Powell Electric

Where to begin, I can't say enough good things about Powell Electric, their customer service representatives, their management and most importantly their Electricians. I live in a single family home in Westlake Village, CA. 5 years ago, Powell installed a dedicated electrical line for my pool. Over time one of the wires corroded underground causing the pool to lose power and shutting down the pump. The work was warrantied for 1 year as with most/all Electrical work these days. I spoke with Sam, one of the field managers at Powell and he was fantastic, without question he sent out his team the very next day and fixed the issue at no charge. They went above and beyond by replacing all the wires to ensure this wouldn't happen again. In this day and age, customer service at this level is rare and hard to come by. This company, Powell Electric exemplifies all the values one would expect from a family owned and operated organization and their outstanding commitment to their work and their customers is second to none. I highly recommend making Powell Electric your go-to choice, you will not regret it! Dane Stojanov Happy Customer :)

I was quoted almost $3000 to fix a light fitting. Shady people. Had to pay $80 for call-out. Avoid

While they did a good job, pricing was egregiously high with them.

First they scheduled and never showed so we called back and they came the next day. The price to replace 3 small lights was $3850. I called our regular electrician and he said the lights were $25-30 dollars each. That is more than a major rip off.

The electrician was very nice and informative. He explained everything and even fixed another breaker button which he said would probably break soon at no extra charge. I think the price was higher than maybe some local or smaller companies, but we did not want to wait until their first appt and Powell Electric was willing to come the next day.

I found Angie's List so won't go back to Powell Electric

He showed up on time, was very helpful and fixed it quickly. He even fixed one of the other breaker buttons for free because he said it would probably be breaking on us soon. Everything was great except the price was a little on the expensive side. I would use again if I needed someone right away and didn't have time to research.

One guy came to give estimate and 2 showed up for job. It took about 4 hours to complete the job. They kept the area clean. They explained that I needed more work than I thought I did and they gave me an accurate estimate. They explained everything really well. They gave a good first impression.

They were quick to reply, courteous and professional. However, they did not correctly identify the problem with the nonfunctional outlet. While they wanted to replace all the wiring, yet, all that was required was turning the associated switch to the "on" position. It is my opinion that was something they could have considered as a plausible solution.

First of all, this company (or at least who I talked to) would not give me a quote over the phone on how much the installation of two fire alarms would cost. This would be for a hard-wired, plus a battery operated alarm. When the electrician arrived he quoted me a price of $649. I said that was really expensive and he took $50 off. He didn't really seem concerned about what an outlandish price that was. I stupidly agreed to the work and paid the $599. I have total buyer's remorse - and at the very least can warn others about what a rip-off this company is. If you make an appointment and get a crazy price once the electrician is at your home - you will still need to pay the service fee for the guy coming to your house even if you do not do the job. That's what they are betting on - that since the guy is there, you'll just go ahead an do the job - like I did. I would never recommend this company to anyone - I guess lesson learned. TOTAL RIP-OFF - BEWARE!!

Right off the bat they asked if we wanted a Saturday appointment THAT WEEK. Since I run a business elsewhere, I usually had to beg for a weekend appointment. Great start! We picked an arrival time and Mariano actually was EARLY. We're on a roll. Then, inside of an hour he replaced a switch box for an immediate fix, gave me advice (that worked) on protecting the outside wiring from the rain, produced a (reasonably priced) bid for a more permanent solution, got back in his sleigh and rode off into the sky. I'm a fan if you can't tell.

He is very nice to work with.

Great. I love Powell Electric. They are always efficient, respectful, and do what they say they are going to do.

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unknown

They are relocating backyard patio lights, installing switches and timers. They are very quick with responding. I called yesterday, they came out today to do the surveying and they will be out on Monday. They gave me a detailed report.

He gave me a folder with all of the paperwork and with his licensing information. I like that they are large established company. Doug was upfront with the pricing and gave me an estimate. He was professional and respectful.

They're super neat, punctual and cleaned up well. They were able to take care of hedges on the line. The guys that came out were very professional and very quite too. They're just a very good company.

