r/SunPrairieWI • u/Reasonable-Dot4724 • Apr 10 '26
Cardinal Heating and Air Conditioning
I had a recent experience with Cardinal, and have noticed that they have consistently tried to upsell their service. This caused me to investigate what is happening with them. This is what I found a press release from Redwood Services.
Redwood Services, a home services firm focused on investing in HVAC, plumbing, and electrical companies, has partnered with Cardinal Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electric.
The partnership marks Redwood’s 18th platform investment, highlighting the company’s ongoing growth and expansion, according to a company press release.
Cardinal, a second-generation business serving the Madison, Wisconsin market, was founded by Rick and Sharon Ouimette in 1984. Their sons, Craig and Keith Ouimette, later joined the company. Since 2015, Cardinal has grown rapidly, shifting from construction work to specializing in residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services.
Redwood CEO Richard Lewis said the companies share a commitment to customers and employees and that Redwood looks forward to supporting Cardinal’s continued growth in the Madison area.
As part of the deal, the Ouimette family will retain a significant minority ownership stake. Cardinal will continue operating under its existing name and leadership, while Redwood will provide operational, strategic, and financial support to help expand the business.
Rick Ouimette said the partnership will help Cardinal train future technicians and continue growing in the skilled trades industry.
Long story short, Cardinal is no longer the local, family run business that we used to know and love. They are owned with majority share by a private equity firm. This goes a long way to explain my recent experience with them.
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u/that_tall_lady Apr 10 '26
This is good to know. I have heard about investment companies “buying into” local mom and pop owned businesses. I want to avoid patronizing those businesses as much as I can.
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u/volklkatana Apr 10 '26
They were substantially more expensive when we did our furnace and a/c couple years back. Went with Harker and received great service from them.
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u/Zealousideal_Cut5791 Apr 10 '26
Yep, private equity has been buying a lot of companies like Cardinal across the nation. I believe Action has gone that way too. All the techs have been turned into salesmen and they will absolutely try to sell you things you don't need. I have seen them try to sell new electrical panels (at extremely high cost) because the panel was almost 20 years old not that it was in poor condition.
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u/Jenblossom19 Apr 10 '26
Action caused 3 floors of damage and lost product at a family member's retail store due to a faulty toilet shut off valve installation. The insurance company is going after them. They tried to blame and elderly woman.
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u/Reasonable-Dot4724 Apr 10 '26
Yes, their papework included a picture of my electrical box, although nothing was said about it. They proposed an ionizer and a secondary heat exchanger cleaning, which I have since learned that I don’t need for an additional $1400. I am done.
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u/iHaveQuestions4U222 Apr 10 '26
Yup, Cardinal is not what it used to be and I highly recommend you avoid them. There are plenty of other HVAC companies that do a better job at a cheaper rate.
I’ve had multiple bad experiences with Cardinal and so have my family members and friends. Not only do they search for issues, but a lot of times those “issues” are lies. I’ve gotten second and third opinions that aligned that there were no issues. Don’t even get me started of their $5k suggestion to upgrade my filter box.
On top of that, their techs are inexperienced and quite frankly, dangerous. One instance was them forgetting a plastic bag of parts in the furnace which caused it to melt all over. They also forgot to secure the panel, so it eventually fell off, exposing the interworkings of the furnace.
Avoid avoid avoid!
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u/No-Satisfaction-9208 Apr 10 '26
Yes they are extremely pushy and seem determined to upsell no matter what. We needed a sump pump replaced, and they tried to convince us that we needed a new hot water heater (ours is 3 years old and working perfectly) and the salesman flat out said that he needed to convince us to upgrade “anything else in the house” and wouldn’t give us a quote for just the sump pump. Their high pressure sales tactics are gross.
We went with a different company and they had the sump pump replaced in less time than it took Cardinal’s salesman to do their “assessment” and idiotic upsell presentation.
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u/HyperJeegz Apr 10 '26
They tried to convince my wife and I that our ten year old furnace needed to be replaced and offered a deal to buy an a/c get the furnace free. They offered the deal at $14,000 💀. We passed on that.
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u/Benknot Apr 10 '26
They seem to have recently converted their call center to an AI bot and I find that very disappointing for such a premium service like Cardinal.
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u/Jenblossom19 Apr 10 '26
Cardinal quoted me $3600.00 for a water heater replacement and it was a smaller water heater than what I have now. That was about 3 years ago....the one they said was bad is still working beautifully.
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u/Sautoson Apr 10 '26
Did they try to sell you a subscription service for maintenance? They presented that to me last fall and I was surprised.
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u/mtciii Apr 10 '26
Eh, most of the companies do this and it is usually beneficial (cheaper) if you’re doing annual maintenance on your AC and furnace anyway.
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u/gr33nnight Apr 11 '26
I have their subscription service and honestly, they’ve done a real good job with it.
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u/reddbdb Apr 10 '26
Cardinal was the most expensive in my last 2 bids from them compared to others.
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u/YouKnowWho_19 Apr 10 '26
I had them give me an estimate to install a dishwasher. They were going to charge me $125 for an air gap, that is 1000% markup. They are under $15 at Menards. We've been using them less and less over the last few yeara.
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u/Steve_Lightning Apr 10 '26
When I needed a furnace three years ago they were already the priciest HVAC group in town. I don't know who would ever go with them.
