Don’t Fall for These High-Pressure Sales Tactics

Your home’s heating and cooling system represents an immense investment in comfort and security that’s going to be affecting your family — hopefully in a positive way — for a dozen or more years. That’s why it’s essential to work with a contractor who you can trust, and to stay away from high-pressure sales efforts. Following are some red flags that you should watch out for.

High-Pressure Sales Tactics to Avoid

• A salesman tries to talk you into a larger than necessary A/C or furnace. In reality, the best HVAC systems are those that have been precisely sized to match your home’s heating and/or cooling loads. Oversized HVAC systems can be just as bad as undersized systems. They tend to short cycle, starting and stopping frequently. This wastes energy, stresses parts, and often fails to provide balanced heating or cooling. Also beware if your contractor wants to size your system on the basis of your last system, or based on the square footage of your home. There’s much more to HVAC sizing than this.
• A contractor wants you to consider discount brands. As stated previously, your new furnace or A/C will be providing your home with heating or cooling for many years. Buying a knock-off brand for a lower price at the beginning likely will result in higher long-term costs, including increased energy bills, more breakdowns and a shorter service life. Go with quality at the beginning and you’ll ultimately come out ahead.
• The salesperson seems in a hurry and doesn’t want to talk about options. Upgrading to a new HVAC system should not be a quick process. You should have a good idea of your options before making the purchase decision. Do you want a high-efficiency furnace or A/C? Do you want advanced features? What sort of warranty or maintenance agreement would you like? These are just a few of the questions for which you’ll want answers.

For a Calgary-area HVAC contractor that doesn’t use high-pressure sales tactics, please contact us at Arpi’s Industries. We’ve been working in area homes and businesses for more than 50 years.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Calgary, Alberta about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about salespeople and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide.