Recently(first week of 5/11), we responded to an valpak ad to have our A/C duct cleaned for our condo. United Air Care customer service sales person Josh was very polite and explained all the details about the terms and conditions of the coupon. So, we decided to take an appointment to have a general cleaning of our A/C duct at $39 which includes up-to 8 ducts and any additional ducts would cost $16 / duct. Then on the day of appointment, a big guy called Jerry came along with another Hispanic guy, who in the end was doing all the work.

From the time they entered and till they left we were not comfortable talking with Jerry at all. First of all his attitude. He kept on saying the coupon offers a basic cleaning which would do nothing much, and we should get a deluxe clean which would costs $150 more. Worst part was, he mentioned additional ducts would costs $25 not $16 as mentioned by Josh, the Customer Service guy. When my wife called the company, they kept on saying Josh is not working that day. In the meantime, Jerry was showing his urgency as, we should make the decision quickly or else he would charge for his time too. What a Joke!!!

We decided to continue with the basic cleanup. At that time, the whole drama began. Jerry went up the attic to check or that's what he claims, and came back saying our entire A/C duct is in bad shape and needs a complete replacement. His explanations were there are lot of bacterias around the furnace, things are broken etc etc. He would never show a picture of the same(though Josh guy had said they will always take digital pictures and show it to customers). Our condo is just 7 years old and there is no way things could have turned into the ways he is talking about. His way of talking was like, as if we are holding him off from doing that work. Above all, when my wife asked for the price of replacement package, twice he mentioned its too expensive and we won't be able to afford it!!! That's right, that is what he said. At that point of time, my wife called me at work and explained the situation. I smelled something is wrong here and told her to just get them off right away. Since the Hispanic guy was done with the so called basic cleaning, we asked them to leave the place at that time. Of course, they promptly collected $39 and wouldn't really document anything about their findings. There was a point of time, which made me worried about the safety of my wife and our 20 month daughter. Truly, I shouldn't be making these kind of comments about contractors but this situation was little bit too much.

Next day, I called their office and left them a strong VM. Someone called me withing 30 minutes and very patiently listen to me about the previous day happenings. He obliged that Jerry's behavior was wrong and would speak with his manager and get back to me. Its been 2 weeks and no responses from them whats so ever. The same day we took an appointment with another A/C maintenance which is recommended by our home protection plan company. They took a look of the entire thing and said everything is fine but for the Furnace filter. The guy even laughed when we told him, that Jerry told us about the bacteria in the furnace. So in the end, with some uncomfortable and weird moments, we got saved from a big rippoff!!!

I have decided to complain about United Air Company in all the boards out there and even thinking of speaking with the BBB. Any suggestion or advices on them, please let me know. I have seen in this forum and other, about similar complaints. We all need to take this action together and teach them a lesson.

I cancelled prior to service since I felt their extra charges were bogus. I was approved by GE and cancelled the account too. All cancellations were done within 24 hours. Now I receive a letter from a collection agency representing United Air Care for services.
Beware of United Air Care. Use Twitter, Facebook, etc. to warn people about this company!

