Norfolk Air Heating and Cooling

Beware of unscrupulous pricing!

Norfolk Air charged a grossly excessive markup of more than 1,600% on the replacement part necessary for an emergency repair. Typical retail cost for the part is $17.01 via mail order, but provider charged $274.00 for the part they installed, a markup of over 1,600%. Total bill for a simple emergency repair was $451.50.

Details: Received emergency service from Norfolk Air to troubleshoot a failed house AC unit. Norfolk Air responded within 2 hours on a Sunday morning and had the unit running within another hour. Technician was courteous and took the time to explain that the problem was a faulty run capacitor. Technician replaced the failed part (40/5 MFD dual run capacitor) with two equivalent parts from stock (wired in parallel to equal capacitance of failed part) and restarted the AC unit successfully. Technician also offered to recharge the refrigerant for an additional cost of $59.00.

- Provider charged a premium fee of $118.50 for “after hours” residential diagnostic service (a not unreasonable markup over their normal residential diagnostic fee of $79.00) plus an additional $59.00 for a refrigerant test and recharge.

- In this case, provider also charged a grossly excessive markup on the replacement part. Typical retail cost for the part is $17.01 via mail order. Provider charged $274.00 for the part they installed, a markup of over 1,600%. Total bill for this simple emergency repair was $451.50.

- Contacted Mr. Bobby Rhodes (company President) on the following business day seeking adjustment for the overcharge for the part. Mr. Rhodes refused and explained that charging even an extremely excessive markup of 1,600% for materials (in addition to the higher “after-hours” residential diagnostic fee) is a standard business practice in the local HVAC industry.

- Hampton Roads area Better Business Bureau received my complaint on this matter but explained that the company is within their rights as there is no price control law in the state of Virginia, so a company can charge what they choose for their service or product. Because of this, BBB will not even report that a complaint was made against the company.

Prospective customers should be aware that they can expect Norfolk Air to disguise excessive markups within the cost of parts and/or materials.