Umberto Property Inspection Service

My wife and I hired Umberto — specifically CHARLIE DRAGNA — twice and we’ve regretted it twice.
THE FIRST TIME
was when we were in escrow on our 1^st house (in Pasadena, CA). We needed an inspection done and our realtor recommended Charlie, so we hired him.
He was fine when doing the inspection. Friendly. Professional. Even sympathetic. He saw how stressed we were with it being our 1^st house, so when he handed us the report, he said with a smile:
«If you have questions about the report or anything about your 1^st home, don’t hesitate to call me at any time.»
That was reassuring, we thought. A couple of months later, we had questions about the report. So my wife called. That was when the reassurance ended.
Charlie was dismissive. Rude. Didn’t remember us. Not that we expected him to, but even when my wife reminded him, he was still unfriendly. He barely answered our questions, some of which he outright dismissed. In other words, Charlie was the total opposite of how he was BEFORE we paid him.
If you’re going to be rude to a former customer when they call, that’s fine. Bad for business and humanity, but fine. But don’t invite customers beforehand to call you at any time with any questions, and then act annoyed when they actually do.
THE SECOND TIME
we hired Umberto was when we bought our 2^nd home, this time in Monrovia, CA.
Our realtor — a different person than before — coincidentally recommended Charlie. (Apparently it’s a small real estate world in the Valley.) I told our realtor why I didn’t want to hire Charlie and he (the realtor) understood.
We hired another inspector who unfortunately didn’t work out. With escrow closing soon and no other inspector available, our realtor suggested Charlie again. Knowing time was of the essence, I reluctantly agreed, but chose not to be there for the inspection.
My wife and I got the report and looked it over. Everything seemed fine. Until a year later, which was last week. Our central Air-​Conditioning unit was taking too long to cool down the house, so I called an AC repairman to check it out.
The unit itself was fine, so the repairman checked the indoor vents. «Have you changed the filter lately?» he asked. I hadn’t changed it at all. It just slipped my mind. He opened the main vent and said, «Changing the filter isn’t the problem. Not having a filter is.» WTF?! I looked inside and indeed there was no filter. We had been running the central air for a year without any filter!
I pulled out Charlie’s inspection report and found the page detailing the AC unit. This is exactly what he wrote:
«THE FILTER APPEARED FUNCTIONAL.»
Appeared functional?! He didn’t even look at it! All he had to do was spend 30 seconds to open the main vent and peer inside to learn it was missing a filter. That’s all. Yet he didn’t. He just lied about doing it, and we risked damaging the AC unit by unknowingly running it without a filter for 12 months.
Now I wish I was present for the inspection. I wonder what else is on the report that he supposedly inspected, but didn’t. Electrical? Foundation? Water heater? Who the hell knows! I don’t blame the realtors for Charlie Dragna’s amoral business practices. I blame Charlie.
Don’t make the same mistake we did. Twice. Do NOT hire this guy.