If there’s one thing we just can’t stand here at Donnelly’s Plumbing Heating and Cooling, it’s seeing members of our Eastern Pennsylvania community being preyed on by scams perpetrated by shady contractors or HVAC “specialists” who don’t provide the service they charge for, hit customers with unfair hourly fees that rack up project costs beyond reason, or just plain lie to them.
There’s one common HVAC scam you need to know about which could potentially lose you hundreds of dollars a year.
The Freon Scam
If you call out a contractor to do work on your home’s heating and cooling system and they tell you it’s “time for your Freon refill”, or suggest that Freon needs replenished annually, don’t believe it. They’ll charge you up to several hundred dollars for a service that you don’t need.
The reason you don’t need those “annual Freon refills”?
Freon Never Gets Used Up
Freon is essentially just a brand-name for a type of refrigerant which runs continuously in a loop through the copper coils in your HVAC system. Freon is essential to HVAC operation — it’s what actually cools the air in your home. However, since it runs through a closed loop and never exits the system, it can’t possibly be used up.
There’s only one circumstance where having more Freon added into your system would make sense, and that’s if you have a Freon leak. Unfortunately, even this very real problem can be a way for shady contractors to scam homeowners.
The Freon Scam, Take Two
If a shady contractor finds a very real leak in your refrigerant line, you may never even be told about the real problem. Instead, the contractor will simply refill the Freon, charge you for that, and leave the leak in place. This way, homeowners end up repeatedly calling the same shady contractors out to “diagnose” a problem they’ve known about the whole time.
Freon is expensive, and each refill could cost several hundred dollars. Imagine that added up over the course of a few years, and you’ll see how costly this scam can really be.
How Can You Protect Yourself?
The best offense is a good defense — make sure you sign up with a trustworthy HVAC contractor or company.
At Donnelly’s Plumbing Heating and Cooling, we’ve been here to help out our community and our customers in Eastern Pennsylvania for over 40 years. Our experienced professionals are happy to talk you through every step when it comes to providing plumbing or heating & cooling repairs, service, new installations, or even just answering your questions. Sign up for our Comfort Protection Plan Membership and receive the preventive maintenance that keeps your heating and cooling system up to par when you need it most! To schedule service, give us a call at (215) 855-2014 or contact us online at any time.
