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Tim: Welcome to another edition of Cogburn’s Heating and Air Conditioning Radio with Byron Cogburn. Byron, today we’re talking about the club membership program. What is it that people like about the club membership program that Cogburn’s has to offer?

Byron: Well Tim, what our club members enjoy is that we basically remind them every six months that their system needs to be serviced, and then if they have a problem we’re out there within hours of their phone call. They don’t have to worry about breakdowns in the summer or the winter. They typically have lower utility bills, fewer repair costs, and basically we partner with those people and they can call us anytime they need us.

Tim: Let’s talk about a couple of different aspects of what you just mentioned there. First of all, lower utility bills. Nobody would ever say that they don’t want lower utility bills. How does being a member of the club program help to lower your utility bills?

Byron: Well dirt is the biggest culprit of higher utility bills. So if you can keep your system clean, keep it well lubed, maintain the refrigerant levels up to par, gas pressure right, and components working at their top-notch capabilities, the utilities are going to stay low. And that’s all part of the club membership. That’s actually one of our goals, is to keep utility bills in check.

Tim: And is there a way to estimate how much it might save you to have a properly maintained heating and air conditioning unit?

Byron: Well, Louisiana State University did a study years ago, and they basically took homes that were ten years old with no maintenance. They started performing maintenance on their equipment and discovered that there were homes that saved up to 36% on their utility bills.

Tim: So, it’s not chump change.

Byron: No, it’s not chump change.

Tim: I guess the other important place where you save is it extends the life of the equipment, so you’re not suddenly facing the fact that your equipment has become worn out, and it’s 107 degrees outside.

Byron: Right. Well they also discovered that with regular maintenance you can extend the life of your equipment up to eight years. So if you take the average price of a system, which is about $7500 today, and divide that by eight, that’s how much money you save just in replacement costs.

Tim: Let’s talk about the specifics of the club membership program. What comes with it?

Byron: Let’s go to the Silver Club Membership because that’s the most common. With the Silver Club Membership, you pay a low monthly fee, you get two free calls per year, you get 15% discounts on repairs, you get service within hours of your phone call, and you get friendly reminders every six months.

Tim: And that low monthly fee is really very low.

Byron: Oh yeah, it’s like $14.75 a month. So, pretty affordable.

Tim: And then you have some other options that come with it, which are kind of upgraded programs from there.

Byron: Well, we go all the way up to our Platinum Membership, it’s for people who maybe have older systems that want deeper discounts if their system fails, or deeper discounts if they have to replace their equipment, and maybe they want even more service attention.

Tim: But as a general rule, if you go with the Silver Club Membership, you’re in a pretty good place.

Byron: Silver Membership is a good place to start in most cases, for most homeowners. It gives you great service, and then you can always expand off of that once you kind of see how our service is.

Tim: So what does it take to sign up to become a Cogburn’s Member?

Byron: We can do it a couple of different ways. You can go to our website at CogburnsHeatingandAir.com and sign up there. You can also call our office at 940-243-9199, and one of the girls at the office can take care of you.

Tim: The first time that you then go and check out someone’s unit after they sign up for the club membership, when does that happen after they’ve signed up?

Byron: Well, as soon as you sign up we’ll give you a call, and then we’ll schedule an appointment with you. And our appointments are 8:30 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon Monday through Friday.

Tim: Okay, this has been another edition of Cogburn’s Heating and Air Conditioning Radio.