Business ProfileforUnited Home Services

Date of service : Sunday 12/4/2022: The United Home Services technician and a helper came out Sunday morning 12/4 to service our gas fireplace. It had been shutting off on its own intermittently. After opening the unit up we were told the part we needed to replace was a "special part" that controlled everything to do with the fireplace (e.g. the igntion, shut off, etc.). We were told it would cost a total of $1320 to fix it (the part + labor+tax) and the repairman said we would need to pay "at least 1/2 of the fee up front" which was *****'s policy who they received the referral from. He would then contact us with a date to come install the part sometime over the next week. We were not provided a contract to sign or detailed cost breakdown. We wrote a check for the full amount and the repairman said he'd let us know when he had secured the part. We did inquire as to why the repair cost was so high and were told it was because of the specialized part that was so costly. The repairman called back an hour later and said he had the part and could come back to replace it in a couple hours. When he came back later that afternoon it took about 10 minutes to install the part ( the initial diagnostic took no more than 30 minutes). At this point we asked for the part that had been removed from the unit as the repairman did not seem as if he was going to leave it behind. The repairman seemed in a hurry to leave when he saw my husband was entering the part number into his phone to look it up. About 5 minutes after they left we discovered the part wasn't so "special" and cost only $59 on amazon. While we are wiling to pay a fair price for the labor we were knowingly ripped off. *** has returned none of our emails or calls.Total labor time was 40 minutes, Invoice date is incorrect ( states 12/2, service was 12/4) and the invoice states no labor cost. Only the "gas control module" for $1200 which we know is $59. All docs are attached. The invoice number for the job is #*****.