Gassco Heating and Cooling

Gassco, Inc. has been installing and repairing heating and cooling systems from 23 River Street in Dedham since 1995, incorporating in 2000. It is a corporation of about eight people, with William Gass as president and James Farrell as treasurer, and it counts 31 years in the trade. HomeAdvisor rates it 4.8 out of 5 across 38 ratings, 89 percent of them five stars. The written accounts homeowners left are strong, and they are dated: they run from 2012 to 2018. What they agree on most is speed when something breaks. A reviewer in July 2013 wrote that Gassco came the same day to fix an old AC compressor during a heat wave pushing 100 degrees when other companies could not, diagnosed and fixed it within 15 minutes of arriving, and had the part in the van. In August 2012 another said the crew arrived within 45 minutes on a Saturday after a condenser burned out and had the air conditioning back on in under 20 minutes. A February 2014 reviewer summed up two emergencies as being "here in a flash and got me up and running without delay and with a fair price." In January 2018, a woman whose 84-year-old mother had gone a week with the heat stuck below 59 degrees during a cold snap said Gassco replied to her message by 7:45 the next morning, called when the technician was en route, and had the problem diagnosed and solved within an hour for a reasonable fee. Two other threads run through those years. Several reviewers described the company steering them away from spending: a 2013 customer buying a new gas furnace said Gassco pointed them to the MassSave rebate program and warned about an upcoming EPA efficiency deadline; a 2012 customer said Gassco helped keep an aging unit alive rather than trying to sell a replacement; a 2016 customer said the company untangled a long-running problem another plumber had caused and "didn't gouge me on the cost." And in a 2015 account, a homeowner preparing to sell said Gassco came back years after an installation, took full responsibility for venting that knocked against a door, repositioned the PVC and corrected the drainage. The complaints are specific and worth raising. In January 2017 a customer gave two stars after an after-hours furnace call, saying the technician misdiagnosed the fault, the furnace quit again 30 minutes after he left, another company fixed it in ten minutes the next day at no charge, and no partial refund was offered. A June 2014 reviewer was billed $169.95 for a seasonal tune-up they thought high for the work done, and was offered $25 off after complaining. A September 2017 reviewer, otherwise positive, said a faulty part was inadvertently installed and took further troubleshooting to put right. Gassco fits a Dedham-area homeowner who wants a long-established shop that answers the phone in an emergency. Because so much of the written feedback dates to 2018 and earlier, ask for references from the last year or two, get the price of a diagnostic visit and a seasonal tune-up in writing up front, and confirm the current Massachusetts licences behind the gas and plumbing work.