A-1 American Services

My elderly parents 7 year old heat pump stopped working this past spring.  They called A-1 because they received a reward from the Daily press for there good service.  Douglas Jackson was the tech that came to their house.  He was rued and had an attitude, like he was being bothered.  My parents were told that they needed a new heat pump and that it would cost $5.000.  My parents accepted.   Douglas came back out a week later to replace the unit and told them that
their thermostat was not compatible and that would have to be replaced at an additional cost. My parents, not knowing any better, agreed.  Douglas did not a have a thermostat with him, so he would have to come back in a couple of days.  A week past and unanswered phone calls later they still haven't heard from Douglas.  My parents told me about this and I went to the office in Newport News to let them know of this problem and that I was unhappy about how things are being handled.  My parents did hear from Doulas the next day and an appointment was made for the next day.  Douglas came out and hooked up the new thermostat and assured my parents that everything is now working fine.  

Here we are 6 months later.  My parents turn on the heat and the heat is not working.  My parents call for an appointment.  Douglas comes out.  Douglas charged them $500 to hook up a wire to the thermostat.  Something that should have been done 6 month ago.  I am so angry that they would take advantage of elderly people.  My father has call numerous time to ask about the charges and still can not get anyone to call them back.  So my next to steps will be to call Wavy TV 10, report them to the BBB and to call the Daily Press and ask them were they are getting there info from about this company.  I will also be paying a visit to the office in VB and talking to the owner and hopefully Wavy TV 10 will be there with me to back me up.

Be very cautious if you choose to use this company.   They use deceptive business practices.  I had a refrigerant leak in one of my A/C units.  The technician went into the attic and saw that my drain pan was full but did not drain it or look for the clog.  He recommended replacing the A/C and the furnace and tried to talk us into replacing both the upstairs unit and downstairs unit, even though only the upstairs unit had the leak.  On the quote he provided he up-sized both units by 1/2 Ton without telling us.  The price was very high so I sought two additional quotes.  Both were much less and the quote we are going with - from a company that has excellent reviews and an A+ BBB rating - is 40% less than the value quote A-1 provided.   Representatives from both of the other companies that we had out were very transparent, helpful (one drained the pan, found the clog, and didn't even charge us) and both recommended that we only change the one unit that had the leak for now.  It pays to get a second opinion on major repair jobs.

I was confused when I searched for Premier Plumbing (which is actually a company in Chesapeake) and saw this company on Yelp. Be careful of any company who would attempt to redirect a reputable company's business, like Premier Plumbing Chesapeake, with a bogus link. If they will cheat like that, they may cheat on your plumbing work! Do you want to take that risk with your home? I wouldn't trust A-1 American, if they will scam to get your business, will they scam to get your money?

Bottom Line - RUN AWAY. I had a hot water heater die of old age causing quite a bit of damage to adjoining walls & called A-1 American. The tech that arrived is not an employee, but a subcontractor wearing a company shirt, so they obviously won't take responsibility if there are post-repair/installation problems. The new replacement tank & installation was quick - maybe too quick. The Rheem tank + installation costs over $2K. Two days later the pilot light went out & wouldn't stay lit & of course it was Sunday. Contacted the company 24 hr number & they said the installation tech would come out the next day - the tech later called & said the same thing.

I spent thousands for a top-of-the-line tank & service. I got problems & no service when it was really needed. There are other options. Run away.

I needed a Freon adjustment in my small unit air conditioner. The Freon was not completely down but low. They send a gentleman to do the adjustment who charge my husband $400.00. I was shock and call the company to ask them how much they charge per P. They refused to tell me the price. Then I asked, if they give an average price over the phone before sending someone . Again the answer was no.
My husband is a senior citizen and had no idea of the price of Freon and they took advantage of him. They advertise a special discount for senior but the trick is :One has to present the coupon before hand, so they can manipulate the price up, and then subtract the coupon making one believed he or she had a discount.
To protect their Ass they have two little spots on the bill were they make the customer singed as they agreed to the price when in reality they have no idea what they signed for.
Please, look on the internet and check for honest company before having A1 come to your house.

Absolute scum bags.  They charged my wife $2700 to replace 6 $5 toilet flappers.  It took about 2 hours to complete.  Everyone I have talked to since this happened has said similar experiences.  Save your money and read these reviews.  I won't even mention a suggestion of any plumber to go to so you all know this is real.  I called 5 times to talk to a manager.  No one ever returned my call.  As long as they get your money, they don't care.  Every time I see the owner on his tv commercials, I hope and pray he will be in jail soon.  Scum like this need to be in jail where they can't hurt people.  It's that bad.  Obviously, I am telling what I can in such a short space but trust me that it's worse than I am writing.  Good luck.  I hope you all read this BEFORE you call these people.

I had a leaky kitchen faucet and called A1 who very promptly sent out a technician.  They told we there would be a $78 service fee that would be waived if I chose to have them fix the problem.  The technician examined the leak and said that I needed a new washer and that the cost would be about $550.  I wasn't about to pay $550 to have someone spend 10 minutes replacing a washer.  The technician consulted a price schedule book before quoting me the price.  He apologized and said there was nothing he could do about the price.  He did, however, offer to fix my problem later, off the clock, for $125.  I called a different plumber who said that the washer was fine, but a nut needed tightening.  In 10 minutes, he had fixed the problem and he replaced the washer anyway since he was there.  He charged me a total of $75.  I will never, ever, consider A1 for any work of any kind.

I called this company because I heard they did good work. Boy  was I wrong. Not only did the technician try to cancel my appointment, he showed up looking very unprofessional. He walked in checked my thermostat walked to my outside unit and told me it's frozen there was nothing he could do. He said he would try to return the next day.  I got a call the next morning and was asked to make a payment for a diagnosis. I explained there was no diagnosis done and I was not paying $80 for Adam the ( the technician) telling m there was nothing he could do.  I was told to never call again for services because it was not fair that he wasn't paid for telling me there was nothing he could do. I will never recommend this company to anyone! I have several rental properties I wanted checked out. You lost a customer forever. So dissatisfied with this company.

I definitely would not recommend using A-1 for any service. We used them to service our AC unit. The technician was very knowledgeable and did a great job. The problem I have is with the price and beyond that, how they treat customers with issues.  The technician charge me $800 to clean my unit. What I didn't know until he was finished (about 45 min later) was that all the entailed was removing the unit cover (ours is very easy to get to), brushing away the trash with a wire brush, spraying the unit with a can of cleaner spray, and replacing the cover. This didn't even correct the issue, I would need to pay another $300 to get the freon recharged (my system using an older freon type, so i can understand it might be a bit more expensive). After talking to the tech about the price versus the service received he agreed to give me the freon at no charge. I finally agreed to this because the temp in my house reached 90 degrees and it was almost 10pm. I really didn't have much choice.
Here's where things started getting bad. The next day I called the main office to discuss the price with someone because I thought $800 for the cleaning and freon was still too much. It would be another 6 days before I would hear back from anyone and when I did the supervisor was very rude and told me that I should have been charged $1600 and that I got a 50% discount and refused to help me any further. I called several other companies in the area and described the services i received and the most expensive quote I received $440. This company takes advantage of people in desperate situations and the worst part is the completely unprofessional manner they choose to handle complaints. Save yourself the headache and find someone else for whatever service you may need.

This company soaked me for $750 by mis-diagnosing a problem, charging me for an un-needed replacement part, asking me to wait for other parts on order, and in the middle of December after two weeks of waiting for parts, my house still had no heat.
Read below if you want the details.
I hired this outfit to troubleshoot and repair a Carrier dual zone HVAC system for which the furnace kept tripping off, shutting heat off on first floor.  The tech replaced the main circuit-board on the system for $750, labor included.  Problem was not resolved.  It would run for about 20 min, then shut off again. He then stated he needed to order more parts, three limiter switches which he quoted at over $400 with labor.  When I checked on line I found those switches for that unit for around $23 a piece, mother boards for the unit were priced between $139-280.  Do the math, over $450 labor to swap out a circuit board?  Which didn't need swapping b/c clearly it wasn't the cause of the issue.
The issue turned out to be a cracked heat exchanger, more on that later.
Two weeks after the initial trouble call, no parts had arrived and they were forecasting another three days before the limiter switches would arrive.   Are they shipping those switches in from Siberia? No follow up either, they never even bothered to call me back to say why the parts were taking so long to order, or let me know they were still working the issue.
Two weeks without heat in December is too long.  I decided to cut my losses before I was over a grand into these guys.  I went with someone else, the problem was resolved the next day.
Post script:  When the next technician I hired went into the box, he found that the rollout switch had been lifted out of the heat path, and that the high limit switch had been removed/jumped out to prevent the system from shutting off due to excessive temps.  In other words, whoever did that was trying to trick the system NOT to trip due to overheat, risking a fire.  Of course I can't pin that work specifically on their technician.  it's a remote possibility that that jerry rigged system was installed previously by someone else working on the unit.  But, given the circumstances, I'll let the reader be the judge.  
This company got $750 of my money without fixing anything.   I felt cheated.  But worse than that, they put everyone in that house at risk, if that unit had caught fire.   These guys claim to be veteran owned. I'm a veteran myself.   I expect more from a veteran owned company.  Wrapping yourself in the American flag to solicit business, then not standing by your product or service is shameful.  Putting people at risk to make a quick buck is unconscionable.

I called A-1 for an estimate to replace my central air conditioner unit, a 4-8k job. The individual they sent wrote a figure on a post it note (that I supplied). I received NO other information. I did not even know the brand of unit they were going to install. And they charged me $70.00 for the figure on a post-it note. The other company (Bud's) gave me a written estimate with all details. Guess which one I choose? I would not recommend A-1, I found them to be very unprofessional.

I wish there were zero starts!
I'm trying to think of something positive to start with... I guess the only thing I can come up with is that a human answered the phone when I called.  It was all down hill from there.
I have a house that I rent out.  My tennant called and said the AC wasn't blowing cold and water was coming out of the emergency drain line.  Not knowing an AC company, I called A1 and told them about the problems.
They sent James out to work on the unit.  James called me and said the unit was frozen and I would need freon.  But, of course, he suggested that I should buy a new unit - especially since now this water is on it and it will probably rust!  I told him it was the end of the summer and I just wanted to get the problems fixed for now and would consider a new system next spring.
The first problem was the price. He quoted me $450 for the freon!  I said I thought that was high, but he told me it would cover 3 pounds.  I asked what if the system didn't need 3 and he said that was the minimum.  That included the trip fee... if he didn't fix it, I would owe $78.  I realized that if I called someone else, I would have to wait, pay twice, so I reluctantly agreed.  He added the freon and said the unit was working.
The next day, I got a call from my tennant and he said the AC was working but the drip line was still clogged.  I called A1, they said James would have to call me back about it.  When he called back, he said he didn't know about the drip line!!!  WTF, not only did I tell him, my tennant told him and he even tried to sell me another unit because the water was sitting in there.  He then had the nerve to tell me he could come out to clear it for $276.
Upset about it, I called the office.  Granted it was a Friday at 3:00... they said no managers were available to talk to me but one would call me first thing on Monday.  It's now Wednesday evening and no one has called.  I went to the house with my shop vac and some tape.  I was able to get the line dripping again, thankfully.  And it didn't cost me $276.
These gusys are jerks, don't care about customer service and a massive rip off.  Don't use them!!!!!

Absolutely atrociously unethical business practices and customer services.

My elderly parents are trying to put their home on the market and were in need of a few fixes. I happened to be visiting during their transactions with A1 and was able to witness the poor and borderline criminally unethical business practices of this company.

Service techs flat out lied about one issue (AC job). They half assed the job to begin with, but when my parents called them out on the issue, they had the arrogance to lie to my parents about what was going on. Being a senior citizen does not equate to ignorance.

Another job performed by one of their techs resulted in a large hole in drywall. The tech, Edwin, left the job saying that he would arrange for the drywall hole to be repaired. After almost a week, still no drywall repair OR a return call from either Edwin or A1. When my parents were finally able to get a hold of A1, they were told that they would have to hire a contractor and pay for the drywall repair...on top of what was already an overpriced job...that was not even completed properly. The original issue (leaky pipe) is still leaking.

The first mentioned issue above (AC job) has also not been resolved. A1 has been dodging phone calls and consistently fails to return calls.

Preying on seniors and assuming their ignorance is shady and simply negligent. There are well over 40 Not Recommended At This Time reviews for A1...most of which are single star ratings. Looks like A1 figured out how to hide the truth.

My advice, use anyone OTHER than A1 for your service needs. I'll be filing a formal complaint on behalf of my parents with both the BBB and the VA Dept of Professional and Occupational Regulation.

The One Star rating could, in this case, easily be renamed As Bad As It Gets.

I called on a Friday ask for a tech to come troubleshoot my AC unit that they installed in 2014. A tech called me and said he couldn't get there Saturday, but would set up Sunday after 1pm. He never showed. I called Monday morning, and the business had the tech call me again. This time the tech made excuses about the weather and didn't commit to a time frame. I found a local competitor who immediately scheduled a technician for Monday afternoon. Horrible service by A-1 American. I won't be doing business with them again.

I just had a new HVAC system installed by this company. Emergency since we had no air for 3 days. The technician came 3 hrs after I called. This was a Saturday. Checked it out and said I needed a new system. I wasn't surprised since it was 20 years old.
On Monday morning at 10:30 he arrived on time with the new equipment. By 5 pm it was complete and perfect. As an 80 yr old who worked as a manager all my career, I have never met anyone with the work ethic and perfection of Jake Blackburn. I was so impressed and such a nice guy. Go Jake!!!

Do not use this company!  I had some plumbing issues and called them up and yes, they did show up on time.  The tech snaked by drain and said 500$, but they did give me a military discount.  So, I ended up paying 450 for a problem that should only have cost 100$  Then 3 days later I have the same problem and they told me sorry!  its not under warranty!  I advise anyone to not use them.

A-1 American said he put 6 lbs of freon in my unit.  The only tank he had was a recovery tank.  And he charged me $385 for the 1st 3 lbs, and $350 for the next 3 lbs.  He told me I had multiple leaks, and my coils on the inside unit were beyond repair and must be replaced.  All this happened in less than 20 min. This unit was 5 1/2 years old.  I called another HVAC guy, and he said I had no leaks, the inside coils were just fine. But the compressor was damaged, most likely from A-1 American removing freon.  He put in 15 lbs of freon and charged me $350.  After 2 days of trying to contact the supervisor at A-1, he finally returned my phone call and refund $435 of my $735 charge, but the damage to the compressor was already done.  I wouldn't recommend A-1 American to change a light bulb.

If I could give a 0 star I would. Our thermostat on our air conditioning unit stopped.  Biggest rip off of all time, technician was here 5 minutes, replaced a fuse and charged us $461.00. I  called another company American Mechanical and they said the most we should have paid was $100.

My heating unit stopped working on 12/26/2013.  They sent a technician out and replaced the heatstrip contrator.  I wake up this morning (Sunday) and the heater is not working.  My fiancess called them to come out and they told him that since it is warrantiy work, the same tech would have to come out and do the repair.  The tech was really busy and couldn't come out until tomorrow.  

I called them back about an hour later.  I was told the same thing, that the tech is repsonsible for the warranty work.  I told them I disagreed because I had paid A-1 for the repair, it was A-1's name on the contract/receipt, the tech's business card, advertisements on TV and the internet and the one stating satisfaction guaranteed, 24 hours, Saturday, Sunday and Holiday service.   I asked them to send another tech.  The guy said he would speak with the supervisor and get back with me.

