Independent Air

I am an HVAC technician in Austin, Texas. My mother lives in Altoona. She called me a few days ago (5 June 2015) because her AC quit working. She described a few of the symptoms over the phone and I made a loose diagnosis based on what she was telling me. She said she was going to call Harris AC because they installed it. I said okay, but I asked her to call me when the AC guy was there so I would know what the issue was. Fast forward to Friday, 5 June 2015. Harris sent a technician out and gave her his diagnosis. She called me to let me know everything was okay. I asked what he found and what he was doing to fix it. She relayed the information she was provided, «The coil is frozen the guy said, and he is adding some Freon right now.» I asked, «How long has he been there?» She told me less than 15 minutes.
Friends and neighbors, that is bad. It takes more than 15 minutes to thaw a frozen coil, and charging a unit when it is frozen is a guaranteed way to over charge the unit. This is HVAC 101. I got on the phone to tell the guy to not add any refrigerant and asked him some very technician specific questions about his trouble-​shooting procedures. As a supervisor and a 15 year technician I can tell you without a doubt that he made up his answers. That’s fine, one bad tech doesn’t mean a bad company. I made a phone call to Harris and asked to speak with the Service Manager. The person that answered made the mistake of defending his actions as common practice stating, «We normally add a couple of pounds to a frozen system to get them by until we can return.»
By this point you’re thinking, «What’s the big deal with a couple of pounds of refrigerant?» Well, in this case the refrigerant is R-​22 which is currently being sold to the customer at rates exceeding 25 dollars a pound. I asked for the owner to call me back, and I have yet to hear from them. To make matters worse, he told my mother at noon on Friday that the wouldn’t be able to get back until possibly Wednesday, he told me late Monday, and the «Service Manager» in the office essentially told me my mother and I were lying about that.
So why is this relevant to a review on Independent Air? Well, I decided that since Harris couldn’t be bothered to call me back and explain what happened, I decided to look for a HVAC company myself. I called Independent Air in Eustis and talked with their dispatch/​receptionist and EVNE SHE KNEW NOT TO CHARGE A FROZEN SYSTEM. They had a technician out next day, Edgar I believe. He was a very knowledgeable technician that was able to answer every question I had. My Mom is back up and cooling, and I have comfort knowing that Independent Air will be going back out anytime there is an issue. I would 100% recommend this company to anyone in the area, and as a supervisor, I would hire anyone with Independent Air on their resume.