SCAM ALERT - Finding Honest Air Conditioning Companies

LABELLE, FL. -- Searching for a good, honest air conditioner repair company may be difficult in the hot summer months in Florida, as many use advertisement that are either false or misleading.

Finding An Honest Company - Certifications and Online Reviews

We researched a few Fort Myers companies, after learning that the North American Technical Excellence organization (NATE) tests technicians and lists those who qualify for certification on it's website. NATE certifies for Air Conditioning, Heat Pump, and Duct Work, all with separate certifications. It is not clear from NATE's website which certifications are held by each technician or company. To verify, one must have the technician's NATE ID number.

Unlike many certifications that may only require passing a basic test or focus on narrow specialties, NATE (North American Technician Excellence) certification requires both academic proficiency and hands-on work experience (minimum two years) before attempting the exams. The required tests assess a technician’s understanding of not just theory, but practical skills in safety, diagnostics, proper installation, and system optimization across numerous HVAC specialties.

We did an online search for NATE certified technicians in Fort Myers and started looking them up on the NATE website and calling the companies. Note that technicians come and go rapidly at some companies so the certified technicians may not longer be at the companies cited.

Kobie Cooling has 15 NATE certified technicians according to NATE. We did notice that the email address listed on NATE for Kobie (EIBOKDERF@GMAIL.COM) goes unanswered. Fred Kobie, Sr. has all three NATE certifications for AC, Heat Pump, and Duct Work. Kobie says all his techs are certified, although we could not verify that.

Home-Tech does not advertise anything about it's technicians' training or certification, but on checking with NATE it was found they have 5 persons listed as certified. 

Next was Advanced Air And Refrigeration. NATE's website said they had 2 certified techs. In a story we wrote last year,  the head of the training department said they did not believe much in the NATE certifications, saying the test was old and out of date. He said at one time he personally had the certification, but let it lapse. He indicated one of his trainers may have the certification when we spoke to him.

Comfort Supply LLC in Naples has 1 certified tech. Plankey Air LLC in Naples has 1 certified tech. Enchanted Air LLC in Alva has 1 certified tech.

Advice: Check YouTube for air conditioning videos for an overview of what might be broken, and how to repair, check reviews for the company on Yelp.com and the Better Business Bureau. Look for the one and two star reviews so you know the worst that can happen. Pretty much ignore the 5-star reviews as that means they're "perfect," which is pretty unlikely to be consistently true.

Ask ahead of time what their service call charge is (typically $140-190) which is to be paid no matter what they do or don't do. You won't be able to find the total cost until they come out and look. and then either accept or decline they do the work.  Remember, although the company will claim all their employees are well trained, that may not be the case at all, and shortcuts, used parts, dishonesty, and incorrect repairs may be experienced. 

Watch them do the repair and don't allow them to replace parts without verifying the part is bad and is replaced with the exact replacement, especially capacitors which may often be replaced with the incorrect micro-farad value, or a used one, which may work, but will place wear on the air conditioner and work inefficiently if incorrect. Expect a labor and part cost of up to $300 to replace a simple capacitor. Other repairs may skyrocket the cost.

Don't be afraid to file a report or your experience or complaint on the Better Business Bureau, and on Yelp, and Google reviews sites.

NATE Certification look up: https://natex.org/homeowner/find-a-contractor-with-nate-certified-technicians/find-a-contractor-with-nate-certified-technicians