We have all seen the ads whether it be in the newspaper or in your local coupon mailers. Air duct cleaning offered for $39.00 or lower to clean the entire home. I have written this article to inform the consumer about air duct cleaning scams.
I have been in the air duct cleaning business for 15 years and I am a second generation air duct cleaner. I take pride in my profession and offer the best service possible. It personally angers me that these scam companies exist.
I would first like to start off by saying that there are many excellent air duct cleaning companies and many of them offer excellent service. It is unfortunate that the industry has been tarnished by these scam artists.
Here is how the scam works. First the customer is baited with very low prices. Anywhere from $49.00 to as low as $29.00 to supposedly clean the air ducts in the entire home. Once the service tech arrives, his scam begins. They start to sell you on unwanted products and services. I have had customers tell me that they were told that their entire duct system was in extremely poor condition and all the air ducts needed to be replaced, only to find on my own inspection that there was nothing wrong at all. A complete lie! They want to sell you high priced filters and other items claiming that if not installed there will be serious health risks.
Another scam in their bag of tricks is to do “add on service”. This is where prices are added on to the service while the service is being done. This puts the consumer in an awkward position because he now has the service tech there at his home or office and has taken time out of his day to get the service done. The tech will say “Oh Mr. Jones we have to clean your furnace it is very dirty” then tack on $150.00. Costs will sometimes be added on without the home owner’s consent. The list goes on and on and next thing you know your $29.99 bill is now far inflated from its original price.
I have personally seen the work done by these companies and it is very poor to say the least. I have pulled open return intake vents to find a half an inch of dust in it. I have seen air ducts where the vent was taken off and it was just vacuumed an arms-length in the duct missing 95% of the dust in the air duct. It is this sort of shoddy workmanship that gives the air duct cleaning industry a bad rap.
I have posted on my site a video link of an excellent news expose on these scam companies.
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