A 2nd opinion $85 diagnostic and service call from Howard Air saved me from the $1900-$3900 cost projected by another company to replace the compressor or entire unit. Service was same day, and Joel was courteous and competent.
Service man from other company left after several hours and $260 saying it would take about 24 hours for this mid sized condo to cool down, but my tenants were questioned his competence before he even left. Tepid air blew throughout the night cooling the place down slightly, but the unit quit entirely the next day, leaving the family of 6 with 4 small children sweltering for several days with no AC in late July in AZ. My prior preferred provider was booked solid for at least 10 days out and Cruz AC whom they recommended as an alternative has never yet returned one of my two
(or 3?) calls, so I called Howard Air whom I had heard advertised on KTAR and for whom I found a small discount on the service call via Angie's.
Joel from Howard made it there within a few hours and before he left the unit was blowing COLD air and has worked fine for the months since. The service tech from the prior company had overfilled the unit with refrigerant to the extent pressure couldn't be measured. Howard's Joel bled the pressure and did some exterior cleaning on a coil left unclean and covered in among other things wretched "cat hair" from the tenants running the AC for at least a couple weeks with no filter.
I'm giving 5 stars with the disclaimer that this has been my first and only experience with Howard Air, but it's now (3/14/15) been nine months since the service, but thus far the experience has been nothing but blue skies and fresh (cold) - air. Compliments and thanks to Joel of Howard Air