Carini Home Services - El Cajon

Yohei U.

I contacted them yesterday to get my drain unclogged. Inquired through yelp messaging. I thought I was speaking with the owner but later found out that it was the receptionist, which is not a plumber. I went them because I saw some good reviews, and I wish I could do the same and leave a good review.
When the plumber came, named Adam or Aeden, he told me a totally different price and it was kind of higher side compared to the other quotes that I received. It's 55 dollars for them to come to the house which I was ok with but when the pricing is different from what I was told, I was questioning what all needs to be done. Main sewer clearing I was quoted 550, and as I said, I waited on them so I was kind of committed now that they days getting later. Let's go and do it with that price, let's get it over with. Called the service manager Sean and told him let's do it. To find out the snake drum that is needed is not fixed, and has been broken for quite some time.
Waste of time smh. Adam or Arden felt so bad wasting my time that he waived the 55 bucks which I would of never agreed to pay but it was a nice gesture. So unfortunately my experience with this company was a negative one. I was able to lock in with another local plumbing company and they did a terrific job and significantly cheaper which I was amazed.

Haylee V.

The plumber did not understand direction to get to the property and raised his voice on me in his frustration. It was shocking to me that the same direction was given to several contractors and others before and none had any issue to locate the property which is not outside of the city limit. He also complained the minute he got on the phone with me about where to park his vehicle so that he could bring his tools. He complained about walking cross the street from where he mostly likely found parking belongs to a city library.

Luis G.

A requested an electrical home inspection via Yelp projects. There were several quick and friendly responses.

My first choice was the highest rated in the area. He was very thorough and accurate in his responses but was unable for two weeks.

That's where Carini Home Services stepped in. They were very upfront and transparent in their diagnostic fees. We set up a same day appointment and the home electrical issue was resolved within a few hours.

Can't thank this company enough for their all around professionalism.

Joan M.

Carini recently installed a split system in our back cottage. We couldn't be more pleased. Their salesmen, Carlos and John answered all our questions and made us very comfortable throughout the process. The installers were professional and did a great job. We highly recommend Carini for a new split system.

LInda P.

1. When the salesman came out in Jan 2023 to discuss installing a ductless mini split (heat/AC) for $12,464 there was lengthy discussion re: the rebate coming up for ""green energy"" type replacements for my old wall heater. I was left w/100% understanding that the new mini split needed to be installed soon because money from rebate pot would be gone later. Not true - I was never able to find out where I was supposed to apply despite spending many hours online researching and when I contacted office in Feb 2023 I just got an email w/ a suggested website to look at. Now the office tells me that only installs after April 2023 were eligible and that the invoice would have to have been notated. My invoice was not notated w/rebate info. Was that my responsibility to keep calling the office, call my congressman re: funding info. for rebates? when the salesman left my home I had total understanding that I would b getting rebate but that I had to apply. Now I understand that Carini is responsible to apply for customers...None of the info was accurate and I will not be receiving a rebate. The tax credit I understand is my responsibility to apply for when I file my income 2023 tax return. Very shady and then office staff(Heather) seemed to be very defensive and slightly hostile during conversation. I love the Mitsubishi minisplit -hate the problems with Carini. Go somewhere else to get your mini-split.

2. When guys came to install the minisplit I told them that one would be in the living room and that the adjacent garage would be converted to livable space soon so pvc pipes from living room unit needed to be buried behind the walls in the garage that would then exit out the back. When they were done I saw they had just tacked them onto of the wall all the way across out to the back. I almost cried it looked so bad. They said someone could come back and change it. So later when another group of guys came out they literally gouged out huge holes in virtually all of the vertical supports of my load bearing wall and put little metal plates on top. My contractor was flabbergasted that anyone would do it and said just call Carini and ask for $500 and I'll fix it. Carini did agree to send $500 ck quickly after I supplied pictures of the horrible job the did but really? where do u find your employees? I knew right when I saw what they'd done it was a mess. Here is one pic of ONE of the wooden posts. Just imagine having this done to every single post on your wall...

William R.

We were given an appointment date soon after we requested it. AJ arrived on time and was very professional. He was thorough, efficient, and gave helpful advice. The plumbing work was done perfectly and the site was left clean. We are 100% satisfied. Thank you!

Brent F.

Last summer we hired Carini to add an air conditioner to a furnace they had installed the prior year. The install was a comedy of errors:
1. They installed the system, but did not properly connect ducting to the distribution box, we spent a month sweltering, while cooling our crawlspace and running up an immense power bill.
2. They returned and reconnected the system, but the house would not cool down.
3. They then told us the fix was to replace all ducting, which we did at considerable expense. This did not fix the problem.
4. They came out again and tried to balance the air flow, but did not resolve anything.
5. Eventually they found they had set the unit to run the fan at minimum speed, so no air flow was reaching the house.once they increased the fan pan speed, the noise started cooling.
6. Even after all of these fixes, the system is barely able to keep up on warm days. On top of their other mistakes, they likely undersized the system.

Each failed fix involved multiple days of waiting. I was told they were prioritizing new clients over repairing my botched install because they had made appointments with the new clients, and didn't want to reschedule.

This past week the unit shut down due to the condensate sump not draining. They could not come out for a few days, so I had another HVAC contractor flush the line to get the system working.

Carini sent a technician for our scheduled maintenance service. I shared that we had remedied the sump issue, and he didn't need to take action on that step of the service. Today Carini called to tell me they would void my warranty if I hired another HVAC contractor to work on the system.

I would recommend against others using this company. They seem to not know what they are doing in terms of sizing and installing systems, and clearly are not interested in supporting their customers or providing prompt, effective service.

David H.

Just called Carini since we needed to snake a clogged main sewer line (easy access point and knew the clog was about 30ft in). Asked the lady that answered the phone what the cost would be. She wouldn't tell me and stated that someone would need to come out to examine it, and there's a diagnostic charge of $55 that would be applied to the repair/service. But she refused to give me the standard (or even approximate) cost to snake the line. Sorry, but I'm not going to pay just to be told some inflated price, then have to pay someone else to do the job.

Jan F.

Second time we trusted Carini . First was when we need to update our heating system and were so pleased with them that when we decided to put in Splits for air conditioning they were the only quote we got . Miguel and his crew were fantastic, courteous, efficient, knowledgeable, helpful, and respectful of our property. They did a great job and would not hesitate to refer them to others . Thank you and it was a pleasure to work with you again

Ben M.

Great experience with Carini Heating and Air. Carlos Esquivel was the technician who worked on my system. his friendliness and professionalism was above and beyond. He even helped me add a passcode to my Nest thermostat. Extremelly happy with this company and the people who work for them.