A-1 American A-1 American Gas Fitting, Home Improvement, HVAC, Plumbing Hampton Roads residents beware! A-1 American are price-gouging thugs! Virginia Beach Virginia

The hot water heater went bad and I could not address this myself so I went to the yellow pages and plucked A-1 American's number out. A technician called me back and after providing a detailed description of the problem he informed me that the company policy prohibited over the phone estimates and that for a $78 fee he had to come out and assess the problem. I told him sure, come on out.

Once in my home the technician looked at the hot water heater and, with barely any eye contact described the repair needs using marketing machinations and obfuscations that served to distort pricing with the sole intent of gouging. Also known as usury. The plumber then proceeded outside to his van which, oddly, was plain almond colored devoid of any company markings. He then produced a binder full of price schedules and began writing on company memo. Then the shocker:

To replace a 40 gallon tank-type hot water heater and expansion tank was going to cost $3,093.03. $2,069.46 for the hot water heater (less than $400), $943.57 for the expansion tank (a $50 part), and an $80 permitting fee. He would allow a 10% active duty military discount (though I am not) another 10% if I helped him get the old one out of the house! I paid the $78 'house-call' fee since I had verbally agreed to him coming out but told him I would seek a second opinion because I disagreed with his price.

I called another company out to do the job for less than half of what A-1 American wanted. A-1 American is an example of why the public needs better consumer protection laws. On this note, I will contact my state legislators about this particular incident.