They called me back.  He said that he spoke with the tech and the tech said that when he came out the first time he told us that we needed to replace the entire unit.  THIS WAS A TOTAL LIE.  I told them it was not true the tech NEVER said that.  Also, the tech even wrote on the invoice everything else checked out ok.  I told him I wanted to speak with a supervisor and was told he was unavailable because he was in church.  I asked to speak to a different supervisor or that supervisor's boss and was told he was it.  At this point I told them I did not want the original tech to service my heater because he lied and I did not trust him. He said he would send the supervisor a text and get back to me.

I waited over 30 minutes before I decided to call another company.  the other company was polite and said would have someone out before 6pm today.

In my opinion, NEVER use A -1 American. YOU WILL REGRET IT.  They do not provide 24 hour emergency service and their customer satisfaction guarantees and warratees are a joke.

I should have read all the reviews before ever using them. I also feel that someone should investigate them for false advertising.

Wow, I wish my elderly mother had known how to use yelp.  the reviews i've read are almost an exact replica of the unethical, overpriced, unprofessional, never return a call  morons who own/run this place.  They way-overcharged a 90 year old woman who only had a leaky faucet.  800 bucks for a new faucet.  the worst part, though, was trying to get someone to call me back.  I thought I felt sorry for the receptionist who had to keep taking my calls, but if she had any backbone she would go get another job.  DO NOT USE THESE RIP-OFF ARTISTS.  You'll end up paying way more and getting way less.  I encourage everyone to file a complaint with the BBB.  You SUCK a-1!
P.S.  I only gave it one star because it wouldn't let me give it ZERO stars!

My 11 year old Hot water heater finally gave up yesterday morning.  Used A-1 to diagnose, replace, install new and take away old unit.  John & Larry were very professional and I was very appreciative that they accurately described what they needed to do, when they could do it and how long it would take.  They did not leave a trace of a mess behind.  While, I think if you had time to bargain hunt, you could find a better price, but for me, the speed and reliability was worth it.

On 10.28, I was informed by my wife there was no hot water....I went home, and looked at the LCD screen and there was a code to clean the screen.  It's a user maintenance issue, but I've never done it and it is an NG model, so I called A1 American and set up a service visit.

Keon was on time and professional and the unit was working when he left, so this should be viewed as a review of A1, not the technicians capability.

The first thing I was told was that it would be $858 dollars to unscreew two flat head screws and vacuum out the bottom and blow the screen free of any debris (the Standard Rate).  

I discussed the instructions in the manual, and he said he'd work with me on a Value Rate - not a per hour.  I stated I'd be willing to pay either a diagnostic fee OR an hourly rate of $150.00 an hour (I believe in paying professionals and thought this a fair price).  Keon agreed and stated he'd estimate 3 hours, or $450.00.  

I honestly didn't believe it would take three hours, but I said The clock is running, so get to it!  Two hours later Keon was finished and ready to leave (all labor and no parts - and I supplied the ladder).  He recommended twice annual preventative maintenance ($858.00 for each) and filled out his paperwork.

The bill: $455.03.  I wasn't going to argue with him, because Keon did good work and doesn't make the policy.  I will however discuss the issue with my credit card company and see if they can recover the $150.00.  

In this day and age, and with everything that's going on, a fair price is a reciprocal thing and I offered to pay higher than market hourly rate, but paid an exorbitant price which isn't a good business practice.  My Name is Greg Shepherd and my invoice was 130659.  Feel free to contact me before I get this bill and contact the credit card company.

Thanks - Greg

Ps.  Also, they take your full credit card number, date and CVC code on the invoice instead of calling it in....This is a recipe for credit card fraud if an invoice is misplaced or there is an internal issue.  With easy to integrate cell phone swipe technology, they should equip their team, or call in credit card payments.

Absolutely would not work with them.  Have a reputation amongst all handyman to unethical in their business.  Their unadvertised motto is only have a customer once, so get all the money you can from them.

Just bought a house with two water heaters installed when one would be sufficient. Both had A-1 American stickers on the front. Called A-1 to ask questions about the install, and they didn't have any record of it in there system and said I don't know what to tell you. We can't help.

I seriously wonder how they are still in business..

I would give 2.5 stars for A-1 American. It's really the most I can give to be completely fair. I'll start out by saying the work they did was good. They swapped a simple part- not much to it. Now my heat pump fan works again. As for the reason for 2.5 stars; A-1 American was simply the first people to pick up the phone when I was trying to find someone to come out to fix my heat pump fan. They were supposed to come out the next morning between 8-12. They ended up arriving around 2pm. Here's where it gets unsettling. They just did the work without giving a quote or telling me what was wrong. They didn't show us the broken part. They didn't really explain anything. The guy who fixed it made a joke about it being fixed again and then wrote me a ticket. While he was writing it I asked him several times what the cost was going to be and he just kept on with some random story he was telling me about. So finally I just went and got my check book and came out to the shock of a $400 bill for 20 minutes of work. Apparently this is the going rate for this type of repair- which is ridiculous in itself. But now we've tried to call for 4 days to get an itemized invoice and receipt and to let a manger know that they should have their repair men give quotes before doing a job. What was I supposed to do at that point? Tell the guy I wasn't going to pay? I had no choice. He had already done the work. So after 4 days of calling we still have not received a returned call from John- Who knows if John even is a real person but he seems to never be in...

On December 26, 2017 I had an emergency plumbing issue. Contacted A-1 American. They arrived, assessed and repaired the problem and was done in about an hour. Honest quote. Quality work. Courteous Plumbers. I received excellent installation service in my bathroom on February 20, 2019 and I plan on making another appointment for my shower upgrade in a few days. Glad to have them as my Plumbing Professionals.

Don't call these guys, they tried to rip me off by selling me an new unit for $5000-$5500 and they tried to sabotage my unit by loosening the bleed off valve on my Freon. I had another company come a few hrs. after A1 and the only thing wrong was a capacitor on my condenser unit. They guy said it was obvious & showed me the swollen capacitor. He also noticed my bleed off valve was leaking and fixed it for just $250. He recharged the 1 lb. of Freon that had leak out in the couple of hrs between A-1 and his arrival. my unit would have probably had to be replaced if the 2nd company had come a few hours after A1. To boot I had to pay A1 $87 for The service call. 2nd company was E.L. Sawyer ac/hvac they were great :)

My heat went out during the fridge temperatures we had last week. Most companies were booked up but Kristina was able to get someone out to me that same day! The technician, Doug, who was very knowledgeable got my system running in no time at all. It's so nice to have heat again when it's less then 10 degrees out. He stuck around and made sure that it ran without cutting back off. He explained everything and answered all of my questions that I had. Thank you Doug and Kristina, you guys ROCK!

The absolute worst HVAC repair experience in my 18 years of home ownership Hampton Roads!

I have a 6 month old problem with an indoor air handler that two A-1 American HVAC technicians have attended to.  I am afraid A-1 American's errors and complacency could put my home, other customers and/or my neighbor's property in peril!
   
SIX MONTHS AGO in February 2013, the A-1 American Technician #1  came to my house in response to an emergency call to have my heat pump checked out.  The unit was blowing cool air only and blowing constantly without pushing the mercury in the thermostat up at all.  Because our temperatures were in the 30s or 40s in the evening some nights so it was quite alarming that overnight the heat and even the emergency heat failed.

I called A-1 American at about 7 A.M. on February morning for an emergency response to the problem.  Messages were taken by someone who promised to send a technicain right away.  I later found out that this message was not even passed to my tech before 8:00 business hours began and he was not allowed to respond until after his companies morning business meeting concluded.  

I missed work waiting from 7:00 till about 10:00 am for an emergency response I have been assured was passed.  At 10:30 I called back and find out what happened to my call.  Tech #1 came to my home at about 11:00 and was in a hurry to squeeze my job in.

He initially looked (visually) at the outdoor heat pump and the thermostat.  He diagnosed the problem as a need for several pounds of Freon, he told me how much it would be and that he could not get it till later in the week and that he had to leave.  On his way out I pestered him to do more to help me in the meantime.  He suggested running the emergency heat.  When I told him that the emergency heat did not work he went out reluctantly to get some hand tools to look into my air handler. An hour later he told me that the problem was my heat strips. I needed new ones because they were not coming on.

I decided to heed his advice. I paid for the heat strips and the return service.  About week later the heat strips came in, He installed and checked them but after he left my wife and I discovered the thermostat would turn on the heat, the heat would come on but the unit would not shut itself off automatically.  The air handler started to heat up our circuit breaker box then after some time the electricity tripped my circuit breaker.  

I placed another emergency call to get A-1 back to fix the problem and I requested a new technician or supervisor inspect the work that Tech #1 did.  The same daily morning meeting and response delay happened again.  I had to call back to A-1 mid-morning to see if anyone other than Tech #1 was on the way. .  Low and behold, they had Tech #1 call me back.

Tech #1 came over at noon.  He spent several hours pulling the heat strips out, rewiring them and putting them back into place. At the end of this visit the strips worked but the thermostat would not control the system.
 
A week later a new technician Tech #2  was assigned.  He looked over all of the work Tech#1 did and concluded that some of the wires were too thin on the heat from the air handler to the strip connections.  He also said the circuit board was bad too. So Tech #2 orders the circuit board and suggest getting a new thermometer for his return visit in April.

A week and half later Tech #2 removes and rewires the heat strips.  Everything was tested and appeared to be controlled by thermometer so finally I thought A-1 got the job done right.

About 6 weeks later I noticed that the heat strips appeared to always be on even when the air handler was idle.   I am still waiting in July for the parts to come in,

We called A-1 for our furnace. I do not recommend using this company...EVER. Total rip off. The tech named James was horrible at communicating the problem that was really going on. He way over charged for a job he did in literally 5 minutes using a part that cost $10. He told us he was fixing one thing and turned around and said he was fixing something else. He left the old part just lying on my washing machine when he left and he did not put the sides back on the furnace when he was done. Left it open while it was running and that is a big no! I had to put the sides back on myself. The furnace sounded lousy even after he fixed what said needed to be fixed and only a couple weeks later, our furnace has died again. When called to complain, he informed us that sure he'd come check to see if something wasn't done right but that he'd charge us an estimation fee just to do. I will never use this company again and I do not recommend you use them either. Terrible service...total rip off....terrible company.

A1 charged us $338 to replace a transformer in our A/C unit, claimed it was working and then left. It wasn't. This began a 6 day saga to try and get the tech to return and finish the work. Finally, after 3 texts to the technician, 3 calls to A1, including a call with the manager Ray, he finally came back and then claimed the wiring needed to be fixed. He wanted more than $400 - in addition to the $338 we had already paid him - to finish what he started. My husband said that price wasn't acceptable, that he'd pay $200 more and discuss it with his manager and pay what the manager agreed to. The tech agreed and supposedly rewired everything. He didn't have the transformer he needed and agreed to come back the next day (Saturday) and install the (second) new transformer. He was unable to get ahold of his manager at that time but said he'd contact us with what Ray said about the price. He later texted with a price and my husband agreed.
Shockingly, the tech didn't show up the next day, didn't respond to texts, and when my husband called A1, he got voice mail.
Monday morning I texted the tech to let him know we were expecting him first thing since he failed to show up on Saturday. Of course, he didn't respond.
When we called Ray to complain and ask that someone come out immediately, he basically spent an hour on the phone with my husband trying to justify why they were blowing us off. Ray said they're fully scheduled for the day, so we'll have to wait. Now keep in mind that it's been 6 days since they claimed they fixed it and 7 days since our initial call. The only reason we were even still dealing with them was the $338 we already paid them.
Ray even threw in something about how we should be happy we even have air conditioning because some people don't have it at all. Which seems totally relevant as justification for why they won't finish the work we paid them for.
Basically, A1 is more concerned about new service calls than they are with making existing customers happy. Or, you know, not making off with money for repairs they haven't completed.
I stopped payment on our check and made a complaint with the better business bureau. Avoid at all costs. We basically spent a week melting while they strung us along and tried to steal our money.

I contacted A-1 to troubleshoot my hot water heater after my pilot light continued to go out. I'm a pretty handy and a DYI kinda guy but I wanted a professional opinion. The tech that came out, and after doing nothing but press my ignition switch a few times, determined I needed a new burner assembly and started looking in his big book of parts and prices. While he was searching I used the serial number to find the part myself. I found one on an appliance parts site for $68.00. After about 15 mins the tech informed me that to have the work done it would run me $811.11. I of course refused the work and ordered and replaced the part myself. Total cost was $78 with shipping, 20 mins of work and the $75 dollars I paid A-1. Just out of curiosity I called Ferguson and priced the same unit I have but new, and it was $786 after taxes. I will never be calling them again or recommend anyone using their services.

I had an appointment with them for yesterday (Saturday) morning. They called at 10:40 and said they weren't coming because they don't do appointments on Saturday, only emergencies. I pointed out that I made the appointment on a Saturday and they should have told me then. That didn't change things. I pointed out that they had M-F to call and tell me they weren't coming. Still didn't change things. I said they should have called first thing Saturday to tell me they weren't coming to keep me from wasting my day. No appeals to their better natures worked.
I checked Angie's List (should have done it first) and found they had 7 A ratings and 27 Fs. Now they have 28.
I'm thankful that I didn't spend any money on them as opposed to several unfortunate people in the Hampton Roads area (check Angie's List and Yelp for the horror stories), so their stiffing me worked to my benefit.
As a Navy veteran it burns me up that they are advertising themselves as one of us. They give all veterans a bad name. There is no Honor, Courage, or Commitment from them.
Run.

They gave us an overpriced quote to replace a small hot water heater. Rep from A1 was quick to confirm the $75 quote fee.  Only took them 2 minutes to make $75.  Check around.  Don't call this place even if it's a last resort.

Never Have Them Do Your Work!

These people are con artist and they rip their customers off, taking advantage of their situation. We called them to come out for a service call on our AC unit, it took 3 days for them to get there. They were in my home (on a week day during normal business hours) for approximately 30 minutes and charged me $669.90 to change out my thermostat (and nothing more). When I objected they had a bad attitude and were unwilling to make any price adjustment. I called around and nobody in Virginia Beach charges that for a simple thermostat replacement. Contract these people at your own risk!

Additionally, the urgency to getting the thermostat/AC fixed was related to health problems! I had to pay their fees... Never again.

Oh, and by the way;  they only post positive reviews on their own website which is password protected so people like me with complaints cannot post.

I only gave one star, If no stars were an option I would have selected none!

Darryl was timely and helpful and worked diligently and quickly.  Price was fair, too.

Don't waste your time. They will over book and then reschedule you but you only will find that out by calling at the last minute that they were supposed to be at your home. Then you reschedule for another day for a 3 hr time slot and then they call again and push it back another two hours. What a waste of time. Learn how to manage time and your workers.

DO NOT USE A-1 American!!!!! We paid to have a control board replaced, that had to be order . The technician named Doug Jackson made clear that's all it was. 24 hours after he replaced it there is NO A/C it is 90 degrees outsideAnd feels hotter in the house but not only does the AC not work it now doesn't even show the temp in the house. less then 24 hours, hundreds of $$$ later calling and stressing the fact that there is a young child in the house. I'm told it will be at least 4 days before it can even be scheduled to have someone come out to check. this is by far the most crooked company I have ever seen!!!! They have no problem ripping people off taking their money and running beware of this place strongly recommend going with another

Overpriced and horrible customer service through their front office.  2 days after they fixed it, our HVAC it was down again and we had to go to another company.  Who managed to do in 30 minutes what they couldn't accomplish in a week.  They don't return phone calls, late to appointments, and rely excessively on sub-contractors.  And when you complain when their subcontractors don't show up for a scheduled appointment or call you to cancel they stated, and I quote, Not our problem.  To many other good companies in the area, don't use this one.

