Charlie McDermott:
Welcome to Comfort on Porpoise, sponsored by Dolphin Cooling & Heating, who have been providing 24/7 Comfort on Porpoise since 1998. Well welcome back, this is Charlie McDermott, co-host/producer of this show. And once again we have Lauren in the studio. Lauren, how are you doing today?
Lauren Willeford:
Good! How are you, Charlie?
Charlie McDermott:
I’m doing good, but I’m anticipating something. You teased me a bit. You said you’ve got news, you’ve got something new. So let’s just get right into that. Fill us in.
Lauren Willeford:
So we’re really excited. We made some changes to our maintenance options for our customers. We’ve had our tune up, which is just a one time maintenance visit. We did have a slight price change on that, but with that, it includes a 30 day drain line warranty and it includes two free filter media replacements. But what I’m really excited about is our Plan 1 program, which is our semi-annual maintenance service. We come twice a year, typically about six months apart, the price on that stayed exactly the same at $199 per system. It’s $179 per each additional system located at the same residence, but I wanted to highlight a couple items that we’ve added. And they’ve really added a lot of value to this plan.
So things that stay the same, it’s still two visits. You still receive priority scheduling. You still get 15% off of repairs, but now you also get 20% off of indoor air quality services, IAQ. We’ve additionally added a one year warranty on all parts installed. If you call in, let’s say you have an AC emergency it’s after hours, it’s on a weekend. If you call us and you are a plan 1 customer with us, rather than having to pay $155 for an emergency service fee, you pay our normal regular $99 dispatch fee out. So big, big savings there. Plus we now offer free electronic leak search with this, which is $124 value. And I think the thing I’m most excited about is that we now include with our VIP Plan 1 maintenance program, we give you one free service call per residence. So let’s say between your two maintenance visits, your AC goes down, something happens, you call us, we come out, you can get that visit, there’s no $99 charge. We wave it entirely. So it’s free.
So right there, you know, the plan is $199. You’re getting two maintenance visits and you get a free service call, which is basically another a hundred dollars value. Plus we offer a 60 day warranty on drain lines and same thing, you get to filter media replacements. So we are very, very excited about this. We feel like we’ve added a ton of value for our customers. And really the whole goal of this is to be preventative and help people keep their AC running all the time. Because we know, especially right now where it’s very warm down here in Florida and very humid, being without the AC can be very uncomfortable and it gets that way very fast when the AC goes down. We can’t stress the importance of maintenance enough and we’ve made some changes because we want to show customers just how important it is and the value they really get for it. So we’re very excited about it over here at Dolphin Cooling.
Charlie McDermott:
As am I, because, you may not be aware of that, but that’s the plan we’re on. So perfect. Very cool.
Lauren Willeford:
Yes and that’s the other thing. So for all of our listeners, if you’re currently under contract with us with the Plan 1 right now, your contract is still in process, you automatically got upgraded to get all of these benefits. So it’s for anyone who signs up now and it’s for anyone who’s already under contract, everybody gets these benefits.
Charlie McDermott:
Wow, that’s awesome. Man, you covered so much. One thing that jumped out at me was part of this, and I should know this because you guys have been doing this at our house. You replaced the filters. That’s part of the service. Which you know, in my past experiences, and this goes back to Pennsylvania, that was never the case. And I’m not good at replacing our filters. I’m I’m confessing here. I’m sure you’ve heard that before. So it’s nice to know that at least, I know I should be doing it more often and sometimes I do, but at least twice a year, those dang filters are getting change, which is thrilling for me.
Lauren Willeford:
Yes, we replace with a filter media. So it goes in, it’s not a pleated filter, but it is still a filter. It still protects the system from any dust or debris getting in there, getting on the coil, gunking it up, which creates inefficiency problems and can cause AC issues, which nobody wants.
Charlie McDermott:
Nobody wants. And you mentioned the weather we’re having, it’s currently almost August. Rarely do I go to bed at night going, oh, thank God, the AC is working. But then in the back of your mind going, oh my goodness, what happens if. And it’s so nice that we have a company that is there when we need you. And, and we’ve only had to do that once so far and that’s good.
Lauren Willeford:
That means the maintenance is working. So that’s a good thing.
Charlie McDermott:
And in our case it was one of those, it was a fan motor and the unit’s outside and we’re right on the bay. So you know, one day I’m gonna walk outside, I’m just gonna see my unit in dust, the corrosion that’s going on. I mean, there’s not much you can do, right?
Lauren Willeford:
No, unfortunately, no. But if you do have those AC problems, you know where to find us we’re available 24/7.
Charlie McDermott:
Yeah and you guys were great. I was talking with Greg and this whole supply chain issue and parts and all that, everybody struggles with that. And you guys got real creative with the replacement part because wherever it was coming from, Chin,a or God knows where you know where, was probably next to impossible. But he said, hey, we’ve got the same thing. It’s just, we can get this in there now. And I was like, bring it, man.
Lauren Willeford:
Do it now, please.
Charlie McDermott:
Yeah, yeah.
Lauren Willeford:
No, there’s still been some supply chain issues and it’s just one of the things we have to work through right now. And we try and find whatever the best solution is to offer the customer because being without AC down here in Southwest Florida, especially right now, it’s 90 degrees outside. I mean, it’s gets really uncomfortable.
Charlie McDermott:
Yeah. So you mentioned IAQ indoor air quality, right?
Lauren Willeford:
Yes.
Charlie McDermott:
So go ahead and fill us in on what that means. You said that that somehow is a part of the package, right?
Lauren Willeford:
Yeah. So it’s 20% off of IAQ products. So IAQ products would be things like UV coil lights that go inside the air handler. It would be things like Halo Remy LED air scrubbers that go in your duct work, they help with air purification. It would be things such as specialty filter boxes, four and five inch pleated filters, duct sanitization, anything of that nature that’s really beneficial for the air quality. And also protecting the unit. With the coil light, for instance, that goes inside the air handler, it’s not considered an air purification product per se, because it’s not in the duct work, but inside the air handler, all the air that goes to your house is going through that air handler and it keeps the coil clean. All the air passes over the coil. So if the coil’s clean, the air isn’t getting anything off the coil and it’s also kind of cleaning as the air passes through it, the UV light does kill bacteria and microbial growth and things such of that nature. So it does help. We can’t call it an air purification system because it’s not in the duct work, but it is an IAQ product.
Charlie McDermott:
Yep. Yep. So one of those every little bit helps and in this day and age of doing everything you can to keep the air clean and whatever’s going around at any given moment. And if there isn’t anything at this given moment, just turn on the news and we’ll find that something else.
Lauren Willeford:
Oh God, no, don’t turn on the news. Don’t go there!
Charlie McDermott:
Well, you I sure did deliver today, Lauren. This is a great news for all of your customers and customers to be. And I love what you guys do. I mean, it’s a family business and I know, again, from working with you and Greg and stopping by the office on a regular basis, you guys are always looking out for your clients, your customers, and coming up with new ways to best serve everyone. So boy, unexpected, but really appreciate it. So great job there.
Lauren Willeford:
Thank you. Our goal is to keep our customers and happy customers, they stay. So our goal is to try and make everybody happy.
Charlie McDermott:
You’re doing it on our end and many, many others. So I’m very happy. Great job.
Lauren Willeford:
Thank you.
Charlie McDermott:
Yeah. We’ll see you soon in the next episode.
Lauren Willeford:
Can’t wait!
Charlie McDermott:
Thanks for listening to Comfort on Porpoise. To learn more about our sponsor, Dolphin Cooling & Heating visit www.dolphincooling.com or call 239-596-9044.