I have never written a one star review before but as a consumer, I feel like I was scammed by Aina 1.
I asked Aina 1 Plumbing to change the cartridge of my leaking shower. Karen helped me over the phone. On the day of the service, their plumber came and looked at the shower and after ten minutes, he said he cannot remove the nut in my shower handle because it's frozen. He told me, in order to get to the cartridge, he will need to saw off the shower handle and sleeve, which means I will not be able to use my shower unless I have a new shower trim to install. Since I didn't have a new trim on hand, we decided to postpone the fix until I purchase the new trim.
Karen said they will charge me one full hour for that ten minute visit from the plumber even if the work was not successfully completed. She also said she can help me get the new trim for $120. My gut told me that something was off so I told them not to order the trim for me. I also told Karen that I shouldn't be charged for the one hour since no work was done. She said it accounts for the trip by the plumber and her phone customer service.
After a couple of emails asking if I can speak to their management to request for a reduced bill, no reply was made from Karen - she ghosted me. She merely sent an email that had a Pay Now button for the one hour charge. I had to pay the bill because there was no one else to talk to and it seemed like a dead end.
I subsequently had to call a different company to do the work especially because Karen stopped communicating with me. The new plumber that came easily removed the shower handle nut using the correct Allen wrench and successfully completed the work within 30 minutes. I already bought a new trim but it wasn't needed. My shower is now working perfectly.
I emailed Karen again for a refund of my payment and she has not replied to my email. As a consumer, I really feel their behavior is deceitful. I will subsequently complain to the BBB.