Will not ever use them again. When I needed a new air handler and water heater. Of course they were there in a day to install those, but when I need a follow up under warranty....I CAN NOT GET ANYONE TO SHOW UP. I called and specifically told them who installed everything and was told she would contact him and next available was Saturday, they would call that morning between 8 and 10 to confirm the time they would be there. OK, no problem. So Saturday rolls around, 10:30 and still no call, no big deal, I'll call them. I call and she apologizes and says she will reach out to the tech and give me a call back. I get a call from the tech about a minute later saying he is doing an install and would be able to get there between 3 and 5. Ok, perfect. 5 o'clock rolls around and nothing. Finally, at about 5:20 I get a call that he was running a little late and was on the way, which is no big deal, things happen. So about 6 o'clock he finally gets there, takes two steps in the door, mind you this is NOT the tech that installed everything, and the one I specifically asked for when I called, I tell him what I need (which I assumed he would know since they sent him out) and he instantly says I can't do that.... to which I respond what do you mean you can't do that? he then proceeds to tell me that it has to be the tech that installed everything that has to be the one to perform the service. I explained that is who I asked for when I called and who they said they were going to contact. He then states that it feels comfortable in the house and that it's better than spending an entire day in a 105 degree attic like he did today. I had been understanding and patient up until this point. First off, I didn't choose this profession, YOU did, so if you had to spend all day in an attic, then that was your choice, not mine. Second, it being comfortable is not the issue, it is running constantly and having trouble keeping a steady temperature and the reason I called is to follow up for a service that could not be performed properly when I had everything installed. Third, I waited around ALL DAY, canceled plans, which I was fine with when I was going to have everything taken care of that day. So, I called as soon as the tech left, extremely annoyed of course, and was told they were going to call the CORRECT tech, but that he wouldn't be able to come out today....of course he wouldn't. Within 5 minutes the tech calls and says this is the first he's heard about any of this and earliest he could come is Monday. I could not miss work again, so I said I couldn't do that. He then asks what day I could do. I respond with Thursday, early because I would need to leave for work around noon. He says OK and to call him on his cell Wednesday evening. Fast forward to Wednesday evening. I call before I get off work, receive no answer so I leave a message. Here it is now Thursday, I call the main number again about 2pm, was told she was going to call him. I was put on hold, she comes back and says he didn't answer, but as soon as she hears from him she will call me.  Here it is about 5pm and I HAVE HEARD NOTHING, however, I text my boyfriend who happens to be there and he informs me THAT THE TECH WAS THERE AND JUST LEFT....WHAT?  I told the tech multiple times that I would be gone at 12 for work, and no one would be there....SO INSTEAD OF CALLING TO SET UP ANOTHER TIME HE JUST GOES BY THERE....ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is ridiculous. It's amazing how it only took one day to get there, decide what I needed installed, and get it all done, (but also crack my ceiling, having the molding around my attic fall a day after they attempted to put it back up, and chip my porcelain tub in the process of installing the water heater...to be fair they did have someone come to fix my ceiling, but never acknowledged the fact my tub was chipped when I mentioned it at the same time...I just let it go, which in hindsight I suppose I shouldn't have), but to get them to come back to finish with the follow up, was a complete hassle. Guess they already got their money from me so doesn't matter anymore. I would advise using a company that is more organized, keeps better records (I had to go up in the attic after the initial install because I was not provided the information I needed for the warranty, which he told me fill out online...I called and they didn't have any information off of the air handler that THEY had just installed), and has better follow through. This is a mistake I will not make again.

A-1 American came out to fix my tankless water heater. $728 it still didn't work and my wash room flooded. The first service call was made in October. They never showed up. I called them back and reschedule d in December during holiday break from school. they came on Monday 12/28. I received an estimate for a new circulating pump and that I would be contacted the next day to schedule the next service call. I was never called. I called Wednesday, the office said the service techs schedule their own calls and I left a message for the service tech. No call back was received. I called again on Monday and they scheduled me on Tuesday of that. Throughout this time, I have had no heat. because my heating is powered by hot water. Had I not signed an acceptance of his estimate and a promise of installation of the part, I would not have returned to this company. They came on Tuesday and installed the part. He communicated there was a small amount of water on the floor when he arrived. He installed the new pump, fixed the leak and left. an hour later, I had no hot water or heat (the hot water in my shower and sink still worked to this point). My roommate went to work at this time. I returned about 9:30pm to a flooded washroom floor. He had neither repaired the unit or the leak. I called the company about this problem, they said he'd be there the next morning. My roommate took off work to be there. He never showed and never called. When I called, they said my appointment had been changed to the afternoon-- I was not notified. At that point, after 9 days with no heat and 4 with no hot water, I called another company and had it repaired. I contacted them on 1/7 at 8:08am to request a refund of my payment for the service and file a complaint. I was instructed to leave a message for their service manager Ray. I was told I'd receive a call within a few hours. I did not receive a call that day at all. I called again on 1/8 at 11:34am and requested to speak to Ray. I was told You've already left a message regarding this. You can leave another one if you'd like. I informed them if I was not contacted by the end of the day on Friday, I'd be filing a complaint with the BBB and pursuing a credit card dispute. On 1/13 I contacted the company. Ray was in the office. I was on hold for 20 minutes. Ray answered and, through much maddening conversation, told me politely that they weren't hired to fix my leak according to the contract. effectively excusing the fact that they left my wash room to flood. He said he would only issue a refund if I could prove that the circulating pump didn't need to be replaced. Which I can no longer do because I have already had the unit replaced. Ray says he must investigate what happened and he will call me back on Friday 1/15. I am skeptical.

Better hold on to your wallet!!!   $900+ to pull a toilet and run a snake down the line..  The tech said they have to pay for the advertisement somehow.  He was honest I will give him that......

Just a quick buyer beware.  While the guarantee that they will not charge extra if a job takes longer than expected, they price some jobs very expensively for the work they do.  I don't have any problem with a company making money, even good money, but charging me $300 dollars for 30 minutes of work...no parts needed..after I did most of the prep work?  That's a little steep.  600 an hour is a little silly.  Yes, if you add the 10 minute drive in from the other job, it's less and they did have to burn some gas.  

And yes - I had the option to deny the work for the price before they started, but they also had the option to say You did all this prep work for us, you waited until noon for an appointment we said would be done first thing in the morning and your time is valuable too... and this only took 25 minutes so....  

They did fine work.  All is well, but they missed an opportunity to be reasonable....so 2 stars is all I can give them.

I have no heat, and called what I thought was a 24 hour service company. I called and was redirected to another technician that said they would have someone call me back. Well a technician called me back to inform me that they were eating dinner with their family; and could they come out to look at my unit tomorrow. I told them that I would have to take my small children and myself to a hotel; and did not think tomorrow would be acceptable. I ask: What is the point in being on call for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if no one is truly working?

BEWARE!!! We had a price shock when we called A-1 American for an estimate on a shower repair.  The estimate not only shocked us as outrageously overpriced, we got the same work done in less than a third price (I have both receipts to prove). In giving us the high estimate, it felt like the technician was really only interested in the non-refundable $78 charged for coming out. Never again will we call A-1 American. For A-1 management, if you want to check the authenticity of this post - the esitmate was receipt no. was 83286.

My kitchen faucet was leaking, I called A-1 American Plumbing (big mistake!) They send a technician (costs $78), he checked the leak and without doing any further work said that the faucet needs to be replaced.  I asked what the  cost of labor will be ,  he looked into a folder, and said $546 if I provide the faucet. I told him that is ridiculous and let him go. I got the faucet replaced for $109 by another technician, it took less then an hour for that technician. In my opinion A-1 American out there to rip you off. Labor cost $546/hour. What do they think, everybody is stupid enough to pay that and that they are the only company in town. I guess they are happy to get the $78 for the initial visit. But that will not pay for their TV adds in the long run.

I'm sorry to say I had a horrible experience with A-1 American. A technician came out on Wednesday to fix my  leaking air conditioning unit. I thought it was fixed , but it wasn't. It continued to leak. I called A-1 that weekend to have them come back and they asked me to wait until Monday so the same technician could look at it. I called that Monday and did receive a call back. I called the technician three times after that. During the third call, his phone went right to voicemail. I was promised that someone would be out to help me on Monday. I never received a phone call and no one ever showed up. Long story short, I took my business elsewhere and will not be using A-1 again.

Well, I learned a lesson here. I knew my hot water tank was going and I should not have waited, but.....

Lemme say this right off of the top: My two technicians John S. and Larry were great guys that were extremely courteous, professional and did quality work. I am pleased with the service.

Now for the rest: I called them on a Sunday afternoon and the fellow said a technician would be out between 9-11am the next day. Cool. At 11am the next morning, no word. I called them back and the girl says that I am on the list and the tech would call before he came out. Hmmm. Uh, ok. Once the tech got there 4 hours later, things smoothed out nicely and the work was done in a couple of hours.

Price: OMG. Like I said, I knew the tank was close to going, and it is in my attic. I wasn't going to do the work myself so I paid. Even with the 10% military discount I threw up in my mouth a little when I saw the quote.

So I have mixed feelings about things, but I am happy with the service, the equipment, and the technicians were great.

Very disappointed, I will never recommend them to anyone. Called because my A/C would run intermittently I though maybe the thermostat was going bad, the service tech came out on a Tuesday and diagnosed that the problem was the float valve, explained he did not have the part and would be back the next day, when I did not get a call to finish the repair I called the company at 6:02 and tried to talk to a person about the situation he promptly barked over the phone that someone probable called and I missed the call and explained that was not the case, so I called the next day very early and was told the the tech was on an install and that he might be able to get back with me later that day again no call back to explain that he would make it the next day that the install took longer than normal. On Thursday I called again and was told that he would be out later that day, again no show no call. I waited for A-1 to call me on Friday again no call no show. After one week went by I called and they acted as if I had never called so I had to explain to them again and was told that he service manager would be out that night on his way home, guess what, again no show no call. Called another company to finish the job. In short I am surprised that this company can keep their doors open with the service they provide and the rude people on the phone dealing with the customers.

After stating they would come check out my a/c issue 24 hours after I called. I called them 20 minutes before the appointment time to verify someone was coming. Was told tech was on an install and wouldn't make it.  Being 4pm I was not happy but luckily I called a different company that came in 30 minutes.
Thanks for dropping the ball And what a waste of money on your commercials Bragging how great you are. Don't promise when you can't deliver that's just sad and pathetic.

Wish I had read these reviews before calling A-1 America.  They said we needed a new water heater and since the plumbing codes had changed, we needed all new piping work done.   The cost for a new Water heater and piping work - $ 2300!!  I was dumb enough to let them do it.  The water heater works OK.  However, the plumber admitted that he should have cleared the water line through the bathtub - the largest line- in order to  get rid of all the silt  from the water line.  He did not do this and as a result, the shower head was so clogged up with residue that I had to buy another one - $40.  Also, so much residue in the kitchen faucet , causing back pressure, that it blew off the goose nect from the faucet.  Another $100 plus for a new kitchen faucet.  We have made 6 calls to the company so far and no one will discuss this with us or return our calls.  Another thing, we realized that the company offers senior citizen and military discounts which we are eligible for both.  Granted, we did not ask for this before the work was done because we not aware of it at the time.  When we tried to get them to honor this, some one was to call us back and , of course, they never did.  I will let everyone I know to stay clear of this company.  Cassie, Williamsburg

Amazing company with really great people! I was in a bind just before the holiday and reached out to a variety of companies in the area to get my water heater fixed before guests from out of town arrived. Larry and John with A1 American came out immediately (on a Saturday) and replaced it for a fair price. They were efficient and respectful and I would use A1 American again in a heart beat. Not sure where some of these negative comments are coming from, I know a lot of people that have used this company and will continue to use it-I would recommend them to anyone!

Concur with the other 1 star ratings. A1 is horrible.  Specifically, over priced, fails to show up for appointments, the AC repairman i had (Adam) was incompetent, and the supervisor John never returned a phone call after many requests for him to contact me.  

Details:  Adam did a spring tune up of the AC systems for almost $800, including adding 6.5 pounds of freon to one of the units without checking it for leaks.  No surprise, a month later the system wasn't blowing cold air. He came out again, charged a flat $800 to find the leak and repair it.  However, 24 hours later it was blowing hot air again.  Supposedly the work was covered under warranty, but after 3 consecutive days of no shows for scheduled appointments, I've decided to dispute the quality of service via my credit card company and will likely file complaints with BBB.  $1600 gone and the AC still doesn't work.

NEVER AGAIN! Air conditioner not cooling. They said over $400 to fix. My wife said ok. Then they said new part did not fix the problem she asked to see it. He showed her the capacitor and said it did not fix the problem. They said whole new system needed just over $5600. I replaced the capacitor ($15) it now works fine!

A-1 has repeatedly flagged or deleted my review on yelp.

Plumber came out and unclogged a drain at my mothers house.

Charged her $600 and trampled in water all through our house.

Find yourself a better local plumber that doesn't advertise they care.

A-1 has made no attempt to contact me or return my emails.

I have had A1 American at my home 3 times for burst water pipes in my garage.

I recently hired a new plumber and he showed me what A1 American charged me $870.00 for in February 2016.
It was a piece of copper pipe about 2 feet long clamped -not soldered- into the existing pipe.
It was covered in black foam insulation which had a gouge in it leaving part of pipe exposed.

A1 had come out in January 2016 for same issue/area and charged me $980.00,

In March 2015 they replaced same area for $1080.00

When I asked about putting heat tape on pipes I was told it would probably be ineffective,

I googled their location and went to their office (which is kept locked) on November 15, 3016. I was let in and spoke to the billing person and showed her the bills I had brought with me. I asked if a mistake had been made as I could not see how the work that was done was worth the amount I was charged in March 2016. The billing person told me she would contact the person who performed the work in January and again in February of this year.

It has been one week since I contacted A1 and I have heard nothing. I was clear with billing person I wanted to discuss before I wrote review.

There are 2 review sites which come up first -both sponsored by A1 and need a password to write a review. It seems pretty clear why I was not contacted as I cannot access their site. It does not seem ethical to only allow positive reviewers to write reviews on their site. It certainly looks good for them though.

I have told my friends and asked them to tell their friends about the practices of this company.

I knew I should have come here first. We call A1 this morning and all was good said it was a $78.00 charge just to come to the house (which I am fine with and understand this) and they would apply/wave this fee if we had them to the repairs. Problem was our main drain clogged up out of nowhere last night 11-5-14. My wife waited for them at the house as they gave us a 4 hour window for them to show and they would call 30 min prior to coming to the house. The BIG problem was an is the $541.00 bill they gave us for only being there for an hour maybe an hour and a half. I have never been charged so much for so little time not even from a lawyer. I will never use this company again nor will I recommend them to anyone I know.

At the moment I'm trying to avoid exploding at being ripped off. Plumber came and replaced the plastic toilet fill unit in the tank which could be purchased at Walmart for about $20. The charge? $446.00 !!!!!!!
My wife paid that. I was in bed (disabled) and didn't know we were being raped or I would have unceremoniously showed him the door.
I don't blame the tech but I have the utmost outrage for this BS company that posts those phony/smarmy TV ads.
Never ever use this company Just check the other reviews.

I called A-1 Amercian about a water leak from my water heater. Within an hour they sent David to access the situation. Turned out that I needed a new one. David came the next day and installed it and it looks really good. He was very knowledgeable and very professional. He answered any and every question that I had. Thank you so much, David!!!

