Kron & West, Inc — Attraction in South Pasadena

I cannot say enough good things about our experience with Kron and West. Neither our 3-ton nor our 5-ton units were working. Brian came out and did an assessment. He came back within a day or two with a quote on three possible A/C systems. He explained what he recommended and why. I felt like his recommendation allowed me to make an informed decision. The install was scheduled within a few days; rather surprising given the time of year here in Florida. Our install was done by Nick and Jermaine. They were very professional and courteous. They completed their work with a minimum of distraction to my wife who works out of our house. It turned out that the 5-ton Carrier systems are on back order from the factory. However, Kron and West installed a temporary fix so that we weren't suffering in the heat. At the conclusion of the 3-ton installation Brian and Nick explained that they would be doing a ventilation system check once the 5-ton unit was installed. It's possible that we will need some duct work done but it will allow our systems to operate at peak capacity. There are a lot of A/C companies in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. But, there is a reason they have been in business as long as they have and a reason that they do not have to do any advertising. Without question, I would highly recommend Brian Kron and his team at Kron and West. Steve Geis

10/13/2021 update. Subsequent to the above, a 5-ton unit became available far sooner than expected. Our install was scheduled soon after Kron and West received the 5-ton unit. Nick and Jermaine were also the installers for this second unit. Other companies may just randomly assign installers but I thought it was important that Nick and Jermaine be assigned to do the second install. The second install was as professional as the first. If you could see our air handlers you would see how much pride of workmanship Nick and Jermaine have.

This afternoon, I heard a noticeable humming/vibrational sound coming from our 5-ton unit. Naturally, this had me a bit concerned. I called in. I should write down the two ladies who answer the phone at Kron and West. I'm sure "answering the phone" does not do their roles justice. As with any business, they become the face of the business to everyone who calls. They are: professional, upbeat, friendly and you know after talking with them that they are going to solve your problem. It was about 3:00 when I called. I was told between 5:00 and 6:00 for a service technician to arrive. I barely put my phone down and Danny showed up. He quickly assessed the problem, erased any concern I had for our air handler and fixed the problem. Obviously, Kron and West cares about customer service. Steve Geis

11/11/21 Update This review is about 3 weeks past due. After two attempts, our 5-ton air handler was still giving off a humming noise. Reluctantly, I e-mailed Brian Kron. I say "reluctantly" because it was very close to the due date for his wife. Despite that, Brian e-mailed me right away saying that it's never a bother to satisfy a customer. This is not to take anything away from the two previous technicians and two attempts at a solution. But, this time Brian assigned Joe Pavone the task. I believe that Joe has worked for Kron and West for the entirety of their existence (30+ years). I doubt if there's any issue or problem with any HVAC system that Joe hasn't seen. The difference with Joe is that he actually showed me exactly what was causing the hum (outside air being pulled into the filter due to a couple of small areas that hadn't been taped off). I'm confident that our problem is now fixed. Because of the e-mail exchange referred to above, I now have the names of the two women who work in the office and do an unbelievable job of representing Kron and West. They are: Brittany Heal and Monica Albright. Thanks to everyone at Kron and West for all that you...

BE AWARE: SURPRISED DIAGNOSTIC FEE UNRELATED TO REPAIR. Kron air conditioning has had a quality reputation and I'm surprised at how my experience went. My air handler stopped functioning and I called the company first thing on a Friday morning. Devin scheduled it for later that afternoon which seemed wonderful. Luis the technician showed up and quickly diagnosed the glitch; a failed fan motor/module and it had to be replaced. He didn't have the motor on the truck and said it was $89 for the service and $118 to diagnose the problem. And $1200 for the motor & labor to be installed another day! NO ONE EVER INFORMED ME THAT I MIGHT GET A DIAGNOSIS WITHOUT A FIX AND WOULD HAVE TO PAY ADDITIONALLY FOR THE DIAGNOSIS WITHOUT REPAIR! My experience is that when a diagnosis does not immediately lead to service, the cost for the diagnosis can be discounted with the final repair. Luis told me that this not the case: with Kron service calls, the SERVICE is SEPARATE from the repair?!?!? I was NOT satisfied with the situation, but there was no other option for me.; Luis explained that it wasn't his 'fault,' but that is how the company does their service visits. I generously tipped Luis for his time and he said I would hear from the company on Monday re: setting up the appt for the new motor! Monday came and no call. Tuesday I had Gulfcoast AC visit, and fortuitously they had the motor on the truck and the repair was $800. Even Gabriel, from Gulfcoast said that reputable companies don't routinely charge a separate diagnostic fee for a repair call. A week would pass from Luis' visit before I heard back from Kron; Friday and the following Monday Devin called as they were now ready to set up an appt for the motor replacement. I let Devin know that I already had it repaired and I was considering writing an unfavorable review. Devin said I would hear from (Brian?) later that day to discuss my dissatisfaction--I never heard back.

SO: BE AWARE. Kron seems to think it is acceptable business practice to schedule a repair, but then not complete the repair and seems to expect you to pay for a SERVICE CALL, DIAGNOSIS & then an additional REPAIR fee, all without informing the customer in advance (or at least that is what I believe happened to me). Perhaps this is only a situation if the part isn't immediately available or maybe they have some other explanation. Regardless, be aware that your Charges might seem inordinately high and perhaps unfair. While the 1 star might seem harsh for Luis' responsible visit, the $118 diagnosis fee (and not informing me that there is a fee unrelated to my repair or the home visit--but that I'll be responsible to pay SEPARATE from the repair) seems like prudent...

The office staff was very nice, I'll give them that. We had scheduled an appointment because of a non-functional AC. Unfortunately, they didn't specify that the "Trip charge" of $89 was literally just to come out and call the 800-number on the side of the unit. Diagnostic, we were told after he arrived, was an additional fee and nothing was included in the trip fee.

He immediately said we should just buy a new unit from them. He wasn't sure if the "trip charge" would apply towards the purchase of a new one if we went that route. It was the end of the day so the sales person was already going home, but he said maybe the sales person could just call us to quote us because it was pretty standard. We said that was fine and it wasn't worth his time to drive all the way out. After he called the sales person he said the guy wanted to "come out and see" so he could give us "the best possible price".

So the driver came out anyway and he was by far the rudest "sales" person I've ever met - looked at the space for about 15 seconds, rudely told my wife that the unit we had was garbage and wasn't worth even trying to troubleshoot (she was just using the remote to turn it on and off at the time that he volunteered this nugget), and then "quoted" us the exact same price that the technician told us and that we could pay by check, and turned to walk out. My wife asked, "What about financing?" because that was one of the questions we'd asked the tech resulting in contacting the sales guy in the first place. He grumbled, turned halfway back to us, and said "There's an app, you can go through it at the office". And then he left.

Again, Marina at the office was fantastic. Very helpful. But if she had told us what we'd get for our $89, we wouldn't have bothered. I would say that I'm sorry that we bothered their sales guy late in the day to come and look to give us a quote, but we literally said that it wasn't necessary and he insisted anyway. Thanks to how utterly rude he was, now we won't even consider using them for service on our main unit either. I've never had a sales person insult me in my own home before, so I suppose that's a first. Wish it didn't cost me $89 for...