Temperature Equipment Heating and Air Conditioning

TEC installed our Air Conditioning/​Heating unit when we moved into our home back in 2000. They have maintained and provided service to us for the last 15 years. This long term commitment has been very rewarding because of the great service we always receive. James, the owner is very knowledgeable and his staff has always been friendly and professional. I have recommended TEC to my friends and family. Jonathan was here this morning for our regular maintenance and mentioned that there were some negative reviews on Unilocal. I read them and have a hard time believing the reviewers are talking about the same company. TEC and their staff has ALWAYS been top notch and reliable. I trust TEC to keep my Air/​Heat unit in top shape and to inform me when it’s time for an upgrade. I think TEC is one of the best service companies around and whatever the issue that these other two reviewers are complaining about must be just isolated problems. TEC has been in business for a long time so I know they’re doing it right! These are great people and this is a great business. I encourage you to support and spread the good word about TEC.

ZERO STARS. This place is the absolute worst. Normally, if I get angry about terrible customer service, I plan to Unilocal,but then cool down before I do. Well, this place sucks so bad, and ruined our plans so much, that even 5 hours later, I’m pissed off.
We contacted this group of dumb idiots with the very specific need of having our furnace installed by Friday. They said yes to that, came by to check it out, made vague comments about what they’d need to do, then said they would have an estimate on Tuesday morning. This did not happen.
When we called at 1pm, they said they would send within the hour. They did not. We called and they didn’t answer. Today we called and they said they’d send it immediately. They did not. We called again, and she said they’d have it in 15 minutes… An hour later we got it. Her excuse was «I’m under the weather.»
Finally then told us that they could NOT do this by Friday because it was too late, despite the fact we planned to assure this wouldn’t happen.
If you want to feel the epic Viking-​like rage and hatred that’s been coursing through my veins all day, use this generically named company of clowndogs.
And if anyone from this company is reading this: I’d tell you to go f*ck yourself, but you’d surely mess that up too.

Worst business ever. I can’t speak for the other reviews, but this company was the worst we’ve ever dealt with. For YEARS we had issues keeping the house cool. During days where it got to 100 degrees outside the temperature inside never got below 82 in the house, sometimes hotter. We were told that this was just «how it was when it’s so hot out.»
Constantly my mother and grandmother were charged to recharge the Freon. After a few YEARS they tell us that a part was defective (from the day it was installed) and needed to be replaced. This is after YEARS of charging us to «fix» the problem (read: hundreds of dollars), which turned out only to be a temporary fix because the part was broken the entire time. They did not charge us for the part, but charged us $ 700 for the LABOR, even though the unit they ordered was defective!
Shortly after the compressor went out. I told my mom and my grandma that we wouldn’t do any more business with them under any circumstances. We called out another company that came out and replaced the entire unit for significantly cheaper than this company installed it for. The temperature (even when it was over 100 degrees a few weeks ago) never got above 78 degrees that we set it at.
I wouldn’t recommend this company to my worst enemy. I have all the charges documented if they want to challenge this review.

The guys are always friendly, knowledgeable, professional and honest. Been using them for over 15 years for our annual checkup/​maintenance.

Dealing with Temperature Equipment Corporation (TEC) has restored my faith in the business of doing business. The people of TEC operate in with professionalism, forthrightness and courtesy in a way that has become a rare commodity.
In the summer of 2000, our home air conditioning system failed. We asked friends who had operated a commercial plumbing business in Los Angeles for over 30 years if they had a suggestion for an HVAC service company. They gave us the name of Temperature Equipment Company, and said, «Jim Kontos is a good guy.»
The TEC service technician that came to our house got the system running within a few minutes. He said they would charge us a «minimum fee» of $ 27.78. We thanked him and he went on his way. I made a note in our records that I was impressed that he had not tried to sell us anything. He just got the job done and that was that.
In July of 2006, our A/​C failed to turn on one day. We called TEC and made an appointment. The next day, I tried the A/​C again, and this time it worked. But obviously something had gone wrong, so we kept the appointment.
I told the two TEC technicians that the system was now working, and they spent some time with the thermostat, and then removed the condenser unit cover and felt the «cold pipe» of the compressor and determined that it seemed to be cooling normally. I asked how the refrigerant level was — we’d never had the A/​C serviced. One tech said that he was worried that if he put his test gauges on the 35 year-​old Schrader valve, it might not close again and lose refrigerant. «If it’s working, just leave it alone,» he said. Again, they billed us some small amount for the visit. Thinking that we would soon need to replace the old A/​C system, I asked whether they’d have to replace the duct work in the attic, and they told us that if we had uneven cooling, that new, bigger ducts with a high-​efficiency A/​C unit would be an improvement.
But that was it. They cleaned up after themselves and said they’d bill us. Again, not even the suggestion that we might think about doing something more.
My note from 2006 says: «So once again (the first time in 2000), Temperature Equipment chose NOT to sell us a big repair. I appreciate it, and we should give them our future business.»
When our HVAC finally coughed its last 40+ year old breath, we called TEC first.
During the initial call, estimator «Alex» entertained my questions about options I’d thought about and researched in advance, but discouraged me from spending money unnecessarily on one idea. After receiving a proposal via mail which included some efficiency-​related options, I barraged TEC with questions via email for a week. Via «Veronica» in the TEC office, responses from owner James Kontos were thoughtful and thorough. Even after we scheduled the installation of a new system, I kept thinking of things to ask (would a variable-​speed motor blower be quieter?), and we’d get a sensible response (yes, these $ 1,300 to $ 1,700 more expensive furnaces would be quieter, but we’ll try to install the system in a manner which reduces noise as much as possible). The final installation was magnificently quiet.
The installation took two days, partially because a heat wave in Los Angeles made for brutal temperatures in our attic, where they were replacing our original asbestos-​laden duct work. On second morning, I realized that several pieces of furniture my wife and I had moved to allow them access to the registers in the living room had been restored to their original locations. We never mentioned that we had even moved the furniture — they must have noticed the indentations in the floor where the furniture had been. I’m still amazed at this, and I thanked them for their attentiveness and courteous actions. That furniture was extremely awkward to move, several pieces being mechanically– and electrically-​linked together.
The final part of the installation was a change in our thermostat to incorporate the operation of a whole-​house humidifier I had specified. Technician Kevin thoroughly answered my questions about wanting to run the humidifier in all modes (here in SoCal, it can occasionally get hazardously dry in the summer, so I wanted a somewhat less-​common configuration where the humidifier can run during heating, cooling, or with fan only). Kevin also had encyclopedic knowledge of the operation of the new thermostat (which has many, many, menu-​driven options), and was happy to run through as much of the thermostat operation as I wanted (which is certainly more than most people).
I’ve never met TEC owner James Kontos, and only indirectly communicated with him via email. But the qualities of the nine TEC employees with which we’ve interacted over the past 13 years reflect a remarkable thing that Mr. Kontos has cultivated: a business with integrity, conscientious professionals, and honorable practices.
My only regret is that they can’t be there for every other kind of services I’ll ever need.