I don't even feel they deserve half a star. Was having AC issues so I called this company and for one part cost me $488. The tech also only checked the outside unit, never bothering to look at the indoor one. Like anyone, I will regularly check my bank account and noticed they charged me twice- both charges came out of my account. When I brought this up about 4 times all of which the billing person gave me excuses all different, I finally got my bank on the phone because they needed verification before refunding one charge. The lady got very rude saying there was no second charge and I was mistaken, yet my bank had the proof and refunded me after I was hung up on. Once more our AC is down and we get the a tech will get to you eventually. I get things happen, but rude customer service shouldn't. Find a different company, you'd be better off.

Overcharge and no customer service response.
Don't get fooled by their coupons on their web site, they overcharge and then they give you a discount coupon!!!!
I would like to share my experience with this company which would be unfair to future customers if I don't write the truth.
Two weeks ago one of my AC outdoor unit stopped working and unfortunately I called them since the unit was purchased from them years ago. After a few phone call on a Friday morning the technician arrived at 12pm and suggested two possibility the first capacitor for $560 or Compressor for $2000 and I had no idea that capacitor is a just $25 part which takes 30 second to change. So I agreed and signed and he changed the capacitor unit was fixed and charged me $479.
The same day I found out this service including part only cost $150 on a normal day which is not late night or week end days.
I called and complained for being triple charged they said they check and get back to me, it is 2 weeks passed and no news from them.
I already filled a complain through BBB. Their web site does not allow  
to leave a review since has a password, so I am not sure how all those positive reviews got there.
It would be their lost since I was planning to renew my AC units but I will buying them from an honest company who does not fool clients.

Your technician Adam T. arrived when he said he would, fixed the furnace and was extremely polite. The part needed to be ordered but he called me as soon as it came in. I would use A-1 American if needed in the future.

I will never use A-1 again!  I had A-1 replace a part on my AC unit that cost approximately fifteen to twenty dollars and approximately another seventy-five dollars to install and this company charged me $380.00 for the part and installation. They are a total ripoff. I learned this after I consulted another company when A-1 tried to charge me an extra $600.00 on top of the $380.00 to recharge my system. They are a total ripoff I will never use them again.

I live in Yorktown but when I contacted A-1 American there, my job was given to the VA Beach location. I believe I was taken advantage of since I was out of town when A-1 diagnosed a main line water leak on my property, and then quoted a price of $4200, which I agreed to. I assumed that the company had a standard pricing formula which they applied even-handedly to jobs in order to be competitive yet profitable. Not so.

I have since found that this is not illegal, merely unethical, since I agreed to the price and gave them my credit card over the phone.  Every other professional I've consulted said that they would have charged between $1,500 - $2500 less than this company. In essence, they ripped me off fair and square, within the confines of the law. When I went to them (and then the BBB) asking for clarification on why I was charged what I was charged (what were the costs for parts, labor, etc.) they refused to give me a breakdown, stating simply that I had agreed to the price, and stated repeatedly that I had signed the invoices after the work was completed.

Thing is, I did NOT sign the invoices. They had my tenant sign them. They claim I had given my tenant authority to sign on my behalf. I did no such thing.

So, buyer beware. If you're over a barrel, they'll give you an absurd price and see if you bite. Don't.

I have never experienced anything as bad as I have in hiring A-1 sewer and drain. I called at 9am and was told that they would schedule the repair and get back to me. I got a return call after wasting a day at 4pm stating that their tech was running behind and that it would take place in approximately 2 hours. No call until 9:45 pm stating that they would schedule me 1st in the mourning. I got the call at 8:30am and the tech moved on to other jobs as I took a shower and was not available for the 4 second phone call. I called the office where the receptionist informs me that she must call the supervisor Ray to schedule me again with a different tech. The tech arrives at 11:30am and immediately refers to a price booklet which states for A-1 plumbing that unclogging a garbage disposal will cost $566.00. I was shocked! Then the tech tried to inform me that no one guarantees their work and provides the quality of A-1 sewer and drain. The tech then asks for my credit card and begins to ring me up for a job quoted on google that should cos: (Clog: $150 to $200. You may need to clear the pipes or plumbing further down than the sink or shower drain. Jam: $0 to $100. Try to clear it yourself by cleaning the garbage disposal.) Wow, the tech disassembled the disposal found that it wasn't clogged and then after an hour of banter tried to up sell me to replacing the disposal for over $1100.00. Again, I was SHOCKED! I called a competitive certified plumber who informed me that the job would cost $375,99. I will also tell you that in my dissatisfaction of wasting 2 days while attempting to be rung up for huge bills, that the supervisor would not speak with me. I have called my credit card company in fear that I will be charged for an over estimated repair that never took place. The tech was not even able to reassemble the disposal he took apart! I have a pan under my sink until a real plumber can fix it for a reasonable price! If I could rate A-1 in negative stars what do you think I would do?

yes my elderly mother called this company to have some work done while i was out of the country. well don't you know 2 months later i get back home and the sewer gases are coming up from the shower drain and the faucet they put on her bathroom sink was put on backwards and today i get a freakin water bill from the city of Va Beach and it is almost $1,000 dollars!!!!!!!!!!  the city even sent us a note saying we noticed your water bill has increased higher than normal and you may have a water leak some where. this new water bill started from the day after the tech left the house. i call A-1 to complain and tell them of everything going wrong including the faucet on backwards which should be classic plumbing 101!!!!! and they tell me the warranty is up but they will send someone out to see whats going on and charge us $78.00 and give us a quote on how much it will cost to fix the problem..........I said .oh really, your going to charge us to fix the problem im sure your tech created.........well mam your warranty is up.........i said...SCREW YOUR WARRANTY, MY MOM IS 82 YEARS OLD AND YOU GUYS HAVE SENT SOMEONE OUT HERE WHO OBVIOUSLY DID NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND OF COURSE MY MOM LIKES THE KID THEY SENT OUT SO SHE DOESN'T WANT TO GET HIM IN ANY TROUBLE.  basically i don't want them telling me whats wrong anyway, i need a plumber who knows what thier doing to come out here and tell us if in fact what A-1 did was why we smell sewer gas in the shower, a given we already know is it is their fault that the new faucet is on backwards, and hopeful to find a leak somewhere that will explain this $1000 dollar water bill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would not recommend A-1 to anybody

***DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY***
***MUST READ TANKLESS HOT WATER HEATER INSTALLATION***

When my hot water heater needed to be replaced I called A1 American. First impression was great, on the phone they informed me of the service fee and the technician would contact me before his arrival. When Jeremy arrived he determined my hot water tank needed to be replaced. I inquired about a tankless hot water heater replacement, Jeremy explained what needed to be done to convert from a tank to tankless, he was very confident and reassured me of his experience (many times). I decided to go with a Rinnai tankless water heater, he gave me two options a lower-end model without recirculation and lower gallons per minute or a higher-end one with recirculation and more gallons per minute. I chose the higher-end model RUR199i. He returned the following morning to install my system and this is where it started to go bad.....

Issues:
  -He said he could work around my irrigation pump, but he cut the lines
  and told me it was an add on to put it back.
  -The vent protruding outside my house looked like a hack job. Sheet metal, screws, and a 3 pipe hanging off the side of my house. Thank God, I was there to object before he completed whatever he thought he was going to do.

***MOST IMPORTANT***
When the installation was complete Jeremy and his assistant tested the water, packed up, and left (I was out to dinner for my anniversary) he texted and told me he was done. When I came home I tested the water and it took forever to get warm, so I started to do some research (on my anniversary, my wife was not happy).

  -The thermal bypass valve was NEVER installed
  -The thermal bypass filter was NEVER installed
  -The Control R module was NEVER installed
  -The system parameters were never set (temp/service intervals/recirculation mode/recirculation timer/GPM)  

The worst part is all these parts that were not installed were thrown away. AFTER convincing him it was not set up correctly by sending him installation instructions and youtube videos to PROVE he did not set up it up correctly. He dug through the trash to find them and he ultimately had to purchase the bypass filter because he could not find it.

($5,600 total bill)
After all this we had a conversation, he said I can give you $200 off  but in the end we got the job done we made it happen. I told him to give me the $200 off and I want your boss to give me a call. It has been two days and I'm still waiting..... A1 American my name is Ben Lewis and the service was performed 10/17-19/2020 eagerly awaiting your call.

If I could give 1 star I would. They charge by the job, which sounds amazing until you figure the rate was over 300 bucks an hour.  Quote was for 3 valves, he replaced 1 that was leaking then said the quote wasn't for the other valve. Said he would replace the one that was still leaking for 60, cash, no paperwork!! Well we couldn't turn our water back on til that was done so yeah we paid his blackmail. NEVER, ever use them. Total ripoff when they got you over a barrel.

I signed up specifically to review A1 American plumbing. Called them at 11pm Tuesday night and they said they would come sometime on Wednesday. On Wednesday we called about 6 times to get an approximate time and each time we were told they would be here today and our technician Antwan would call soon. It's Thursday morning and no plumber and no call. Called roto-rooter and they are here within 2 hours. I only gave one star because I had to. If you can't get out here for service let us know so we can make other arrangements.

Seriously do not even call them for anything.  The company made $78 to quote me for a new hot water heater for their call.  After they left I called three different plumbers and received the quote over the phone.  A-1 quoted my $2500 for a 40 gallon tank.  I got it down to $850 and  Lowes will do it for much less.  Don't be gouged and don't pay attention to all the commercials that is where the money is going advertising.

Horrible company. The Tech came out gave my wife some vague description of the problem with outr ac. Then when she called the tech again to get a more detailed description he told her the motor head was fried. There is no such thing as a motor head on a blower motor. They ended up quoting us $2600 dollars for the repair. What they didnt know is that we have a family member that does HVAC for a living. The part is less than $200 dollars and takes minutes to replace. Total rip off they are disingenuous company with no ethics. My wife is 7 months pregnant and this is what they do. Shame on them no matter who you use don't use A1 american.

Charged my elderly mother $415 to clear a drain.  When I called to ask how that could be, the woman became combative and rude.  As I have seen in some other reviews, she tried to convince me that we should have been charged twice as much.  Called other plumbers and got quotes for the exact same service that were half as much. In my opinion, their customer service philosophy is...screw you  and don't us us again.

Read all the reviews about their outrageously high prices on yelp.  I guess they need to charge these prices to pay for all that advertising.  Avoid at all costs!

Under no circumstances use A-1 American.  I called them to fix a toilet whose mechanism was sticking & making the toilet hard to flush.  The guy looked at it then went out to the truck & came back with a 2-inch thick pricing book, and quoted over $900 to do a major rebuild of the tank, i.e. replace the flushing mechanism and all parts within the tank.  He even said this is a relatively easy do-it-yourself job involving about $20 in parts, but said he was bound to the prices in the company's price book.

I have owned houses for over 40 years and lived in various states/locales.  NEVER have I seen such jacked up prices.  Not even in New York.  I gave them a check for the minimum service call ($78) and sent them on their way.  On the chance that the guy who gave me the quote was confused or misreading the price book, I called the office after he left and told them the story.  The person answering the phone said that it did sound way too high and that he would talk to the plumber and find out why.  He never called back, for which I am grateful because I since checked out this company at BBB.org.... Their BBB grade is an F !!!    Holy crap.  I've never seen an F before.  This company preys on customers who believe their commercials and who don't know any better.  They are bad news.  Run, do not walk, away from them.  

Stick with a company that has multiple good reviews in Yelp, *and* who has an A rating from BBB.

Another lesson:  Do NOT trust Best of Hampton Roads ratings.  I am relatively new to this area, and have been burned twice by believing those ratings.  Yelp, BBB and other internet resources are more reliable resources, in my experience.  

By the way, we found another local plumber to fix the toilet a day later.  The bill was $187 and the job took about 45 minutes.

My hot water line under the house broke Thanksgiving night around 11pm.  Called A-1 Friday morning around 9 am was told technician would call to schedule time in the next 2 hours.  I had to leave town and my wife calls me around noon - no one had called her.  I called spoke with dispatcher 2nd time - was told they might NOT get to me due to back up calls from Wednesday - no one told me that in first phone call.  Technician called said he would be there by 2:30.  Long story short - after 2 other phone calls he finally arrived at 6pm!!.

Now, I had surveyed the damage - 2 holes in a 12 section of the main line -- that was all that needed to be replaced.  Technician gives my wife an estimate of $800 (she finds an online coupon drops bill to $700 - WOW!!).  She can't get me on the phone - approves work.  Calls me later - I tell her that is OUTRAGEOUS!!....oh well, RIP-off

I try to call to see about getting some relief from the crazy bill - finally after 2 days and 5 phone calls - I speak with Greg - (MGR) - he tells me in an email that the job was priced according to our pricing manual. No adjustments can be made.  

Well, they are way overpriced for the small job/parts used.  I will not ever recommend anyone to use them.  Calling BBB to lodge complaint

I want to echo Tony B's review and say that these people do in fact take advantage of my elderly parents. My dad always used A1 American and each time they came over, they quoted him a ridiculously high price and took multiple visits to complete whatever project, even very small ones.  He also used them at several rental properties where, again, multiple trips, multiple quotes in the 1000s for simple jobs. I haven't really paid attention to my dad's affair but once a few years ago I witnessed A1 American coming over to his house and nothing the tech said sounded right and I begged my father to not use them but he did any way. I ultimately can't stop what my parents do but I objected heavily.

Let me say first A1 American does get the job done. But they do so after multiple trips and multiple invoices. It wasn't until a recent event that I can finally break through my parents and expose these people for what they are: scammers. About five years ago my parents put in a new heat pump and in it, they offered a 2 year labor, 5 years parts warranty. No where on the receipt it indicated that they lied about it and it's just the manufacturer's warranty they wrote. Instead they claim it is their warranty and only you can go through them to get it. If it was indeed a manufacturer warranty, then I can call the company and initiate repairs but that is not the case. Could you imagine the backlash Walmart would get if they said all their products came with a guarantee then when you go there they tell you that it's actually the manufacturer warranty they wrote but you have to use them to get it or else and you also have to pay nearly the same price it took to buy it? That's exactly what A1 American does.

The recent story goes that I called on a Sunday about a broken heat pump and the upstairs temperature was going in the 80s. They said they'd send someone out Monday. The guy never came Monday because he said he can't come out during the rain. Then Tuesday he came over pretending he was ready to fix it and all my parent needed to do was sign the dotted line. He just looked at the unit for 2 minutes, and said he needed to file paper work at the manufacturer for a broken fan,capacitor, and the unit needed to clean. He quoted 725 for it. I then confronted him about the warranty and he said he has the parts in the office right now, but he could not use it because it was a manufacturer warranty. I told him that it was not what was written and he got upset acting like I couldn't understand he just went on in circles. He left saying the parts would come in the follow day. I called Wednesday, and he said no it hasn't came and he put the paper work in immediately. Thursday I called the office, and couldn't get ahold of the manager about the warranty they claimed they offered, then the tech called me very upset saying I could never call him and never call the manager and if I did he'd delay my parts. Very upset, I decided to file a BBB complaint on it. Meanwhile, upstairs temperatures going at 85+ degrees and the tech said we have to live with it and others got it worst.

BBB came through for us, and about a week after the tech filed the paper work, our parts came. The tech, TC came over very disgruntled acting and any questions I ask he mentions how busy he is or that he's not a fortune teller. At the end when we were going to pay I asked about the military discount for my parent and he got very upset saying we filed a BBB complaint and he would not give a discount. Luckily my mom was listening on the complaint and said a few good words to him and he drove off screaming expletives at us. Even before when he was complaining about why we sent a BBB, he said A1 American has plenty of customers and didn't need us like he was doing us a favor.

I believe due to BBB that my parts came through and they just pulled it out from the office/warehouse they have because they knew BBB would follow up on it. If I hadn't filed a BBB complaint, I believe they would have done like they did before where they came over with multiple invoices and multiple quotes giving this simple warranty job double the amount. At 725, that's nearly a 1/2 of the way to a new heat pump that I can just buy.

