City Mechanical, Inc.

Unethical Business Practices and Overcharging - Taken to Collections Without Resolution I had a very negative experience with City Mechanical, and I want to warn others. In November 2023, I contacted them for an HVAC leak at my home in Berkeley, CA, expecting a simple consultation and estimate. Instead, I was billed $922 after two consultation visits (when I only requested one), for supposed labor and an undisclosed "truck fee"--yet no actual repairs were made, and the leak was never addressed. None of these charges were agreed upon in writing or verbally, and City Mechanical falsely claimed we had consented to them. They even claimed that our contractor agreed to the fees, which our contractor denies. After reaching out to them directly and filing a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), City Mechanical ignored our concerns entirely and, without any effort to resolve the issue, took us to collections. This is beyond unethical. Being sent to collections for unjustified charges, despite repeated attempts to address the situation, shows how little regard City Mechanical has for customer service or fairness. Based on my experience and similar online reviews, this seems to be a pattern of deceptive practices. I strongly advise anyone considering their services to be cautious.

I am a Director of Engineering. I have used City Mechanical at several properties over the past 15 years. Russ is great to deal with. I have consistently used this company because once I call them I no longer have to worry about the problem, they make the repairs on time and correctly every time. Are they the cheapest company out there? No, but do you really want the cheapest HVAC contractor in the book working on your home or business? I certainly do not. I have read some of the negative reviews and find them hard to believe based upon my years of experience with City Mechanical. I strongly recommend them to anyone I know in need of their type of services. I have found their staff to be great to deal with and very easy to communicate with.

This company just charged me over $2600 to change a thermal sensor on a boiler/tank (hydronic heater put in by the previous owner of this house) that cost a few dollars and took a few minutes to install. This is about the same cost as a new unit, uninstalled. I suppose they should have told me that they do not work on residential property or that I would have to pay a technician $450/hr (it was Sunday afternoon) to DRIVE to San Francisco and BACK. Not sure what “City” they are referring to in their business name. I just had a backflow testing company come out for city-mandated testing, and he told me that City Mechanical is known to charge exorbitant prices and gave me a referral to another firm that does higher-end residential at more customary prices--Flow Masters. Perhaps I might not have been so shocked if I received this invoice from my apartment management people, but for a normal home system please go elsewhere. And from other reviews I’ve seen, this predatory invoicing is not an uncommon experience.