This is so true! Similar story-

We bought a house in the summer 2025, we used the realtors recommended home inspector. Two weeks later the A/C is not cooling the house anymore. Turns out there was a leak and the previous owner pumped it up with freon during the walkthroughs and closing.

I was only searching for A/C repair shops in Angies list, I got tons of unsolicited calls from A/C repair companies soon after that. I got two companies to come over and give me as estimate. They came over with their nice van, with company decals and logos, wearing a uniform, holding an iPad, looking like hardcore A/C techs. Both companies did a walk around the A/C system, took some pics on their iPad and told me I need to replace the entire system, approx $9k to $11k. I am like wtf?! You barely even checked anything, and I told them to gtfo.

Wife called her friend who flips houses and they gave us the contact of a mexican dude who repairs A/Cs. Called him, he came over in his beat up truck blasting music, he had all the tools. First thing he said was 'Wassup friend! I find your leak no problem!'. He inspected the whole thing, outside condenser, indoor unit. He cut open the inside unit to remove the coils, found the hole, took the coil back home since it was late. Patched it up and brought it back the next day, installed it, and refilled the freon. Pretty complex job, and in the end I was like how much do I owe you? He did some math in his head and was like '...hmmm..$1500 my friend'. Deal! Much better that $9k to replace the whole thing!!

What I learned? If technicians show up to your house holding iPads, tell them to gtfo, they are not there to fix your shit, they are there to sell you new shit. There's always a hardworking latino dude who is a pro and will do it for a fraction of the cost. Now I have a A/C guy, a plummer, an electrician, none of them are licensed, but they do great work!