Millies HVAC

Our air conditioning broke on a 90+ degree Sunday in August. Millie's HVAC came out that night (Sunday!) to inspect. We needed a new A/C unit and they came back and installed the next day. Price was fair. The guys who completed the installation were friendly and did an excellent job. I was most impressed at how quickly they were able to come out to our house and complete the job.

My HVAC broke on a very hot July 4th weekend at 5pm on a Saturday. I called all the bigger companies and couldn't get an appointment for several days. I prepared my kids for a really hot few days of poor sleep. Then I called Millie's, who sent two technicians out before the end of that very same day. They fixed it on one visit, and charged me substantially less than what I would have been charged by one of the bigger companies like Michaels and Sons. Really excellent service quality and highly competent experts. Professional, nice, and knew what they were doing.

I feel kind of bad for them from a rating standpoint, because looking at these reviews it appears like they got screwed by a one person giving them multiple bad ratings. I had an outstanding experience and would highly recommend them.

July 2019 and our 20 yr old A/C gave out. One of those 2 hottest weeks of the summer where it had been upper 90s for days. Anyway, on Thursday I got quotes from a big A/C company and from Home Depot, fine but after taking over an hour each and various people coming out to give me "comfort advising" they both said they couldn't install until Monday - too much business/customers ahead of me with the same problem. I checked the forecast and it was supposed to be right at 100F all weekend. So I searched again for someone to call, had about three places in mind - all like Millie's here and on yelp --> some really good reviews and some bad too. Anyway, one didn't answer and never called back but Millie's answered right away. I was honestly a little skeptical when they said they could get someone out the very next morning to do it and cost was basically the same (Carrier unit, I could tell from the #s that all the proposals were to install the same model/unit). But sure enough the next morning they arrived - earlier than they had said even - and knocked it out very quickly. Quite good techs. They didnt have any Millie's markings on their shirts or van so seemed subcontracted out, but they were good, quick, and got the job done. Were even quite gentle with some plants and fencing around the external unit - which honestly after a couple nights of trying to sleep in the basement with kids and not much luck, I really didnt care about any more. In short, yes I whole-heartedly recommend Millie's.

When our air conditioner died out a couple months ago, we had our home warranty people come and take a look. They told us the whole system needed to be replaced (which I expected, the system looked like it was from the 80s) and gave us a couple undesirable options, none of which included a warranty-covered replacement. I called around to get some more opinions, and everyone said the same thing and offered their prices for a straight replacement. After calling Millie's and Mark came out, told us the same thing... But further went on to detail some things specific to our case that helped make it dramatically more affordable that nobody else had even considered.
I don't want to go into all the details here of what happened because it may not apply to everyone, but the point is that thanks to Mark's expertise we were able to afford the replacement system with no problem and had the brand new, ridiculously powerful system installed the very next day, which was actually a Sunday, so thanks for that as well!

Great service! They replaced my old heat pump system located in my attic in a hard to reach place. They correctly sized and installed a new system. I also had some supply and return ducts installed into my basement. They performed all the work quickly and very professionally. I have no more issues at all with heating and cooling my 2300 sq ft home. Also got a bi yearly maintenance contract and all is well!!

What a nightmare! Where to begin. We were told that the small project would cost no more than $2,800 (max). After the job was finally completed... We were charged $3,600(paid in full). The duct work that was done began falling apart about 10 months later. My attic is literally cooler than the first 3 levels of my townhouse. These people are unpleasant to do business with. We inquired about fixing the botched job and we were greeted with pure hostility. Needless to say, i wouldn't recommend this company to anyone.

Do NOT USE MILLIE'S. Let me tell you my story as simple as possible:

I bought this house in May 2019. At that time the inspection showed that the AC was poorly serviced and it was a gamble.

In July the AC finally broke down.

Called 3 different HVAC companies and Millies was the only one that would come out same day (originally I thought this was good but now I see its part of their strategy).

Of the 3 quotes I received Millie's was the cheapest (again, at first I saw this as a positive but now I see why it was the cheapest).