Estimator was 30 minutes late and unprepared to do work that day.
Prices were very high and estimate took far too long.
Estimator failed to make measurements that were needed.
Switches were replaced quickly.
Failed to install ceiling fans according to directions and failed to install in-wall remote controls.
Fans assembled improperly.
Sloppy installation work on fans.
Light fixtures installed appropriately.
Switch installation for attic fan was sloppy requiring additional painting.
Microwave oven installation was left half finished and very ugly -- the estimator and electricians failed to measure the vent cabinet in advanced, so they later discovered that it was too low -- though the estimator had been warned of this potential issue at the initial walkthrough.

Because our prior electrician no longer works in the area and we could not get a solid referral from any neighbors, we contacted Powell to come to the house to do the work we needed based on its extensive advertizing in the area.  Powell charge $99 for the service call.  After fixing the light on the garage door opener and testing a motion detector on the side of the house, the service technician, Kevin, then checked the overhead kitchen light, the main reason for the appointment.  After doing so, he gave us a $349 written quote for installing the new ballast and sockets we provided for the existing light.  He then proceeded to examine the outlet-receptical and gave us a $239 written quote to replace it.  We were shocked by the quotes, particularly the receptical which we estimated would likely take him less than 15 minutes to replace.  We asked Kevin to tell us how much time he anticipated both jobs would take.  He refused to do so, stating that Powell did not do the work on the basis of time, but rather on a job basis.  We refused to be ripped off and sent him away.  We then joiined Angie's List, secured an A rated electrician from the list with a cupon for $99 for two hours of electrical work.  As we suspected, it took less than an hour for its electricians to complete both the replacement of the ballast and receptacle.  Thus, for the $99 cupon price we received services for which Powell intended to charge us $688  -- a rate far exceeding any electical engineer's hourly rate for highly complex work.  We would never consider hiring Powell for any electrical service.  The only thing that prevent us from giving it an overall F rating was that it did answer its phone and schedule an appointment promptly.  Attempting to charge approximatelly $700  for an hour or less of electircal work is nothing short of unconscionable.  There is nothing magical or mystical about changing a ballast or a receptacle.  Use this company only if you have a masochistic desire to be ripped off.

PE has a $99 charge just to come out. So instead of calling another electrician, knowing I was being stuck with that charge, I had them do the work, which they grossly overcharged for. This experience was the reason I started to subscribe to Angie's List, so I lived and learned.

Expensive bu excellent work.

Same as above.   Major rip off, in my opinion.  Unnecessary work.  Unwanted up-sell.   Huge price for something that should have cost a fraction of that price.

I feel I was taken advantage of the job that they did. I am happy with job overall, but it was not worth the $4400 that I spent with them. I asked my regular contractor what he thought the job would cost and he estimated only a couple hundred dollars. He was appalled when I told him how much Powell charged me. I am a senor citizen in a wheelchair and I feel I was taken advantage of.

While installing a new furnace and air conditioner the HVAC contractor suggested that we contact our electrician and have him "step-down" the breaker from a 50 amp to a 40 amp service.  (The new unit consumes a lot less electricity.)  The contractor, and I, thought the job would be small potatoes.
The salesman from Powell assessed the situation and immediately began using scare tactics.  "Your conduit is broken and you are in danger of burning down the house!"  - - - "Changing the breaker isn't enough, you need a new breaker inside the electrical panel or you could burn down the house."  We had used them in the past and, mistakenly, trusted him.  That would have been bad enough, but the worst was yet to come.
He convinced us that the job had to be done right away.  ("You are in danger of the house burning down." )  However, he couldn't start the work without obtaining a waiver from the three-day right to rescind provision standard in all California contracts.  By obtaining the waiver he effectively sealed off our ability to talk to anyone else for  a second opinion.
When the crew arrived (two days later) the electrician stated that he could not place a new breaker inside the existing electrical panel, but would need to have another panel installed adjacent to existing one.  When told that isn't what we agreed to, he responded that it was the only solution.
Two hours and about $100 in parts later, the job was done and they left.
When the city inspector came by to assess the work, the first words out of his mouth were: "Why didn't the electrician just replace the breaker with a lower amperage?"
Enough said.  Be afraid.  Be very afraid. . . . of them.