Do yourself a favor, don't use these people. If you have elderly parents who don't research things online, be sure to listen in on it and be ready to step in and get these people out of the house. It's far better to just pay the tech the 78 dollars to diagnose the issue than it is to hope they can get the job done. They will fix it halfway such that they have to come out multiple times and quote you multiple prices. I imagine elderly people and people desperate are going to be taken advantage of. Do not fall for this.

I called A1 because my home warranty company was booked up for a week and couldn't fix my AC right away. The guy comes out, does his diagnosis and says that both AC units need replacing ($10,000+) , or he can fill up the refrigerant ($778), but no guarantees on how long that will last with how old the unit is (14 years). He also said that home warranty companies are worthless. I declined and decided to be patient and wait for my Home Warranty company; that patience paid off. The compressor was broken and they fixed it ($295). I could have spent $700+ dollars to fill a broken unit. Needless to say, I will never be using A1 services.

It should be 0 stars!
My husband chose this company because they appeared to him to be creditable in their commercials, even after I asked him to contact Michael & Sons in which I have always had good experiences with. He called at 4:30 pm today and was told someone would be here later today... he called at 6:15 pm to check the status and had to leave a message - no one returned his call, he called at 7:20 pm and had to leave a message - the call back came but she has no idea who is supposed to have had the work order... SERIOUSLY??? Now, of course, anyone else we were to call wants after hours rates. VERY disappointed in this company and will make sure everyone knows NOT to utilize their services.

On June 11th we called to have A-1 American come out and take a look at my AC unit. I had turned it on for the first time in a while (since I returned from deployment in November and didn't need to) and it wasn't cooling. They said that they would come between 9-12 the following day. No show. Called the company and they aplogogized and rescheduled for the next day. That's the first of many complaints. The technician Wayne, shows up and says that I was out of refrigerant and that needed a leak check. For $942.14 (with a military discount) he performed an electronic leak check and a nitrogen pressure check. He stated that there was no leak and that somehow something/someone may have been tampered with and let out the refrigerant. That is the only service that was signed for. He said it would take a full day for the house to cool. I set the thermostat to 75°F and let it be. After a full day it cooled down some, but day two it was 85° inside again. I went outside the following day (3 days later) and the lines were frozen. I shut everything down. I called back and called them again. Wayne came back on the 19th and pressurized/isolated the system and said he had another job to do and would come back the following day. Little did I know that he meant that he was cutting the lines and tearing apart my unit. I came outside to find my unit in pieces. He returned Sunday to say that the evaporator coil had a leak in it and the system was out of coolant. How would a leak so large to empty the unit in a couple of days not be detected with the electronic leak check or pressure test???? Today he calls and says it will be $1200 to replace the coil. Tried to call back, no answer. Tried to contact the manager and he was in a meeting for all 3 phone calls amd that he would call back. Of course no call. This is outrageous. I've contacted my insurance comany to have an investigator come out and look at the unit in pieces. I did not sign any authorization for this work and did not realize he was going to leave it like this in wait for me to pay another $1200 for the indoor evaporator coil. The coil is $400 at best, this guy isn't worth $800 in labor.

Original Service date was 6-1-16 we were charged twice for the service then when we tried to address the issue with them got attitude, it is now just under 6 weeks after the service and my unit is broken down once again and has been acting up for the last week and a half $488 for my unit to break down in less than two months is recidivous, i called and tried to have this fixed but the woman on the other end of the conversation was rude and would not stop cutting me off making excuses for their poor quality work was informed i would be charged again if they came out to see what was wrong with it to my recollection I've already paid for this unit to be fixed so why have to pay again when it should be working she infuriated me to the point of cursing at her after which my roommate called her back and was informed that they recorded my conversation which without notice is against the law. these people are very unprofessional and do not do the work they are paid for.

I work in DC and was out of town I thought 1 found a company that would come and replace two drain valves in my upstairs bathrooms. They charged me 129.00 to come out but would roll that out of the final bill after he found out what was wrong. My wife called me after the diagnostic and he wanted 800+ for the repair. I ended up fixing them the next day for 35.00, imagine if I didn't know what to do he was planning on taking advantage of my wife. Only 1/2 a star, he came out

Recently I contacted A1 American to remove an older dishwasher and install a newer one. They quoted me a price of $678.00. Outrageous !!! I ended up having my nieces boyfriend do the work for me. It took him 2 hours with one trip to Lowes for a hose. The contractor for A1 who showed up that day, told me that my electrical and water connections would have to be totally redone. That is absolutely untrue. The young man who did the job for me said it was just a straight forward change of the two units. It is a shame that A1 American tried to take advantage of me. And charged me $78 to tell me that lie. If I could rate them with minus Stars I would. Very unethical and should be looked into by the BBB. I will be filing a complaint.

Recently A1 came the replace a kitchen faucet and was surprised at the cost.  They charged $1100 to remove and install a faucet which we later priced for less than $100.    This is excessive pricing.   On the bright side they are very professional and good quality of work but that is gouging.

Never use this company!

We called them out to give us a quote on replacing the drain under our sink.... And they quoted $1300 for the repair!  After a discount, they dropped it to $1100.  

I declined the service, and got the repair done by another company for $160!  I still needed to pay A1 American for coming out to quote, but instead of charging the $78 fee they charged $1100!

We have been battling to get our money back, and after charges were fixed and then put back on, our account still isn't correct 10 days later.  The manager last night placed blame on everyone else and they are not taking ownership of this issue!

Apparently they are great at making commercials and over charging customers, but not fixing issues quickly and giving good customer service.

This is $1100 we are talking about here. Completely blows my mind how they are still in business!

My heater was acting up, turning on and off sporadically, so I called A1 because I've seen them on TV waving the flag and seeming sincere.  They arrived at noon the following day and assessed the ignition sensor was bad.  This is a ten minute fix, $12 dollar part, one screw retaining the sensor.  I was at work so the service person gave my wife the invoice, which she paid, $587.  That's right, 45 minutes and a $12 part and they charged almost $600!  My wife doesn't know what an ignition sensor is, she knows I called them because the heater was acting up.  As retired military, and their advertisement claims they are friendly to military families, I thought they'd be reasonable and honest, I was wrong. That is 4 times as much as any reasonable technician charges, and that's a fact! After Hours, Delta T and Stillman's Heating all gave me estimates, after the fact unfortunately, and none were over $140.
This is a despicable company that gouges families in need of assistance, you should warn everyone you know about these criminals.

I had A-1 come to my house last night to fix a bathtub.  They worked around my hours and did great work fixing the bathtub.  My two complaints, after seeing what was wrong and needed to be fixed I was quoted $375 for the repairs.  This was far more than it should have been for the little amount of work that it took.  Even though I wasn't thrilled about the price, I bit the bullet and decided to have them go ahead and do the work so I knew it would be done correctly.  My biggest complaint:  I told the plumber that I had a coupon from online that gave me 15% off all plumbing repairs.  He looked at me and said, See, the thing is I already gave you a huge discount as he shrugged his shoulders.  First, that is a lie!!!!  It took 20-30 minutes and $10 dollars worth of materials to fix my bathtub.  (The piece that was messed up was brand new as he pointed out to me when giving me the qoute.)  Second, how can you not honor a coupon after a quote is given?  If I said I had the coupon prior to receiving my quote, would my cost have been over $400????  Unfortunately for A-1, the fact that my shower is fixed does not out weight the fact their people lacked integrity during my interaction with them last night.  I will not ever be doing business with them again.  I will stick to small local private owned plumber businesses from now on.

Just wanted to say that A1 American Plumbings prices are ridiculous.  I called them to come out to open a stopped up kitchen sink and they were going to run a sewer snake through the line to free up the clog. I asked how much this service would cost and
and was given a price of more than $580.00 to run the snake through the vent stack to open the line. I paid them the service call fee of $78.00 and sent them packing.  I crawled under the house and cleaned out the whole line myself.
I will think twice before  recommending this company

This company prides itself on being American... yet they left a military family including two little girls age 1 and age 3 in the intense heat on one of the hottest weekends of the year after sabotaging their unit. They are despicable! Our story: We had a service technician (Jake B) come out to our home to fix our air conditioning unit. The man showed up on a non-holiday (Thursday July 2nd) and looked at the machine and said we needed a new capacitor. He replaced the capacitor in 5 minutes and then told us how much it was going to cost without even asking permission to change it. He quoted us something in the high $400 range, we looked shocked and he then told us he would give us a special needs discount (we are not special needs BTW) and he charged us $385. After feeling cornered we paid the bill and he left. A couple hours later the air conditioning unit started making a weird noise, we inspected the unit and noticed the fan was not on and it had shut off and was extremely hot to the touch. We called Jake B back, he promptly returned and investigated the unit again. He said we would need a new fan motor. We asked a few questions about cost, he quoted us $670 and told us he was giving us a incredible discount. We reluctantly agreed feeling like we were being scammed. He left to go find a fan but called and said because of the holiday coming up that the stores had closed and he would have to leave us for the rest of the weekend without AC until a store opened but he would check his warehouse for one the next day. Later the following night, out of desperation, my husband checked the AC unit to see if he could see if he could somehow fix the unit because our two little children were overheating in our house because of the really hot weather. He then noticed that Jake B had wired the capacitor incorrectly and had connected the wires to the incorrect terminals. My husband knows enough about engineering to know very COMMON things that ANY ac repairman should know if he is working on a unit. After realizing the repairman had sabotaged our unit to charge us for a fan motor my husband checked the price of the capacitor online that Jake B had replaced and the cost was $35. We realized at this point that we had been ripped off. Jake B had not only overcharged us but he purposely hooked up the capacitor wrong so that unit would overheat so that he could come back and charge us for a new fan motor. Our two children, one year old and three year old spent 2 days in extreme heat because of this. We tried repeatedly to contact the manager of the company and were told on several occasions that he would call us back. We have never heard from anyone and have left over 10 messages for him to call us. We have paid $385 for 5 minutes of work and a $35 dollar part. This company scams it's customers! Two small children in extreme heat? on purpose? I cannot even believe someone would do such a thing! You should be ashamed of yourself A-1!!! And the manager did not even care to respond to us.

THIS GUYS ARE HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!! Find yourself. Another company. They came in to fix our plumbing issues last Saturday, and after they were done they told us we were good for another six months. Fast forward a week later we have the same problem, we called CHRIS he told us (and am not joking about this) we are not coming. All I can say is wow what kind of customer service is that . If you value your money and you want to get a company with INTEGRITY don't use A1 AMERICAN

They wanted to charge me $78 for an ESTIMATE for standard maintenance service (cleaning and tune-up).  

Ridiculous!!!!

OMG.  Tabitha has the worst customer service.  The service manager will not call me back.  I called last week and left a message.  It is now Monday.....I called again this morning and it is now 3 pm.  He still has not called.  I called again and she said she could not guarantee when he would call back.  I tried to conference her in with my boyfriend, who is the customer, and he is deployed overseas (I really didn't have the number but I tried using FaceTime but it didn't work).  In any case, she hung up on me and still no call from the manager.  I asked for the office address and she said there's no guarantee he will be in the office.  Larry the service guy was nice.  That's about it.

A-1 American came out to look at a mixing valve for my shower that was leaking. I had replaced the valve sometime ago and wanted a professional to verify if it was either faulty or improperly installed by me. Technician had to take pictures and call for assistance as he'd never seen one before (popular replacement through Comet Plumbing). Further inspection revealed a faulty o-ring ( no more than a couple of dollars) which he quoted a price of 562.00. I paid the 78.00 service charge and sent him away. Entire valve assembly is about 80.00.  For the record, he did offer a return customer discount for a total price of 450.00. Extremely disappointed and lesson learned. I will tell all to avoid this company.

In good faith, I trusted the quote A-1 American gave me to replace the capacitor on my AC. Being a first-time homeowner, I don't know a lot about HVAC systems and called A-1 after seeing all of their ads on TV. They seemed like a trustworthy company, but I wish I had checked out the reviews on Yelp first.

Shortly after paying $879 to A-1 (which was the discounted price after they initial $1,179 quote), I spoke with a couple of other AC specialists who both said that the capacitor (part replaced by A-1) was a $15-$20 part and should have cost no more than $75 labor since it is a such a quick job. It took the technician no more than 20 minutes to replace it.

While the technician from A-1 was replacing the part, I asked how much the part cost, but he said he didn't know - he just picks up the part and it's billed to the company. How would he know how much to charge me if he doesn't know the cost of the part?

I have tried calling to speak to a manager at A-1 to get a breakdown and explanation of the charges, but keep getting the same run-around - Manager is in the field and I can leave a message, but it is unlikely he will call back.

Since they are located near my house on Centerville Turnpike, I've decided I'm going to drop by the office to see if anyone will talk to me in person. This story isn't over yet. I will keep you posted on the final results. In the meantime, I paid almost $900 for a job that should have been less than $100.

Make sure you shop the cost of installation for you let them install a Hot water heater, $1895 is what I paid to have one installed this morning couldn't use coupons that I printed off their website. And it took them longer to go pickup the water heater than to install it in less than an hour. I called them because they did an amazing job on my Hvac. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!

Just say No!  A-1 American was installing my neighbors HVAC so I contracted them to do ours also.  After spending $8,000 for the new system, the Chesapeake Sherriff's department came to confiscate the stolen equipment.  We had no idea their employee stole the system so we called our hometown Virginia Beach Police Department who stopped them from taking our $8,000 system.  We were requested to testify in court which never happened.
Within a year the NEW system broke down and even though we were the victims they would not warranty their stolen equipment.  
With all said and done I hate that they call themselves A-1 and especially American and then take Gods name in vain in their advertisement.  I immediately throw away new phone books with their advertisement on back cover.
Complaints with the BBB are too numerous for them to list and A-1 is not even a member.
People, Please do your due diligence and read what the other customers are saying and maybe they will leave our great City.

Seeing other reviews, I was very surprised. We used A-1 American for plumbing needs at our Norfolk business and had absolutely exceptional customer service. Our technician, Ron, was the most professional serviceman we have come across with in our business. His manager, Greg, was also polite and respectful. The company was punctual, communicative, and honest. We commend the organization for upholding great values and look forward to using them again in the future.

I'm not sure what's changed w this company recently. I'd give one star, but prior to this most recent experience they've done well. Contacted them Tuesday to schedule an appointment with Penny. Her response no problem I'll find someone and have them schedule with you today (explains fee structure). This was the normal part. After this nada until next day (Wednesday) when the tech calls 3x.. then Penny calls upset I'm not picking up. I'm not sure about most people but I don't leave my clients in the middle of a conversation. It has to wait until I'm done and I'll call back. It doesn't require being called 4x in a row. Leave a message, send a text if I don't pick up the first two times.

Finally get them on the phone and she tells me to talk to the tech.  The tech says he can come today.. no can do I'm at work I can be off tomorrow just tell me when.. the tech says will have the office schedule in the am.

Next day: I call and get a little attitude bc I'm calling and ask when I can expect to be on the schedule because I don't want to miss the guy.. it's already just before 1140 and no call..(your rep said one of you would call).. the people in the office say no worries he should be done with a job and call you just after 1p.. no problem I have yard work.. fast forward it's 4p and no call.. I call and ask and of course here's the attitude again with why are you calling... so now I've wasted a majority of the day (except getting some much needed weeding done) and I tell them have someone call me if you can get out today... of course they call and say.. well... we have to push it tomorrow.  Had they called me back TUESDAY or WEDNESDAY per their statement to me, they would have known upfront that THURSDAY would work.  Instead of putting me off all day had they just said we can't do it I would have respected that and called if they were busy I could have scheduled with someone else and at least remained on good terms because frankly it's summer stuff happens. My emergency may not be yours... but to be rude (@Penny) and to act like my call is a burden... I can call JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER REPUTABLE PLUMBER IN THE 757 before I make it back to A-1

Update: the repair that a-1 did to my faucet the first time (granted it was 2 yrs ago) was done incorrectly. Wrong washer meant the faucet wouldn't close the valve all the way, hence the dripping leak.... Awwwwesoommme. Just found out they used the wrong washer thank you Michael and Sons.  So now the entire assembly is being replaced -

My house is possessed.  And bipolar.  