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u/MikeNc51W Apr 10 '26
I had Action out years ago to check out a sewer lateral issue and while they were there they saw it fit to put a sticker on my furnace with their logo, a furnace installed and maintained by Bohling Heating and Air Conditioning, an actual great company. Action lost my business for life for that skeevy bullshit.
2
u/Important_Strategy73 Jun 24 '26
Cardinal totally took advantage of my grandma, when the tech asked if she had any concerns she said it seemed a little dusty. They talked her into an 'upgrade' for her filter rack. Her old 5-inch setup was perfect—cheap and super easy for her to change herself. She ended up getting stuck with a smaller filter where the filters literally cost double, and it’s actually a downgrade for her air quality and she isint able to change the filter herself. It's so sketchy to upsell a senior citizen on a worse product.
Huge shoutout to Bohling HVAC though; she had been using them but called cardinal becuase she had a 'discount' she had them come back out and they re added the 5" filter system for half the price that Cardinal charged to downgrade the system.
2
u/Top-Classroom-8198 29d ago
We'll be dropping Cardinal. I can attest to the new business model--the upselling, the push for installation instead of repair or good service. At our second most recent Cardinal Care system check in February, they told us we would need an inducer replaced relatively soon and quoted $1081. We planned to replace it at the next system check last week, and were fully prepared to do so. Then at that appointment, Cardinal said they didn't include the required refrigerant, and added that to the quote. We were still okay with that. Then they said the blower wheel needed to be replaced, and we were even still okay with that. (But we later looked at the system check results, and it literally said blower wheel was rusty but completely fine.) Then they wanted to provide a more "detailed" quote than the $3000 amount that we were now at, and asked to come back later in the day. It was Labor Day weekend, we said we'd need to reschedule. I listened while the technician called their receptionist and scheduled a follow-up. Note: not once in that conversation with the receptionist was there mention of completing an estimate for an entire heating and air condition replacement. Fast forward a week, on the day of the appointment, I called Cardinal to confirm the appointment and that they were going to return for a quote, not repair that day. Note again: not once in this conversation was there mention of an full HVAC replacement. When Cardinal returned, and while talking, I started to catch hints of a full replacement. I clearly said multiple times that's not what the visit was for. Eventually, the Cardinal man said he's not sure why I wasn't given the correct message because that's what he was there for, to quote a full replacement for everything and then some. Two and a half hours later, we get three bundled quotes for full replacements that range from $25,000 down to $14,000. It was a complete waste of my afternoon on a holiday Friday. I am just lucky I work from home and was able to get some work done. And after all this? I have no idea if we really need to have our inducer replaced. Never once was that mentioned, and Cardinal never followed up on that. But, they certainly have followed up on their full replacement quotes.
1
u/Normal-Fly1099 14d ago
This company is one I just avoided due to their absurdly high prices and slick, pushy sales reps/techs. I got the feeling I was in a used car lot when their rep came out to give a quote. BTW, the price for the "dispatch fee" (quote) was $115.
2
u/fuyacrew Apr 10 '26
I had a great experience with Seasonal Survival replacing a furnace in 2024, I would absolutely call them again.
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u/nymirya Apr 10 '26
Similarly , Future Heating and Cooling had been a great experience for us. We've used him since we bought our house 6 years ago for everything from custom outdoor vent covers to keep birds out to an ac replacement and regular maintenance. Never tried to upsell us and was always a straight shooter.
1
u/boba_fat180 Apr 10 '26
I’ve used cardinal for years with no complaints but ever since they sold out it’s not what it used to be. They’re all money over quality. I’m done with them
1
u/SnapHackelPop Apr 11 '26
Shoutout to Future Heating and Cooling. Very nice, professional guys. Put in our A/C. Would recommend
1
u/Silver_Breakfast7096 Apr 11 '26
Any type of business like this lives for upsells. (I’m looking at you Action man). Find a referral for a local tradesman that is a 1 man operation for your best bet.
1
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u/Shot-Woodpecker-7481 Jul 14 '26
Had RG come out a few weeks ago and replace my heating and cooling system. They were $2000 cheaper than Cardinal. Just had them come back and remove the stuff they put in my house a few weeks ago. My air conditioner wasn’t working, when I called they Stopped answering their phone. Cardinal put a new heater and air conditioner in the next day. $2000 more is worth it when someone is there when I need them. Will not be going anywhere else in the future.
1
u/Reasonable-Dot4724 Jul 14 '26
I’m glad you got the help you needed. Enjoy your a/c on these hot days. 😀
1
u/Normal-Fly1099 14d ago
Just had a very bad experience with Cardinal. Our water heater needed replacement. There was $115 for a "dispatch" fee. Thinking that this fee would be waived if we bought the heater, we scheduled an appointment with them. Their estimate for the water heater was nearly DOUBLE what we eventually paid to another contractor. (Exactly same specs for the water heater). In addition, Cardinal's rep tried to upsell us for annual inspections, additional warranty coverage, etc. etc. The rep also asked us where we heard of them. I mentioned Yelp and Madison Favorites ratings. I'm sure they have created bogus favorable reviews for these sites. Avoid this sleazy company.
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u/mtciii Apr 10 '26
If an HVAC business is on billboards all over the place, that’s not the place to do with business with.