Yes, it is a common practice. If you are upset, I recommend contacting the company.

Prior to this "tune up" visit did you notice anything not working with your HVAC system? If not then I would be a little suspicious. Fuses blow for a reason. You should have gotten an invoice explaining the repair.

This tune up was April 10th, before we started using AC this year. The AC worked fine when we switched to heat last fall. I was with the technician when he was checking out the unit and found no power to it. He couldn't come up with "reason" it blew. After replacing the fuse, he check amp draw and it was normal. Unit is 12 years old with original fuses,

I have a strong feeling the reason it "blew", is because he pulled it out of his tool box and swapped it for the good one while you weren't looking. And the "new" fuse he installed and charged you for was actually yours that he swapped again

Can you take a picture of the fuse he replaced, from further back so that we can see where that fuse is, and what it seems to power?

I appreciate the concern you show. However, when we went to the outdoor unit together, it wasn't running, even though the indoor unit fan was. It was then that he checked if there was power to the unit. There wasn't so he went to the fuse box on the wall outside of my house by the unit, pulled and checked the fuses. One checked good the other bad.He went to his truck, came back with a fuse, replaced the bad one and the unit started to run.

Is the $149 charge in addition to the cost for the annual preventive maintenance services?

Yes

If your maintenance contract doesn't specify coverage for replacement fuses, then yeah.

From what I know (over 30 years in HVAC), people choose these service contracts based on price, then complain when the contract doesn't live up to the price paid.

Can a fuse fail with no obvious cause? yes.

*outlier reasons could be: made in China, made in Mexico or many other places around the world with cheap labor. Otherwise the fuse my cost 3 times that amount. (name your poison).

In my opinion the whole episode sounds fishy. Is it possible the tech swapped the fuse prior to you coming out and observing what he was doing?

No. I was with him from the time his van pulled into my driveway until he left. I like to observe what techs are doing, without interfering or asking questions to distract them.

That's what I think as well. I have placed a call to my provider (whom I bought two furnaces, ac units, and hot water heaters from in the last 35 years), and have maintained an annual contract with as well.

and while you were with him, did he say something in the line of "please hold onto this panel while i retrieve my drill", by any chance? or make you do something that would get your attention while he swaps the bad fuse? I find highly suspicious the fact that the fuse blew on its own between two cooling seasons.

Fuses degrade with time and will eventually fail. A blown fuse does not always mean that there is something wrong with the equipment.

Sounds fishy? you should see me when I fish for Red Herring Mike, ha, ha, ha.

If you replace the fuse and it immediately blows again? yeah even fishier, don't forget the tar - tar sauce.

Y'all are killing me.

I thought it was a unusual the fuse on 12 year old equipment would fail. I guess I was very lucky that the three 25-year old condensers I replaced had the original fuses. I can't recall the last time someone on this forum reported a situation like this. But then again I'm a homeowner with no formal HVAC training.

I can accept a fuse failing, but giving a customer no invoice and then charging his credit card two months after the fact made the repair questionable in my opinion.

OP, do you live in or near Katy, Tx?

Seems likely!

Yes, that charge is excessive for a blown fuse if it was found while doing the annual maintenance.

Yes, that charge is excessive for a blown fuse if it was found while doing the annual maintenance.

We're talking about the cost of a fuse and we don't know what type of fuse it was?

It was on the truck? who put it there? ( That's free labor we in forum boards disregard as no pay necessary for anything.)

The fuse fixed the problem? (Did the tech search for shorts that might have caused the fuse to blow? --- this is free too) --- I realize this was during a preventative maintenance visit, but does this mean than anything and everything above that of the maintenance is free? Uh, no.

Honesty works both ways here folks.

Yet people will argue: The cost of the fuse was $1, $2, $3 but certainly not more than $5. ~ The mentality of a parts changer. The labor and expenses of the company doing the work was paid in the maintenance contract that drew us too it because it was cheaper than all the rest. (We don't know this for sure, so lets not even think about it?)

Example:

I have fuses that I replace that I charge around $69, but that is the cost of just the fuse. I am not going to sell you that until I know there are no shorts causing it to blow the fuse --- or the cost of a fuse isn't going to matter. (this type of fuse is probably less than a dollar my cost.) -- yeah I'm getting rich selling fuses for $69 a pop. LOL.

There is work involved to check for shorts that could be the reason the fuse blew. (without doing this "work" the cost of a fuse is moot. -- it will just blow again, and again, and again.... no wait this time I replace it -- it will not blow! I command thee! ha, ha, ha)

I would let you know in advance what the charges are... so this coming back chinking you for more money later? Uh, no I wouldn't do that. BUT those are differences from likely cheaper ways of doing things that attract you by the cheapness of plans that don't measure up in the long run. (I don't know if this is accurate or not, in forum boards we guess -- nothing more nothing less.)

If you are on my service contract: up to 25% off. When you've been on the service contract for at least 5 years with no breaks in the contract. I actually pay you for loyalty. WHY you suppose this is a thing?

Now because we don't know what kind of fuse, nor the "work" done to correct an issue the charge could be very close to accurate depending on a list of various factors that we likely do not know from that of a forum board with people chiming in that don't do this kind of work voicing opinions about what things should or shouldn't cost all the while inflation is running hot for the past 3+ years.

HVAC is immune to inflation. This is what you're expected to believe in 2024.

I service the Katy, Texas area.