Vacation time, all the plans are being made, last minute stuff being picked up, clothes washed, bags packed, all the usual stuff that one does in the frantic day before heading away for an extended period of rest and relaxation.  Which seems to require touching every one of your personal possessions before selecting various objects to throw in a bag and hand to the guy behind the Delta counter.

'Hey,' says my personality afflicted dwelling.  'I've got an idea.  How about I just shut down this hot water heater...'

A quick search of Yelp and I find A-1 American Services.  I vaguely remember seeing television commercials for them as well...were they good commercials or bad?  No matter, I've got the number in front of me....

Setting up an appointment on a Sunday...right.  I set my expectation way low and was ready to be surprised.  And surprised I was!  Sunday afternoon?  No problem, what's the address?

The technician was on time...and polite!  What?  That NEVER happens!

He had a look at my hot water heater, spotted the problem (the flux capacitor needed to be replaced) and set about to fix it.  No hassles, no drama, no long drawn out explanations.  He said he would fix it, and that is what he did!

Now, above and beyond time!  Not only did he fix the water heater, he shined it to within an inch of its life!  It looks brand new, he must have vacuumed up 40 pounds of dust from this beast!  When he was done, it looked better than new and the replacement flux capacitor was humming along producing heat to make my water hot when I twist to the right.  Or maybe to the left, I forget exactly which way.  But I did test it, and it works.

Concerned that the water was maybe too hot, my technician showed me how to lower the temperature to which the water is heated, suggesting that maybe 130 degrees was too high.  Or maybe not, it was all up to me.

Now, for the final piece, the reason for the 5th star.  In a position like this, the technician could have very easily said that I needed a brand new system, possibly a brand new house, in order to get hot water again.  And I probably would have believed him and asked about a possible payment plan (can I put a house on layaway please?).  That did not happen!  In fact, after he replaced the flux capacitor and shined up the old beast, he said that it should probably last for another 5 or more years!!!

This was one of the best home repair experiences that I have ever had, and, as you can probably guess, I have quite a bit of experience in this area.  Call A-1 American, you won't be sorry.

They get one star because I couldn't give them 0 stars. I called these people to fix my heating and ac unit because it wouldn't come on anymore. The guy comes and looks at the wires on the thermostat and says the thing needs to be replaced but he doesn't have one on the back of his truck. Said it would be $150 to replace by him but said if he If he was my husband , he would go to lowes and do it himself. Charges us $85 when the fee was supposed to be $78 then leaves without giving us a receipt. I call the company because this doesn't sound right and they say no we were over charged and they would get back to us. They call back and say it was all our fault and willcome back and do the work for another $150 and that their guy only took $78 from us and we are liars. I have never had to deal with such dishonest scam artist like this before in my life. Don't trust them. They don't do any work for you, steal your money then call you a liar.

Back in February we called A1 American to get a new HVAC or heat pump system, it cost us $3200.00.  The technicians name that came is Adam.  To make matters worse he never seemed to show up when he said that he would.  He always ran from 1-2 hours late.  It is now May and now the AC unit went and it is not working at all.  The Goodman heat pump that he installed, upon inspection from another company, showed us the various faults with the installation.  First off, he did not use the proper size tube lining, it is supposed to be 3/8 and ours is not.  It is also leaking in three different spots, and only has one locking cap instead of 3, which makes it very easy for someone to steal the freon from the unit.  The other company that we hired to do the AC unit came out today and said that Adam had sold us the wrong size HVAC unit and that he knowingly did so because the HVAC unit was to powerful for our AC unit to handle, which made our  AC unit break.  Also because the unit is not installed properly, it voided our warranty with Goodman to get another uint. For everything to be fixed the proper way, it is going to cost well over $5000.00.  It is also believed that they did not have a permit for the work that they did, if the city of Virginia Beach were to inspect the work, Adam would have never been allowed to install the unit due to the fact that he used the wrong line size.  It is discusting what this company did to us.  They claim to be an all american company who cares, they knowingly scammed a sailor whos very job is to protect this country that we live in so safely.  Please help us in letting the public know that this company does not stand behind their work. We tried to contact A1 American in which they do not want to respond to us.  Besides calling and asking to speak with a supervisor, we have tried to post on their facebook wall resulting in our posts and pictures of the unit leaking being deleted.

Adam from A1 American: 757-343-3218
A1 American: 757-425-2400

I turned on my main water valve located in the garage that controls the faucet in the backyard.  Water started coming from beneath my vinyl, which could only mean a leak somewhere.... I called A-1 American, they came out the same day.  The technician, Jeff, was very nice, but their pricing was ridiculous.  He removed 4 strips of vinyl and cut a small piece of plywood to expose the pipes.  The leak was from a PVC pipe about 10 inches long and the elbow that connected it to another pipe.  For this 15 minute job he quoted me $596 after using a 15% off coupon and an additional 10% off for military discount. ....to make matters worst, he wasn't going to replace the plywood or vinyl.  I called C&M Plumbing/Handyman (Charles Medley) and saved hundreds of dollars.  Once he was finish the leak was gone and my house was no longer exposed.

I contacted A-1 American for a drainage problem at my home on a Monday.  Call center took info and told me a tech would call.  Couldn't give me any idea on the costs other than the $79.00 charge to just come out.  When the tech did call(5 hours later), explained again what was going on, and what I had done.  I asked again for a rough estimate.  His comment was between $600 and $800 dollars.  Told him not to bother coming out.

I had also contacted One Stop Plumbing in Chesapeake that morning.  They had given me, on the phone, a rough estimate of $150.00  One Stop arrived the next morning, and in less than 1 hour, had finished all repairs, and had a total bill or $155.00.

A-1 American is not being American in any way!

I will not even give them a star. T.P the man who came out to check out my AC was really really nice at first. Then when he told me it would be $650,00 to fix it I called my son. My son does AC work and is the one who put my AC unit in. He was on vacation so he was not here at the time. I had T.P talk with him on the phone. My son said just pay him his $78.00 and he would be home tomorrow and fix it cause the part was only a $15.00 part. T.P was going to charge 400 for the part and 200 to clean my already clean unit.  When I told him no he would not be doing the work my son would he got nasty and rude. He said my son did not know what he was doing and wanted to know if he had a truck to haul the part. Mind you the part would fit in your pocket. They pray on people who do not know how things work.  I would not have them back in my home or any ones home they pray on people young old or just not having the knowledge of how things work. I have e=mailed them with a complaint and no one has responded. If you use them you are wasting your money they should not be in business. I will be contacting the BBB to file a complaint.

My AC was having problems and my regular company couldn't make it for 5 days so I had A-1 come. The serviceman can in a white truck, unmarked, no ID, nothing indicating where he was from. Then after a couple minutes he told me I had a low voltage failure and it would cost $575.00  I was shocked and sick to my stomach. I had to borrow money to pay this. Only to have it fail 2 days later. He came back a second time, and FLIPPED the breaker. He took off the cover to the high voltage breaker and left it off after he left.  The next day the thing failed again. I called Michael & Sons who originally installed it came and evaluated it, only to find that my filter was really dirty.

$575 for 10 mins of work that didn't even fix anything. I know I was ripped off, taken advantage of and I will NEVER ever use them again and do everything I can to share this horrible scam.

This review is solely on their terrible customer service. We did not end up having any work done by them (other than the original installation of the unit in 2014). Our AC stopped blowing cold air gradually, so we dug out our original paperwork for the install and saw we still had the manufacturer's parts warranty on it. So we called A1, and we're told they would be out the next day. No call, no show. Then the next day when my husband called again, they lied to him. The tech said he had tried to call the previous day and got no answer. My husband had stayed home all day in sweltering heat, glued to the phone in case they called. I don't appreciate being lied to. Then we were told they couldn't come out because it was raining and it could mess up the gauges?! At that point I would have held a golf umbrella over the tech just to get it done. So after four days waiting with no AC, I hopped on Yelp and noticed that we were not alone. Made the simple decision to call another company who was more than happy to come out immediately.

Moral to the story: don't chose A1 if you actually value integrity and timeliness.

Installed a new HVAC system and the line isn't the right size for the new unit thus causing a freon leak. Said the problem was my evaporator coils leaking in my air handler. Not true. Never use them.

This is one company to avoid.  I believe they are simply a call center for whatever plumber is available at the time.  I had a plumber show up in a plain white van and charged me  $700.00
dollars for work I didn't really need.  'They also lied about the cost of the part they replaced.  I
went to Noland's and asked for the cost of the part.  I was told by A-1 American that the part
cost over $100.00.  Noland told me the part for me, a guy off the street, was $40.00.  I later
learned from a neighbor, who is a general contractor, that I didn't even need the part that
A-1 American replaced.  I got no return calls from A-1 American when I called to ask for an
explanation.  They show the American flag on their one truck, but they are more interested in the American Dollar.  Avoid them like the plague.  They are one corrupt organization.

If there was a negative star I would have chosen it.  All I can say is RUN far and RUN fast away from this company.  I believe their motto is something like we charge by the job, not by the hour.  Well don't dare make the mistake of trying to get their office staff to give you a breakdown of the parts & labor for a job because they will get belligerent and nasty with you.  I'm going to be completely honest and confess that I was stupid enough to let them fix something without checking them out first.  Had I done that, I would have seen their consumer rating on the BBB. Lets just say when you're a single girl and water starts spewing up and out of the toilet tank, you freak out and look for a plumber!  They have a fancy book with costs per job and they can take you straight to it in their book and as a courtesy they will tell you about a discount coupon to help you out.  What I needed was a fluidmaster for a Mansfield toilet circa 1984 and my job - including the discount - cost $458.  Just imagine how stupid I felt after discovering fluidmasters at the local Home Depot.  If the fluidmaster cost $25, worse case and the job took less than 45 minutes....  You do the math!  That's when I called them to inquire about the cost.  I was very nice when I called to ask the question but apparently, they don't like to be asked those questions.  They acted as if it was against the law to quote a breakdown and how dare I question them!  The girl in the office was over the top RUDE on the phone to the point that I just had to hang up.  I also know someone very close to the people that own this company and she has previously warned me not to ever use them.  I wish I had remembered the company name when I frantically called the 1st plumber I could find.  In the time since this happened to me, every time I hear anyone talking about them, it's negative.  I can honestly say that I have never spoken to anyone that has anything good to say.  They are plain and simple, a RIP OFF!!!  When I read a good review, I suspect that it's someone that works for them or is affiliated with the company.  They are not the only plumbing company to quote from a book but, there does not seem to be a standard price book for the industry - that's a great idea for an episode of Dateline :)

Long story short, they charged my mom ~$6xx (~six-hundred-dollars) to unclog a stopped up bathroom sink about 2 years ago.  My Mother is the full time caretaker for her husband and my Father, a retired, disabled Navy Veteran.  That's how you treat your fellow Veteran?  No, it is not.  Of course this the price set by the tech who quoted this price AFTER he pulled some hair out of the pipe.  Less than a month later, the same sink was slow draining and we got my plumber out there to fix the issue for a 2-digit fee.  He went on the roof and cleared the drain through the ventilation piping.  AVOID THIS HORRIBLE LOCAL BUSINESS.

I. Don't know. About anyone else but. They never. Had a mask on. He wasn't here 20mins. Said the leake in attic. Was cause because a line on th ac unite was clogged up. He. Said he cleared it and i could turn the ac back on . well this what happen see the pics below

My kitchen sink wouldn't drain. My husband emailed then called the company on Thursday night. They came out on Saturday afternoon and fixed the issue. He worked for less than an hour and had it fixed. He charged $455.00 which was WAY OVERPRICED!!!. The repair person spent half the time bragging about the fact he makes $3,000 per week. My husband and I both work, are college educated and don't make that much money per year.  

Don't use this company because they overcharge for their services.

I had a technician come out today and he went to my bathroom look at the water in the tub and walked around my house, came back in and said that it would be $900.00 for him to crawl under the house to check the plumbing.  I figure most plumbing is under the house.  And then he said he would have to call another technician because he don't crawl under house.  And that it cost so much because the get bit by spider and get so dirty that they have to throw all there clothes away.  And that he got bit by a spider before four years ago.  I said that I have used there company before and did not charge me that much.  He just kelp right on saying that it was not there company.  I explained to him that they are the only plumbing company that I have ever use.  So I ended up paying $78.00 for him to walk through my house.  I just want them to let the customer know before they come into someone's house and have to crawl that that will be $900.00.  If I would have known I would not have had them come out to my house.  They must be under new management, because I have used them 2 other time and had great experiences.

I called A-1 American to come out and access a and air filter. I was told I needed a new system.  Jake was flexible in scheduling and came out on a Saturday to install the unit.  Jake answered my questions, cleaned up after the work was completed and was professional.  I am pleased with the work and service. Thank u A-1.  The price was what I anticipated.

A1 installed our water heater in 2013, and everything was fine.  At the time, they installed a valve that was supped to cut off the  water heater if there is a leak.  They didn't ask us first, but since our water heater is in the attic,  seemed reasonable.  What they didn't tell us, was  the cost involved when its tripped.  Here's the problem.  The other night, we came home to no hot water.  They came out the next day, not in the morning as they said.  The dispatchers were very rude when we called trying to find out when they were coming.  The valve was tripped, although there wasn't a leak, and cut  off the hot water.  Here's the kicker. When this happens, the valve has to be removed, which involves soldering . The plumbers, who were here about ten minutes were very friendly and professional.  I think they actually felt bad charging us $385.00 to remove the valve.  Basically, the owners of A1 make them install the valve, although the plumbers don't think it's a good idea.  A1 knows that in about 2 years after installing it, they're guaranteed a $385 payment.  All attempts to contact Ray, the owner, have gone unanswered.  He is ignoring my phone calls, and the  woman who takes his messages, once again, is quite rude.

I called this company today after my renters had called twice to try and get someone out to the house to fix the A/C. It's been in the 80s inside the house and their kids aren't able to sleep in this heat. My renter was told someone would be out on Tuesday morning, but the owner had to be there. Okay, so I came over to assist. NO ONE CAME. So I called this morning and apparently we weren't even in the system. I figure it's anybody's mistake and asked if I could get a technician. I was told someone would be out this afternoon, that they would call 30 minutes before arrival. They played me for a fool. NO ONE CAME AGAIN. Don't bother with this company, find someone reliable who can get the job done.

In response to A-1 American... My location of service was in Norfolk for a rental property I own. My name is Shannon Buccellato (M being my middle name). Your response was nice enough to insinuate that I was not being truthful in my experience. Try again. What I wrote was what happened and if it wasn't ages ago, I would let you know EXACTLY which of your technicians I dealt with.

Horrible service and false advertising.  I had a low pressure issue with my kitchen faucet and bathtub along with black sediment coming out of the tub.  Plumber came over initially while I was at work and wife was home.  He said we needed a new kitchen faucet and then looked at the bathroom sink and not the bathtub and said everything was fine.  He charged $128.50 for that.  I called and told them that it wasn't the sink but the tub.  I got attitude and the manager tried to convince me my wife was incorrect.  They reluctantly sent the same plumber a day later than they said he would come.  The guy stunk my house up with cigarette smoke and fixed my bath tub.  They say in bold letters on their website that they charge per job not per hour.  But this guy said he had to charge me for a half hour.  So he charged me another $85.00. There is the false advertising.  He fixed the tub then said I should probably get new supply hoses for my water heater and left.  So I replaced the hoses and purged my water heater.  Needles to say I did that and still have sediment coming out of my faucets, clogging them up and ruining them.  Complete disregard for the customer and solving the problem.  Don't be fooled by the American values ploy.  Screw this place.

