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:04/14/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore 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.

  4/11/23 Leonard arrived to work on pre-discussed tasks at $45 per hour: Remove a door, add insulation, sheetrock, raise floor from basement. reinforce a beam. There was water in the area and could not begin this job. I offered to have 2 guys work on other projects while Leonard and a worker went out to get concrete and sheetrock. Leonard did not come prepared with materials as we previously discussed and I was forced to pay for the time he spent shopping with a worker.  Leonard and worker came back 1 hour later. Leonard insisted that he add an outlet on a new breaker for the refrigerator. He stated he was a licensed electrician for 40 years and completely capable of this easy task. While Leonard was in my electric box he was negligent and caused the breaker for the whole house to turn off. He then broke the main breaker causing me to lose power to the whole house and food in fridge spoiled. 4/12/23 Leonard was unable to find a replacement breaker and the only thing he can do is install a new panel box. Leonard again insisted that he was a licensed electrician and can do the job. I agreed to allow him to do this since he tried to resolve the problem before I terminated my verbal work agreement with him. While Leonard was working on the new panel box he completely destroyed it by burning out hot bus bars making the new panel box a fire hazard and unable to pass inspection. He also came unprepared again and left for an hour with a worker to get a $6.00 item at the store which he charged me 2 hours of labor for (himself and the worker). ******* cane in to fix the electrical work since I still did not have power to some things. ******* said Leonard's work is highly illegal and unsafe. Leonard conducted himself in an unethical way and put my life in jeopardy by potentially causing my house to burn down and making it unlivable for days. He left also garbage everywhere. I have paid ******* $ 4,856.94 to fix the fire hazard in electrical panel box that Leonard created.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/04/2023

  FULL BUSINESS RESPONSE ATTACHED.  PARTIALLY TRANSCRIBED BELOW.  SEE FULL RESPONSE ATTACHED: I have received notice that there was a complaint made against me on 4-11-23, for work that we did for ********* ******* who lives **** **** ******* ********** **** *****.  The work was done at **** ******** ****** *********** **** ******  When I first met and spoke with ********* we talked about jacking the house to level Floors and several other projects.  The day I looked at the beam in the basement to be repaired, it was under a small crawl space with a dirt floor.  At that time the dirt was very dry.  I told ********* that I would bring concrete black and 6 x 6 P.T. Posts and all jacks and blocking necessary for reinforcing the beam and jacking and leveling the floor.  However, on the day we arrived to begin work, we had all pre-discussed material and jacks with us at that time.  When I went to the basement to start work, I noticed the crawl space under the beam had filled with 8 inches of water and mud.  it had been 3 weeks since looking at the job and it had rained 4 to 5 days before we got there to do the work.  We had no way of knowing this basement had a water problem when we had discussed the work to be done/  The area was very dry when I first looked at the job.  I then told her we could drain the water and jack and brace.  i also stated I'd rather not brace beam with post on soft dirt and that I thought if I was working on my own house, I told her I would use that water to my benefit and fill the area with bagged concrete mixed into the water.  And concentrate on the other projects for a day or so.  So that when we did jack the house we would be bracing on concrete instead of mud.  At that time she agreed that it was a good idea so she agreed to have us go get several bags of concrete to the job right.  For that I did need to take one of my guys with me to help load.  So when we returned with materials we needed for the day, she then asked us to take out some kitchen cabinets.  We hauled all garbage and debri away at no cost to her.  She also asked us to move a refrigerator to the other side of the room.  I noticed at the time the kitchen was only running on one circuit so I told her that there should be more than one breaker for the kitchen.  So I requested to put in an outlet for the refrigerator to have its own breaker.  For that job I had all wire, breakers and outlets in our tool trailer to do the job without having to go get more materials.  When I opened her panel box in the basement I noticed it was fully overloaded.  Every breaker had been doubled up on.  Way to many wires packed in a small space to be safe.  (note: 40 years of different people in and out of this box, made it a wiring mess.  While I was adding a breaker, a bare wire in the box shorted out and popped the main breaker and when i went to reset the breaker I noticed the main breaker switch had been broken off and there was no way to reset it.  So me and ********* both searched for a new breaker for this box.  In the meantime she asked if we knew how to start a generator and we were very grateful to learn that there was a backup generator to supply the entire house with the power that ran off of her existing propane tank.  By this time it was late in the day so we were able to get the generator started and leave her with full power for the night.  So the next morning I called her before heading to work and told her I looked everywhere possible for this breaker.  She also stated she looked everywhere for a breaker too and could not find one.  I was told by hep reps in Penn Yan NY that we probably would not find this breaker because the panel box was over 50 years old.  So I told her that I was at hep sales while I was speaking to her.  And the only way I had to turn her power back on was to buy a new panel box.  The cost was 400 dollars.  She then told me to purchase the panel box and to install it that day.  So when I had new panel box and main breaker in place.  We then called Power Company to turn power back on.  They came and went over the work we did and turned it back on.  So I spent most of the day tracing wires and installing new breakers in the new box.  At the end of the day I turned the main on and she was 90 percent power to run everything she needed for the night.  NOTE: She stated in her complaint that her food spoiled in her refrigerator, But her power was on all night when we left.  So when we got there the next morning her power was still on just the way I left it the day before and I was there the next day to finish the job.  She then told me someone else had come between the hours of 6pm + 7:30am the next morning + had said the work we had done was unsafe.  She then told me another Contractor was going to finish the work.  So I said OK can I pick up my tools that was left in her basement.  This was on a Friday.  So after I got my tools I asked if we could get paid for the work we had done.  She said yes, But she was not going to pay me for the money I spent on the panel box, which she had OK'd for me to purchase at her expense.  We had discussed before we did any work for her that we were an hourly based Handyman Service.  We work by the hour to our Customers specifications and they supply all necessary materials for the work.  After discussing this for several minutes.  She stated she wasn't going to pay us at all.  So I felt forced to ask her if we could split the cost of the panel box, and she agreed to that and took $200 off the bill.  She also stated that I told her that I was a licensed electrician.  That must have been misunderstanding because that is not what I said.  I told her that I have been doing this kind of work for 45 years (NOTE: I am sixty years old still working hard.)  And that in New York State you do not have to be a licensed electrician to work in residential homes.  However, for bigger jobs a permit is needed and a electric inspector oversees the work.  I then told her if it would make her feel better, I would call an Electrical inspector to come look at my work to determine if it was safe or not.  She then told me she already had another contractor to come in to redo the work for a cost of $5,000.  I told her that price was ridiculous and she was being taken.  Our cost for the electrical work only was $700 to $800 and we would never change that ungodly amount for that kind of work.  My guys were also doing other work beside electric.  And in her complaint she is asking me to pay back double over what she paid us for work and materials we bought I don't feel I should have to pay this contractor I don't agree with.  And all money she paid me, we honestly worked for by the hour and materials we bought.  In closing I would like to add if this contractor thought our work was so unsafe why did he not turn our power off?  My work was just as I left it the night before.  I honestly feel we worked for her by the hour and did not take advantage of her in anyway.  I feel her complaint is unfair.  I work hard for a living and have not had any complaints against my work history.  I feel as though she should pay me back for the other half of the panel box ($200) she told me to purchase.  Thanks for letting me express my side of the issue Sincerely ,Leonard H******