n response to a $79 coupon from Valu-Pak, I scheduled air-duct cleaning from my 3bd rental home on a Friday afternoon, 9/5/08. The sales rep, "Shawn", showed up with a non-English
speaking Mexican guy (who did all "the work" while Shawn was busy trying to sell me on $100's of dollars worth of extra product) They had a very impressive vacuum machine with them and Shawn explained that it exerts " 5 tons of negative ion pressure". Shawn told me that he only needed one duct vent open to hook the machine up to--that the machine was powerful enough to suck all of the dust and debri out of the entire system from the one vent.
Not far into the work set up, Shawn told showed me where there was a duct in my attic that had been improperly sealed with duct tape (by my landlord, most likely). I climbed up the ladder and looked into the attic as he explained to me what he was talking about. Shawn highly recommended that this duct be sealed properly with flexible, metallic tape. He offered to tape this duct properly for me as a courtesy, "no extra charge." I would think that this little taping procedure would be a standard part of cleaning the air ducts properly, but he acted as if he were doing me a big favor. After all, how can you suck all the air and debri out if there are leaks in the system?
As his worker was vacuuming the ducts, Shawn suggested that I stay outside. He came outside on the patio with me for most of the time trying to sell me on a new Electrostic Gold filter $181.00) and a UV Light Cleanser ($650.00). I told Shawn right up front that I was in financial hardship and although I agreed that these products made good sense, it was not a good time for me to invest in them at this time. He continued to hard-sell "pressure" me, albeit in a very friendly way, to purchase these extra products, offering to break the cost of the UV Light Cleaser into three monthly payments and to give me a slight discount on the cost. After listening to his enthusiastic convincing and reading the brochures he gave me, I gave in, and agree to purchase the filter and UV unit if I could pay in three monthly installments. I assumed they would invoice me for these installments, as most companies do.
At the end of their work, as Shawn was writing up the invoice, I noticed that he had not filled out the section that outlines my three monthly payments for the UV unit. I asked him to fill it in before I signed. As he did so, he stated that he needed me to write three checks, up front, (two of them could be post-dated). I balked at this and told him that I would write a check for the duct cleaning, air filter and 1/3 of the UV cleanser and asked that they invoice me for the other two payments. He insisted that he was "not allowed" to accept my payment any other way--that he must have the checks up front and that he "promised" the post-dated checks would not be cashed sooner than the date indicated on the check. Of course, I knew that legally, most banks could easily cash a check upon presentation of it, whether it was post-dated or not. I argued this point with Shawn, but he insisted that his company would not submit the post-dated checks to be cashed until the dates stated they should be cashed. Shawn was very smooth at gaining my "trust" and convincing me to do it his way, plus, the UV unit had already been installed and the ducts had been "cleaned" so I felt pressured to just write the checks, get them out of there and take a "leap of faith" that I would be treated fairly. I had a meeting to get to that night so I could not spend more time belabored these details with him.
When I started to sign the invoice/service agreement, I noticed that I was stating to have "checked and approved the work", but I had not yet done so. When I told Shawn that I did not want to sign the contract until I've checked the work, he told me I could not go in there for at least 15 minutes because they had just done a "smoke check" and it would be dangerous for my health. Even though they had given me a dust mask and we had been walking in and out of the house while they were working, Shawn insisted that I should stay outside until at least 15 minutes after they had left. I told him that I still wanted to check that the ducts had been taped up as he promised and he assured me that they had been. Shawn told me that if I were not satisfied with the service they provided, I could simply call the office and they would come back to correct the situation, but that I should not go into the house for at least another 15 minutes, to protect my health. So I decided to trust his word, wrote him three post-dated checks to pay for the very expensive UV Light Cleanser and signed the contract.
Soon after they left, I had a function to attend so had to leave for the night. The next day, I had a client to work with, so was gone all day. On Sunday, I finally had time to undo all of the vents and climb up to the attic to check United Air Care's work. The Vent he pointed out to me was NOT taped as he promised. Plus, each of the vent covers and some of the openings were filthy with dust and debri. Most likely, the super-duper vacuum unit did not suck all of this out because the ducts had leaks in them.
When I called on Monday to request that Shawn come back out to complete the job satisfactorily, I spoke to the manager, Denny Amar, who was very curt with me. After trying to explain my disatisfaction, amidst him frequently interrupting me, I began to get an even more bitter taste with this company. Since I did not feel I was being listened to, I asked him to please have Shawn call me so we can get him back out here to complete the job and show me where he believes the ducts were taped in the attic. Denny assured me that he would call Shawn as soon as he hung up with me and ask him to call me ASAP that day. I left at 5:30pm that day to attend a business meeting. When I returned at 10:00pm that night, I listened to a voice mail message from Shawn (he called at 6:23pm to tell me that they DID tape the ducts and that I must be confused about where to look in the attic--he did not offer to come out to finish the work or show me where they taped the duct). I then began to look back on the entire service visit with a clear head, and in hindsight, recognized some red flags. Now I'm suspicious, so I began doing some online research on United Air Care and found several consumer complaints written about them. When I called the manager back the next day, 9/8/08, I was told he "was on another line". Reading over their customer "agreement" I realized that they required any complaint to be in writing. So, after much searching for an address to write to (without success), I wrote a complaint through their "contact us" section on the website and then faxed them over a copy of the complaint. My letter informed them that I stopped payment on my checks to them and requested they send someone out to finish the work satisfactorily before I re-cut any checks to them. I also stated that I had second thoughts about purchasing the UV Light Cleanser and requested them to take it back. I explained to them that I had changed my mind on the purchase because I no longer trusted the company and because I was in the midst of financial hardship.
Soon after I faxed over the complaint letter stating that I stopped payment on my checks to United Air Care, Denny, the manager that I'd spoken to on 9/8/08, called me. Instead of working with me to rectify my dissatisfaction with the service provide me on 9/5/08, Denny became defensive and combative with me. He even threatened to "sue me for fraud"--for writing bad checks--and to report me to the credit bureaus, etc.). Although I stated to him several times that I intended to re-cut a check to United Air Care as soon as Shawn came back to finish the work completely, Denny continued to argue with me. Because I knew I was not being listened to or cooperated with, and because I was running late for a client appointment, I told Denny we would need to resolve this later and that I expected a call back from Shawn to come back out and show me where he believes the duct was properly taped up. That conversation was on 9/9/08. I have already vacuumed out all of the debri and dust from the openings of each duct vent and cleaned the vents. I have not yet received a call back or any kind of communication from United Air Care, although Denny had threatened to take me to court. What would YOU do?

I had a $49.95 dollar coupon that ended up $4,518 dollars.

I told him I was a first time home buyer and that he could be ripping me off.

The technician told me if he did half the job I would run the risk of the furnace breaking down and it would cost me 10-15 thousand to get a new one. Also told me that if I called sears they would charge me 5 or 6 thousand. I called sears 1 week later they charge 189.95 for 8 vents, $19.95 for each additional,$50 bucks for blower motor cleaning. To compare these con-artist charged $690 for 9 vents, $500 for blower motor cleaning. Just to give an idea of the major rip off I have encountered. I spoke with the person who handles the complaints and got no where.