877-254-2904

A creep named Mark called me a few days ago, offering a COMPLETE home air duct cleaning for $39.95. I knew this was impossible. I told them I'd get back to them. I then did some research. First of all, a Google of the number revealed that someone named Mark was advertising for "home improvement" telemarketers thru Craigslist for his "room" (probably "boiler room"). The number he gave matched. Then, just to make sure, I checked online, and, as expected, learned that there are a large number of air duct cleaning scammers who bait and switch from the "low" price above to costs many times that amount. Worse, also as expected, I learned that these crooks often actually damage the heating/ac system in the house, resulting in thousands of dollars of repairs. I then made a complaint on the "do not call" registry and also will be reporting this boiler room to Consumer Affairs.

A man who said his company name is "Air Quality" called from 626-544-5535,  He gave his call back number as 877-254-2904. Caller ID is CARPET PRO. I spoke with him; he said his name is "Sam", located in Pasadena, with office in Chatsworth (only when I said I lived in Northridge...NOT!).  His accent is most definitely Israeli. He said they have been in business  for 5 years.
THIS IS A SCAM! YOU CANNOT CLEAN AN ENTIRE HOUSE'S VENTILATION SYSTEM FOR $39.99.  DON'T BE TAKEN FOR A FOOL BY THIS.
There is no listing for this scammer with the California Secretary of State.
Phone number is listed as being based in Alhambra, CA.
The Los Angeles Better Business Bureau has multiple F reports for companies like this, including one called "Quality Air Duct" in Canoga Park.  That owner's name is Jonathan.
Here is a typical complaint:

Summary: Quality Air Duct, Inc. claimed to clean our air ducts, but actually just vacuumed the outside of the furnace and ran a shop vac for 45 minutes.

Resolution Sought: We have cancelled the check. We would like them to refund our $27 bank service fee.

Detail: They quoted $10 per duct on the phone, but then claimed that it would be an additional $175 to clean the furnace itself because we don't have an attic. This seemed nonsensical at the time, but I deferred to the technician thinking he knew what he was talking about. Then he told me that he could clean the entire two story house by snaking a hose from the furnace unit. It appeared that he inserted the hose of a regular shop vacuum into the primary duct. Then he insisted that I not watch due to the 'fumes'. So I went downstairs while he talked loudly on his cell phone for half an hour. We have inspected several ducts since they left, and discovered that none have been cleaned. They are still dirty. There are several positive Google reviews online for Quality Air Duct, Inc. I suspect they have been planted there by the management.

Thanks for the info.  I just cancelled the Appointment I had.  I did research  and could not find Air control specialist's at all.  They said they were in Canoga park and also worked in Norwalk.  You saved me from wasting time and money.  I was also afraid the May be scoping the place to break into my home later.

