Complaint Review: A-aall services - Escondido California

My refrigerator burned out about a month and a half ago. I called my insurance and they sent a technician named Val from A-all services out. I had to wait over a week until Val, their one tech, had an opening.

When he showed up the first time to examine what the problem was, he was very rude. I asked him what was wrong and he wouldn't explain anything. When he did finally answer, after more prodding on my end, he acted like he had to speak very slowly because I wouldn't understand what he was talking about.

The verdict? My compressor was burnt out. After a few more weeks, he had another appointment to come back out. He showed up an hour EARLY, and I was asleep. I slept through a phone call of his. About 10 minutes later, his office called and said that he had waited over 45 minutes on my doorstep pounding and ringing the doorbell, and that he had left.

She said he couldn't make it back today because he'd left over a half hour prior and was on another appointment - and was booked solid for the rest of the day. (even though he'd called me 10 minutes earlier?) I insisted I couldn't wait that long and she said she'd call and talk to the tech. I then tried to call him back. He answered the phone, yelled at me for not answering my door, then hung up on me. When I called back, he picked up and then hung up.

5 minutes later, he was on my doorstep. Finally, he came in and replaced my compressor. He told me that he would need to re-route the freon line and that would cost me $100. He had told my insurance that the compressor was a different model than the one that came with my refrigerator and the original model was no longer in production. My insurance told me what he had said - and they had given me notice in advance. I paid the $100, and he left - leaving my kitchen FILTHY with dust and soot from the old compressor. He also left the old compressor in a box on my front porch.

The next morning, my refrigerator was getting VERY hot on parts of the outside. My friend that came over got a minor burn on his hand. I also started hearing sizzling noises coming from the freezer side. I unplugged the unit and called A-aall back. They said that he couldn't come back out without a brand new work order from my insurance AND that he was booked again for another week and a half. I called my insurance and they said they would send a work order over.  After two days, I still didn't receive a call, so I called my insurance back.  The woman I spoke to said that A-aall had noted trying to call me three times and leaving messages.

I told her no such thing happened and she re-sent the work order again.  After another day, still no call - so I called back.  The same story - they wrote that they called me and left messages, which they did not.  I mentioned that I didn't like that company and the tech was really rude. My insurance set me up with another technician from another company.

He just left, and the difference in service is night and day. He showed me the refrigerator, explained the problems as though I have some sort of intelligence, exactly what each part did, and what was broken. He also explained how A-Aall services ripped me off.

He said that it is not possible to even re-route a freon line in a refrigerator - which Val from A-All charged me $100 for. A refrigerator is so compact that there is nowhere to re-route a line to. Not only that, but the compressor that Val had put in was the SAME model of compressor that came in the refrigerator originally. The new tech laughed at the thought and showed me that all of the pipes were also the original ones.

He also told me that a huge portion of his work is giving second opinions on work done by a couple of other companies, A-Aall services being one. He then showed me that my fan in the back of the refrigerator was left unplugged by Val, and that is why my refrigerator was getting so hot.

On top of that all, there were burns on the back of the unit from where Val had welded the new compressor in, AND not only that, but when he put the new compressor in, Val had melted the plastic tubing that carries the water when the refrigerator goes into defrost mode, AND the drip pan that the water flows into. In other words, my kitchen floor is going to be full of water the second my refrigerator goes into defrost.

So now, I need to wait for the insurance to sort everything out, get the damage done by Val fixed, and try to get my money back from where he charged me extra to do nothing. According to the new tech, that is how companies like A-aall operate - they submit the lowest bids to the insurance company to get the jobs, then charge people for things like "cleaning under the refrigerator" or "re-routing freon lines."

He actually said he worked for another company that is essentially the same as A-aall, and got in trouble for "not giving enough denials," to which he responded, "what is there to deny? Either it's broken or it's not - and I don't think people would be calling technicians out to pay the co-pay if there was no problem."