Cheap Air Conditioner Installation Costs by Harvey Norman?

prophet on 31/01/2025 - 13:34
Last edited 31/01/2025 - 13:34

Based in Melbourne. Sales person kept telling me this installation price is a steal (see photo link). Not convinced, as the prices say "from" and only covers back-to-back installations.

My place requires the compressor to be much further away, but sales person refuses to tell me any of the additional costs or rates till I sign and pay.

  1. Are these installation prices good?
  2. Anyone with good experience buying and installing with Harvey Norman?

TIA!

https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/291110/119443/harvey_n…

Electrical & Electronics Air Conditioner

Related Stores

Harvey Norman
Harvey Norman

Comments

  • askbargain on 31/01/2025 - 13:42
    +11

    wow sales person saying it's a steal to earn commission

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 31/01/2025 - 14:21
      +3

      and the thing with this market is technically he cant be pulled up for making false claims as there are some absolute cowboys in the industry which would make those prices look like a bargain

  • netjock on 31/01/2025 - 13:45
    +4

    You need to talk to the installers and give them photos / floor plans to sort confirm things. Otherwise you could prepaying $499 for a bigger financial hole.

    Had another friend who prepaid for a service and it turns out the promoter pocketed the money and he is in for a major top up which makes them out of pocket.

    • HeWhoKnows on 01/02/2025 - 18:15
      -1

      OP needs to get some other quotes.
      Why is Op asking us to do the hard yards?

      • netjock on 01/02/2025 - 19:53

        We're like the free version of chatGPT. You ask single questions to get answers. No memory.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 31/01/2025 - 14:22
    +3

    maybe a stupid question but why not actually get the sparky to supply and install?

    • freefall101 on 31/01/2025 - 14:52
      +2

      The reasoning I've always seen is warranty. Not sure how true it is, but at least if the installer and retailer are the same company then there's only one place to go if something goes wrong.

      • prophet on 31/01/2025 - 14:55

        This is the kind of info I’m looking for. Thanks!

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 31/01/2025 - 14:59
        +1

        I can see the train of thinking but I’m fairly sure they would be using third party bidding contractors. Unless there’s a Harvey Norman electrical division I’ve not heard about…

        • michael_123 on 31/01/2025 - 21:14
          +5

          We got two systems installed using Good Guys and the installers were obviously contractors for our area (seemingly legit business with vans and business cards etc).

          One of the systems went kaput after 2 years or so, so phoned the Good Guys and they sent someone around quickly. Not only did the circuit board need to be replaced but they identified that the unit was not installed correctly as it just bunny-hopped off a pre-existing circuit so they wouldn't touch it until it had been installed correctly.

          Good Guys advised the original installers were no longer on their books so they organised for this new group to fix the installation (full wiring over 20m back to the fuses) as well as the board replacement, no out of pocket from us at all.

          Obviously no guarantee it always ends like this, but in our case, we would have been stuck if we happened to go directly through the original company…so that is one story where it paid off.

      • JimmyF on 31/01/2025 - 16:08

        but at least if the installer and retailer are the same company

        They are not, zoom in, says install is supplied by a different company.

      • Nucleus Acumbens on 01/02/2025 - 05:44
        +1

        The reasoning I've always seen is warranty. Not sure how true it is, but at least if the installer and retailer are the same company then there's only one place to go if something goes wrong.

        In this advertisement, it seems Harvey Norman are explicitly stating that the installer who caninstall for these prices is a separate entity to HV.

        In this case, it appears that there will be two different contracts on foot which also means two different warranties. One being for the machine, the second for the installation.

        I believe that this means HV to be the contact point for machine failure and installer to be contact point for issues arising from installation.

        The small print further goes to great effort to inform the buyer that this installation price is simply an advertisement and that it is ** not an offer capable of being accepted**.

        In short, buyer effectively cannot agree to that price because it is not an offer.

        Of further note is the word can install as opposed to will install.

        Just because they can do it, doesn't mean they will do it for you in all circumstances.

        Couldn't see how they described standard installation further than requiring adequate electrical work to be included - not sure how that equates to back to back installation unless clarified in the linked terms and conditions on their website.

    • tomlikesbeetroot on 31/01/2025 - 18:48
      +2

      I've never found this to work out any cheaper. Actually recently had a sparky tell me its usually cheaper for the customer to supply, as he would have to spend time going to the wholesaler to pickup the unit etc, and then pass on charge for that time.

  • freefall101 on 31/01/2025 - 14:54
    +2

    sales person refuses to tell me any of the additional costs or rates till I sign and pay.

    Bugger that for a joke.

    Bunnings I sat down with them and went through a laundry list of what the property is like and the prices for each adjustment. They made it clear what was included and what it would cost if I went outside that. I think it was about $800 for the install of a 7kw aircon so not that different in price.

  • Dollar General on 31/01/2025 - 14:55
    +2

    Just put in the sales contract fixed installation fee of $499 and let it be Gerry’s problem

  • Seraphin7 on 31/01/2025 - 15:14

    My place requires the compressor to be much further away, but sales person refuses to tell me any of the additional costs or rates till I sign and pay.

    Yeah, I can see no problems with this whatsoever.

    • Murkymerv on 31/01/2025 - 20:26
      +2

      So be proactive and get additional quotes for installation , that's not an impossible hill to climb is it ⁉️

  • theHMASfriendship on 31/01/2025 - 16:04
    +1

    Be careful you don't get arrested for theft…

  • Boioioioi on 31/01/2025 - 17:15

    Dont deal with Harvey Norman, they dont have a reputation for being shady for no reason….