The repairman that first came to the house confirmed what all other ones said, that the system was broken and it made more sense to replace the whole unit.

We opted to go with Millie's because they said they could do the work next day for the lowest price with a unit with the exact same output.

Thats where the problems began....

The people who came to do the work were late, very late. When you're given a window and they extend the window its very disruptive to your workday. NOT TO MENTION that we had no AC in the middle of July. I can forgive this though because I can understand that good work takes time.

The folks finally arrive and of the three employees that showed up, NO ONE wore any outfits saying what company they came from. WTH?! If you're asking why this is a big deal, let me tell you why: a uniform if very important when you're trusting a company you don't know to bring people into your home to do a large ticket service. My immediate thought were, are these day laborers? Are they indedpendant contractor? Who has vetted these people as professionals? They came in unmarked vehicles so I couldn't identify if they were part of Millie's or sub contractors? SO WHO DO I GO TO IF SOMEONE GOES WRONG? The uniform is just a small part of answering that question but it GOES very far to providing confidence and assurance to the home owner.

But thats not all.... I called Millie's and spoke to Kamal who lied to me. I asked him if his workers were employees of the company. He said YES. I then asked the workers themselves if they were hired from the company and HE TOLD ME THE TRUTH. He has a regular day job but he is a sub contractor with Millie's and isn't directly employed but hired as needed. Again, so who is the bonded and insured contractor? Millie or this person actually doing the work?

Still why does this matter????? Here's why:

After the installation of the inferior unit (a thing I didn't know at the time) the house took 24 hours to reach 74. The house has high ceilings and about 4K sq ft. Based on what I read online this is questionable. BUT THATS NOT THE ONLY PROBLEM. We set it to 73 and it NEVER reached 73!!!!!

I have a nest thermostat so its very easy for me to monitor my air and with my older (but far superior unit) my house reached 73 easily and cycled off as appropriate. This unit which was sold to me as just as good NEVER REACHES 73 in under 4 hours!!! My unit is cycling about 14 hours per day (this is VERY HIGH) and is barely ever reaching my desired temperatures. MY old unit that was dying could do it and this branch NEW unit can't!!!

So now more problems: Again - the workers said they did everything correct and Millie is saying that the unit is working efficiently but there is no way that Millie can validate the labor of their employees because THERE IS NO ACTUAL MILLIE's supervisor that comes out and approves the WORK!!!!!!

Now I'm back and forth will Kamal from Millie's and my system is costing me A LOT OF MONEY both in the work that was already done and in the electric bill. The contractors just MISSED ANOTHER visit this week to inspect the unit and NO ONE CALLED ME. Not Kamal, not the tech. I had to call in and ask what happened to the visit that was planned. The problem here is that the office doesn't know what the techs are doing because they are not truly employees.

Imagine that Millie's office is a broker of sorts and finds the cheapest labor to actually go to your home and do the work. The two probably never meet.

M

My AC stopped working on one of the hottest July days this summer. I called Millies HVAC that morning and had a whole new upgraded system in place before the end of the day. Their team was responsive. GREAT JOB!

Great service! The technician arrived on time. In under 5 minutes, he identified the problem. From there, he explained that he would have to charge me somewhere around $1000, all told, to fix it, but that given the system's age, it should be covered under warranty by the original installer, so I should try them first. No charge. Millies will be the first place I call if I have an issue in the future.

Last night at 10:45 pm Mark and a small team of his workers came to my rescue at my home in Spotsylvania. Mark arrived in less than one hour after my initial phone call to them and his team was right behind him within 30 minutes of his arrival, They promptly and professionally replaced my busted water heater tank and my furnace that was ruined in what had to be record time in the middle of the night!

I am so impressed by their professionalism, cleanliness, competence and speed they all demonstrated while replacing my bad equipment that I plan on using them to replace some old air-conditioning systems in a couple of my businesses.

Very well done Millies HVAC!
It is very refreshing to know that there are still companies around that value the needs of their customers and go the extra mile to assure our satisfaction.

A very satisfied customer.
Joey Waters
Spotsylvania, Virginia