ARS/Rescue RooterReviews of ars.com

I used the ARS Rescue Rooter based out of Manasas VA and were a nightmare for my family and I. As I write this my pregnant wife and two toddlers have been without heat in our home for nearly two weeks in sub freezing temperatures. Two service technicians have been to our home and failed to fixed the problem and made us wait days for the wrong part. They make promises and then break their word. They don’t respond to phone calls. They arrive hours late for their appointments without explanation or regard for your schedule. I legitimately felt they put my family’s health at risk in dangerously cold conditions. I’m not sure if they are really that incompetent or they genuinely don’t give a crap about other human beings. If I could give them zero stars I would.

ARS Installed my HVAC last July 2021. Inspection was only scheduled last November 16 and ARS failed the city inspection so miserably. Some failed items are too basic that I don't understand why their "professional" installers missed it (hint: maybe not professional at all). ARS sent another "professional" technician to "fix" the issues last December 2. After the work, the tech told me he don't have the correct sticker and he will come back within the same week to attach the new sticker to the air handler unit. Guess what happened? He didn't come back. ARS scheduled another appointment to bring the sticker today, December 22, 2021. They gave me a window of arrival from 9am to 1pm. At the time of this review, 3:20pm, technician hasn't arrive. Take note that this whole freaking appointment is just to stick a sticker to the air handler. I gave them multiple calls, same excuses, the technician is not done yet with with prior installation. ARS has no respect for people's time. If you promised 9am to 1pm, come on time and I don't care if you have to move mountain to be on time, JUST BE ON TIME for crying out loud. That's what professionals do. HOME DEPOT, if you are reading this review, it's about time to get rid of ARS from your list of service providers.

On October 19th, I filed my second BBB complaint on ARS. Shortly after filing my first complaint, the corporate representative called me and informed me that she had looked into my case and was going to look into giving me an option for refund or having a replacement air scrubber unit installed into our home. I opted for a refund since we are ready to put this house onto the market for sale. In her reaching out to provide some kind of conciliatory intervention, I was prepared to retract my last BBB complaint. On October 25th, she called me back to inform me that the only thing ARS would do was to replace the defective unit in the house that I sold two months ago and no longer have any connection with! She said this decision was made in accordance with honoring the warranty. The issue is that I called for service in a reasonable period of time before the house was sold and they failed to respond appropriately or responsibly. It appears that from the outside looking on, they knew that if they stalled long enough, the issue would go away because there would be nothing they could do since the contract for the warranty was under my name and attached to that particular address. That is what ARS has been telling me throughout this litigation and now they are telling me that they can replace the air scrubber at a house that we sold two months ago and have no connection with? How is that supposed to reconcile or benefit my investment of having paid almost $1,300.00 for something that was defective? If this was one issue in and of itself, I might have been able to walk away from this. But, we went six weeks this Spring with no air conditioning because they misdiagnosed an issue where I was going to have to pay $560.00 for a new control unit not to mention labor. I received no phone calls to inform me the status of the part that they were waiting for. I was the one that had make repeated phone calls to find out what was happening. When the part came in, the tech informed me that it was not the control unit that was bad, it was a faulty thermostat that was under warranty and was replaced at no charge. This thermostat was replaced less than a year prior because of a defective thermostat out of warranty that we paid for. In 2015, we had ARS install two new heat and air units. In 2016, one month after the one year warranty expired, one of my units quit working because the compressor went bad. I had to go through Corporate to address the issue because ARS told me that I was going to have to pay for the replacement compressor! Come to find out, the unit was improperly installed and caused the compressor to burn out. ARS fixed the issue and replaced the compressor but not without having to go up the chain of command. I have been with ARS for six years and have had other numerous issues that have not been as egregious as the three I have just mentioned. I have given them grace and extended patience hoping that I could appreciate their moto "Making it move, making it right." Touting their , "Exceptional Service" and their Guaranteed Satisfaction stating: "If you are dissatisfied with our work in your home, within one year of the date of the original invoice, we'll make every effort to meet your expectations & cheerfully refund 100% of your money." Through the six years that I have used their company, they have fallen short of their exceptional service guarantee. This company is overrated with a three star rating! ARS's response to my BBB complaint was nothing more then checking a block for the company and inflammatory to their "Exceptional Service Guarantee"! ARS needs to remove their mottos!

I have been using ARS since 2004. they have replaced two A/C units and I have had a maintenance contract since 2004. I always hated the customer service, but I dealt with it. I always hated when the techs came to do my 6 month maintenance. The upselling and BS was always annoying. I have thrown 4 techs out of my house over the years. This past Saturday was the last straw. The tech was very pushy and was trying get paid cash to do work. He gave me a quote for $3200 to do repairs on an A/C that keeps my house cold. I have no issues with my unit. I have another company coming out to check my A/C today. No more ARS!

This company, (and specifically the Norcross office), has extremely terrible "customer relations," especially with customers that have a "supposed service plan." They DO NOT honor their service plan of making trice a year regular "preventive maintenance," and as a result of their NOT regularly coming out to do "preventive maintenance" one ends up with frequent breakdowns on the heating and air conditioning units, which are less than 4 years old, and which cost $8000 to originally install, and thus, they charge the customer a "diagnostic fee" to determine what the problem might be, which they failed to do their promised "preventive maintenance" work to ensure that nothing would go wrong. Furthermore, their service technicians are incompetent in regards to making certain that when they do come out, (and charge you each time that they come out even though the customer has an annual "service plan"), to fix a problem, that supposed fix might possible only last a month before the exact same problem occurs again, and they once again charge you to come out and fix the problem that WAS NOT properly fixed the first time that they came out to fix it. I WOULD NOT recommend this company to anyone, and in particular I would advise any "potential customers" NOT TO TRUST their "supposed annual service contract."

I got a new unite installed and after 3 months I started having issues. So I called ARS and said that my ac was off on the temperature in my house. When the guy got here he was surprised that the ac was working. I told him that I never said it didn't work. I said that the temperature was off in my house that when its at 78 my thermometer in the house says its 82 in the house and everyone is sweating. He said that the nest thermostat put itself on home away so it will keep it at 82 to 85 which I get but I am constantly looking at my thermostat and it never goes above what I set it at 78 but yet my other thermometer says its 82 in the house. He then told me that there might be a clog in the pipe that he would have to vacuum out and put cleaner down. Just those two things which I could have done myself if I knew. He charged me 251.00 dollars for. I am still under full warranty. 251.00 later the problem is still not fixed. Then he tries to sell me a uv lamp which I previously already had. So my husband got home and called the company to have them come out around 6-630pm when he was home. So not going anywhere and not cooking dinner the guy that was supposed to come called me and said that we are going to have to reschedule because they only do emergency's that late at night. I told him it was because my husband was home at that time and that I got taken advantage of the day before when my husband was not home. He said sorry that I felt that way and that I would have to reschedule a time a when me and my husband where home which is literally what I already did. Then I called the company to get refunded because I am under warranty for a full year. I have called the company 5 times asking about my refund and I get the same answer that they will send it over and I should hear something back from their billing department. Still the ac does not work correctly and still I have not received my money back after a month. This is hands down the worst experience I have ever had with any kind of company. I will never ever deal with this company again. I would defiantly never recommend anyone to this company to save them stress and a hard time!!!!

ARS had installed 2 HVAC Units and a split unit previously. When the more recently installed HVAC stopped working, I had the unit maintenance person (already scheduled for seasonal visit) confirm an appointment for a technician to work on the problem during an 8 to 12 noon window. When the tech missed the window, I called for an ETA an was told “closer to 4 p.m. Again the tech missed the window and obligations required all to leave the premises. At a few minutes to 5 pm the tech called at which point I informed him I was on the other call filing a complaint. ARS reassured me that being placed on “on demand” status would have a tech to the home ASAP. Dispatch took my complaint and said a manager would be giving a call back. At 5:10 pm a call came (of course when I was indisposed.) I called the number back two minutes later but was able to reach anyone—not that anyone actually wanted to be reached…. I called back a second time requesting a call to set an appointment. At this point, I’m back at square one with no HVAC, no appointment, and living an hour away from the project at hand. The next morning, no phone call from ARS. I call and get on the schedule as “ a work in.” Again, no tech and no advisory update as to when a tech might be available. Sensing the continuation of poor service, I called another HVAC company with a 5 star rating. Tech arrived by 1 pm, quoted a price for repairs and completed the job without as much as a phone call from ARS. Will never use them again. H

Paid over $9k for a complete replacement. The deal was for replacement of the entire unit, 2 free filters, duct cleaning and sealing. They did the unit replacement but failed to replace the 30 amp breaker with a 20. They didn’t bring the filters so I had to use the “cut yourself” type that i happened to have on hand. They didn’t clean out seal the ducts and when I call to get these things scheduled they say they’ll call back and never do. I even called to find out what size filter I need, they say they’ll have the parts department call but they never do. This is a trash company, don’t use them for anything if you want it done right.