Air Conditioning Install

[TruchoTango]

Hola Gang,

I have a tricky one on my hands. The owner of the apartment I rent wanted to install aire. She bought the unit at Fravega and it arrived. She arranged with the portero of the building to use his friend to install the aire. We talked with a few different laypeople, and all said the aire install would cost about 2,000 pesos.

The unit arrived, I went downstairs and got the phone number from the portero of his friend who installs aire. I called him. The guy came by. He looked around and explained a bunch of stuff that he said made the job more complicated and finished with "5,000 pesos. Es muy complicado." I was shocked at the price. Laypeople had said 2,000 pesos.

I called the owner of the apartment. This was her building, the portero was her friend, and this was her guy. I assumed she knew what she was doing and she trusted this guy. I got the install guy and the owner on the phone and they talked 5 minutes. She agreed to the 5,000 price. The guy wanted 2,000 upfront for materials. The owner authorized that, so I gave the install guy 2,000 upfront for materials. He left.

He said we would install the aire on the next dry day. According to him, due to freon, you can't install an aire unit on a day with moisture in the aire. I don't know if this is true or not, I have never heard this before.

Last night, the owner came by and repaid me the 2,000 pesos. She was beside herself. She said the guy was ripping us off, the price was ridiculous and she wants out of the deal. I was sympathetic, but she authorized the upfront payment, so I am clear of responsibility. I want to help her, but this is tricky. I have another guy coming over to provide a second opinion. He will likely say the estimate is overpriced, but then what do we do?

If anyone on the foro has any suggestions, let me know.

Thanks.

 

[mikic007]

I have some experience in this stuff and while 5000 is a lot, is not total rip off. The company I worked for was charging similar, but in more expensive country and outcome was amazing. Here I never really saw good installation, they usually just leave holes behind, use bad materials, don't even clean after themselves... Problem is, that it is hard to get professional and final result will be bad. All will tell you small price on the start and then higher it up later, this happens with everything here.

My advice is leave this hot potato to the owner, it is not your responsibility and you don't want to be in between, when the owner will discover huge hole in the wall, covered with cheap plastic and aire will probably fail after few years ... And as you mentioned, what you can do? Nothing, you paid upfront, so you will go till the end or loose even more money. Never pay upfront, if the guy doesn't have material already, he won't be capable of installation anyway ...

 

[Rich One]

Fravega sells some units with the Installation included and with factory warranty. Make sure that if problems arise later the warranty won't be void because of faulty installation. Its the owners hot potato.

 

[homeinbuenosaires]

I know a great guy in Barrio Norte (Santa Fe/ Aguero-ish, and he lives there) who has always been reasonable and honest with me, and managed to identify a problem and fix a unit that four other people had looked at and been stumped by. Once, when I was unsure whether the unit would work, he told me I could pay him the next day and wait to see what happened! He is a friend of a friend. He's done at least one or two installs for me and I've never had any problems with any units after he has touched them.

It might be worth making him a third opinion if you are unsure. Daniel Ochoa - 4823 8207 - 15 41 43 35 87

Make sure that the installer will not be voiding your guarantee! I don't remember if this means that they just need to have the matriculación or not - be sure to read the fine print.

You can also check ballpark prices on Mercadolibre:

http://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/instalacion-aire-acondicionado-matriculado#D[A:instalacion-aire-acondicionado-matriculado,B:0]

There is often a 'kit de instalación' that comes as an extra charge and it's not so cheap. Be sure to ask if this (or anything else - like a drainage pipe) is necessary or included before committing, obviously.

 

[gpop]

Just as point of comparison; I've been looking at a puerta blindada installation with Pentagono, they quoted me $4000. Installing an AC take much less time and easier than fitting a new security door and frame. AC installation in BA is a racket. When I got my AC (admittedly, many years ago, the unit was 2500 and installation ~ 500), I had the installers from the Comfortmaker AC shop do the installation before summer; apparently their prices increase with the temperature as demand increases also. We installed in October 2011 I think. The only thing the salesperson mention was keeping the unit upright for several days so the freon settles properly.

These same installers [tried to ] grab as much of the parts in the box as they could as they were leaving with the "oh... did you want to keep these useless parts" look on their faces. (they resell stuff that I paid for)! They also try to get you on the length of tubing you need, with a hefty price for each additional meter. Plan the spot where you want to install the unit and make sure you have a power outlet and place for the outer unit that's close by; the guys that did my installation were trying anything to tack on more 'requirements' and such.

The job is fairly easy and any schmo can follow some directions. The units must be level, the hoses must have a tight connection, and power must be sufficient and dedicated for the power consumption for your AC. The rest of the work is really just drilling some holes in the wall. There is laws that prohibit/confine some AC installations depending on the building (ie: historic buildings) and perhaps in some apartment blocks (depending on the consorsio).

here are some prices in ML: http://servicios.mer...e-acondicionado

also certified installers as per CAMARA ARGENTINA DE. CALEFACCION, AIRE ACONDICIONADO Y VENTILACION: http://www.cacaav.co...culados/listado

 

[Bajo_cero2]

I just both 3 for the office at Garbarino. 2000 each for installing. They came yesterday and they quoted 1200 extra for the 3. So, i suggest to ho back to Fravega and hire them to do it.

 

[nativexpat]

It is so funny how we keep buying a/c units and then we can't use them because power goes out all the time.

 

[Rich One]

It is so funny how we keep buying a/c units and then we can't use them because power goes out all the time.

In all fairness in my block of Recoleta haven't had a power outage in many years.

 

[BaltRochGirl]

If it's a brand new install it's going to cost more, they have to set up more stuff, a place for the outside unit to sit on and put the unit and tubes into the walls. We had one replaced this year and paid I think 2500 for that install/removal of the old unit, but they didn't have to do any of the set up into the building/walls.