Road Rage on the Internet Highway

There will always be negative and positive online reviews. I have to be honest with you... I LOVE GOOD REVIEWS!!! Wouldn’t you?

5 Stars, 4 Stars, 3 Stars 2 Stars or 1 Star or A+ - F rating:

A person normally doesn’t open a company and plan to do a bad job or upset their customers.
They have good intentions of making customers happy and they need their customer’s opinion to make that happen. That opinion does not need to be publicly displayed.
A company can be devastated by bad reviews. Devastation means unemployment for people. Remember... They are going to find work somewhere else anyway, and they will never learn from their mistakes. They will end up working on your furnace, just in another company’s uniform. We can all work together to help our society and we don’t need to publicly cry (Yelp) about our experiences.

If a “customer “ wrote bad things about a company because they were treated unfairly or feel they were ripped off, then it’s fine, as long as the customer tried to resolve the problem by speaking with the owner or manager before posting a complaint that will NEVER be removed from the internet .
If you have a bad experience with a company and you feel you were treated poorly, then talk to the owner or manager of that business. The outcome may be positive for both sides.

A business employs people. People make mistakes or just have bad days. If you encounter a person that made a mistake or had a bad day, do you let the world know or do you discuss it with them. It is your choice!!!

I wonder how this can be the same company?

Reviews for Air, Inc. from Home Advisor

5 Stars 08-18-2015
Review by Robert P. in West Haven, CT
Project: Install a Central Air Conditioning System
The office, salesperson, and the installers were the most efficient and professional people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting! They all did a wonderful job. Thanks!

5 Stars 04-22-2015
Review by Donna P. in North Haven, CT
Project: Install a Tankless Water Heater System
This company is extremely reputable. They did what they said for the price they quoted and were always there for any questions or concerns I may have raised. The people who worked in my home were trustworthy, in and out ahead of schedule and cleaned up very well after the installation. I have nothing but good things to say about them.

Review from Yelp

1 Star 8/19/2015
Review by Langdon A.
A terrible company. I am a renter, and unfortunately my landlord chose this sorry outfit to install an AC system several years ago. Despite being very new, the system failed twice last summer. To be clear, it was twice because these dolts didn't properly diagnose the issue the first time.
The service guarantee Air Inc proclaims on its website ("24 hour service guarantee!") is apparently meaningless, because both times they made us wait over a weekend to come out, including 6 DAYS the second time! One of the women dispatchers was a nightmare to deal with, appallingly rude. The second woman was more courteous, but wasn't anymore helpful, as she didn't bother getting anyone out to us before 6 days. Save yourself a lot of aggravation - avoid this company.

5 Stars 11/25/2015 
Review by Kevin R.
I contracted Air Inc to replace both of my oil furnaces with high efficiency gas units in my multifamily home in New Haven. One unit was forced hot air and the other was a boiler for radiators. It was a complicated job because I also did both water heaters, with the boiler unit becoming a combination boiler and tankless water heater. They also coordinated 0% financing through the utility company, and arranged the removal of my two 275-gallon oil tanks.
I found their service professional and trustworthy. Tom was the guy that created the quotes and Tracy was the woman that coordinated the multiple visits, and install dates. I highly recommend Air Inc. if you are looking to upgrade your furnace or heating systems. I am approaching 1 year on the first furnace with no issues, and a much much lower energy bill. Thanks!!

How this can be the same company?

Review websites have different ways of letting people write their rants and raves on the internet. The review website company can choose what reviews are shown up front to the public, while hiding the other reviews (Good or bad reviews).

Reviews can be found on many websites, such as:

Home Advisor: 

The nation's largest online marketplace for local screened home improvement professionals. Home service and improvement professionals are hired by the homeowner and then the home owner is asked to leave their review after the work is completed.

Better Business Bureau (BBB): Tries to resolve disputes between consumers and businesses. Businesses are accredited, if they maintain a good relationship with customers and they are given a grade of A+ - F, depending how they handle their complaints.

Google Maps: Another place you can write a review of a business. Your reviews are public, so anyone can see what you write. Customers and businesses both benefit when a business is reviewed on Google. Businesses can strengthen their relationship with customers by directly engaging with reviewers on Google.

Yelp: Yelp uses automated software to recommend the most helpful and reliable reviews for the “Yelp community”. The software looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp. Yelper’s are eligible for an “Elite Status” for writing many reviews and other criteria. You can say they are being rewarded for writing as many “useful” reviews as possible. Yelp hides many reviews (good and bad) on the bottom of their page. They refer to them as “reviews that are not currently recommended” (Not recommended by Yelp’s “software algorithm”), but at least they post them somewhere.

Opinion based websites that allow anyone to leave a review on a business, whether they did business with them or not, are not helpful to the business, consumer or community. It is one person’s opinion. Some people like liver and some don’t. Do you care who likes it or hates it? Will their opinion detour you from your decision?

Catch 22

Only a trained service person should attempt to fix a Furnace, Boiler, Central Air Conditioning, Ductless AC or Ductless Heat Pump that has malfunctioned. I understand that people want it fixed immediately. That is why most HVAC contractors offer 24 hour emergency service and employ several HVAC Technicians. There are many technical reasons for a malfunction of any HVAC system. When a HVAC service technician is going to repair a furnace, boiler, heat pump or an air conditioning system, they never know what they may encounter. It can be a fuel problem, an electrical problem, refrigerant problem, component problem or a combination of problems. This can take time to diagnose. No service technician should ever rush this diagnosis because it can turn into a hazardous situation. Some HVAC companies rush their technicians because there are many people calling for service, especially during heat waves or cold weather. If they are rushed they will make mistakes. (That will ensure a bad review) If they are not rushed and they are late to their next appointment because it took them longer to diagnose their fist call’s problem, they will get a bad review from the customer that is waiting for them.

Knee-Jerk Reaction

Imagine if you were late to a family function and your sister hated that you were late. So your sister goes on Facebook and posts something like this... “My brother is always late for everything. It is probably his loser wife that makes him late because she has to put so much makeup on her face to cover up her imperfections. He is wasting our time and I will never invite him or his wife again AND I don’t advise anyone else inviting them to their functions either.” The problem... There can be many reasons why he was late. Bashing him and his wife is definitely not the humane thing to do. If his sister had only TALKED to him about the situation, it could have been resolved. TOO LATE... It is posted on the internet FOREVER!!! The family is now torn apart due to a social networking, personal opinion based, and quick response that the sister decided was a good thing to post at that particular time.

Do The Right Thing!

Post a good review if the business did a great job for you. If the business did something wrong, give the business a chance to redeem themselves before posting anything on the internet. DON’T BE THAT PERSON THAT HAS ROAD RAGE ON THE INTERNET HIGHWAY.

Written by Wayne Krasnow
President
Air, Inc. 171 Short Beach Rd. Branford, CT 06405
Office: 1-203-315-0323

Homeowners have a comfortable home because of their Furnace, Boiler, Central Air Conditioning, Ductless AC or Ductless Heat Pump system.
Air, Inc. provides homeowners with Repairs, Maintenance, Replacement and Installations of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning).
We service Oil, Gas, Propane and Heat Pumps.