At the completion of service, we felt that we were grossly taken advantage of and discriminated against. We were charged $726 for 20 minutes of work to replace a part that costs $15 and use our hose water without being informed of the costs of repair (outside of $165 diagnostic fee) prior to the work being completed. The technician also insulted my mom when he asked me to explain the bill to her due to her accent, even though she had no problem understanding him. However, the owner of the company, Jim Vito, called me personally to resolve the issue.

Here are the details of our situation:

We had a broken AC on Saturday and called to inquire how much it would cost to have someone come out same day. We were told $165 to which we agreed.

The technician Gavin came pretty promptly, but without the 45-1 hour notice like was promised. Fine, we were happy he was there so quick.

He looked at our AC and within a few minutes he said there was an issue outside and that he was going to test it. He took out the dual capacitor and put in a new one, which took a few minutes. Then he asked us to bring him our hose and proceeded to water the AC for 5-10 minutes to "cool the unit down." That's it, he said. It was fixed.

He diagnosed and fixed the problem at the same time without letting us know ahead of time how much his services would cost, despite what the owner wrote in his response below. Since this was a 20 minute procedure at most and a simple part that was replaced, we figured it would be a reasonable cost and didn't question these actions.

Then he went out to his truck and sat there for a good 15-20 minutes to write up the bill.

My mom, the owner of the house, and I were the only ones in the house. When he came with the bill, my mom was ready for him to explain it but he asked her where I am so that I "can explain the bill to her later." This was completely insulting to my mom, who has an accent but had no trouble understanding Gavin at any point. She has a PhD and has been working in the US for 20 years with no language issues.

Gavin proceed to go over the total $726 bill with us. $726 for 20 minutes of work to replace the dual capacitor, a part that costs $15 (look it up), and use our hose water. The replacement of the dual capacitor was listed as $392. He also included a charge of $169 that he listed as "repair mpt" which he explained was for using our hose water to cool down the unit -- this is no special equipment and our own water for which we are paying. The final charge was $165 for the afterhours/emergency, to which we agreed initially.

When we told Gavin we were unhappy with the price, he shrugged his shoulders and gave a $50 coupon, making the total cost $676, which still didn’t help the fact that we were not informed about the price ahead of time and had no option to choose or decline the service and the costs. We paid because we were given a bill, not a quote, and did not think we had the option of not paying.

When my dad, who was not present at the time of service, heard about this injustice and wrote a review that same day, the dispatch operator called him right away to give him a lesson in capitalism and the market and tell him that the technician did everything correctly.

I would hesitate to recommend the company after the experience we had, though I am happy that we were able to finally reach an understanding with the owner. I would suggest to Vito Services to review their pricing and to create a procedure to present the quote to the customer to sign before any work is done to avoid such issues. I would also recommend customer sensitivity training to avoid being disrespectful to people of different backgrounds. Listen to your customers when they bring up issues without implying they are at fault, and learn from it -- it will go a long way.

This company ripped us off and insulted us. We were charged $726 for 20 minutes of work to replace a part that costs $15 and use our hose water. The technician also insulted my mom when he asked me to explain the bill to her due to her accent, even though she had no problem understanding him. We were grossly taken advantage of and discriminated against.

We had a broken AC this past Saturday and called to inquire how much it would cost to have someone come out same day. We were told $165 to which we agreed. The receptionist also asked if someone would be there to pay, which was a bit surprising from the start.

The technician Gavin came pretty promptly, without the 45-1 hour notice like was promised. Fine, we were happy he was there so quick.

He looked at our AC and within a few minutes he said there was an issue outside and that he was going to test it. He took out the dual capacitor and put in a new one, which took a few minutes. Then he asked us to bring him our hose and proceeded to water the AC for 5-10 minutes to "cool the unit down." That's it, he said. It was fixed.

He diagnosed and fixed the problem at the same time without letting us know ahead of time how much his services would cost. Since this was a 20 minute procedure at most and a simple part that was replaced, we figured it would be a reasonable cost and didn't question these actions.

Then he went out to his truck and sat there for a good 15-20 minutes to write up the bill.

My mom, the owner of the house, and I were the only ones in the house. When he came with the bill, my mom was ready for him to explain it but he asked her where I am so that I "can explain the bill to her later." This was completely insulting to my mom, who has an accent but had no trouble understanding Gavin at any point. She has a PhD and has been working in the US for 20 years with no language issues.

Gavin proceed to go over the total $726 bill with us. $726 for 20 minutes of work to replace the dual capacitor, a part that costs $15 (look it up), and use our hose water. The replacement of the dual capacitor was listed as $392. He also included a charge of $169 that he listed as "repair mpt" which he explained was for using our hose water to cool down the unit -- this is no special equipment and our own water for which we are paying. The final charge was $165 for the afterhours/emergency, to which we agreed initially.

On Saturday after the issue I sent an email to the team, I got no response, which I thought was understandable since it was the weekend. However, when my dad, who is away out of the country, heard about this issue and wrote a review, they proceeded to call him right away on Saturday to give him a lesson in capitalism and the market and tell him that the technician did everything correctly.

Everything you see as wrong with the system of overcharging people and discrimination against women and immigrants seem to be the values of this company. I would steer clear if you do not want to be ripped off and insulted like we were.

Bad service, I feel I was robbed, I paid $676 for the part that cost $15 and 5 min installation. They "magically" used my water in order to stretch out the time to increase the price. I was explained to that it is a market so they can increase the price as they wish. If you were robbed on a market you have to be happy? I read all other reviews, looks like people have same problems for the Rockville branch. Gavin M. Reid is the magician that finds money out of thin air.

Jovan was excellent, diagnosed the problem quickly, ordered the part and got the job done quickly a few days later.

Office could do better on communication. Repair was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but I only found out it would be Friday when I called them Wednesday AM. Had this required a tier shutdown (multi-floor condo) it would have been a big problem.

Giving five stars for Jovan, 3.5 for the office.