Duke City Heating & Cooling

First time calling Duke City for service and I will be calling them back! Mike was excellent, took the time to troubleshoot, and was focused on getting my heater fixed no matter what! I can definitely say Duke City is caring and provides quality service!

I was very impressed with Duke City Heating and Cooling and the two technicians that came to my home. I needed the swamp cooler and furnace winterized. Estevon and Sam were both professional, courteous, and went the second mile to make sure everything was taken care of! Thank you!

Our furnace stopped working. We called Duke City, and they were able to come out same day (on a Thursday). Great. They diagnosed the issue within 30 minutes and were gone within the hour. Excellent. Unfortunately, they had to order the part, which wouldn’t be in until Monday. Originally, the technician said they’d be out first thing Monday morning to get the part installed. I asked the tech before he left what was the price for everything. He verbally estimated $350-$375. I wasn’t given the price in writing, showing the breakdown of the costs (this was my error, I should know better.) They called us Friday evening to let us know they couldn’t make it Monday. So after being quoted a price WITH expedited shipping, and to the fault of the company, we waited for install- we expected that original price to go down. They came that following Wednesday, and it was fixed within 30 minutes.

Total cost $374.06, after they were nice enough to give a 5% military discount. No invoice provided. However, I paid, and they were on their way.

My wife immediately pointed out the math didn’t add up. She called after the tech left to follow up regarding the charges.

I received my invoice the next morning around 8:30, as follows:
$195.00 for the part (hot surface igniter)
$170.00 for labor (2 hours worth)
Plus tax

I began to do research, as the original quoted price for the part was roughly $55. After calling around, I was told by parts companies that they won’t release prices of parts or sell to the general public, only to contractors. However, I found the price for the part online, ranging $49 to $58, which is not the wholesale price that contractors get.

My friend, who works for a local HVAC company decided to help. Here were the costs of the parts, as quoted by the 4 parts companies that they called -
1) $17 (the company Duke City got the part from - Johnstone Supply)
2) $13.76
3) $16.57
4) Same price as above, but plus shipping.

Duke City charged me $195 for a $14-$17 part through their company. That is flat out robbery. I understand wanting to make a little extra profit. Business has to make money. But, even giving them the benefit of the doubt, and saying they spent $20 on the part, that’s almost 10x the price of the actual part!

My wife called Duke City and questioned Gloria, regarding the markup. She told my wife, “Well, that’s the price that was quoted by the first technician that did the diagnostic. I don’t know where the miscommunication happened.” Upon further request of resolution (as an “oh well” is not sufficient, she was told one of the business owners would follow up by tomorrow morning).

UDPATE
They sent me the invoice that they claim came from the parts company (Johnstone) and they broke it down as $88.60 for the part, and $99.55 for the freight/handling. Remember though, up above my friend clearly got a quote of $17 from the same company, for the same part. So something is up. Also, $99.55 for freight/handling?! Expedited shipping?Even though they knew they couldn’t make it out until 3 days following their original promise of installation (Monday)? Regardless, if they gave me that price breakdown on the initial day of diagnoses, I would have turned it down. But, they didn’t.

At the end of the end of the day, yes- the original price matched. But Duke City changed their breakdown- now, our invoice shows TWO hours of service and FOUR times the original quoted price on the part (when, really the part is only $17, as verified by another local HVAC contractor).

Now, my own opinion is that Duke City works with this company to inflate the prices of the parts that they sell. (We were also told by our friend, Johnstone will match a company’s original quote to a client in an effort to support small businesses, regardless of what the actual price is.) No wonder these parts companies won’t release the price of the parts to the general public. Morally questionable obviously. I can only imagine how many people they do this to on the daily.

First of all, this was the first company we called that actually picked up the phone so we could talk to a real person!
Paul and his apprentice arrived promptly at the arranged time, were efficient and friendly, and got the job done.
Cost was fair.
Highly recommend this family-owned business.

Love working with Duke City Heating and Cooling! They have done several jobs for me and always do high quality work. Employees take pride in their work and are very trustworthy. Would definitely recommend!

Jason and Jamie have helped me out several times, swamp cooler and plumbing. Always friendly, professional, clean up after the job, and happy to listen to help resolve all issues. Also punctual and you gotta love the paintjob on their work truck.

