Here in the Kansas City area there are plenty of heating and air conditioning companies. When it comes time to repair or replace your system, most people go to Google and search for someone to help them.
But how do you choose the best one that is going treat you fairly and honestly? That is a very good question.
Start With The Basics – Is The Company Qualified?
There are some basic qualifications to look for when hiring the right furnace and air conditioner company. These are simple questions to ask and should be easy for a reputable company to answer:
- Are you a licensed heating and cooling company?
- Are you insured?
- Are your employees background checked?
- How long have you been in business?
- Are your technicians sub-contractors or company employees?
- Do the technicians wear shoe covers when they enter the home?
- Do the technicians have experience?
In addition, with Covid-19 being around these days, there are additional questions to ask regarding their policies and procedures:
- Are the technicians wearing masks?
- Will the technicians wipe down thermostats, door handles, and hvac components in the house?
- Are the technicians leaving service tickets or can they be emailed?
- Are the technicians using hand sanitizer before and after leaving the home?
All of these questions are important as a baseline to choosing the best heating and air conditioner company for your Kansas City home. Once you feel satisfied with these answers, it’s time to figure out what else is important when choosing someone to service your home.
All About The Service or The Sale?
Customers today all want the same thing – to be treated fairly when it comes to maintaining their homes. Most folks don’t know how to repair an air conditioner or maintain a furnace. So they rely on their local companies to be honest with them. But how do you know when they are being honest? A couple of ideas:
- Are you getting upfront pricing? Each repair for your system should have a price that the technician gives you before doing the repair. And that should be the final price that you pay.
- Does the technician push for a replacement instead of a simple repair? A lot of heating and air conditioning companies pay commissions to technicians for referring service customers to their replacement department. While this can make some sense on older systems, it is not the case for every system. The expected lifespan for a heating and cooling system is about 18 years in this area. So if your equipment is less than 15 years old, it may make more sense to repair the system. And if your system is less than 10 years old, it makes no sense to replace it.
- Does a technician seem to “find a repair” every time they come to your home for your annual maintenance? Believe it or not, some companies instruct their technicians to find something that needs a repair and then pays commission on that repair to the technician.
- Is the company locally, family owned and operated? Family ownership is important because families take care of families, especially in a city like Kansas City. This area is known for taking care of each other, and that means treating people with fairness and respect. Customers are their neighbors, and friends, and fellow church goers. And maintaining those good relationships are important for personal and business reasons.
- Will the company really listen to you and address your concerns? Every situation is different when a service company is allowed into the home of a customer. An honest and fair company will listen when there is an issue and do what is necessary to make sure their customers are treated fairly. Companies that have been in business a long time understand that customer service really is the key to creating a company that employees and customers want to be a part of.
To sum it up, people these days want experiences to feel good. They want to feel that the company that showed up treated their homes with respect and their wallets fairly. People want to feel that the company that they support actually appreciates that support.
Family businesses are built on those relationships and wouldn’t exist without them. When you can become part of a family, it makes both sides have a mutual respect and understanding that they have each other’s back. And that the company will always be there to take care of your home, and that the customer will always be there to support the company. That’s how you know you have chosen the best heating and cooling company in Kansas City.