Air Conditioning Repair
Negotiating a Better Air Conditioning Repair Price
There are a great many repair companies to choose from when your air conditioner goes on the blink. This is especially true if you live in a large city, such as Virginia Beach, VA. The amount of companies that provide air conditioning repair are greatly disproportionate to the need for cooling and heating that actually exists. Although there may be three or four months worth of temperatures that really raise the mercury in a typical Virginia Beach summer, it rarely reaches above the mid to upper nineties for any length of time that is measurable.
The winters in Virginia Beach can fall as low as the thirties or forties, you can pretty much have yourself a picnic on the 26th of December and enjoy a balmy temperature in the seventies range. It does get cold, but I have yet to see it fall into the teens or even single digits. The average temperatures in Virginia Beach fall somewhere around forty-six degrees Fahrenheit. This would hardly warrant any type of overuse of the cooling and heating systems and definitely begs the question of why there are so many air conditioning repair companies.
There is the need for air conditioning repair in the area, but the need is nowhere as drastic as the “one on every corner” population of repair companies would have a person believe. There are several hundred of these companies all vying for the attentions of the roughly 433,000 population. The population may seem to warrant so many companies by the size of the number, but it is deceiving; say that you have on average four people to a household, that is only about 108,000 households.
The percentage of households who have air conditioning and heating units is approximately 30% nationwide, so now we’re working with about 32,000 homes if you don’t take into consideration the fact that the climate in Virginia Beach doesn’t particularly warrant owning an AC unit and this may be a bit high for the area. It’s still a large number, but when you take into consideration how many will actually have and use air conditioning, which is probably a fraction of that estimate, it doesn’t leave very many potential customers for these air conditioning repair businesses. Another aspect for consideration, too, is the fact that AC units may not need repair but once every year or maybe longer.
What does this information mean for the consumer? Well, it means quite a bit. These repairmen are basically starving for half a year waiting for the seasons when climate control will be needed, and then hoping they break down. You, as the customer, are at a huge advantage because you now have a great bargaining position. It would be silly of you not to try to negotiate a better deal for your repairs.
But, try to consider what it will be costing the service company to come to your rescue before low-balling them unreasonably. They are in the business to turn a profit, and if they can only break even or lose money then it will not be worth it to them to do your repairs. There is the diagnostic fee they charge for coming to your home; this is basically their break-even price. Because they have not made a profit as yet, they will not be willing to just walk away from the repair job. This gives you the upper hand in negotiation.
You should not settle for the first price offered, even if they look at you funny and profess that they do not negotiate. The serviceman may not be able to negotiate the deal, but that’s fine, you can call the office and be guaranteed to get someone who will talk to you about lowering the price on the repair. They want your business and they want you to become a returning client. If you keep this information in mind, you can be sure of getting the best deal on all of your air conditioning repair needs.
Our Location:
Service All Heating & Air Conditioning
20200 State Road | Cerritos, CA 90703
Contact Information:
Phone: (310) 782-2270
Fax: (562) 865-6861
Email: kenduck@service-air.com
Office Hours:
8:00am - 6:00pm Monday thru Friday Weekend & Evenings by Appointment
