This past January the Applol heating system on our home died leaving us in the cold. Desparate to get the system replaced, we began to call companies in the phone book and accepted the first bid the came out. It happened to be A-1 American. (Pretty clever to choose a name like that, I bet they get a lot of business just from being one on the first companies listed in the phone book.) We had the outside unit and the unit in the attic replaced for $5500. That was about the price we expected so we didn't look any further. Our second mistake. (The first was calling them in the first place.) When the technitions came out, Tony and his assistant, they quickly assessed the problem and called thier supervisor, Mark. (Sound familiar, same tech and sup from the other rip off report.) They came up with the price very quickly and when asked about the discount for military he said it was already included. We never saw a detailed write up. (Our third mistake.) Shortly after Tony hung up with Mark, he called back, offering to knock off $500 if we would hire Tony and Mark on the side to to the work. That should have sounded off some bells, but it didn't. We refused due to the method of payment they would need. Sorry, I don't keep that much cash on hand. We agreed to have them do the work under A-1 for the $5500. We just wanted our heat back. So they did the work fairly quickly and efficiently. It took the better part of a day, which was expected. Happy to have our heat back, we paid in full, thanked them for their service and didn't expect to need them again. (Fourth mistake.) The heat worked wonderfully, but when we switched to air, it wasn't working so well. During the day the temperature inside the house was getting to be 80 degrees in 90 degree weather. Not acceptable.in June I called the office to let them know about the problem and I was told, in a not so nice manner, that there would be a $150 charge just to come look at the system. I said your going to charge me to check work that I don't believe was done correctly. I don't think so. I called the manager, Samatha, who proceeded to argue the fact that the system was working improperly. I think I would know living in the house. She finally agreed to send out a tech to check the system. He was to be there on Friday. (FYI - I live in Suffolk.) So, I was home on Friday waiting for the techs to come, if was around 5:00 pm that I finally called the office asking where the tech was. I was told he was on the way and would be calling me shortly. He did call. Once to tell me that he was in Virginia Beach and it would be over and hour before he would be there, having to come through tunnel traffic on a friday during rush hour. I said that was fine and I would be waiting for them. He then called back 10 minutes later to tell me that he had a flat tire and would beable to make it out, he would be there Saturday as soon as he could. That was very suspicious to me so I called the office. I spoke with the dispatcher who assured me they were on their way, that she had just spoke with him. Well, he never showed. I waited all day on Saturday, nothing. I called the tech at about 3:30 and he assured me he was finishing up the call he was on at the time and he would be out there soon after. He did finally show. He recharged the system and told me he wasn't going to charge me for him coming out here. I said that is good since your manager already said I wasn't going to be charged. So I hada fully charged system and was hoping to not have any more trouble with the system. Fat chance. The system quicky went back to not cooling my house. I tired many things thinking maybe it was something I was doing wrong. I kept my blinds closed and hung curtains to try to curb some the the heat coming in, nothing helped. The air coming out of the vents simply wasn't any cooler than what was being takin in by the return. Something is definately wrong. My husband called the office early afternoon on a Thursday to speak with Samatha agian. She wan't in the office but we were told she would call back. She never did. So, he called again Friday moring, she still wasn't there. The girl that answered the phone set up for a tech to come to the house later that day. I told them I would not be home untul 3 pm. I received a call from a tech at 12:30 saying he was on his way to my house. I told him I would not be home, just as I told the office that morning. He said ok and hung up on me. I didn't hear anything again so I called him back and asked what happened. He said he called the office and someone else would be coming out later that day. Well, once again no one showed up or called me. So about 5:00 I called the office agian and asked when the tech would be here. She called him and he said it would be Saturday morning before he could make it. Fine, I will see him Saturday. I waited until 1:30 to call the office to see where the tech. I spoke with Bill, the on call tech for the weekend. He took my info and said he would make some calls and get back to me. I never heard from him again. Monday came around I called to speak to Samatha and, surprise, she wasn't there. I was assured she would get my message and call me back. I still havne't heard from her. I will be going to their office in the morning since I can't seem to get anything done over the phone. I will post again to let you know the out come of this issue. For your own sanity, DO NOT USE A-1 AMERICAN for anything.
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