I had a feeling.

This last weekend my main house a/c blew while we entertained 30 high school theatre department teenagers in our home. Thank goodness they were so wrapped up in thermselves that they did not notice. On Sunday I called a local HVAC company with 110 years of expierience out to my home. My regular guy was out of town and would not be back for a couple days. I was told the diagnosis was a grounded compressor. Okay whatever that is. Long story did not make sense to fix but to get a new one. I couldn't believe a 10 year old unit with a life expectancy of 15-20 was dead. Well the owner of the company came by the next day. Actually the 3rd or fourth generation owner. He proceeded to tell me everything that was wrong and what needed to be fixed in my mechanical room. Which is interesting because it had passed inspection twice. Red flag went up at this point. So I let him do his thing and that night he sent me his estimate over $4500.00 for new A/C plus if I wanted the extras another $900.00. I said thank you widdled him down and told him I would get back with him the next day. In the mean time my guy came out the following evening and diagnosed the problem and fixed it for $100.00 Turns out that it was the capacitor that had gone bad. Which is the item I had told the tech from the other company to check in the first place. I was pissed off aggravated etc., I was asking myself was this just an incompetent technician or was this a upsell. I live in a modest home about ten years old. I don't know.
           I called the owner today and calmly told him how I felt what I thought etc. He genuinely and humbly listened and told me what he was going to do. I wished him good luck with his family business. I reminded him that this business has survived 110 years because of great customer service and taking care of the customer. That its not about how much you sell. What I have seen is if you take care of people honestly and ethically. Your business will do extremely well.
           The feeling I had was a gut feeling, that came to me. Its important to listen to those silent clues. Call it intuition. We are not beholden to what others tell us. If a patient seeks a second opinion I encourage it.
           The next cast party the house will be cooler.  They won't notice.