Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/21/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Hired company to rewire home after house fire. Worker came out in January 2023 and wired the house but did not hook up HVAC unit, breakers, or outlets/switches. After months of no contact from the company, we find out original worker no longer is employed there. Owner comes out on August 8 2023 with the understanding he is to hook up plug ins for HVAC unit outside. Upon arrival, he states HVAC has all they need to plug it in when they did not. Stated previous employee of his wired incorrect breaker without fixing it. Informed electrician that we were in need of plug ins to continue finishing our home rebuild while we previously waited months for him to call us to schedule completion and inquired about getting a new bid that included the things we did being taken off. He refused and has not heard from him after that. Emails were exchanged between co-signer and electrician. He was extremely unprofessional, unethical, and unreasonable.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/29/2023

  Yes we provided rough-in electical for this residence. They never once contacted our office to schedule the completion, they continued to try and contact our ex-employee. When they finally contacted our office I immediately visited the site and found they were living in the house with stuff piled everywhere making it impossible to complete the project without large added cost. The homeowner was doing electrical work without a permit which is illegal. I suggested to them that they should complete the work themselves and I paid the fee to have the permit transferred to their name. They are illegally living in an unfinished house and want to blame us for backing away from the project. Also the work being done by the homeowner is substandard and extremely unprofessional. Their HVAC contractor didn't want to do any work there either and blamed us for it.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/01/2023

   
  Complaint: 20496852
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  It is completely unprofessional and unethical to assume such statements.

  In my extensive research of ***** State Code AND City Code of ************, nowhere does it state that this dwelling is illegal. We have running water, power, and fully functional bathrooms; I may also add, we hired our HVAC company for the sole purpose of installing our HVAC system. We did not hire them to install our air system AND provide electrical to our unit, as we hired an electrician to do electrical. (See Provided Photos) HVAC can NOT continue installing our outdoor unit to an electrical outlet that is currently missing a weather resistant outlet. I also recall my husband being told by Electrends to just use an extension cord and run it to the bathroom outlet for providing power to an outdoor unit. Who also came to the residence with the knowledge of knowing there needed to be a weather resistant outlet installed but didnt have anything on the van. 

  We did attempt to contact Electrends as did my mother-in-law with no response. We were unaware our prior electrician who was employed by Electrends was suddenly no longer employed there. We were hopeful, since we could not get in touch with with the business, that the ************* would reach out to tell the clients of the former employee that there had been a change to electricians. As that is the ethic thing to do. 
  

  This dwelling has been undergoing daily construction and maintenance. Last I checked, a house was NOT fully finished from exterior framing to finish work in a matter of two days. While also being occupied once its legal to do so. Not everyone is as privileged to occupy a separate dwelling with their family while their main residence get repaired after a tragic incident. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business Response

  Date: 09/20/2023

  Electrical & Plumbing final inspections are required to legally be able to live in a residence. Just because Bonner county does not enforce this fact doesn't mean it isn't a fact. Your HVAC company clearly also does not want to do work on this residence and they are using us as a reason to keep putting you off. I have been doing this for over 20 years and it is industry standard practice for the electrician to provide an exterior disconnect for the outside AC unit which we have provided. **************** is responsible for connection of their equipment to the disconnect we provided. The "Missing" outlet you speak of is a code required "Convenience" outlet to be used by technicians servicing your equipment so they have somewhere to plug in service tools, and in no way does it have anything to do with the connection of their unit to the provided disconnect. What I said is they can run a cord to another outlet if they need power for tools while they are there working. When I showed up there I was under the impression the outside disconnect had not been installed yet, and that is what I was prepared to install, not the convenience outlet. I did make sure the outside disconnect was powered up. Again I emphasize here that your HVAC contractor is playing games and clearly does not want to do the work for obvious reasons.

  You attempted to contact us by trying to call an ex employee that left under unfavorable circumstances rather than calling our office. You posted pictures of our conversation but I will repeat the same here:

  When we bid houses there are many things that are assumed and are industry standard practice. For example when we trim a house it is standard for them to be clear of debris, walls are completed and fully accessible, paint is completed, device openings are not covered up, device openings are not cut way oversize to the point our cover plates wont cover the holes, all customer provided fixtures are onsite, residence is clean, nobody is trying to live in them, the quality of the work being done is industry standard,the homeowner isnt doing electrical work, etc.  There is no way we can trim this house in its current condition, and it would require multiple trips and way more time to accommodate the current state of this house.
    It is apparent that project funding is an issue here otherwise your son wouldnt be attempting to do work he is not qualified to do, and you are asking me to discount the bill for work he has done on a project we have already lost money on. **** asked me this question, and as I already told him we do not discount an estimate for homeowners doing electrical work as is not legal for them to do so. Any work he has done must be taken apart and inspected/corrected to be complaint with code which actually adds more time to the project. I already have another residence in town where after almost two years we still havent been paid. I am sorry but moving forward with it in the current state means I will be losing more money which I just cant do.
   I recommend getting a homeowner permit and **** can complete the electrical himself as he completes different parts of the house.If you wish for us to complete this project all these considerations need to be addressed, we need to be able to come in and complete our work without having to move stuff out of the way, without having to **** for buried outlets and fixtures, all wall surfaces need to be complete, every room of the house needs to be complete and ready for devices to be installed. Any return trips due to non-standard conditions will be charged an extra trip fee, and we will require payment in full up front.
  I know this isnt what you want to hear but I dont have any choice.
  

  I paid the fee to transfer our permit into the homeowners name so they can finish the work. I never once refused to complete this project, I clearly stated that to do this work per bid means that the residence cannot be in the current state it is in. In no world would a contractor agree to work in a new trimout and have to work around beds on the floor, clothing piled up against the walls, tools and all kinds of materials and debris stacked up against every single wall, unfinished sheetrock, many of the outlet openings covered over with sheetrock, no cabinets, no appliances, work being done by unqualified persons, unlicensed persons doing electrical work in same residence...I could keep going but the point is the place is a wreck and I said it needs to be completed and clean for us to finish our scope of work and we need payment up front. Your HVAC contractor feels the same they just don't have the stones to tell you and try to blame us instead.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/20/2023

  There is a specific reason we charge our residential jobs in 1/3 payments of the total bid amount. The majority of the cost of a home wiring job is the rough in electrical. We take 1/3 up front to secure the job, then we take 1/3 after completing the rough-in after approved inspection. At this time 2/3 of the job is completed and paid in full. We have the permit with a passing inspection that the rough electical was installed per code and passed inspection. the final 1/3 has not been paid so what exactly are you wanting refunded for? You want us to refund money you never paid for work we have not done?