A-1 Restoration

Write a Review937-671-2498

OPEN NOW - Closes at 11:59pm

This review is for A1 Restoration in Hamilton, Ohio, so they can't try to dispute this as if I must have the "wrong company" as they have said to others who posted negative reviews and to me once before. My advice is DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!! PLEASE READ THIS FIRST!! Before hiring this company, I researched them and found no reviews and since it was an emergency when our basement flooded and since they were immediately available, I went ahead and hired them. Now every search engine has almost all negative reviews on them, some reporting incidents similar to mine. They made UNAUTHORIZED CHARGES to someone else's credit card for my remaining balance (someone who doesn't live at this location)!! That card was authorized to be used ONLY for the payment of a deductible on the day that they cleaned my basement. But just because they had that card number on file they took it upon themselves to charge our remaining balance a few months down the road without authorization from anyone!!!! Mind you, I tried to pay them prior to this. They were forced to refund the money after we notified the credit card company of an unauthorized charge. The credit card company investigated and made them refund it because they concluded it was indeed an UNAUTHORIZED CHARGE.



Before and after this incident, I made several attempts (emails and phone calls) requesting a bill so that I may pay them, but I never received one. I was reluctant to send any payment even before the unauthorized charge because for one, WE HAD NEVER RECEIVED A BILL, only a statement of services rendered, and secondly, because so many negative reviews started coming up online for this company regarding fraud. So naturally I wasn't going to send a check to a company that at this point, was being accused by others of fraud, until I received a legitimate bill, which I never did.



In regards to the quality of their work, I was very unhappy with their services as they charged us for 5 hours of labor when they were in and out of my basement in 45 minutes. They also had to come back a second day because I found they had not cleaned the walls, 2 closets, or furniture as they were supposed to. And on that second visit from their employees, they STILL didn't clean the walls, 1 closet, or furniture, but I was too frustrated to deal with them any further so I let it go.



But this isn't even the worst part!!! After the credit card was refunded, I again requested a bill and didn't receive one. I offered to send payment upon receipt of a legitimate bill. I NEVER RECEIVED A BILL!! Instead of simply sending a bill, they chose to put a LIEN ON MY PROPERTY!! Before doing so, they warned me of this step, and I again stated I would not pay them until I received a bill. They instead put a lien on my house and then charged me a "lien fee" and "late fees" even though I tried to pay them!!! They eventually sent a bill and so I did pay them in full, including the lien fee and late fee. I was told that the lien would be released within 3-5 days of receipt of payment. They received payment almost ONE MONTH AGO and have STILL NOT LIFTED THE LIEN! I have tried to contact them and they have never returned a single email or text.



So to act as though every negative review is somehow accidentally showing up under their company is ridiculous! This company should be ashamed of how they do business. They can try to deny this all they want, but what happened is absolutely 100% true. THEY THREATENED ME THAT IF I POSTED A NEGATIVE REVIEW THAT THEY WOULD SUE ME FOR SLANDER!!! They can try to claim this as slander, but as the word is defined: "the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation", this is not slander. This post is not a false spoken statement. And any damage that has been done to their reputation is of no fault but their own. As seen by other reviews as well, they alone have earned their reputation.

PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE HASSLE - this company is a fraud. They could probably get away with it if they were just a bit less greedy and a little less stupid. This company fraudulently charged $4557.31 for 1.5 hours of labor. For example, the sq footage was exaggerated and inaccurate, labor time & tasks were falsified, billed for services not performed, billed for pick-up of garbage (subcontractor quoted me $120 and AOne (A-1, or whatever they are calling themselves these days) told me cost was $229.55], charged for water extraction when no water was present by the time they showed up, billed for after-hours when they were there normal business hours on a Thursday, charged for a painter when nothing was painted. These are just a few examples of fraudulent charges. After just a few complaints regarding these items, surprisingly the costs started to drop dramatically. I believe these exaggerated charges were a result of 1) their taking advantage of a natural disaster situation where we were unable to get a reputable company out in good time 2) insurance fraud. As soon as they heard we had insurance, the price came in extraordinary (and ironically just under a normal $5000 sewer backup rider) but once we hinted pushed back just a little and mentioned insurance fraud magically the "cost" started getting slashed. In addition to their criminal business practices, they simply took advantage of a natural disaster and our inability to find anyone to help. They did not clean up at all. They left sewage all over the floor and told me they didn't have to clean up to "living standards" They also said that by simply spraying "stuff" which I don't even believe they did, that "cleaned" the space. They basically just tore out carpet and flooring and left. They also left this carpet and flooring in my yard for almost 2 weeks and did not respond to any of my attempts to have them pick up sooner. They left without the floor being dry. They did not treat a whole room. When asked they said they didn't need to treat it because it was tile. A few months after the floor started popping up in that room because they did not dry it. The work performed by this company can't even be described as "poor or shoddy" it’s more like fraudulent. I believe they preyed on someone in a bad situation, knew they had insurance and thought they could pull one over on us. After all of that, filing complaints with the secretary of state, etc. and 3 years later, the "general manager" of this company had the nerve to apply for a mechanics lien on our property and for some random and insane amount of money that was never agreed upon. To make a long story short, save yourself the hassle and frustration of dealing with these hillbillies and clean up yourself - you'll do a better job and save yourself time doing things like writing this review.