I hired DCHC to install a heater as well as flex duct in my crawl space about a year ago. Upon servicing my AC for the spring I noticed that they had in fact replaced and fabricated a new flashing and plenum going from my AC down into my roof. None of the seems were sealed and I noticed a large amount of air leaking from every direction onto my roof. The duct work had also been run over a number of fragile belongings in my attic. I called and was told that someone would come out to fix the problem. DCHC came out to seal the seems on the flashing above the roof which I had already repaired with metal tape the best I could. They apologized, said that there's "no excuse" for such a thing, and sealed the seams with a liquid agent. Per request, one of the owners inspected the crawl space for any additional leaks and concluded that everything was fine.

(For context; the original flashing (and plenum) were installed with the new AC I had purchased in 2015, 3 years prior to DCHC's visit. I
had personally serviced the AC and heater numerous times and was well familiar with the appearance and condition of the duct work above and below the roof. There were no open seems on the original flashing and it consequently didn't require any taping.)

A month or so later, I was bombing my crawl space for bugs and noticed that the plenum was leaking from the junction at the roof into my attic/crawl space. Reasonably frustrated at this point, I called again and confirmed a visit for Tuesday 9/17/19. DCHC confirmed the night before that there would be people out to finish the work between 9-10am. The morning of, I received a call from Mike (Owner) at about 9:05am. To my astonishment, Mike had for some reason now decided that his workers didn't actually tear out the original flashing and in so many words told me that DCHC was done working at my residence. I explained (Less than politely) that DCHC had already apologized for the botched install and voiced my frustration that he (Mike) was trying to insinuate that DCHC hadn't done anything wrong in the first place. Mike then suggested that I contact the roofing company to verify that they hadn't installed the leaking flashing when they had originally installed the AC. I informed Mike, again, that the flashing wasn't leaking before DCHC did the install and assured him that I was familiar enough with my own home to see that the flashing and plenum had been torn out upon DCHC's initial visit.
It was at this point that Mike doubled down and insisted that they "didn't install the flashing in the first place" and that he "Won't expect an apology ..[when I prove him correct]." ... An argument ensued and at one point I put my wife on the phone to explain, again, that the old flashing was indeed installed prior to DCHC's visit and that she had personally witnessed the DCHC team assembling the new flashing on the day of the install in our driveway. Mike very reluctantly agreed to send someone out to finish the work that DCHC had already committing to doing the night before and months prior. The time confirmed for the work was between 9-10am; I got off the phone with Mike for the last time at about 9:40am. The latest worker (Aaron) was very polite and professional and did what he could with what was done. I have multiple years' experience in general contracting and can deduce that the only way to ensure a seal comparable to before DCHC arrived would be to install a new (singular piece) flashing along with a new plenum. I doubt very much however that the company would be willing to oblige at this juncture.
I don't typically write reviews (good or bad) but the utter lack of respect and professionality demonstrated by Mike (An owner of the company) to a paying customer in dealing with a MAJOR oversight is simply something I couldn't abide. I won't be suggesting DCHC to anyone and hope that they can perhaps in the future do a better job of being accountable for their work and their demeanor in dealing with a client. Advice: CHECK THEIR WORK THOROUGHLY!

Jason had done some work on my a/c earlier. Then I tried replacing my thermostat by myself. When the furnace wouldn't turn on, I called Gloria and she gave me Jason's number. He talked me through the troubleshooting steps, even while he was busy on another job. The fuse had blown and he showed me how to find it and where to get another one. Easy. I am so grateful that he was willing to take the time to talk me through this problem.

Very HONEST!! Best company I've dealt with for any home service. Honesty is a rare trait in any home service business. Their rates are extremely reasonable.
Our condenser wasnt turning on, they came out in the cold and wind on 4/11 and figured out it was the breaker. After they left, I thought the A/C wasn't cooling, so they turned around and came back out and told me it would take longer to bring the temp down because it's cold outside..boy did I feel like an idiot..haha But they were very kind about it and didn't charge me for coming back. I cant even tell you how much I appreciate their honesty and kindness. If we have another problem, I will definitely contact them again!

These guys were great. I recommend them without reservation. We have an older home and hard well water. They gave great advice and we will definitely call them again. All our plumbing problems are solved for the holidays!