Called two places already, one doesn't answer after five and the other quoted me a Thursday appointment

[Jonh Newman]

Posting from my phone at 9pm because I'm frustrated. The AC quit sometime this afternoon and the house is sitting at 84 with a baby in it. Called two places already, one doesn't answer after five and the other quoted me a Thursday appointment, which is three days from now. I'm not looking for a miracle, just want to know what actually happens on an after-hours call and whether the premium is worth paying or if I should just buy fans and wait it out. I'd also like to know roughly what a call like this runs so I'm not blindsided by the invoice, and whether there's anything sensible I can check myself while I wait for someone to pick up.

[hydrogenn]

With a baby in the house at 84 I wouldn't wait it out, that's not a comfort issue anymore. After-hours generally means a diagnostic fee plus a premium rate, and honestly a lot of failures are capacitors or a tripped float switch, so the visit itself is short. We had a similar night in July and called Product Air for Emergency Air Conditioning Repair in Seattle, they were out within a few hours. Not cheap, but it was a capacitor and done in under an hour. In the meantime pull the filter and check whether the outdoor unit is running at all, that one detail tells the tech a lot before he even shows up.