Low price pitch leads to high cost

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) - You've probably seen them in your mailbox -- a coupon offering a great price on air duct cleaning. But folks who tried one company's deal found out the real cost can be much higher than the advertised price.

Hedy Brooks wanted to get the dryer vent cleaned in her Georgetown home. She received a coupon in the mail from a company called Austin City Air Ducts.

"They said that they would do your air ducts for $69," said Brooks.

Largely because of the price, Brooks hired them to do the cleaning. But she didn't know that Austin City Air Ducts had a less-than-clean record with customers -- and that the Better Business Bureau was investigating complaints against the company.

Hedy and her husband, Paul, noticed problems shortly after the workers arrived.

 "Well, they came in the front door and started with these air ducts up above," said Paul Brooks, pointing to the ceiling in the home.

"One would be in the kitchen, one in the bedroom, and one would be outside doing things," Hedy Brooks said, describing the workers in her home. "I didn't even know what they were doing." 

They said the flurry of activity surprised them, since they only wanted their dryer vent cleaned.

"I told them, 'We don't need that!'" Paul Brooks said.

The workers told the couple that they needed to work up on the roof to clean the dryer vent.

"Well, we didn't ask them what it would cost," Paul said, remembering the moment. "Thinking that $69, it couldn't cost much more than that to do the top."

He soon found out that his thinking was wrong.

"When they finished," Paul Brooks said, "they said that was $238."

Their claims are similar to other complaints on record against Austin City Air Ducts.

"They're responding to an ad which gives a certain price," said Erin Dufner of the Austin Better Business Bureau. "But then, they're upsold a lot of different items that they really may not necessarily need."

Hedy said she felt ripped off, so she called the company's manager.

"He did call me back that night, and I explained everything to him, and he said, 'I'll have to talk to the men and I'll call you back tomorrow,'" Hedy Brooks remembered. "As of tomorrow, that was, like, a year ago, and I still have not heard from the man."

The listed phone number for Austin City Air Ducts no longer accepts calls. Callers hear a recorded error message. Customers who filed complaints also had trouble getting answers.

The BBB reported that the company did not answer any of the complaints filed by consumers. That led the BBB to give Austin City Air Ducts an F-rating.