A dozen points about inviting someone into your home to fix your home comfort system:

1 - Referred by a friend or relative?  The best complement a person can pay a business is to refer a friend or relative.  We've serviced thousands of homes in the Okaloosa/Walton counties and the bulk of our business comes from referrals or repeat business. 

2 - Physical address for the company?  Even a small start-up company will list a home address.  People that are moonlighting or unsure if they can stay in business will use a cell phone.  Should something go wrong with your service or installation, it's hard to go to their office or even lodge a complaint if all you have is a cell number. 

On the other extreme are these large companies coming in from out state.  There are several companies that rely on management from the Atlanta area.  In fact, one company actually has the number forwarded to a Georgia office and no local office even established in Florida! 

At Gordon Air Conditioning, we work from a 4500 square foot facility in east Crestview where we've been since 1988.

3 - Clean and lettered vehicles?  Do the vehicles make you feel comfortable?  The condition of the vehicle is a likely reflection of how the technician will respect your home.  Be leery of unmarked service vehicles as they may not be vehicles the company actually owns and lack proper insurance coverage.  And especially be leery of a "one man show" that comes to your home with a personal vehicle.  Will he be here tomorrow to take care of your needs?  All the service and installation vehicles at Gordon Air are clearly marked.    

4 - Technicians in uniform and presentable?  Now there's no arguing that sometimes technicians find themselves in some pretty rough conditions under homes or in attics and the home before yours may have been a bit challenging.  However, as a general rule, the technician coming into your home should be clean cut and in a clean uniform.  Many of the moonlighters or fly by night type companies issue their employees t-shirts to wear with their jeans instead of issuing uniforms and insist on a certain level of grooming and personal hygiene. 

5 - Is the phone answered professionally?  When you call for service, does the phone just ring or go to an answering machine?  Or maybe it rings on the hip of the service man?  When you call someone's (supposed) office, you should expect to be greeted by a personable CSR (Customer Service Representative) that is knowable enough to be able to help you determine if you need service or an estimate.  Everyone starts somewhere and a person can't just open their doors in a brand new modern facility with a fleet of professional technicians and service vehicles.  In 1978-79, Brady Gordon had a small 7x12ish office in the back of his home that had a phone, desk, and filing cabinet.  But the customers calling never talked to a child or heard children in the background.  A certain level of professionalism is to be expected.

6 - Trained personnel?  We have weekly meetings to go over the latest technologies an best ways to make our customers get the best possible experience possible.  Our technicians are factory trained.

7 - Upfront pricing?  Will the technician give the price before starting work?  Time and material means you're at the mercy of the technician's competence and honesty.  With flat rate pricing, you know the price before work begins.   

8 - Yellow Pages the best place to find a repair/replacement company?  Every year we get our new phone book and see the new start-up companies, those that have changed their name, and a few who shut their doors.  Let's face it, this is a very tough business to be in and the failure rate is not surprising.  We've survived the energy crunch of the 80's, the building slow down of the 90's, the boom & crash in 2005-2007 so we'll be here to serve you today....and tomorrow. 

On the flip side, some of these companies buy huge, huge ads.  As of 2007, a full page, full color ad costs about $38,000 a year.  Two full pages (called "double truck") costs about $65,000.  Those ads with a tab costs even more.  With multiple headings (air conditioning, heating, heat pumps, etc) and with 4-5 phone books to advertise in, it wouldn't be real hard to get a $100-180K worth of yellow page ads.  That overhead is passed on directly to you the consumer.  A company must advertise but within reason.   

9 - Unbelievable deals!?  Does it sound too good to be true?  I've always heard that there's a sucker born every minute - don't be the sucker.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  You'll never get what you don't pay for - and truthfully, in today's world, you're lucky if you get what you do pay for.  Call a company with a track record of honest and reliable service.   

A free furnace if you buy an air conditioner?  Come on, think about it - is that possible?  He overstocked?  Again?!  Heck, seems I read that same advertisement for the past ten years.... 