STAY AWAY FROM A1 AMERICAN, THEY ARE EXTREMELY DISHONEST AND WANT YOU TO SPEND MONEY ON THINGS YOU DONT NEED! DO NOT TRUST A1 AMERICAN!

My a/c went out on a Tuesday and I called A1 American. They came out later that afternoon and after 2 hours the tech filled my unit with freon and charged me $300. Didn't actually give me a diagnosis of the problem. I was happy that I didn't have a huge bill and thought the problem was solved. Friday of the same week my a/c went out again. Called A1 American and waited all day for the same technician to come back out. He never came back out, I got a call from him saying that my unit is bad and the only way to fix the problem would be to get a brand new unit at a cost of $5500!!!! I was flabbergasted to say the least. I figured my coil had a leak and that could be replaced without having to replace the whole unit. The A1 American tech told my that no, the only way to solve my problem was purchasing a brand new unit. I knew something was fishy and I ended up calling Chris Mechanical to get a second quote. The technician from Chris Mechanical came out first thing Saturday morning and diagnosed the problem within 5 minutes. I cant understand how A1 American was here at my home for 2 hours and couldn't just tell me there was a leak. And Chris Mechanical found the problem right away. They ordered the part and fixed it Monday morning. I am beyond frustrated with how unprofessional A1 American is. They quoted me a price for a 5 ton a/c unit for $5500. Chris Mechanical informed me that I have a 3 ton unit and to replace the coil it would cost me $1350. I spent a quarter of the cost that A1 American quoted me. DO NOT USE A1 AMERICAN! They are dishonest and want nothing but your money! Stay away.

CALL CHRIS MECHANICAL, very professional and wont screw you over! 757-536-1935

I have heard many great things throughout Hampton Roads on the quality of service that the company offer, however I am not satisfied with the service that I have been given.  I have a leaking facet in my tub and I am pretty sure that I need a new assembly installed.  I called your company last night 2/17/2014 via the 24 hour line and spoke with a gentleman and I told him my problem and he quoted me $78.00 for a technician to come out to my home and assess the problem.  I was ok with this, but I told him that no one in my family will be home until after 5PM on 2/18/2014 and he assured me that was fine.  Today 2/18/2014, I got home around 4:30PM, so I called the main office number (757)  512-7548.  I spoke with a lady about my appointment time and told her that we were already home so if the technician wanted to come earlier that would be ok.  She was able to locate my name and information that a technician was scheduled to come by my house this evening.  A few moments after I spoke with her, the technician Tim called me and said that he was in Newport News and that he had one job ahead of ours and that he would be over around 6:30PM on 2/18/2014.  I gave him an alternate phone number for my husband because I had to attend a class this evening.  My husband texted me while I was in class at 8:00PM and told me that he has not seen the technician nor heard from him.  My class was over at 9:00PM 2/18/2014, I then called Tim at (757) 681-5534 and asked was he still planning on coming to my house this evening?  He did not remember who I was by name, nor the job that I was talking about.  He spouted out various jobs that I am assuming he has lined up.  He then asked if he could reschedule for tomorrow 2/19/2014 around 10:00AM.  I proceeded to tell him that I have therapy with my child at 10AM, but I told him that someone would be at the house.  My concern is that he is not going to show up tomorrow!  I have a busy family and 3 children, one which is disabled, I have 2 jobs and school and my husband also has a job.  I do not have time in my schedule nor the money to miss out on work.  I believe that this is bad business on your part!  This is the first time that I have went with your company for plumbing needs and this will definitely be my last, that is IF I can even get a technician out to my home.

I'm going to give them a 2-star, based only on the Estimates I received from them.   Edited:  Bumped down now to a 1-star based on multiple discussions with folks recently about how their experiences went with A1 American.  

To make a long story short the best I can:  They are way overpriced.

What I needed:  2.5 ton AC unit for the house exterior (Goodman), also replace air handler interior. (Apollo system).  I also needed a harder to find Water Heater, a 35,000 BTU in order to handle the Apollo heating.   --- Complete new system outside, inside, and water heater.

A-1 American's quote:  $10,390.25, reduced to $9,035.00, before taxes and after the 15% discount.

Guy Smith Heating + cooling's quote:  $6,555.00.  

I went with Guy Smith, and glad I did!

I guess each person can get their own quotes and see which is cheaper, but DO NOT agree to work by A-1 unless you have gotten at least one other quote first!   And based on the horror stories I hear from folks over the years (all seeming to be through A-1 American, or Paramount Builders), why even call the most expensive, and seemingly most unethical company on the block.

I see alot of A-1 Commercials on TV,  but for the prices they charge, I see how they can pay for all those commercials.....  It continues a general trend for me:  Be Leary of any company in this area that puts American, USA (etc) in their title, then pretends to be patriotic.  It is just a ruse to get the phone calls coming in before they quote you with a ridiculously high price for Replacement, and even higher prices on service calls.

I loved the service! Great technicians. Not their first rodeo, experienced and personable.

I had a collapsed line running from the house to the street. A-1 came and fixed it and did a great job! They showed up when they said they would, and Bryan B. and crew did a great job! I highly recommend them, and I will use them again! Their price was better than the competition too.

This is the worst plumbing experience I have had in my entire life. It deals with a simple gas hot water heater replacement.

The job was totally simple. A leaking 50 gal. water heater in a garage. Nothing obstructing it. Simple to access and remove.

A1 American came and offered a fixed price to replace with a similar unit. Unfortunately I was not there and my fiancee took their offer. It was for 1700 dollars after they offered a discount.

They arrived and inspected and left to get the replacement. Since it is fixed price they selected the cheapest unit available. The tank would retail for less than 500 dollars at a home improvement store. They obviously paid less than this at wholesale.

They sent a plumber and an assistant. The entire job took less than 4 hours. So doing the math, the labor which included disposal of the old unit cost us at least 1200 dollars. For a three hour job!

Any good licensed plumber in the area will gladly work for 100 bucks an hour. And even if they need an assistant the price will raise maybe 25 bucks more. So for a good licensed plumber and assistant fair market rate is 125 per hour. Trip charge is usually 75 to 100 dollars.

So a fair price for labor in the area for the entire job at most would be 500 dollars for the entire installation. We paid them essentially 700 dollars more than any other plumber would charge.

But it gets worse. When they finished and left they had connected the hot water recirculating pump wrong. So that meant another trip to fix their mistake. And more lost time from work for us to fix their problem.

And yet it gets worse. They left the outside hose running and never shut if off. Our yard flooded and we never knew it till a neighbor came over in the evening to ask if if we knew the hose bib was on. Of course we didn't. The water ran for hours and hours, costing us even more money.

The saga continues. They have an inspector come out to check their work since it must pass a county code inspection. Which is ridiculous. If the plumber was competent and knew how to install to code, why do they need inspectors to begin with? He found out that they did some things wrong, and it would not pass code inspection.

The plumber was informed and told to call us. He never did. I called in anger and told them we were not going to miss a third day of work due to their utter incompetence. They finally agreed to come that day AFTER all their new paid work was done. Obviously once they get your payment and have to do rework you fall down their priority list.

They showed up at almost 8PM. They completed the work in about a half hour and left. Hopefully it will pass the county code inspection now.

If you even remotely consider hiring these incompetent thieves you deserve the shoddy work, exorbitant labor charges and aggravation you will surely endure.

I intend to tell any and everyone I know about them and their business practices. I wish I could have had them rip out the new water heater and gotten an experienced and honest plumber to do the work. With the money we would have saved we could  have purchased a top of the line tank and still saved several hundred dollars overall.

Avoid these crooks at all costs!

LOUSY AND WELL OVERPRICED!
I called them to come unstop a drain in my house. I told them they could come anytime after 1:00 because i worked until then. At 1:30 I got this pone call that stated Are you home now? I called you at 12:30 but no one answered the phone. (12:30 is before 1:00-duh!) He wanted to know if I had a ladder because his truck had broken down. (he did bring his own ladder after all)
They immediately charge you $75.00 as a consulting fee.
He looked at my drain situation and told me to unclog my drain it was going to cost  
   
                                            $810.00 FOR PETE'S Sake!

That would work at to a whopping $405.00 per hour (2 men).I told them that I understand the need for them to make money---but not on one customer! I gave them their check for $75.00 and told them to get out of my driveway.
         I called Don's Plumbing -  they came out with a smile within an hour, had it fixed for
                                             $175.00 (15 minutes worth of work).
So.... my conclusion...

A-1 American is a rip-off!

I guess they have to pay for all those commercials somehow. I know it can't be with repeat customers.

Once burned is bad enough!

About 2 yrs ago I had a clogged main sewer line. Called A1 and it took them no more than 10 minutes to unclog it and they had the nerve to charge me 900.00. I will never recommend them to anyone and I make it a point to inform my friends and neighbors to not call them. They ripped me off plain and simple!

A-1 American what a rip off. They sent an employee out, I explained the problem and he began to remedy the problem, at no point did he stop and say this toilet plunging that I have done for five minutes is going to cost you $550.00. Had he given me that estimate I would have sent him on his way. He waited until he fixed the problem and then said sign here. The next day I called to speak with the supervisor and was told he is out in the field he will get back to you when he can. Called the next day and tried to speak with their staff , Brian stated wish you had been smarter to choose someone else also.

There plan is to come out charge you for the estimate and make money that way. They give American a bad name. Maybe they do well with major job repairs but for something small use someone else.. They will overcharge to do minimal and have poor customer service until you make a fuss.

WORST COMPANY EVER! We are first time home buyers and our heat went out...we called A-1 (their commercials got our attention). The guy came out ($80 for a call--not bad at all) and looked around and gave us a long speech about how the entire system went out and there were problems with wiring and he just went on and on about wiring and the system. He said it was $477 to fix...we signed the dotted line and he headed to the attic. Not even a minute later (not exaggerating) he came back down and said its fixed! Um excuse me? We asked to see the part that was broken/needed repair--he was stuttering, rummaging through his pockets, went to his van, rummaged through there and came back with nothing. We asked to go into the attic to see the problem, he went up there, looked around and came back down. In the end it was a fuse... A FUSE! It costs less than $5 at Home Depot and we were charged $477...needless to stay he was kicked out of our home, his boss was called and now this review with many others were written. I know this was a long explanation but I will NEVER recommend this company no matter how catchy their commercials....CROOKS!

My pipes were frozen and I asked my father in law who to call. He had seen the commercials for this company. I had already set up a propane heater blowing under the house and when the guy arrived he says I've done it like that before. He proceeded to tell me that it would be about $500 for him to crawl under the house and unfreeze the pipes. It was snowing slightly and I know he just didn't want to do the work. He was sure quick to take $78 damn dollars to walk in my yard and tell me it would be $500. What a joke. Avoid this company at all costs.

We were charged over $500 dollars to replace a motor starter, never again. !!!!!!!!
Shamefull !!

At least they came out out to inspect drain issue.  But $850 to snake out a drain line that is under 50ft (my house is 40ft wide) and the exterior drain line is nearly brand new - all 150ft of it)....we told them no thanks even though we were in extremis.  Called anothet service who did it same day 1 hour later for under $250.  Seems they just didn't want the work, maybe too dirty of a job?  I won't call them again. Ever.

I gave them two starts because at least they came over.

Called at 10am for them to check my heating system. They gave me a time frame 3-7 and said technician would call. No body ever called or came out. At 7pm, I called to check on the status they were rude and unable to give me the status of the technician. What kind of company can't get ahold of there employees location? I will be calling another company. A 1 American is very unreliable, no customer service what so ever.

A company I would NEVER use again. Beware! Came home from the hospital post C-section to a house that was HOT. It was an emergency situation. Called A-1 American and 2 gentlemen showed up said they could get it done today. I learned a valuable lesson that day. My 2 & 1/2 ton unit (it should only cost up a $1000. per ton) with labor and a new thermostat cost me $4700.00. In reality it should only have cost me right around $2800.00-$3000. at the most. Thank God I have an Uncle that has been in the A/C and Heating business for 25 years.  Oh it gets better. They didn't change out my air handler. My handler was a 10 sers and the new outside unit was a 13. Fast forward 3 months later and my A/C unit keeps freezing up. I called A 1- American and now they want to charge me $3600.00 more for the air handler and a light in the attic. Now my home is only 1393 square feet. Who would pay $8000 dollars in A/C work on such a small home. I ended up calling around and after 4 estimates the air handler work would cost me only $1200.00

Each company that came out looked at my paperwork from A1-American and said the same thing, you got ripped off sweetheart or Someone took you for a ride. How do you sleep at night knowing you ripped someone off in a dire situation? Very unprofessional practice.

Tried to schedule plumber for days but he never showed up. Their dispatch had zero idea what they were doing. Called asking why and was hung up on after asking to speak to manager. If I could give negative stars I would. Never using them again. Horrible customer service.

We called A1 to have our AC unit fixed and they sent out a technician.  He proceeds to tell us we need to have a costly repair done, we have him fix it because it was summer and didn't want to wait.  8 months later the same unit is having more issues, we call again since we were curious if it was the same problem and part they already fixed.  Same technician come out and no, it's a different problem and yet again another costly repair.  By this time, we are angry because we have now spent over $2,000 and our air is still not working properly.  We call the technician that same evening and he tells us he is out of town on vacation and will come back when he returns.  His solution is to just add more Freon and go about his day.  So that is 3 service calls within 8 months.  Well today, the same AC unit is down again and it's only been 2 months since he was last here.  Now we are at 4 service calls within the year.  I call another competitor to come out and to our surprise, it's a small leak in our line - this all could have been avoided if the A1 American technician would have checked the first time.  Today we are having our AC unit fixed right and it is going to cost us more money, but at least I have piece of mind to know that it will be done right by the competitor and I will never have to look at that pathetic technician from A1 American again.

Oh and the customer service sucks!  They are rude and unsympathetic to customer needs and concerns.  PLEASE DO NOT USE A1 AMERICAN!!

If I could rate this company lower, I would.  Three different plumbers came to our home to fix a plumbing issue and none fixed the problem, but did not hesitate to take the money.  The last guy even brought his teenage son and sat in the truck while his son was in our backyard working on the plumbing issues.

After the third plumber and numerous phone calls to the company to complain about the unresolved issue, I received no satisfaction on a resolution.  I was told that I would receive a phone call from the manager, but he was always in the field and did not call back.  From other reviews, this appears to be a norm for this company.

I attempted to work with the company to resolve the issue, but after months of no response and obvious lies from the company, I found a reputable company and got the issue resolved.

Not only would I NEVER recommend this company, I would actively discourage anyone from contacting them.  Anytime a commercial comes on for this company, I let everyone in the room know of their terrible customer service and lack of professionalism.  

Two of the three plumbers complained about working for the company while in my home.  Apparently, they are contracted employees and do not receive benefits.  The third guy was so unprofessional, I called a friend to come to my home because I was so uncomfortable with him in my home.

All three of the plumbers promised to return to my home with the appropriate equipment to ensure the problem was resolved, but NONE of them did...

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER again would I use this company.

A1 AMERICAN came out to my grandmother's house for a clogged bathtub drain. They charged her $435 to clear the drain! Are you kidding me! In Northern Virginia it's only $189! You can get your WHOLE sewer cleaned for $435! If i was here i could have done it for free it's not rocket science... but i wasn't here so they preyed upon my elderly grandmother (she's 93). Shame on you. If you want to make it right we would be happy to accept a refund of $235 and that's being generous.  And guess what, you lost out on a gravy water heater replacement due to your greed.

