My old air conditioner gave me seventeen good years, but as it neared the end of its life it was starting to have problems. I figured it might limp along for another year or two, but with my luck, it would kick the bucket about the same time my thermometer hit 103.

It's still winter, so I wondered if I could find a good enough deal on a new system to make replacing the old one a no brainer. I called three different companies for bids and had three very different experiences.

The first company came out, looked things over, and with a minimum of due diligence gave me a relatively high bid.

The second company gave me a detailed pitch on why their company was the biggest, the b