A Action Home Services

I called A Action to help with a gas leak in my home. They came out before to help with HVAC and seemed trustworthy and helpful. The technician they sent was incompetent, unfriendly, and put myself and my home in danger. The gas company shut off the gas to my house and put a lock on the meter outside. The technician had no idea how to detect the leak and insisted that the gas had to be on to do it. I told him he was supposed to use an air compressor and I got a blank stare. He then proceeded to cut off the lock and turn the gas back on without my permission and without the permission of the gas company, putting me in danger. As the icing on the cake, when the gas company came back out the leak wasn't even fixed! For some reason I was charged over $800 for a gas bubble test and tightening of some fittings. I ended up needing an entire line replaced and the work to do that cost less. When I pointed out how this doesn't make sense and demanded an itemized bill, it took several day and they sent a bill with just one item "test fittings throughout house with bubbles to diagnose source of gas leaks" and this simple task cost $806. Never mind that the gas company already did that and marked each leak with a red tag... They refused to discuss it and I still don't have an itemized bill to justify the costs. They grossly overcharged me and are being dishonest about fixing it. I should also mention that the technician they sent over was dumb enough to put his boss on speakerphone around the house so I had to listen to them describe me as an "opportunity to take advantage of" while I was in a very stressful and dangerous situation. Do not recommend this company for anything.

This was an especially great job from a company that continues to provide us excellent service whether electrical, plumbing, heating or a/c. From the initial assessment of the issue on 23 July, after Washington Gas turned off the service after we smelled gas, to the repair on the 24th Paul was prompt, courteous, professional, and a great person. He was excellent at explaining to us what happened and what he was doing. And he’s excellent on why things work the way they do regarding gas service. He didn’t mind us watching and asking questions.

The work they did is perfectly fine. My problems are all with the pricing and service. 1) Looking around online, the prices they charge for their thermostats are outrageous, well over a 100% markup. (The very highest price I could find was $170, they wanted $440 for it, plus the $150 for installation.) 2) The technician couldn't be bothered to read the manual to finish basic setup on my thermostat so I had to do it to finish the setup before he could service the air conditioning system. 3) The tech pressured me repeatedly about joining their service club/subscription even after I made it clear it wasn't in the budget at the moment (after I had an extra $200+ worth of new thermostat and installation pop up unexpectedly today on top of the $149 regular maintenance. Thank goodness I went out and bought my own thermostat for them to install; otherwise it would have been nearly $600.) 4) The heat pump air conditioner they installed for me a few years ago and were servicing today has a label they put on it marked "Repeat client's permanent $25 gift certificate for any work performed". When I asked about it, the technician said he wouldn't honor it and that he "should be charging me a $45 travel fee". A travel fee? What? Seriously? Do you not usually make house calls? Was I supposed to load up my heat pump and drive it to you for service!? Edit on 5/8/17: Over a week and a half after the provider's response to my review, they still hadn't contacted me. I called them and eventually got a manager who refunded me the $25 I shouldn't have been charged in the first place (the "permanent gift certificate" the technician refused to honor) and tried to give me excuses about how 90% of contractors charge travel fees (none I've dealt with in the past have, including this company) and how the tech who threatened me with extra fees if I insisted on my discount was probably trying to be nice by pointing out that he could have been charging me even more. The fact that they never even tried to contact me makes it seem that their response to this review was a PR move rather than an actual reply meant to make things right with me. I definitely don't plan to give them any more business.

The gentleman was very professional, his work was very clean. He completed the job in a great timing. He also explained what was wrong and what he is doing to fix it. Highly recommended! Very good work.

unknown

Wonderful! We have been using this provider for several years. They come twice a year to service our air conditioning and our furnace. $200 of the cost paid in September is the cost of the contract for year, not the cost of just coming out the one time. We have had both a furnace and air conditioner installed by A Action. Their service is excellent, they are always on time and professional.

They said they would send someone out the same day, and I even called
back and they could track the driver on his GPS and said he was down the
street. The tech spent more time explaining to me how to care for my
furnance and save money over time than he did actually working on my
furnace, but that's ok by me. After the tech left, I realized the
previous owners of the house had a pre-paid maintenance plan, and I
called the company back. They agreed to cancel my check and charge me
for the reduced amount under the pre-paid plan.
I'm definitely calling them for my spring AC service!

