TAYLOR ELECTRIC

I asked Taylor Electric to give me an estimate on what they would charge to rewire the cable for our television. Their representative (Chey) said that they might be able to rewire the cable by simply pulling up the line, which could only cost $65 in labor, and if not, they could cut in the walls and lay the cable for $475. He gave me a written estimate for that latter amount. I agreed to these terms.

On the day of installation, two men arrived 45 minutes late. They merely glanced at the existing wiring and said that it couldn’t be pulled up. They did find a way to run the new cable through the walls by cutting a hole in the ceiling and running a fish line through it. On the plus side, they did a good job. They completely rewired the television line (we have a 1300 sp ft home).

On the negative side, two men should have completed this job in 3 or 4 hours, at the most (a friend of mine is a retired electrician—he said he could have done it, by himself, in about 2 hours). But Taylor Electric obviously wanted to make a full day job of the project, at my expense. I had to leave for a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon (they had assured me they would be done before then, but they weren’t), and I came back early to find the television turned on to a sports station. One of them (Pat) told me how much it costs to live in Santa Barbara and support a child (I guess that was his way of telling me I was contributing to his cause). The total bill was for seven hours, $1,000. The cost would have been more, but I finally asked them to leave when it was just too obvious that they were futzing around. The bill included their lunchtime (which I shouldn’t have had to pay), drive time, and failed to deduct for the time they were on the phone talking to other job sites. Don’t use these electricians unless you get them to work for a fixed price or you have money to burn.

AMAZING and so caring!! We had electrical problems in our pool that was very dangerous. They were there in a shot, even showed up over Labor Day weekend to make sure the electrical was off near the pool. They came back and completed the job to GREAT satisfaction. Communication was exemplary and felt so lucky to have found this fantastic company to take care of our rental home. They are on our A LIST for sure. Do not hesitate calling them, you won't be disappointed!!

Most impressive thing about this company is their individual attention to detail. "Where would you like this light switch? Why don't we put in a three-way here? Let us know if this will work for you." And they involve individuals whenever possible (e.g.,"Pat wired that fixture, so let's get him back here to re-wire it") instead of hiding behind a "corporate," impersonal effort. Very comforting.