Curtis Total Service Inc. and two employees, current manager Richard Price and former HVAC supervisor Matthew Price, will pay $300,000 and overhaul their business practices to settle a consumer protection lawsuit.

Attorney General Dave Sunday recently announced the settlement in the case.

The lawsuit, filed in 2022 by the state, alleged the Lehigh Valley company used deceptive, high-pressure sales tactics to convince customers — many of them seniors or people on fixed incomes — to purchase unnecessary HVAC equipment and services.

The state also alleged the company had customers sign blank or incomplete contracts, misrepresented financing terms and consumers’ rights to cancel contracts, and threatened customers who tried to back out of agreements.

The settlement followed about a week of trial testimony, including from an 85-year-old woman who said that she was pressured into replacing her furnace after being told it could “blow up at any second.”

She testified that when she later tried to cancel, the company threatened legal action, and the final cost was more than three times what she expected.

A 90-year-old man testified that workers removed his HVAC unit without permission after claiming it contained mold, and then pressured him into signing a nearly $29,000 contract for a replacement system.

Under the agreement, Matthew Price is barred for eight years from holding management or sales positions with HVAC companies in Pennsylvania and permanently prohibited from handling financing applications for non-family consumers.

Richard Price is prohibited from owning an HVAC-related company in Pennsylvania for five years and must follow additional oversight requirements involving consumer purchases and cancellations.

“Curtis Total Service used fear and deception to pressure consumers into expensive and often unnecessary HVAC purchases,” Sunday said. “This settlement holds the defendants accountable and puts in place strong protections to prevent these abusive practices from happening again.”