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| - Homeowners in Vegas know that finding decent, honest service people is a crapshoot with very long odds...
Once upon a time, Alaska Air was our only AC service call. We'd relied upon them since 1998 so in 2011, when we needed a new roof unit, we called no one but them. The very large new roof unit (almost $12k) was installed but, unbeknownst to us, the required city inspection we paid for was never completed. The unit came with a five year warranty and service agreement. Annual service calls always seemed to require some kind of part but, as it was under warranty and no charge to us, we didn't think much of it. When I questioned one technician as to why our unit - being nearly new- would be having problems - he told me that AC units are built, tested and rated for an average temperature. Las Vegas summer heat, he continued, is way above average and no unit was built especially to deal with such extremes.
Early last summer, as it neared the end of warranty, the unit went out. We could smell an electrical smell and
immediately called Alaska Air for repairs. We were charged for a 'burned out' part. Less than two weeks later it happened again. Imagine our shock and dismay to discover that upon questioning the service people we learned that during the initial installation the unit had not been properly wired to the electrical junction box and was drawing too much power, causing a part to repeatedly burn out. Not only that, but now Alaska Air repeatedly denied ever installing it in the first place!! When we finally found the paperwork to prove they had indeed been the installer of record, we were told the company was under new ownership and this was "not their problem". We asked to be reimbursed for the previous two repairs as the unit was still under warranty and for the city inspection we paid for to be completed. Both requests we denied. The unit must now be re-installed to bring it up to code and avoid the risk of both burning up the unit completely and burning our house down!! So we are left with paying twice for a job that was never completed properly in the first place.
The moral of the story? Honest service companies in Sin City are rarer than MegaBuck jackpots and Alaska Air is certainly a losing bet.
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