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/04/2023

  Better Business Bureau:   I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.  Leonard did arrive with 3 workers and was not able to add the support posts under the house. I did agree to cement the floor first and then add the beams at a later time. He asked if I had anything that his guys can do since they drove all the way there. I said yes, you are supposed to remove a door, frame it, add insulation, install sheetrock and beadboard.  These are the materials he was supposed to have with him as it was pre discussed that he would perform the work. He did not have these materials with him. I said I can you additional jobs since you brought workers which was to sheetrock behind the fridge and the wall next to it. Leonard did not haul away my garbage. I used my own construction bags to bag up the garbage and disposed of it myself. I even helped the guys bag up the old sheetrock in the kitchen and pick up nails that were left everywhere. The door his guy removed was left outside in my garden and is now in my garage as proof of him not hauling away garbage. I can provide video footage of me hauling away garbage from **** ******** *** ******** ** *** ** **** **** *** The beams Leonard brought to install were thrown over my flowers in the front yard crushing them. He took these materials with him along with my own brand new extension cord.  Regardless of what the panel box looked like, as an experienced electrician, Leonard should not have allowed a wire to touch to the breaker box and blow power to the whole house. ******* has opened the box to inspect it prior to Leonard and they didn't blow power to the house. The entire house does not run on the generator. 4 lights, 4 outlets and the baseboard heat work with the generator. There was no light or power in the bathroom, bedroom on both floors and living room. The refrigerator blew the outlet Leonard plugged it into; he disconnected the outlet to my stove and I had no way to cook food even if the fridge did work. Leaving the generator on for a full day caused me to have an enormous and unexpected gas bill.  At no point in time did I tell Leonard I was not going to pay him at all. I told Leonard his mistake caused me a $5,000 bill to fix his mistake and I still had to replace the breaker box so I didn't feel I should pay for the full amount for the breaker box. Leonard did tell me he was a licensed electrician multiple times. I found out from ******* that you need a work permit to install a new electric box which is what Leonard did. It also needs to be inspected afterwards. Leonard's electrical connections made the house unsafe and at risk of a fire which is why power was tuned off and I had to leave the house until ******* was able to come back and perform necessary work with a permit and inspector scheduled. ******* can be contacted to verify the work Leonard performed was unsafe and would never pass an inspection. I paid Leonard and then drove 5 hours back to Ridgewood until ******* replaced the electric box on April 26th.    Regards, ********* *******