On 8/13/08 I first contacted the company. At that time, a the problem with the non-cooling AC unit was a leak allowing a drop in refrigerant level. The refrigerant was replaced & a recommendation of ""set-up for a recheck and possible leak search Sept 3 bet 3-5pm"" was made. In Sept 3, 2008 it was determined that the coil was leaking & that an electronic board needed replacement. I agreed to a new unit installation by Acree. March 2012, the air conditioning unit is not cooling. I also discovered around April 1-2 a ""plinking sound"" : small pieces of ice dropping to the floor of the large square empty area right behind the air filter. I called Acree, a technician came out. I mentioned problem & the small ice pieces to the technician & show him where I saw them fall. He feels around the pipes & ducts coming out of the indoor portion of the AC then goes outside to test the outdoor portion.When he returns inside he says that I am *completely* out of refrigerant (which he kept calling by Dupont's brand name Freon) & that the coil was leaking. Repairs would involve replacing the coil (part under warranty) labor cost of $636, refilling the ""Freon"" at $252 & searching for the leak at $132. I thought it very odd that a 3 1/2 year unit would be failing this soon. Part of his response to that was that I had not been maintaining the unit properly & that a problem would have been discovered sooner had I done so, before all the ""Freon"" had leaked out. I thought it odd that TWICE, Acree technicians had diagnosed THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM: a leak with loss of refrigerant, something that, by various other opinions isn't common. I sought a 2nd opinion.The technician from a second company, a project manager actually was able to come by & he first took off the panels over the air handler & coil from the inside unit, something that the Acree technician NEVER DID. He checked manually for leaks, had me run my hands over the coils: here was NO OIL anywhere. Then we went downstairs & he wondered if someone may have manually leaked out the refrigerant. He showed me the valves, & how they operate just like the valves on a tire. He then tested the outside unit & showed me the gauges showing that I had PLENTY OF REFRIGERANT! He explained the significance of both gauges. Thinking something might have been missed, he moved as much of the refrigerant as possible to the outside unit, back filled the lines with nitrogen went upstairs to check for leaks on the coil - he explained that we would know if a leak was there if we could hear the nitrogen escaping and, furthermore, if an area was suspicious, we used soapy water and looked for air bubble formation. No leaks! Next, he thought the problem might be a narrowing in the orifice in the discharge line to the evaporator. To test for this, he explained he could replace the part but that some refrigerant would be lost in the process. I asked for the cost, a fraction of the $1020 quoted by the Acree tech (for services I DIDN'T NEED), & gave the go ahead. The part was replaced, then the refrigerant levels were replaced to the needed operating levels & the unit was turned back on: the air from the vents was cool again. The indoor temperature dropped from 86F to 80F in 2 1/2 hrs from the tech's departure. Before, the unit could not cool below 83F even at night. I have to wonder how many other calls to Acree Air Conditioning for a non-functional AC end up being determined to be that fairly uncommon event of ""completely out of refrigerant"" & faulty coil, given they can rack up between $800-$1100 for taking care of the problem! This company is not interested in its customer's best interests. STAY AWAY FROM THEM! I have since spoken with 2 other people with similar experiences with Acree, and I have contacted the FL Dept of Consumer Affairs with a complaint.
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