Duct cleaning bait and switch scam

A coupon from coupon mailer package says “Entire house duct cleaning for $89”…how would a company carry liability insurance, workers compensation insurance and be able to spend almost an entire day at your home for $89? Never mind the other overhead costs of running a business such as advertising, labor and equipment.

Think about this at its most basic level, would you drive a full size truck with ladders (pay for gas) and then work an average of 6 hours at someone’s house for $89 with a $15000 duct cleaning machine?

Sound too good to be true? It is, ever heard of the old bait and switch sales technique? So many people fall for it. They think…”well if he says it will cost more I will just tell him no”. But then they are already there, you already lost your time, and maybe you begin to think “so what that the job really costs $600 I need it done, and the company even showed me reasons to get it done”.

Do you really want to do business with that kind of company? Honesty in business should be a companies first priority…how can you believe anything they tell you if they lie to you at the beginning of your business dealings?

What really pains me is when the customer insists on the $89 cleaning and then gets an $89 cleaning…which consists of the scammer cleaning the vent box only (not the duct all the way back to the air handling unit – which is where most of the debris is and if you don’t clean these ducts your air quality still stays poor) with a shop vac…that’s right a $50 shop vac from Home Depot.

These companies usually operate from way out of state and hire local un-trained and un-licensed people. This is a national problem.

Please watch this video from an Ohio news report on duct cleaning scams.