A-1 Aid Plumbing

Chris F.

I've had the same experience as so many others in this post. I was assigned to them by American Home Shield after I submitted a request to fix a leaking tub faucet. The technician arrived late took one look at the faucet and said he needs to order new stem and come back out in-spite of me telling A1 when I set-up the appointment the problem and brand of the faucet so they could have parts available.

I waited few days and never heard back so I call A-1 and they said part had arrived and scheduled an appointment for next day which was great. This time he arrived within the window while my wife was home. He installed the new stem and told my wife all fixed. When I came home that night it was still dripping. I called A1 the next morning and they said I had to call AHS to ask them to re-open the case.

I called AHS and then called A1 back and got an appointment for the next week. Tech arrives a few minutes after the appointment window but did send a text before stating he was running 20 min. late. When he arrives he looks at the faucet to confirm the drip and states he needs to order OEM part directly from Delta as he suspects the after market part is the problem.

Another 1.5 weeks go by and I hear nothing so I call them and again told part is in and they can come by next day between 4-6. Tech shows up at 6:45 p.m. sending me text at 6:30 stating he was running late and if it was ok if he still shows up. He installs the new OEM stem from Delta and this time I make him stay until we are confident the leak has stopped. Sure enough within a few minutes it starts dripping again.

After attempting some adjustments with no success to stop the drip he says the only option is to replace the entire valve with a new one but that I would have to call AHS to understand how they will cover the cost for the new one and once new valve arrives they will be happy to install it.

I call AHS and they say they are waiting for report from A1 stating new valve is required. I call A1 and they say they will take care of it that day. I then receive an email from AHS to call them as they need to discuss the repair/replacement. I call AHS and they state they will be happy to provide a new valve and if I'm not happy with it I can return it and then select my own at a price not to exceed that value which is fine. However, they say A1 also reported they need to perform ""modifications"" on the piping that will cost $220 that is not covered under my plan.

I ask them to explain why and they point to some clause that states the policy does not cover expenses related to ""construction or modifications""

I then ask what is A1 reporting that requires a modification to uninstall and re-install a faucet and that I need to discuss that with A1 what is the ""modification"" I then ask if they could send out another plumbing agency to get a second opinion if a modification is required to replace the tub valves. AHS says no but they could offer me cash to do the repair myself or hire my own plumber which I refuse as I know can't image them offering me more cash than just paying the $220. So today I call A1 reporting what AHS reported and they had the plumber give me a call. He said that he has to replace the valve he has to cut the coper pipe connecting to hit and then solder a replacement pipe to connect to the value which all makes sense. So I tell him so you are basically doing a standard process to un-install and replace a valve to put it back exactly as it is which he replies yes. I ask so can you call AHS back and tell your are not ""modifying"" anything but just doing a swap/replace of what is required to do the job which he agrees. I then ask if he can call AHS to remove the word ""modification"" required to complete the job and he says no as his company (boss) requires he submits these type of quotes to AHS with the word ""modification"" He said if he were me he would see if Delta can replace the valve under warranty and then take the cash payout from AHS for the labor and hire a plumber to install it as I should be money ahead. In other words A1 has found ways to get AHS and customers to pay them more money when they do work under an insurance claim than what they would charge when it was direct cash payment from the customer.

As others have stated if you are an AHS customer and they assign A1 to you cancel the request and demand another plumber or just take the cash payout and apply it to get a qualified plumber who can fix thing in the first visit as my guess is any plumber AHS deploys is likely to play the same game by trying to get more out of AHS and the customer by using words that meet the policy exclusion cause. I wish I had time and effort to take AHS and A1 to court to have them try and defend how this repair qualifies as a ""modification""

Chris W.

Went to the tankless water heater and made a bunch of excuses: said it needed maintenance, a circulation pump, or that I needed a bigger one. Had to get another plumber instead to fix the problem

La Ron O.

Do whatever u want 2 do. He mumbled some additional negative comments to me which I wasn't able to clearly hear as he walked away. @ 10:36am I received a call from Andrea. I advised her that I would b placing a complaint w/ the BBB to report them and their disrespectful business practices as well as write a Yelp review sharing the horrible experience I had with them. Andrea said she wanted to give me some information. I asked what information she had to give me? She did not respond, she held the phone in silence. I told her this whole experience w/ A-1 Aid Plumbing & American Home Shield deplorable. I told her they are rude, inconsiderate & nasty. They have no customer service skills. Do not care for how the customer feels. She then say's she had good news for me. I asked her what good news could you possibly have for me? There was complete and dead silence, she replied with nothing. I hung up the call.

I'm now reconsidering keeping American Home Shield. If I do in fact decide to keep American Home Shield as my home warranty company, I will review Yelp to see what type of reviews whatever company they assign to me.

