Customer stories show why Tucson contractor ARS stays in the news

Why such repeated attention? For me, the reader response to these stories has been overwhelming. I've received calls or emails from 39 separate unsatisfied ARS Rescue Rooter customers, along with three or four from customers who were satisfied. Also, nine former (or current) ARS employees have contacted me with their stories.

After hearing so many customer stories, I've got a feeling for some patterns in the company's treatment of the unhappy customers:

• The customers called ARS either because they had been Russett Services customers, because they had American Home Shield warranties, or because they received an offer for a cheap (say, $49) inspection of their HVAC system.

• In almost every case, the ARS technician did an extraordinarily long, detailed inspection, often of things the customer didn't ask to be inspected, such as the toilets.

• In many cases, the technician said some system was dangerous or irretrievably broken. Either the water heater was ready to explode, carbon monoxide was leaking or the AC system was contaminated.

• In many cases, they said systems needed to be replaced immediately, and they would offer to put the residents up in a hotel for a few nights.

• In many cases, they immediately set up financing, often through a Wells Fargo financing company.

• In several cases, water-heater or air-conditioning components were damaged during the inspections, and in many others, the installed systems had significant problems.

• The company rarely offered detailed estimates that the customer could keep and look over, instead showing them brochures or other general material.

• The technicians and salesmen would give their first names but not their last names.

• The vast majority of the unhappy customers whose stories I heard were 65 or older.

One of the people who called me was Mary "Liz" Raim, a 90-year-old who lives on the east side of Tucson. Her air conditioning went out on Memorial Day weekend, when three teenage grandchildren were staying with her, she said.

ARS technicians came out and told her that she needed a new air conditioner, heater and water heater, she said. They also offered to put everybody up in a hotel for the night.

Concerned because of having the three kids in her home, and also feeling pressure because it was a holiday weekend, Raim accepted their bid. Total bill: $10,800.

"They had it all fixed up to get you credit," she told me. "They certainly were well trained in what they did. They could talk you into anything."

And now she's paying off that whole bill, at age 90.

Jack Parsons, who lives in midtown Tucson, told me a similar story today. In August 2009 his air conditioning stopped working. Russett Services had installed it about 10 years before, for $5,900, he told me.

(Russett Services is separate from Russett Southwest Corp., which has no connection to ARS Rescue Rooter.)

So Parsons called them back and had ARS Rescue Rooter come out. Their prognosis: He needed a new system. Cost: $12,900.

"It was a real hot day and the AC quit," Parsons explained to me. 

But everything moved so fast, and he was 85 years old, so he went ahead, Parsons said.

"I should have used my head and checked into a motel for a couple of days and had somebody else come out," he told me. 

Many elderly people have wondered aloud to me why they weren't more questioning of the ARS staff as they insisted that the customers needed to spend thousands right away.

"We’re still paying," Parsons said. "What are you going to do? We had a line of credit on the house. We charged it against that and we’re paying that off."

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Some have wondered in comments on the stories what American Residential Services says. They've channeled all comments through a public relations firm, Edelman. No current employees are allowed to speak to me, though I've made some efforts to speak to them.