Free service call?  So they'll come to your home, find a clogged drain and clear it for $15-25 without charging the diagnostic/service/trip fee?  Does it sound logical that a company could afford to send someone to your home driving 30 minutes and spend 30 minutes at your home for $15-25?  These are typically the guys that get caught-up in those news channel stings.  The news channel has a legitimate technician pull a wire off and then call these guys out.  One by one they all got caught trying to fabricate repairs and inflating the invoices.  

On time or no charge for service call?  Yeah, if you consider hitting a 4-5 hour window as being "on time."  There's a reason Domino's Pizza quit guaranteeing 30 minute delivery.

How many advertise "serving the area for XX years" failing to mention they haven't necessarily been in this industry or been in business for themselves.  Just recently I saw an invoice from a person advertising they'd been in the industry since 1933.  They failed to mention the had moved from several areas all over US and had a few business failures along the way.  Guaranteed response in 24 hours means just that, a response which to my surprise really meant they'll call you within 24 hours...not be at your home.  A few companies have changed their name several times.  Why?  Bottom line, there's no dealer warranty when you buy from ABC company and they go out of business and reopen as BCD company.  And yet they'll typically advertise "serving the area for XX years" as if they haven't missed a beat. 

10 - What brands and products are offered.  The way a product is installed is more important than the actual product.  You'd be better off having the biggest piece of junk available installed by a competent service company than the most efficient system installed by someone that was inept.  With that said, the advantage to using a company selling a quality brand is because these manufactures are more selective about who sells their product.  The quality brands won't sell to someone that doesn't have an office. 

A second part to this is the push for "market share" and some manufactures are putting out over a dozen names on their products.  For the most part, there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference in the products.  Sometimes there isn't even a cosmetic difference!  Just recently we were approached about a Maytag product.  Since it's a newer brand in our industry, we didn't know much about it.  Doing some research and we realized it was built by Nordyne and they apparently build Frigidaire, Tappan, Gibson, Kelvinator, Philco, Westinghouse, Grandaire, Maytag, Intertherm, and Miller. And some of the "private labels" use this manufacture meaning, they aren't so private.  Not sure what the difference is - if any. They appear the same with minor cosmetic differences.  And on occasion we sell some Nordyne products under the Intertherm name when doing work on mobile homes. Other than that, we stick to Lennox for conventional heating/cooling systems.  Bottom line, a fly by night service man can't go to the local warehouse and get the lettering kit for his truck with Lennox or WaterFurnace.  These are top self products and picky about their dealers.    It's something we've worked hard for and proud to offer.  

11 - Is the company a part of the community?  2005 and 2006 have been very good to the panhandle of Florida.  Building boom had everyone with more work than they could do.  And with that, we started seeing people coming from outside areas trying to jump in.  These guys have out of town interests and when things started slowing down, they started bailing like rats on a sinking ship.  The Gordon family has lived in north Okaloosa County area for many, many generations.....even before Okaloosa County existed. We went to school here, work here, live here, raise our family here, and give back here. Gordon Air Conditioning participates in local organizations that helps our community grow and prosper.     

12 - Licensed and insured?  If the service man isn't insured (or properly insured) and gets hurt on your property, you may be held responsible.  Being fully insured and licensed protects you, the service man, and the service company. 

It is absolutely critical that you do some research before having someone into your home.  Ultimately, all of this ties together.  A legitimate company offering a quality service will answer your call professionally and send out a clean cut, uniformed, trained technician in a marked vehicle.  They'll give you upfront pricing and be able to offer quality products and services without gimmicks.  Contact us for an estimate or service call at the numbers below or by contacting us via email.

Proudly the oldest Lennox® and WaterFurnace® dealers in Okaloosa/Walton counties.

We accept cash, credit cards, debit cards, and checks.    Financing available with approved credit.

Contact us for an estimate or service call at the numbers above or by contacting us via email.