Yes, it is a common practice. If you are upset, I recommend contacting the company.

Prior to this "tune up" visit did you notice anything not working with your HVAC system? If not then I would be a little suspicious. Fuses blow for a reason. You should have gotten an invoice explaining the repair.

This tune up was April 10th, before we started using AC this year. The AC worked fine when we switched to heat last fall. I was with the technician when he was checking out the unit and found no power to it. He couldn't come up with "reason" it blew. After replacing the fuse, he check amp draw and it was normal. Unit is 12 years old with original fuses,

I have a strong feeling the reason it "blew", is because he pulled it out of his tool box and swapped it for the good one while you weren't looking. And the "new" fuse he installed and charged you for was actually yours that he swapped again

Can you take a picture of the fuse he replaced, from further back so that we can see where that fuse is, and what it seems to power?

I appreciate the concern you show. However, when we went to the outdoor unit together, it wasn't running, even though the indoor unit fan was. It was then that he checked if there was power to the unit. There wasn't so he went to the fuse box on the wall outside of my house by the unit, pulled and checked the fuses. One checked good the other bad.He went to his truck, came back with a fuse, replaced the bad one and the unit started to run.

Is the $149 charge in addition to the cost for the annual preventive maintenance services?

Yes

If your maintenance contract doesn't specify coverage for replacement fuses, then yeah.

From what I know (over 30 years in HVAC), people choose these service contracts based on price, then complain when the contract doesn't live up to the price paid.

Can a fuse fail with no obvious cause? yes.

*outlier reasons could be: made in China, made in Mexico or many other places around the world with cheap labor. Otherwise the fuse my cost 3 times that amount. (name your poison).

In my opinion the whole episode sounds fishy. Is it possible the tech swapped the fuse prior to you coming out and observing what he was doing?

No. I was with him from the time his van pulled into my driveway until he left. I like to observe what techs are doing, without interfering or asking questions to distract them.

That's what I think as well. I have placed a call to my provider (whom I bought two furnaces, ac units, and hot water heaters from in the last 35 years), and have maintained an annual contract with as well.

and while you were with him, did he say something in the line of "please hold onto this panel while i retrieve my drill", by any chance? or make you do something that would get your attention while he swaps the bad fuse? I find highly suspicious the fact that the fuse blew on its own between two cooling seasons.

I thought it was a unusual the fuse on 12 year old equipment would fail. I guess I was very lucky that the three 25-year old condensers I replaced had the original fuses. I can't recall the last time someone on this forum reported a situation like this. But then again I'm a homeowner with no formal HVAC training.

I can accept a fuse failing, but giving a customer no invoice and then charging his credit card two months after the fact made the repair questionable in my opinion.

Yes, that charge is excessive for a blown fuse if it was found while doing the annual maintenance.

Yes, that charge is excessive for a blown fuse if it was found while doing the annual maintenance.

We're talking about the cost of a fuse and we don't know what type of fuse it was?

It was on the truck? who put it there? ( That's free labor we in forum boards disregard as no pay necessary for anything.)

The fuse fixed the problem? (Did the tech search for shorts that might have caused the fuse to blow? --- this is free too) --- I realize this was during a preventative maintenance visit, but does this mean than anything and everything above that of the maintenance is free? Uh, no.

Honesty works both ways here folks.

Yet people will argue: The cost of the fuse was $1, $2, $3 but certainly not more than $5. ~ The mentality of a parts changer. The labor and expenses of the company doing the work was paid in the maintenance contract that drew us too it because it was cheaper than all the rest. (We don't know this for sure, so lets not even think about it?)

Example:

I have fuses that I replace that I charge around $69, but that is the cost of just the fuse. I am not going to sell you that until I know there are no shorts causing it to blow the fuse --- or the cost of a fuse isn't going to matter. (this type of fuse is probably less than a dollar my cost.) -- yeah I'm getting rich selling fuses for $69 a pop. LOL.

There is work involved to check for shorts that could be the reason the fuse blew. (without doing this "work" the cost of a fuse is moot. -- it will just blow again, and again, and again.... no wait this time I replace it -- it will not blow! I command thee! ha, ha, ha)

I would let you know in advance what the charges are... so this coming back chinking you for more money later? Uh, no I wouldn't do that. BUT those are differences from likely cheaper ways of doing things that attract you by the cheapness of plans that don't measure up in the long run. (I don't know if this is accurate or not, in forum boards we guess -- nothing more nothing less.)

If you are on my service contract: up to 25% off. When you've been on the service contract for at least 5 years with no breaks in the contract. I actually pay you for loyalty. WHY you suppose this is a thing?

Now because we don't know what kind of fuse, nor the "work" done to correct an issue the charge could be very close to accurate depending on a list of various factors that we likely do not know from that of a forum board with people chiming in that don't do this kind of work voicing opinions about what things should or shouldn't cost all the while inflation is running hot for the past 3+ years.

HVAC is immune to inflation. This is what you're expected to believe in 2024.

I service the Katy, Texas area.

I can't say if this charge was too high, but there is no way that a random charge should have been run on your card without a discussion and really the work shouldn't be done without talking about the cost. I have had a lot of work done where they give you an estimate and then find that there is something more going on and things are going to cost more. I have never just been blindsided with the upcharge. The workers always tell me what is happening, why it is going to cost more and have some estimate of what the additional charges will be.

As far as the cost of service, everyone feels like they are being charged too much for most services from plumbers and electricians to doctors and dentists. They all overcharge. At the same time everyone feels like they are not getting paid enough for the work they do.

We overestimate what our time and expertise is worth and underestimate the worth of others.

" Austin Air Companie "

If the OP had called for a service call and they had to come out, diagnose the problem and fix it, $150 would be typical. Given they have an ongoing service/maintenance contract (which couldn't be done properly without replacing a 50 cent fuse) then I would consider that part of the "maintenance" program'.

Please don't keep boring everyone on this forum with your "parts on the truck", etc, excuses for what is fundamentally a crooked profession!

After finally getting to talk to a manager, the situation was resolved quickly. He acknowledged that the charge should not have been placed on my credit card without permission and refunded the total charge.

You seemed to have missed the fact that the service tech was already on site performing preventive maintenance under a routine service agreement that the OP pays for. Replacing a fuse in the process of providing that service didn't require a mobilization cost; just the cost of the fuse. It was reasonable to bill the cost of the part plus a fair mark up, but not bill the task as if it were a separate service call.

The stent they put into the artery in my heart was only $1600. It was already in the hospital when I got there, the procedure is done by sending a balloon through an artery that is already there and releasing the stent from the balloon where the artery is weak. Doesn't sound all that difficult. Why did it cost so much?

Well, that involved an element (!) of skill and training. You're not seriously comparing the two, are you?

The problem (well, this problem) isn't socialism....... it's highway robbery!