Well it began as a simple problem. I was told an hourly rate and went with this. However, I watched the clock tick away as he went all over the house (outside of the problem) finding more and more problems (minor things that he embellished into hugely dramatic affairs). It really felt like he was taking advantage of the fact that I am not an electrician, that I am a woman, and that he could drag out the bill while I waited for the problem to be fixed. He took hours, going all over the house, looking into all sorts of things outside of the problem he was called in for. Then suddenly, nothing was fixed it was 3.5 hours later and he needed to come back. $$$$$$$$
By the end I was already owing $400 and the problem was not even close to fixed and he kept adding on more problems that were actually quite minor. I really had a sense that he was looking for more issues in order to drag out the time he was there and therefore rack up the bill. Suddenly my Panel needed work and I would need a permit etc. So another appointment was booked (I was made to feel that the safety of my house was in jeopardy if I didn’t fix it). This ended up miraculously not being that case and the panel was fixed in 10 minutes and no permit was needed….still that visit ended up extending into a two hour job regardless, as he decided to fix this and fix that…still all of these not a part of what he was originally called in for.
So he ended up “fixing” the original problem but told me that it wasn’t actually fixed (after 4.5 hours of work) so that I would need him to come back, AGAIN, to take down cupboards and potentially rip out drywall???!!! I decided that this was enough and asked for the bill (a whopping $400- for not having my problem actually fixed). Then I received the invoice and on it he included these things that he wanted to fix- on the invoice for the work done. When we spoke he threatened to report me to the electrical board if I didn’t have him back in? Seriously? So from my perspective this was a serious ploy to ensure that he would be able to do more work and rack up even more extensive and seemingly ridiculous bills. When we spoke he was rude to me, arrogantly quoting denotations to terms and phrases…the root of the work quote etc. So disrespectful and rude. I put him on speaker phone and my family listened and were absolutely appalled by how he spoke to me. Call another electrician!
Also he talks non-stop…telling all sorts of fables and antics about his life and others and the whole time has the clock running. He stayed gabbing to me about other clients and then had the audacity to add on 5 extra minutes……this had nothing to do with my house or work needed. So ridiculous. Out of the initial 3.5 hours, 45 minutes were due to discussions about unrelated things.
If you call him in for a minor repair, he will extend everything in order to make as much money as possible from you! You would assume that I have knob and tube wiring by the way he went on but my house is actually 13 years old. I am going to the BBB with this one.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $400.00
- Company Response
On September 22, I served 4 clients. You were the 3rd of the 4. One of the 3 jobs was to complete a job, and the other 2 are projects that are still in progress, and it is a plan for me to complete those projects. I have not been dismissed from those projects. On the completed job, gratitude was the response from that client, I was able to guide her through a complex set of steps of satisfying insurance company requirements, and electrical inspections needed to satisfy those requirements.
How I managed to turn into a disrespectful non-productive money-grabber on only 1 out of 4 calls seems a bit odd, in my opinion.
Another interesting fact is that of the other 3 clients, 2 are single women, living in their own.
There is clearly a lack of understanding of trouble-shooting technique required to find circuit faults. (Completely understandable if you have never done that type of work). Houses do not come with wiring diagrams, so a knowledge of wiring rough-in helps, and knowing what voltages and currents should be present in normal conditions.
Existing loose connections can not only cause arcing faults, and burning, but also extend the time needed to repair the circuit, by having to return to the same point repeatedly, only to find the same loose connections. All of these small repair steps were shown and explained to you, and the repairs were carried out with your consent.
When a DIY repair has been done on a distribution panel, and the repairs done incorrectly (and illegally), it takes time to figure out what has been done, and how to remedy the problem. Any DIY done on electrical distribution equipment is not a good idea, and done in a distribution panel is probably the worst place to do it. We, as licensed contractors are encouraged to report electrical work being done illegally.
When I do new installations, my work is inspected by the inspection department of ESA, who issues my license. Being a Master Electrician, I am very aware of the CEC rules, and procedures, as my installations would fail inspection if the are not done correctly. Each code rule has a rational, usually based on preventing fire or electrical shock. I have, as a requirement of my license, a responsibility to perform my work in safe manner, and to point out to my clients problems (which would usually be code violations or wiring defects) that may put their life and property in danger. In my trade, I cannot "red tag" hazards, like other trades can. I can only recommend to my client that they rectify poltential problems before the problems get a chance to become real. This is usually documented on invoices, to make the client aware of potential electrical hazards. If I failed to do so, I would be approaching my job with reckless abandon. What action the client chooses to take to correct wiring defects is up to them.