Beware of A-1 Aid Plumbing. You were warned.

Cool V H.

I'm in Awww reading these reviews about the identical problematic issues with this company. I like many others had them dispatched to me through my home warranty company (AHS) for a water heater repair.
When they called to schedule so quickly after I submitted my request to AHS I thought to myself OK they seem to be on it, boy was I so wrong.

They gave me an appt 5 days out, didn't show during the appt window, and no contact to say why. I call to find out what's up and I get a bunch of malarkey with attitude from the girl who answered telling me ""they don't call when they're going to be late unless it's 3hrs"" Yeah I know makes know sense right.
Luis shows up 45 minutes after the appt window and from the gate his attitude was disrespectful and unapologetic as my wasted time.
He never looked at it or diagnosed it he went strictly off of the paper from pg&e .
Then a debate ensued because he wanted to tell me what my warranty company would and wouldn't pay for, only to end up telling me he had to order the parts and it would take another 3 days plus I had to make another appt once they came in. He also offered a side deal of replacement.
I said ok to the repair, but I wasn't ok with anything that transpired that day especially when it pertains to this inner action.
Another argument erupted between he and I. It got so loud and heated that my grown son was on his way out the door to handle the situation for me because he heard the level of disrespect Luis was spewing at me. Finally he threw his hands up and told me to get someone else to fix it as he walked off. (And yes I have it on camera)
Sadly I had to discontinue my relationship with AHS because of this due to the fact they couldn't provide another company and was trying to bully me into using these people, and offered no resolve to my situation. After Luis left he lied to them and submitted a work order for authorization!!! I'm just like WOW after he declined the work and acted an ass you still had the nerves to fraudulently proceed?
Needless to say I was blessed to find another company that came out that same day and repaired my water heater the next day it just came out of my pocket.
If your looking for a plumber I'd advise you to look elsewhere because these people at this company need professional etiquette training and if your home warranty uses them make sure you tell them HELL NO!!

Wael H.

Very professional technician. I have a very nice experience working with this company.

Katherine P.

I had a clogged bathroom sink in an older home with older convoluted plumbing. I tried my usual plumber, but he wasn't able to clear the pipes. My home warranty company then referred me to A-1, and Sergio was able to clear the clog after a lot of effort and determination. They were prompt to respond with appointment times and worked hard to solve my plumbing issue.

Richard O.

They came out the first day barely glanced at the water heater then said they needed parts and left. Called them back after not hearing back from them for a week and they scheduled another appointment. When they showed up they had no clue they had ever been here before and barely glanced at the water heater again said they needed parts and left. Don't use these incompetent buffoons, not to insult incompetent buffoons.

Namod M.

Assigned by American Home Shield to fix my water heater. First time they came out they said a part is needed and then returned two weeks later. It was not fixed and they returned again and declared it can't be fixed. Said talk to home warranty company for a replacement. However, they were supposed to send a report before the home warranty would talk to me. For almost 2 months they were reminded by me and the home warranty to send the report but they never would. In the meantime I was out of a water heater. This is the most incompetent plumbing company that I have ever had to deal with. In fact I have never had this kind of experience with any repair contractor. I hope there is a way to NOT get them assigned by my home warranty for any future plumbing issue.

A D.

Like others I was sent this company by my home warranty company American Home Shield. The workmen who arrived were not professional and did not identify themselves properly. When I asked them if they were licensed plumbers they rudely responded that they were ""with the company"". Diagnosis of a defective water heater consisted of nothing more than the workman trying to light the pilot which I had already tried repeatedly before calling for service. Workman said he had to get a new part and someone would call to schedule. No documentation or anything was left.

Overall very poor attitude by the workmen.

When I called AHS to request another tech I was told that I would have to pay the call fee again. No thanks.

Some advice to others (this is my first experience with AHS). Check the rating of the business immediately after AHS assigns a contractor and if the ratings are poor, request another business before the visit to avoid paying a 2nd fee.

Darwin S.

Fidelity had them come to the house due to
Water leaking and but person didn't want to go to the crawl space to check it. And because of that he told fidelity it was outside of warranty.

Instead he offered to fix it on the side (outside of the company). He offered to access it by breaking through the stucco wall on the outside of the house rather then just replacing the leaking pipe in the crawl space.

So called farmers to see if it's covered on home owners insurance. They sent someone free of charge. They went to the crawl space and identified it was just a leaking pipe and that a plumber needed to fix it.

Called fidelity again and they send this company back. Again they did not look at it in the crawl space and just took my word for it. He left saying they would provide me with an estimate to fix. No estimate was provided.

Can't be trusted. Unreliable. Useless. I would not trust this company to do any work or estimate on your home. I don't think they know what they are doing.