    The price on the small system is not bad, the rest are not cheap

  • loropy9 on 31/01/2025 - 18:12
    +3

    I have only bad experiences when going with a prepaid installer. These guys are the bottom of the barrel and they don't care because it's not their reputation on the line. Find yourself a decent local business.

    • boomramada on 31/01/2025 - 19:19

      Its not pre paid, more like From rate. These days usually cost around $1k for installation.

  • elgrande on 31/01/2025 - 18:46

    I know a guy.

    • Murkymerv on 31/01/2025 - 20:28

      Most people do 😕

  • JIMB0 on 31/01/2025 - 20:12
    +1

    I enquired at the Dandenong HN and they gave me a price that was decent. There were extra charges for double storey and a longer run. The salesman was able to give me an exact price though and it was much cheaper than some of the supply and install companies.

    Most of the supply and install companies want to charge $1k- $1.5k for a back to back install plus full retail on the unit.

  • AndyC1 on 31/01/2025 - 20:21
    +1

    I would walk away from this HN store and go to another one or ring up first and say I need an installation price before I buy the AC, so if you cannot give me a fixed price then I will not be buying from HN.

  • vorsprung on 31/01/2025 - 22:19
    +2

    Getting tradies to do work on my house is probably where I have to hang up my Ozbargain hat. I’ve never tried to source the absolute cheapest tradies. An iPhone is the same from every shop, a tradies workmanship is not.

    I’d rather find a local tradie with great reviews, and provided the quote seems fair, pay them what they ask.

    Getting HN to supply an AC, take a commission on the installation and leave peanuts for the installer is a recipe for disaster.

    Queue finger pointing when something goes wrong.

    • prophet on 01/02/2025 - 00:10

      Wouldn't finger pointing also occur if the aircon units and the installers are completely separate entities?

      Am thinking of a scenario where the aircon has an issue and the aircon brand says it's the installer's fault and won't honour the warranty, but the installer insists it's not his fault.

  • Nucleus Acumbens on 01/02/2025 - 06:13
    +1

    If the unit price is good, consider that but do not commit to that installation fee.

    There is shenanigans afoot there.

    Small print creates two different contracts. One for machine, second for contract with installer with whom HV is claiming are an independent entity to them.

    This means HV cannot form a contract between you and the installer as they are a third party not related to the installation contract.

    They reinforce this in two ways.

    Firstly they say installer can install*. This is very different from saying installer **will install.

    Secondly, that small print explicitly says that these prices are an advertisement only and are not an offer capable of being accepted.

    This effectively means that buyer cannot form a contract at this stage as no offer has been made (this is actually up to the buyer to do) so there is nothing that can be accepted (up to seller to accept whatever the offer is that buyer proposes).

    Shady as a 200 year old oak tree that "deal" is.

    I wouldn't be worried about the word from as this appears to only relate to the size of the machine and is probably one of the least misleading things said in that advertisement.

    Note, whilst *standard installation** isn't defined there (in terms and conditions perhaps? Not sure where "back to back installation" is coming from), it does specify something like needs all relevant electrical work completed up to point of installation.

    This causes me to consider that this "deal" consists of
    1. Price of machine and
    2. Price of installation (which in this scenario may well be the price advertised up there) and
    3. Price of electrical work to make all that happen. I think that this third element may be where the super secret stealthy shenanigans are happening.

    Buyer appears to be forming a contract for machine and a contract for installation, but does not have a price for whatever electrical work is required to make the first two happen.

    It seems installer can install for that price, as long as the electrical requirements are in place which appears to necessitate a THIRD contract. Apparently installers definition of install is different to what buyer thinks is the definition of install.

  • Nucleus Acumbens on 01/02/2025 - 06:40

    That price is an advertisement. You cannot accept an advertisement, it is only an announcement that advertiser wants to negotiate the terms of a contract of sale with a buyer.

    You can only accept an offer or counter offer.

    As there is no offer on foot, there is nothing to accept which means that no contract can be formed at this stage.

    Generally speaking:
    Seller advertises, then
    Buyer makes an offer, then
    Seller either rejects that offer, accepts that offer or makes a counter offer.
    If seller accepts offer (assuming other elements are there), a contract has now been created.
    If seller makes a counter offer, it is then up to buyer to accept, counter offer or reject.

  • Jac33au on 01/02/2025 - 10:31
    +1

    To give you an idea, look at the conditions for the kogan aircon installation. We got a Hyundai aircon and their installation. A company called zwecks managed the install which was done by a local electrician.Can't fault it.

    Additional costs for us were the wall brackets. Free if we did a concrete slab ourselves. It includes something like 2.5m of conduit etc. Don't quote me on specifics, check the listing.

    https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/standard-install-26kw-split-sys…

    It's probably set up very much the same.

    • prophet on 01/02/2025 - 18:01
      +1

      I had no idea you could buy this kind of service from Kogan. Thanks for sharing!

  • Kiro on 02/02/2025 - 12:24

    In some cases it can be a steal or bargain to a certain point where if the run is longer for pipe work or new electrical cabling etc.

  • pwnd on 02/02/2025 - 12:31

    Brisbane based, so prices may vary, but just recently had a 7.5kw unit replaced.
    $690 for removal and disposal of old unit and install of new one.

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