Southern Heating & Air Conditioning

Several years ago I had a “clicking sound” at AC startup from the outside unit. Found that a bearing was going bad in the compressor. Decided to have the AC/gas heat preemptively quoted with multiple suppliers, in multiple brands/at three price points (basic/mid range/ and high). Next I added a “hard start” capacitor to the existing single stage system. Lastly, this year I let them do the yearly maintenance on the old system.

THREE THINGS THAT MAKE SOUTHERN HEAT DIFFERENT THAN THE REST:

#1. They were the only ones not determined to sell me an HVAC system right then and there, on the spot, that day. They said let it run. “It might run 2 months. Might run 20 more years with that bad bearing.”

#2 they maintenance guy said the hard start capacitor, over the long haul, adds to the life of the unit. Something I had researched already but he confirmed.

#3 he spent over an hour cleaning and checking the system and didn’t “UP SELL” me a thing. Used my 5”x20”x20” spare filter to replace the existing filter.

These folks are honest. Their prices on a replacement system (when the day comes that I need one) are fair.

Fairness and honesty matter. In a house/attic that I can’t physically manage anymore these things matter.

UPDATED 06/10/2022…

Just had a 23.1 SEER Mitsubishi mini- split installed to cover the FROG area with its own independent system. Also reworked the “air return” in the FROG by blocking it and moving the ducting to a very low profile area at the top of hall way stairs. BARELY NOTICEABLE! Also replaced the “plenum” that was sagging / leaking air to the old/ existing system (not their installation) … I doubt seriously these guys would have EVER come up with that configuration! VERY PROFESSIONAL WORK. BOTH INSIDE AND OUT. LOOKS AWESOME! VERY PLEASED!!!

Needed all my downstairs system taken out and replaced, venting and all. Emergency and in February.
All workers came in, assessed, quickly pulled out and put in new vents in difficult crawl space conditions and even added a new vent in kitchen suggested by them for a real deal that has made my life so much better! They had done my original two story house in 1998 and systems lasted 20 years.

After lengthy conversations with James about the pro's and con's of various units. I chose one and today was the day for installation. Daniel and Chief came out and did a fantastic job. Very customer oriented. took the extra steps to make sure everything was protected while bringing in the air handler to be placed in my attic. Afterwards, all trash was picked up and the floor swept. I would highly recommend Southern Heating & Air.

Bobby Brooks
Broker/Owner
Signature Homes & Land

A year ago, I had a new Heating and AC unit installed by Southern Heating and Air, at my home in Columbia. Just last week, the annual service was carried out as promised. I am very happy with the unit and the professional and friendly service.
Annual service was carried out on a SECOND older unit about two months ago, by another leading company in town, and after this I started having problems with this unit at which time I contacted Mr. John Johnson, Operations Manager at Southern. He came promptly and found problems with mis-wiring etc., carried out by the Tech. belonging to another company. Thanks to Mr. Johnson and his excellent crew at Southern, my older unit is working properly.
Over the past 40 years I have dealt with a number of HVAC companies in the Columbia S.C. area and I am happy to write that the professionalism and customer care provided by Southern is unmatched.

Professor S.

The customer service is the BEST! The owner James is a trustworthy, honest, top quality person. I have used Southern Heating to take care of my heating and cooling units for more than 20 years. I could not be more satisfied.

I've worked with this company through work for 10 years. They always beat the price of companies and were easy to work with. Today I called them to fix my A/C at home. They came out within 1.5 hours of my calling them. Diagnosed the problem quickly, fixed it quickly and charged me what I feel was a fair price. I recommend them!

We Really Want To Thank Southern Heating & Air, Especially Their Great Hardworking Service Workers A.J. & Daniel. They Did Such Great Work, Was Very Professional, Very Courteous & Well-Mannered. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!

I had 6 ton Commerical package unit installed by Southern heating & Air in the Chinese restaurant recently. They did a great job and the price was very reasonable comparing to the other company.

The owner, James is a very nice man. He always tried to help you out and save your budget. And the secretary, Gem is very smiling, friendly lady I have ever met. She is very patient and answer any questions you got.

I highly recommend southern heating & air to everyboday. Not only because their fair price, but also their excellent service and professional installation.

July 2020. We'd been in our new house less than 2 weeks. We woke up on a Wednesday morning realizing the AC had stopped worked. We immediately put in a service request with American Home Shield. When assigned to Southern Air, we waited a reasonable time for them to call us before we decided to call them. After all, it's 96 degrees that day. They said that a service technician can't come out until Friday. It's heat index in the 90-100s the rest the week. So we call our local AC guy, thinking it's probably just needing freon, which AHS doesn't cover anyways. Turns out it's actually a fan motor needing replacement. Our AC guy calls around and the earliest he can get the part in is the following Tuesday. Meanwhile it would cost $700. But he says he can order the part so it's here and ready for the warranty company to just pick it up and pay for it themselves Tuesday.
So we wait until Friday, when the Southern Air technician finds the same problem. When we tell them about the part arriving Tuesday, he says "no, we first have to submit the repair request to AHS, who then takes 1-2 days to approve, and then THEY order the part for us." So we wait until Monday to call Southern Air again to ensure it's approved and get updates on timing. We then find out that Southern Air actually ordered the part... But theirs wouldn't arrive until Friday. After explaining to them that a part is available the next day, they just have to pick it up and pay for it, they decline. Ok fine. We'll wait 3 more days in miserably hot and humid weather until your part arrives. They don't offer to lend us a temporary window unit, nothing. They tell us we're first on the schedule Friday morning for an 8-10am slot. We call Friday at 10am after no one shows up. Apparently we're now in the 11-3pm slot. 3pm comes around and we haven't heard from them. We call them and find out that not only did the part NOT come in, but they'd been calling the WRONG number to try to tell us. They had swapped two digits on the number. So we end up waiting an additional 3 days in excruciating heat (heat index now in the 110s) before they make it out. After calling multiple times Monday morning for status updates, the technician finally made it out after lunch.
Bottom line, had they put half the effort in to find a part in a timely manner, we wouldn't have had to go without AC for 13 days in 100+ temperatures. It's obvious they didn't prioritize our AC outage, which is just unacceptable with small children in the house during this heat. Had it not been for COVID and also having two dogs, we would have gone to a hotel... Believe me, we considered it multiple times. But by the time we paid for a hotel, it would have far exceeded the $700 cost our original AC quoted us.

Got the recommended 3 bids for new heatpump and ductwork evaluation. Not only was Southern less expensive but also sent a technician out twice to make sure the ductwork and returns were satisfactory since we were replacing a 2.5 ton unit with a 3 ton one and the returns are fine. **** We were told we would have to do some upgrading by the other two companies. We also like it that we could talk directly with the owner and Jen the assistant was friendly and helpful. Highly recommended!