Carolina Air

I want to start off by saying the staff has been very friendly and tried to be helpful. I never encountered anybody rude. That said, there are some major problems in the way this business operates.
I have American Home Shield, which is a home warranty company. My old AC finally kicked the bucket. AHS sent out Carolina Air. They analyzed the problem, said some major component was cracked and that it needed to be replaced. AHS authorized replacing with a brand new unit.
A week passed and I never heard from anybody. Carolina Air indicated that AHS would contact me. I got tired of waiting and called AHS and they explained they were waiting on Carolina Air to give them some paperwork so they could send out a new unit. Apparently AHS maintains their own inventory. Well since Carolina Air isn’t using a normal supplier, maybe it was just a minor snafu. If only.
Another week passed, no calls. I called Carolina Air, they confirmed they received a unit (apparently they didn’t check until I called), but it was the wrong size, it was too big for my house and would cause problems, so they needed to send it back.
Several more days. No calls. I called again. The correct unit came in, but they didn’t bother to call me. I asked if we could discuss upgrades outside of the AHS coverage. I wanted to add a whole-​home humidifier and break my duct into two zones (upstairs and downstairs) to maximize efficiency. In addition, I wanted a fancy internet-​connected thermostat to control it all. No problem, they said. They would send me a quote. They also needed to get a permit because of all the changes.
Several days later, I didn’t hear back, so I called again. They were working on it still.
Couple more days, called again. It will be in my email inbox soon. Finally got it. Looks good, approved.
Week later, no calls. Called again, waiting on permit. Week later again, no calls. Called AGAIN, waiting on permit.
Finally a few days later, I called again, permit was ready to begin. Great. Let’s schedule this for a few days later.
Installer comes out VERY LATE. Supposed to be there early and ended up getting to the house around noon. There’s a ton of work to do. I get home around 6pm, still not done. I talked to them and they said they’d be done in 90 minutes to two hours. OK, fine, makes sense, it’s a lot of work.
It’s all done, supposedly. I will hear from them in a few days with paperwork (instruction manuals, warranty cards, and so on) and they are scheduling the city inspector to come out.
Few days later, nothing. Called again. Oh they were supposed to get an inspector out? We’ll work on that and call you later.
Next day, inspector arrives (no call). Few minor things, like I needed an extra CO detector since I have gas heating. Cool. Inspection failed, but it’s all easy fix.
Called again, asked when they could come out to do the few things for the inspector and also install my new internet thermostats that just arrived (they agreed to install them at a later date). They’ll call me back.
Few days later, nothing. Called again. On the schedule.
Comes out, puts a cheesy CO detector that plugs into the wall like a nightlight. I could have done that. I was looking for a professional installation, but whatever. Don’t care. Did not hook up my humidifier.
Called again to schedule for that. OK, they’ll call back. They didn’t. Called the next day and got on the schedule.
They hooked up the thermostats. Great they work. BUT, my humidifier is not hooked up. Huh? I can’t control the humidifier. Call again. They didn’t realize they installed a humidifier. SERIOUSLY. Missing paperwork, excuse excuse. What? We’ll call you back.
But they didn’t. Few days later, called again, okay found the paperwork, get you on the schedule. Comes out for the purpose of hooking up the thermostat’s controller to the humidifier. On the paperwork when I get home? It says «ran water line to humidifier» and then that’s it. Wait, what? Shouldn’t that have been done like two months ago?
Called again, asked about that, didn’t know, call me back.
THIS TIME THEY CALLED BACK. It’s a miracle. Sending somebody out to hook up the humidifier to the thermo. I made sure my wife told them to call me when they were done so I could make sure it was all done and completed.
I got a call. Turns out the humidifier isn’t hooked up! It’s installed, but no ductwork going anywhere. Tech told me he needed to schedule an installer to come out to finish the work. Is this real? WTH?
And here I am. Nobody called me so I just called them and they see what the tech wrote are going to call me to schedule later today. Want to take bets if they do?
BTW, I never received any instruction manuals or warranty cards or maintenance plans or anything.
I’m going from memory, there may have been more calls. it’s been 3 MONTHS since they started.
When they are finally done, I’m hiring somebody else to come out and verify it’s all hooked up correctly, because honestly who knows at this point?

So far here’s what’s happened.
Our upstairs AC went out so we got Carolina Air through our homeowners insurance.
Made an appointment for between 10 – 2 today (about a week after it stopped working). Took the kids to the bus stop and came home to find the technician waiting in our driveway at 9. He had us scheduled for between 8 – 12. Luckily we came home in time to meet him.
He looked at the unit and discovered the coil was frozen solid because we had left our unit running. The person who made the appointment was supposed to tell us to turn the unit off so this doesn’t happen. She did not. So we left it running thinking we would squeeze whatever little cool air out of it we could until it got fixed. At any rate the technician was not able to work on the unit and we had to reschedule.
Now we have to wait another week without AC before they can come out again. I understand this is a sellers’ market this time of year but it really seems like they know they have the upper hand and don’t have to accommodate customers when they screw up.
Needless to say they haven’t actually done any work yet so I’ll update this review when that happens. And who knows, maybe they’ll surprise me with a earlier than expected visit.

I would absolutely not recommend these guys. STAY AWAY like the plague.
Technician came out to my place about 5 weeks ago. Our service window was 12−3PM, but he didn’t actually arrive until 7:25PM.
He did his thing, had me sign some paperwork, left, and he told me the office would call me the next day to discuss next steps. Of course, I didn’t hear anything. The next week, I called in and asked what was going on, they said they’d ordered the part are just waiting on delivery rom the manufacturer. Once the part gets in, they’ll call me to schedule an appointment.
Another three weeks go by, I never hear anything, so I called in and apparently they had never ordered the part in the first place. Something was wrong with the serial number that the technician recorded. They never called me to let me know about this or give me any updates.
Another week goes by, technician comes back out, re-​records the information, and again, he tells me the office will contact me the next day. Here’s the shocker, they didn’t call me.
I called them again today, got placed on hold, was bounced around to three separate people, and at the end of it, I got the same old «we’ll call you later» once we have more information.
If you want to get your units *actually* working, then I’d stay the heck away. If you enjoy a bit of torture, then by all means these guys are perfect for that.

Recommend this totally professional staff & company for 10 Star Service!
We called & had a prompt appointment to diagnose our A/​C problem. The uniformed technician called into office & Beth called us with an appt for Gary Bullard to come out that same morning to discuss alternative solutions. He answered all our questions patiently for a big decision to replace our system. We not only received a rebate from Trane but also will receive one from the utility company… no paperwork for us, all taken care of by Carolina Air. Within 2 days the licensed service team was here with shoe covers, protection for our carpet & floors, their own vaccum, installed everything new and took away all the old including packaging. Amazing, Fast, Quiet, Professional & VIP Service all the way! And we have a 2 year service agreement and warranty with a local reputable friendly USA company in our town. Thank you so much!