He was professional, did good work, and was thorough. He gave me a lot of confidence. However, I was charged almost $2100 to run three circuits. I got some other estimates after the job was done and those estimates indicate that the price was just way too high. A particular company that I got estimate from would've charged me less than half that amount to run a new circuit. He was also charging for every little thing he had to do. I wanted him to run a new line from the power source but he said he would charge me more to do that. Instead, he wanted to put a junction box in the middle of the wall and I agreed to that. The other guys I talked to said that it would've just been part of the deal and they would've just run a new line that there wouldn't be a junction box. I felt like I got nickel and dime by this guy.

They were pretty fast and came out right away. I feel like it was a little bit expensive.

Do NOT use Mr. Sparky!!!  We called "Galaxy Electical" because we had used them previously to install lighting and outlets when part of our basement was refinished.  They provided a good service then so we thought it would be the same a second time around.  It turns out the Mr. Sparky had purchased Galaxy and was now providing services.  The technician showed up at the house right on time and it all went downhill from there.  I walked him around the house showing the tasks we wanted accomplished:  replace a lighting fixture on the ceiling in one bedroom, look at the ceiling fan to see if it needed to be replaced, put new lighting fixtures outside of the front and side doors, and replace a flood light fixture at the apex of the roof.  Firs thing the technician did was go down to the electrical panel to inspect it.  He started with a visual examination and  noted there was some oxidation and rust insided of the  panel.  He shut off the power and pulled out a double breaker and stated that it showed evidence of oxidation/rust.  Then he pointed out that the wiring and the bus bars that had been used when the panel was replaced 11 years ago were aluminum which was a low grade of wiring and could easily overheat.  Mr. Sparky's technician said we really should replace and rewire the whole panel.  That was scary news as he made it sound as if there were some pretty unsafe conditions in that panel.  He then went through and put together an estimate of all of the tasks we had showed him using a pre-existing pricing list.  The whole bill for work came in at over $4,000.00.  Thankfully, the technician recommended that he come back the next day with a second technician so they could get all of the work done in a single day.  However, I placed a 10% downpayment on the bill to guarantee the order and that came to about $450.00.  After Mr. Sparky left, I went to my computer and started investigating Mr. Sparky.  I found it was a franchise with a couple of offices in Northern Virginia.  I read some reviews, some of which sounded suspiciously like my situation where they had come in and pointed out safety issued that required big bucks to "fix".  We also got feedback from other forums on the net which made it sound as if Mr. Sparky's pricing was too high.  After thinking about all of this information, I decided to cancel the order.  I ended up cancelling that day, later in the afternoon.  I never heard another word from  Mr. Sparky once I made it clear I wanted to cancel my order and not just postpone the work.  I cannot speak for their work as we did not have any performed at our home.  However, the whole experience was absolutely horrible which left a very, very bad taste in my mouth.  I would not trust them to perform work in our home and I certainly can not and will not ever recommend them to any other person.

I would not use them again because they cancelled appointments (twice)! The work was average, but I would use another company if I need work done again.

The charge for just the fixture and inspection, in my opinion, was exorbitant - $414.00

Buying an attic fan with a lifetime warranty for $689 seemed like a good idea at the time.  Three years later to be charged $389 to replace a motor, in less than 30 minutes, and to be told that the motor was a $500 part seems a little suspect to me.  At the end of the appointment to be informed about a trip charge is unacceptable.

My interaction with the guy who came out to do the work was good. They did the job very professionally. They were very confident with what they did. It was a small light fixture and that was about twice as much as I was expecting to pay.

Went well. Arrived on time. Did not have one of the switch combinations, but left and got it and finished the job.

Everything was fine. I have used them for years and I am satisfied with them. I have not compared their prices.

Dave Ault gave me the original estimate. He arrived punctually and was very knowledgeable about all the skylight product lines. He was also a master electrician. He checked my attic fan while he was here. It had been out for several months. He gave me an estimate for a replacement but suggested that I see if it was still under warrenty. (It was so I got it replaced at no charge.) Dave was out sick the scheduled day of the install. But the company sent out two gentlemen. One for the solartubes and another for the electrical work. Both were very professional. Explained everything they were doing and wasted no time. The weather was quite warm and the attic was oppressive but you couldn't tell that from the positive attitude. Clean-up was excellent. The impact of the Solatubes has been spectacular! Wish I'd done this years ago. The 30% tax credit doesn't hurt either. Would use this company again.

Excellant!

It is a two part job to put in a generator. You have to get it ready before the generator company can come in to actually put in the generator. It was very expensive. I will continue to use their services.

Technician arrived on time and did a great job installing lights and switches. He was very accurate and precise in his work.