I had water coming from both the tank of my upstairs toilet and the on/off valve. I went to the street and turned off the water and made the call. The guy On Call Chris said he could do tomorrow around 12pm....that I  would be his 3d, no 4th, no wait 3d person. I told him there was water coming through the ceiling and I had turned off the water. Oh! Cool so I'll definitely see you tomorrow then. So, 12pm came and went and I got no showed. Thank you Norfolk Plumbing for being there in 10mins.

They do not deserve a 1 star actually they deserve a 0 , I am judging them on the poor customer  service I have received , this happened a couple of days ago .
I scheduled for tech to come out , I requested immediately they said yes!  no problem ! A tech called ( didn't introduce himself ) and said I am running a little late but I'll be there this afternoon. Sir do you have an estimate time?  Tech replies No but I'll be there. Time is rolling by 5 PM ...6PM ... FINALLY @ about 7:30 the tech calls me and says I'll be there tomorrow ok I respond what is your availability sir he says whatever works for you ,
I said 10AM would be perfect Tech response well how about earlier ? Fool didn't I ask ya what is best for you ? so I told him forgot it I need my AC Fixed and y'all lost some business ! But hey if you like to waste your time and deal with a company who can't hire people with common customer service this place is for YOU!

Absolutely awful.  Elderly mother called for help.  Given an appt at 9 am, with 3 hour arrival window.  The Tech never showed, nor called. Mom called several times, finally told a tech would be there by 3:30. I called, asked to speak to a manager, and was told that there is one manager ( not available) and an absentee owner.  

I called back and was given the run around about employees calling in, etc.  still no excuse for not contacting your customers!  

Awful!!

Sat around from 8:00 to 12:00 waiting for them to show.  Was told a technician wasn't assigned and they could come tomorrow (another day delay).  I asked what about the 4 hours I sat at home waiting and was told, they don't make promises like that.  (So I made that up?). They expected me to just sit around & wait for 2 days hoping that one day they'd show up.  No thank you.  Crappy customer service!  Stay away from these guys

This company isn't what it claims to be!!!
AS A VETERAN, because use that term in the TV commercials, I am appalled!!

Very dissatisfied that they charged me  double to what others would have, (learned this after the fact) but took advantage of my dire situation of a busted water line from the meter to the house!

My inability of shopping around due to  heading out of town on a family emergency.

Trying to talk to them has been a joke!!
Never again will I call them!

Terrible. We felt tricked into replacing our whole unit on a day we did not schedule. They were supposed to come out Friday for a replacement when my husband would be available to help with our two small children. Instead of coming just to take measurements, a whole team showed up and unhooked our current AC without consent and I was trapped into getting it replaced that day w/o my husband around. They we're here late into the night, forcing us to put our kids to bed with them working outside their rooms, and they left the work space a mess. Turning off a family's AC unit in 100 degree weather is not a good practice.

Also, the website says financing, but they do not finance. They refer you to a 3rd party loan office.

I agreed to let this company change 2 thermostats in my electric water heater. Price quoted was $486.79.  No being a plumber, and needing hot water, I thought the price high but the technician said it was average.  He left to get parts, and returned an hour later, spent 10-15 minutes total in the house.  Absolutely the most expensive 10-15 minutes of my life.  If he had told me just how simple a job it was, I never would have signed the contract.  Another trick they use is to collect the payment check before getting the parts so you feel trapped into dealing with their company.  DO NOT USE THEM.  Most plumbers charge a lot less.

I wish I had seen the reviews before I called. They are overpriced.  Wanted to charge $675.00 for a $35.00 part on a water heater.   I think they want to just make money on service charges $79.00 or luck into a job from desparation and not have to do any work and if they do then it's highway robbery.

I wrote a post on the other listing A-1 has on yelp and when is aw they have another listing on here for their company.. I wanted to make sure EVERYONE knew what a horrible, dishonest and unprofessional company they are!  I thought they only took advantage of seniors and females, but they certainly don't discriminate. They take advantage of everyone.
May 2012 we moved back to VB and our a/c stopped working the first week we turned it on.  My husband (who has been in construction for over 30 years) hadn't gotten down yet, so when I saw A-1 on pros to go, I thought I could trust them.  After 3 days and several times being disconnected/hung up on, I scheduled an appointment.  I had a $250 off coupon.  They guy was very demeaning and after less that 10 minutes (seriously, more like 5 minutes) he came in and told me it would cost us $680 and that was AFTER the $250 coupon.  I told him I would check with my husband and get back to him.
My husband reviewed the quote when he arrive and said that was almost criminal.  We need a new compressor.. which my husband went and bought from Ferguson (anyone can shop there) and paid $11 and put it in, in 10 minutes!  My 16 yr old son could have done that, as easy as it was!!
I work for a company, and had a client that works for A-1.  He was claiming that he makes $360,000 a year!!  I kid you not!  It is no wonder they make so much, because they rip everyone off.  It seriously, is almost CRIMINAL, how they take advantage of people!  I can't imagine what they do to the elderly or single women!
I think people need to let everyone know that this company is underhanded and THEY SHOLD NOT BE ALLOWED TO RIP PEOPLE OFF.  
Do not use this company.  Not only do they unethically take money from hard working people, they will treat you horribly when you call to complain or argue a charge!
There are other wonderful, honest HVAC and plumbing companies in this area that will not only give you fair prices, but they also know what customer service is and how to treat their customers!
DON'T USE THIS COMPANY!!

This place is a rip off. Run, run as fast as you can. Charged me $613 to basically vacuum out sawdust from my water heater which they installed. That time included them making a trip to Home Depot.

Buyer Beware! This company does not deliver on its promises.

I have been waiting since 12/31/15 for them to return to my home to finsh a repair to one of my outside spickets. Numerous calls to try and resolve the issue were met with the run around and promises to send a plumber to return were not kept. My desire to speak with the owner to try to resolve my concerns were met with evasive employees that only offered lip service. I did not experience the piece of mind that should come with paying a alleged professional organization to provide a service.

One bad apple does indeed spoil the bunch!  

Although we've had satisfactory experiences with A-1 American in the past, our last, and I do mean LAST experience with them, was a complete attempt to rip us off.  Be prepared to get a second opinion if one of their technicians advises you to replace your HVAC system.   Trust is hard earned and all too easily lost, and the technician who tried to convince us we needed to replace our entire unit because of a cracked heat exchanger--which was in fact still under warranty and NOT cracked--obviously didn't expect us to get a second opinion.  

I would NEVER again use, or recommend A-1 American to anyone.

I called about a plumbing repair, was given a time window for the tech to arrive.  Received a call hours later saying tech would be late.  No one ever showed up.  Received a call the next day promising an appt. two days later.  No show again.  My job must have been too small during a busy season for them.  Just wish they would have said so.

WOW! Just got charged $78.00 service fee for an estimate to complete some minor repairs, however, after the outrageously high quotes I opted to take my business elsewhere as the jobs are not an emergency.  I had one leaky shower head which was quoted at almost $400.00 , 1 leaky bathroom sink faucet which with a discount was almost $200.00 (as I was having other work done at full price, the $400.00 ) , and one bathroom sink where the faucet handle was not working properly (no leaking) for another $200.00 which was discounted as well because I was having other work done.  All total almost 800.00. The fellow doing the estimates was courteous enough to let me know that when I hire a big name company   who has lots of overhead, advertising costs, etc. that I'm sure to pay more then I would if  I use a one man operation who owns his own company and doesn't have these types of expenses.    Well, I guess I'll be using a local one man operation or dialing up my YouTube how to guide to save some of my hard earned money.

Cancel the appointment, the tech doesn't listen to his customers and installs parts without fixing the problem. He left the unit in a worse condition than before he got there and he charged me 500 dollars for installing a part that didn't fix the problem. Terrible business!

I find it kind of odd that if you want to post a review to their website you have to have a password. All the reviews are rated 4 and 5 stars? Well the service technician came out and told me I needed a new pressure switch, a new inducer fan, and new fluke pipes which would cost about 3000+. Well I had another technician from a different company come to inspect and he determined the actual cause was the high limit switch. He had my heat up and running in an hour. I think A-1 American is a rip off.

These guys are rip-off artists. My heater igniter failed and the bill was $378.00 for the repair.  The part cost $21.00 on eBay and the tech was at my house a total of 30 minutes over the course of 2 days.  During the process of changing out the new part, the Technician broke another part.  He stated he would order the new part for the one he damaged and replace the next day.  I haven't seen him since.  Take my advice and call a professional company.

Call A-1 because my heater was not working, it was 10 am when I called and they said a tech would be out that day.  At 10 PM he still was not there.  Called again the next morning and he arrived at 10 am.  I watched him replace a flame sensor in 2 mins.  He said it was a $611 charge that he reduce to 392.  After he left I googled the flame sensor and it cost $5.58 to $32.  What a labor charge.  That's over $150 a min.  So if your heater is coming on then shutting it may be the flame sensor.  Make sure you get a quote from other places.

Worst experience with A1 American. Consider this a warning. With plenty of choices why go here?

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!  They will take advantage of you situation and grossly overcharge! Horrible service!

Please......please....please do yourself a favor and call other, more ethical plumbing companies to meet your plumbing needs.  All you have to do is read the littany of pricing complaints on this company to know that they are overpriced and not competitive when it does come to price. They show up when they say and, in my case, performed quality work but they are disingenuous at best when it comes to being upfront on their prices.  In my case the installation of sink waste piping and customer provided sink faucet for a newly installed kitchen sink came to $735.00 for 35 minutes work. Had I accepted the granite companies offer to have their plumber do the install the price would have been $300.00. Hindsight is always 20/20......while I won't ever make the mistake of calling this company again....I can only hope that this review will steer customers to making more informed decisions and to more price friendly companies.

Was not happy with the office staff. The plumber was not prepared with equipment would not recommend this company  to any.

Our AC quit working and we figured it just needed to be recharged.  The guy shows up and says it needs a thorough cleaning and that it's $1100 but he's going to give us a discount down to $800.  It was hot so we agreed. All he did was take the cover off, brush off some dust and spray some stuff in there.  It took all of 20 minutes.  My husband confronted him about the outrageous price and he said he'd recharge it for free even thought he's not supposed to and gave him some story about telling his bosses that it fell over in the truck and leaked out, but then he wrote it on the invoice.  We paid him because he was very loud and rude and have been trying to call and talk to someone about the price.  We called other places and the cost shouldn't have been more than $440.  We have called every day since in order to get a refund, but they have been very rude and wouldn't call us back.  Finally, my husband talked to one person who told us we were charged too much and then someone today told us we should've been charged $1600.  They've been very rude and we've reported them to the BBB. I do not recommend that anyone go here.

Just a warning to all of you out there who need repairs and are looking around for technicians and reputable companies.  DO NOT USE A1 AMERICAN!!!!!!!
The reader's digest version has 4 main points:
1.  They forgot my appointment, I had to call and ask where they were 3 times.  When the technician (not an actual employee, they sub contract everything out) finally contacted me several hours late, he seemed annoyed he had to be there at all, and was very rude.
2.  I had to pay $78 just for him to show up late and he wouldn't even look at the job until I signed for that.  Then he wanted another $450.00 to replace a faucet (I declined)..
3.  The actual fix cost $14.99 (I asked a neighbor to look at it.  He replaced it in about 15 minutes) not $528.00 ($78 + $450) that I was quoted.  Since it took 15 minutes, I have a real issue with their pricing policy
4.  Finally, when and if you go to their website, DO NOT believe the reviews.  Mine is missing altogether and they don't have anything less than a 4 out of 5 that is viewable.

You may have had a different experience with them, but just being neighborly in passing mine along.  I hope this is helpful.

I would give them ZERO stars, but yelp is making me click at least 1 star!!!! They deserve ZERO! My son, who lives with my ex husband, had to suffer with no ac because of this company. This ac was still under warranty, however, when a-1 went to assess the issue with this ac they were advised that an entirely new unit would be needed to the tune of $2750, this unit was JUST replaced in 2010 and is STILL covered under warranty, however they were advised by the a-1 tech that he had checked and the unit wasn't covered, they would be responsible. Another company was called for a second opinion and they looked the serial number of the unit up as well and to our amazement advised my ex that the unit...wait for it....WAS STILL COVERED UNDER WARRANTY! Which was already known! When my ex contacted the new company, and they asked for the serial number, he had to go in the attic to get and found that the a-1 american tech DID NOT PUT THE PIECES BACK TOGETHER! he left the attic in a mess of parts! Professional right? And this company is considered a Wavy 10 expert on your side company? What kind of expert company treats potential companies like this? Thank God for the second opinion. Next stop is contacting Wavy, advising people in the Hampton Roads area to stay far far away from this company! I would avoid them like the damn plague! These people are clearly out for  $$ and $$ only. And the Better Business Bureau will be contacted and a complaint placed, if they are members of the Better Business Bureau.....

AC repair. Was told one price. Then upsold on an additional part. The contractor damaged my wall while working. He attempted to fix but left me to paint. Would not recommend. Custom paint was damaged.

Problem: Main drain backed up hours before all the kids were coming home for the weekend. I went out to Yelp to get some recommendations. I knew I had just hours before everyone would be at the house. I saw the reviews for A-1 American and they were not the best. So I was a little worried.
I began to frantically call numbers. I left messages for 5 different plumbers. A-1 American was the first to call back.
Larry and John came out and assessed the situation. It did not take them long to get the main drain cleared out out and everything was back to normal. I had the same issue only a few months ago, so they walked the yard and pointed out why I might be having the problem. I am looking into it. They didn't have to do that, but they did.
The information could lead to a permanent fix. More to follow. I would recommend these guys. Larry and John are master plumbers in my book.

There is no negative star category, so they get one star for arriving within an hour. In my opinion, this is the worst ripoff for HVAC services I have ever experienced. I signed the contract stating I was willing to pay $78 for the call. It went downhill for there. I explained what was going on with the furnace and I took him upstairs to the attic entrance, provided a ladder. He was down quickly saying the furnace was from 1995 and was in bad shape, had an orange flame. Said there were fissures in the heatbox and he couldn't guarantee his work.spent 20 minutes trying to sell me a new heating and air conditioning system. At that point I smelled a rat. I asked for a price on the repair and he quoted over $500. I said look-this has happened before and was a very inexpensive switch. He asked if I was a senior or veteran and I told him I was a widow of a Vietnam Vet. Ge knocked $100 of the price and unfortunately I agreed because it had been 25 degrees the night before and I was very cold. He was done in 15 minutes. He still wanted to talk about buying new equipment. I told him if this was a fair charge for this repair I woulg get back to him, but if he just robbed me he could forget it. I asked him for the old part and he looked very aggravated, went upstairs and handed me what looked to be a new part, very small heat switch I asked him to itemize the bill, he would not, saying it was a standard charge for that repair. I checked on the repair price for what he did and found it was an $8 part and labor could range from $150-$250. I was charge $400 for the job PLUS $78 for coming out.
This was an absolute robbery in my opinion, a very, very poor reflection on a company that claims to be in support of veterans and their family's. I found it to be the3 most outrageous rip-off for a repair I have ever experienced. The tech also left the door off the furnace, I found it laying in the insulation. This would certainly have been considered a safety issue. If I had not looked at the attic afterward. He also lid when he said the flame was orange. It was blue.I talked to the tech again yesterday and told him I thought that he charged twice the amount he should have. He said That's what you get for calling a big company, for that price all you would get is some guy in his own pick up truck I sure wish that's what I had gotten instead of A! American.