attic that day.
Marc definitely knows his stuff, and is very intelligent. That might be why some of the reviewers perceived him as arrogant. Didn’t bother me, I’m glad to have someone very knowledgeable in charge of such an important piece of equipment.

We have used Texas A/​C & Heating for 8 years and wouldn’t use anyone else. Best service provider we know, hands down. We have 3 units and had a number of issues originating with the builder’s installation in 2000, all of which Marc sorted out in the first couple of years quickly, always looking for the most cost effective way. He is über-​responsive and takes the time to show and explain exactly what the issues are. I have an engineering background and am always impressed with how skilled & analytical Marc is in figuring out pesky/​complicated A/​C issues. I have recommended him to my friends and they have become customers. Marc is ever cheerful and polite, a real stand up guy, and has always been upfront & honest — how trustworthy? Put it this way: we leave him a key to get in the house to work on the attic units if we are working — that’s how trustworthy the guy is. If you need a smart, trustworthy person that you can *depend* on to fix it right AND affordably, you have found your guy. P. S. he has come to our rescue on weekends and holidays with a smile on his face and a quick affordable fix — how rare is that — and we truly appreciate him.

I’ve been very impressed with the service and support from this company. I was having problems with one my AC units and he made time to come check it quickly. As it turned out, I had several issues created by another AC company from when the house was built. He fixed these issues and gave me several options for the repair– he didn’t automatically recommend the most expensive option which I appreciated.
A few weeks later I ran into another issue when a different contractor was working on something unrelated in my attic. But, my AC wasn’t working because of it. Marc made time between appointments to come over and take a look. As it turned out a wire had been knocked loose which he fixed in a matter of minutes. It happened to be on one of the hottest days of the summer so this was very appreciated. Not to mention, he didn’t even charge me.
I whole heartedly recommend these guys. They are honest and do great work. I am leary of all contractos as I’ve had a lot of bad experiences in my days. Marc has all my business moving forward, I wish he did more than HVAC.
Clint W.

We were also referred to this company (owned by Marc Cook) by a friend but had the complete opposite experince as Sheila D. He was unprofessional, rude, and condescending (even calling us «Ignorant»). We used him for an annual A/​C tune-​up in May, which went fine. He told us we had another 20+ years left on our Carrier 3T system, which left me very pleased. However, 3 months later during the hottest days in August, the a/​c stopped working. This happened on a Wednesday evening. I emailed Marc (not wanting to call too late, but wanting to get help as soon as possible) that evening. The next morning he replied that his morning was booked and he would try to work me in during his afternoon. Neither myself nor my husband could be there Thursday afternoon, so I paid another company to come out and diagnose the problem (still intending to use Marc for the fix). It turned out to be major — we needed a completely new system. I emailed Marc to let him know what they found, and all of a sudden he was booked that day and the next. Really not wanting to have to suffer through a 100 degree weekend with children at home, and it being Thursday already, I tried getting someone else to come and confirm that we did indeed need a new system. They gave me a different quote with a different fix. I again emailed Marc to see if he could help us. I gave him all of the data I had gathered, thinking maybe I could save him a diagnosis trip, since he seemed so busy, hoping that he could just quote us and come fix it. His response was that he was fully booked and «good luck with all of the opinions». I was shocked — he obviously wanted nothing to do with our business, so I asked him to remove us from his email list. That should have been the end of it. He responded in a completely unprofessional manner saying «That was done the first day you called. The list is pretty crowded with loyal customers and not much room for others». He continued to call us ignorant and told us we created «the situation» and had «noone to blame but ourselves». Seriously??? I fully intented to use this company and I was the one to continue to ask him to come out (thinking I had done the legwork for him). Now I realize he had pretty much blown me off from the get-​go, because he didn’t like the idea of me calling another company. Who hands $ 6K to the first contractor they talk to? Not many people. We are SO glad we did not pay him to replace our whole system seeing that the follow-​up would have been terrible had there been issues. He says he’s extremely busy, but he spent all morning sending me nasty emails. Don’t bother with this guy. He’s obviously too busy for new customers, and extremely unprofessional and rude.