I can't say if this charge was too high, but there is no way that a random charge should have been run on your card without a discussion and really the work shouldn't be done without talking about the cost. I have had a lot of work done where they give you an estimate and then find that there is something more going on and things are going to cost more. I have never just been blindsided with the upcharge. The workers always tell me what is happening, why it is going to cost more and have some estimate of what the additional charges will be.

As far as the cost of service, everyone feels like they are being charged too much for most services from plumbers and electricians to doctors and dentists. They all overcharge. At the same time everyone feels like they are not getting paid enough for the work they do.

We overestimate what our time and expertise is worth and underestimate the worth of others.

" Austin Air Companie "

If the OP had called for a service call and they had to come out, diagnose the problem and fix it, $150 would be typical. Given they have an ongoing service/maintenance contract (which couldn't be done properly without replacing a 50 cent fuse) then I would consider that part of the "maintenance" program'.

Please don't keep boring everyone on this forum with your "parts on the truck", etc, excuses for what is fundamentally a crooked profession!

After finally getting to talk to a manager, the situation was resolved quickly. He acknowledged that the charge should not have been placed on my credit card without permission and refunded the total charge.

Please don't keep boring everyone on this forum with your "parts on the truck", etc, excuses for what is fundamentally a crooked profession!

It's so easy... but among those here I am the only one here who actually does it. I hear the groaning about money on nearly every service call I run. Even when they know in advance what the charges are.

It's always a part that is cheap, put a new one in it's place that just happened to be on the truck that came to your home. Then if the cheap fuse blows again? (It's a crooked part of the job to know what issues may be causing the fuse to blow?)

If you don't pay to have the system diagnosed? --- I've gone behind others that were recommending "rip it all out start all over" that so many times I've lost count.

We don't know that the fuse cost .50 cent. There isn't just a single fuse in the world is there? So how much time and energy are you going to put into what you stock on the truck vs what you do NOT stock on the truck?

This is again part of what you are paying for? If you're not paying for that kind of wisdom... what are you paying for? -- a cheap price?

Jennifer Hogan said it more eloquently. But I deal with this issue so often and so much it's nauseating -- I've become brash because I am sick of it. Even if I do it right some people are just a "lost cause". (not saying this is the OP, other agitators know who they are)

If the trade is so boring, there are a plenty other things "you could" spend your time on. I am only here because this is "what I do".

I am not in this business to sell things for what I pay for them. I am a capitalist. Not much different than any of you agitators, the only real difference is that I am successful. If I replace a fuse that only blows again a split second later? who pays for that? you or me?

That work requires skill. Not 50 cent skill. This is what the fuss is about. Someone thinks maybe you could start a profession undercutting the businesses out there let's say $50 to replace a fuse... very small mark up. You'll be beating everyone by $100.

Now how do you let the world know you exist? "advertising?" What does that cost? Could be as little as several hundred a month or more than $10,000 a month. (overhead they call it)

A new service vehicle with all the tools you will need? how much one of those cost? If you buy new plan on some where in the realm of $80,000 fully stocked.

These are only two costs listed above and you're broke before you even get started. (much easier to complain)

How long will you last? How many calls you need to run at $50 a pop to just pay for the service vehicle? Hey it's a crooked profession... there will be complainers even at $50. Because?

The fuse is ONLY 50 cents!

You seemed to have missed the fact that the service tech was already on site performing preventive maintenance under a routine service agreement that the OP pays for. Replacing a fuse in the process of providing that service didn't require a mobilization cost; just the cost of the fuse. It was reasonable to bill the cost of the part plus a fair mark up, but not bill the task as if it were a separate service call.

We don't know how much time was spent in addition to the maintenance service?

We do know that putting the fuse back on the truck for the next call? Fuses nor other parts needed for the next call --- just don't magically appear on the truck.

There is no such thing as a parts fairy putting parts on my truck.

This is partly why I give discounts of up to 25% for those on my service contract.

The stent they put into the artery in my heart was only $1600. It was already in the hospital when I got there, the procedure is done by sending a balloon through an artery that is already there and releasing the stent from the balloon where the artery is weak. Doesn't sound all that difficult. Why did it cost so much?

Well, that involved an element (!) of skill and training. You're not seriously comparing the two, are you?

It might not be such a ridiculous comparison. Consider that the human vascular system is just the biological analog of an HVAC line set. Paging Dr. Austin.... Paging Dr. Austin.... Okay, on further consideration it really is ridiculous with a capital R.

Yep, much easier to complain than to do anything productive.

This has been going on since I got into this field over 30 years ago. (complaining about money or the lack of what someone wants to spend what they believe to be fair vs what is fair.)

How many times have we argued on this board about it? (countless)

What has changed? nothing.

We make excuses, complain, complain and complain --- another 30 years will pass. The next generation may not know how to fix a shorted system or they may not care so your only recourse is to go to the big box AC company and all they do is tell you to rip it all out for $15k or better all the while by coming to you for free... because free is what you can't complain about.

That way the complaint will be: no one trouble shoots equipment any more all they ever do is come out here and try to sell me new equipment all the time.

Then I will tell you what?

Charles: Who pays you for fine dining and fine accommodations? yeah plenty of ways this is yacked about when times are good as opposed to now. (Inflation spiral death loop) -- Like I never saw that before?

So we wait until global warming takes the reigns again and people start to sweat. We'll find your breaking point, everyone has one. If you're brave you can watch me work in the attic that is religiously over 110F and typically RH of over 70%.

Nothing new here folks. You've reached the end of the internet. ~ Abraham Lincoln.

Ray,

One of your finest streams of consciousness!