 My husband and I received several telemarketer sales calls from: Air Control Specialist over the past month, MAY 2014.  The telemarketers quoted a discounted Basic Air Conditioning Vent Cleaning for only $39.99 with before and after photos.  However, by "acting now" Air Control Specialist said that the regular price of $149.99 would be discounted to a $39.99 price for their past customers.  I couldn't remember if I had ever been a customer of Air Control Specialist, but they said I was a customer of theirs in 2005 and it HAD been a long time since I last had my air conditioning vents cleaned... It WAS possible....maybe?....that Air Control Specialist had been here before and that "I" was an old customer....but the whole job for only $39.99?  I highly doubted that.
   My husband and I talked it over, and then the next time Air Control Specialist called, we decided to schedule an appointment to get our air conditioning vents cleaned for $39.99 on TUES 5/27/2014 from 9:00am - 11:00am.  The telemarketer's name was Felicia and then when making the appointment, she handed the phone over to Joe, the scheduling manager, to confirm the address information I had already given to her...seemed kind of peculiar, to me.  I was told the appointment would only take between 45 minutes to 1 hour......which, also, seemed a little fast, but I assumed they new what they were doing and it was an easy task.
   So, now, it is MONDAY evening 5/26/2014 and there is a message from Felicia of Air Control Specialist on my home answering machine stating that the TUESDAY appointment must be changed to an hour later on TUES 5/27/2014 from 10:00am - 12:00pm and to call 1-877-254-2904 if the schedule change will not work.  I call at 8:30am TUES 5/27 to confirm and must leave a message on the machine saying that I the new time from 10:00am - 12:00pm will be fine.
   It is now 10:25am and not one phone call from the Air Control Specialist business or drivers that are supposedly on their way.  I call the Air Control Specialist number back at 10:25am and get the message machine, again.  This time I said "STUPIDLY" that if I didn't hear from them, I would be leaving at 11:00am. What if they were waiting until the house was empty?  I get a call at 10:57am....they say they are running late and are only 16 miles away and will be here in 30 minutes. They also wanted address clarification.  Air Control Specialist arrives at 11:44am and I let them through the gated community.  I point them to my townhome and then they park their van in the farthest guest parking spot from my townhome, although there were 8 closer available parking spots right next to my place.  I, again, point to the closer parking spots, but they do not want to repark their van and would rather carry a long ladder a 5 minute walk to my townhome.
  As we walk into the house he casually asks what I do for a living and I say I'm a teacher.  He tries to get to know me and tries and be friends with some small talk.  When in my townhome, they want to know if I have an attic or a basement.  I have neither.  Instead, I have a garage and I have a rooftop.  I tell them that my air conditioning & heating unit is on the roof and show them access to the rooftop through the top floor bathroom.  I am told that I do not have any accessible air conditioner pipes on the rooftop and that they are in the walls.  They looked at the vents inside the house and said they desperately needed cleaning and the air conditioning unit in my house was over 18 years old and in need of deep cleaning.  I confirmed that this would all be for the price of $39.99 and they said, "No. $39.99 is for a basic cleaning only."
   I am, then, quoted $25 per air duct and $200 deep cleaning....they then final quote me over $500.  I tell them no and they keep trying to guilt me into how far they drove to get to my place and how important it is to get my air ducts deep cleaned.  How unhealthy an environment it is to live in my house with a very old unit and very dirty air ducts and pipes.  I say, "My husband and I agreed upon the $39.99 that was quoted to us and I know it is not fair to you, as an employee...but your company quoted wrongly and once we are given a proper quote, my husband and I will consider the new offer.  We need to save the proper amount of money for the air conditioning vent cleaning.  Next time I speak to your company, I want the appropriate quote given to me, whether it be $200 or $500 or $1500.  I want to know the actual amount it will cost."  They would not leave.  I, then, come up with the idea of telling them I must call my husband to confirm and he will make the final decision.
   I was downstairs and call my husband...I make sure the two men from Air Control Specialist can here my conversation on the phone.  When I realize they are listening, by them shouting down quoted information about our unit and telling me what poor condition the unit is in and how it badly needs to be cleaned....I then ask my husband what he thinks about getting the air conditioning unit still cleaned, but for $500 or so.  My husband, immediately, replies "no" over the phone and my response of "Are you sure?" is heard from the two men from Air Control Specialist.  The two men start to come down from the third floor with their folding ladder and FINALLY let me say goodbye to them and escort them out the door of my town home.  
   The man with the European foreign accent (Israeli, Serbian, Russian? I am not sure) finally leaves and says, if he could please give me some advise, to please get my air condition vents cleaned....they are in real need of cleaning.  He said that he would do the basic cleaning for $39.99 if he thought it would work, but believes if he just did the basic cleaning there would be problems in the system and that I would be contacting back Air Control Specialist to fix it and the only way that he would then be able to get inside is by breaking down a wall because I don't have an attic in my townhome.  As he says goodbye and I am closing the door, guy doing all the talking asks me what I teach for a living and I say that I am a math teacher.  He replies, "I thought you were a smart one."

Hope you all are able to cancel your scheduled appointments and checks before getting scammed by Air Control Specialist!    

And yes, they even have a website address, too listed with the same phone number: www.aircontrolspecialist.com

Original quotes should always be final.

Be careful everyone.

Thank you for the post Mike Tims.  I got the same $39.99 quote over the phone and thought that price was ridiculous as well as their quote for only a 45minute to 1hour air vent cleaning appointment.  Thank you for the confirmation and taking action.  I have posted my story about Air Control Specialist, below.  I will be looking into contacting "Better Business Bureau" you may wish to do the same.  https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started

Thank you SarahG. i got the call about 3.15 pm and offered the $39 air duct cleaning service and was very pushy to make an appointment, I agreed for 3.00 pm to 5.00 pm. I git a call back after 5 minutes from a different number 408 175 6332 and did not leave any message. i was browsing on the internet to see any feedback, nothing positive and then I stumbled upon SarahG's detailed experience and I decided I will cancel the appointment. just now a call again from 2139492836 and I talked to Joe and he said he is one of the sups and I told him to cancel the appointment and he said that I made an appointment and replied NO, because Sadie told me that I will get the call from a sup. to confirm, he asked why I am cancelling and I told him that I did not liked the comments on the internet and I do not want them to call me and do not want them to come to my house. Thank you to all the people for their input on-line.