Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/10/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising 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.

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 22406666, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  
  As the business alleged, it has nothing to do with not respecting blue collar workers nor that we know more about “their” product than they do.
  

  It has everything to do about cutting corners and providing questionable (at best) work. We have since had another company come out that has provided quality customer service and not a cutting corners approach as Burtner  did, and then Burtner went on to provide zero customer service when the customer has questions about their issues. I happily already paid for the services of the other company because they cared about the customers issues and weren’t out to simply make a buck.
  

  The company that came out saw the issues we are talking about and related it to the electrical system the pump is pulling from the outlet. As you can see from Burtner’s response, this business cares more about collecting a $160 service fee than they do about satisfying a customers issues and/or questions. Burtner spending six minutes checking something and providing zero effort into the route issue is disgraceful and is taking advantage of a situation on their part. The only “family” part of their business is the money they want from people with zero care about taking care or understanding a customers issue.

   We simply asked them to come out and check their work and help us understand why our pool pump is overheating without any indication as to the cost of them to do that. The business should have been upfront about that. Burtner was the last company to do work on this very same area at our house several years ago. We spoke with the receptionist at Burtner since this matter as well who did not disagree with our assessment but said that she is not in a position to have a say in the matter. 

  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  Brent Gulinson

  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/16/2024

  October 14, 2024-I have received complaint that the customer
  sent to the BBB and I am responding to it. 
  The customer stated that we wired the outlet in 2019 and we did not wire
  it. We did in fact check the 220-volt outlet on 6/17/2019.  The plug was fully operational at that time. (We
  did not install the outlet,  pump or the
  cord. We checked the electrical outlet.) We went back on 6/28/2019 because the
  homeowner asked us to put the pool pump on a 120-volt outlet.  The homeowner thought the voltage was too
  high for the pump. We did both of those service calls and the homeowner paid us
  for our work. This work had a one-year warranty on our parts and labor.
   We received a call
  from the homeowner on 7/30/2024 stating that there was a recurring issue with
  the pool pump.  It was only functioning
  on one phase instead of two.  The
  homeowner stated that she thought it should not have been changed to a 120 volt
  but should be a 220-volt outlet.  Per our
  supervisor, Mike, the pump was to be on a 120-volt outlet and we know that
  because the homeowner supplied pictures for us.  We checked the outlet and it was working
  correctly.  We did send a bill to the
  homeowner for our work.  We have also
  suggested that the pump or electrical cord may be the issue because we know
  that we were getting 120 volts from the outlet when we checked it. The pump and
  attached cord are not issues for an electrician to handle.  Those would be pool company issues or
  concerns for whoever installed the pump and cord.
   When the homeowner
  called us on 7/30/24, she asked us to come out to look at the outlet and there
  is an assumption that when you call any company for service, there will be a
  charge for the work.  The phone call and
  scheduling of an appointment shows that she in fact hired us to go out there to
  look at the outlet. Again, our work has a one-year warranty and this is 5 years
  after the work was done. The homeowner was sent a bill on 8/13/24. The customer
  sent us an email on 10/5/24 stating that the bill was “not reflective of the
  work or effort that was performed”. The bill included the costs for wages, the
  vehicle we sent out there, gas, insurance costs, and other office expenses
  associated with the trip to their home.   The customer was charged our regular hourly
  rate.  Our office manager, Peggy, called
  the homeowner and advised him that we were in fact at his home and we did check
  the outlet and that the bill was valid.
  Now, the homeowner is disputing the bill.  The homeowner was advised that the warranty
  was for one year and we are five years out since we did the service.  We did the work for them and we stand behind
  the work performed.  The homeowner has
  since received an email from the owner of the company stating that we performed
  the work and that the bill was correct.
  Burtner Electric has been providing quality electrical
  services to the community for decades. 
  Our service technicians are trained to check things like outlets and
  they did everything correctly.  The
  homeowner was billed for the work that we did. 
  Unfortunately, we deal with homeowners who feel that they know more
  about our product than we do.  It is also
  unfortunate that there are homeowners who do not respect the work of blue-collar
  workers and feel that their work is not valuable. Unfortunately, some customers
  will complain no matter how hard we work to serve them.
  Jodi Burtner

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/07/2023

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  I hired Burtner Electric to fix a wiring problem in a house I own. They spent 3 hours and charged me 3 hours but did not fix anything. The changes they made may have made the problem worse. They sent me a bill for $405.00 and suggested I hire them to rewire the house. I recieved the bill and thinking they fixed the problem I paid them. My mistake.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/10/2023

  BBB Complaint #********
  On March 30th, we took a call from *************************** to look at his property at **************** The tv was smoking and tenant got rid of it and then said there was an issue with the breaker panel.  This information was per the tenant according to *****************   **************** wanted someone to look at it and we scheduled the work for the following day because this seemed like an urgent /fire hazard situation.  Our employee,******, went to the jobsite and found a neutral touching somewhere in the house.  ****** looked in the outlets,switches, light fixtures and the panel. ****** found that the wiring was old and crumbled when touched and a when he tested two other neutrals, they had the same result.  ****** called our office and asked ******* to call the homeowner to advise that the situation is unsafe and that we needed to give him an estimate to rewire the home. 
  ******* immediately called **************** to schedule an estimate to replace the wiring to bring it to code and to ensure that it was safe for the renter to live there.  *************** told ******* that he did not want us to come in until he gets his renter out.  On Monday, April 3rd,our receptionist, *****, called **************** to set up an estimate and **************** stated again that he did not want us to do the work until he got the renter out. No estimate was scheduled at this time and the file is documented to state that this is an urgent situation that the homeowner needs to remedy.
  **************** called on Friday, April 7th to tell ***** that he mailed a check and he knew noting about needing an estimate.  ***** referred to our notes and advised *************** that he has been advised by our office that he needed an estimate to replace the old wiring.    He was at the house for the first time since we were there and nothing was fixed. ***** explained the crumbling wires that we found and that the fix/repair would be to rewire the home. The charge was for our time and services because he verbally contracted us and asked us to go look at the house. **************** thought 3 hours was excessive for what we did or did not do. This is a case where the answer to fixing the problem is new wiring and we cannot do anything to temporarily fix something that is a fire hazard.  He said to cancel the estimate and he was not having the work done.    
  This is a situation where the homeowner does not want to pay for the services that he needs to have done in order to bring the home up to code and his comments to the Better Business Bureau do not explain the entire issue.  We would be happy to meet *************** halfway.  If **************** contracts us to rewire the home, we will take $200 off the cost of the work.
  
  
  **** Burtner
  April 10, 2023