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"The breaker to my pool pump tripped and wouldn't turn back on. I had a guy coming to check the pump motor but wanted an electrician to check the breaker. I wound up having 2 techs from Mr Sparky come here so will review each of them. The first guy, Robert, was supposed to give us a free estimate for fixing the problem if it was electrical. He pulled the AC breaker and said it was burned, but didn't pull the pump breaker. Said he had no idea why the breaker wouldn't turn on. He charged me $167 for 'diagnostics' which consisted of looking at the wires to the for pump switches, removing the pump motor end cap to look at those wires, and opening the stone catcher basket (no idea why). Back inside, the pump breaker DID turn on, but again, he didn't know why. Turned the pump on but it shut off - twice. Then he sat at my table tapping on his tablet and ignoring me for 10-15 minutes as I stood there with my credit card, waiting to pay the $167. Finally he showed me 3 options on his tablet; one to replace all the breakers and 2 choices for installing a new breaker box outside, pricing up to $10K. We passed... When he left I looked at the troubleshooting manual for the pool pump. It said if the motor shuts off check for low voltage or power drop. So I called their office, explained the situation, and tried to get Robert to come back to check the voltage at the pump. Robert called me back but refused to return. When the office called later to see if I was happy with the service I explained it all and they scheduled another tech, Chris, to come the next day. Chris was very polite, respectful and professional. He checked the voltage at the pump (which was fine) and agreed we should replace the old breakers and add a surge protector, but said there was no need to spend $10K to put the breaker box outside. He said the AC breaker was NOT burned, but he did see evidence of old wires causing arcing as well as the wrong size breaker in one spot, and pointed out that we should have 2 ground rods outside besides grounding to the water main. (Robert never mentioned these) Chris did a much more thorough job of checking everything and it was all included in the $167 I had already paid. The difference between these two techs was such that I actually wondered if it was a "good cop/bad cop" ploy so I would believe what the "good" guy said and happily purchase service from him. If it was, it worked. We had Chris come back to replace all the old breakers, install a surge protector, and put in the grounding rods. Total cost was a little over $3K. As for appointment times.. The first appointment was set for 2-6 pm and they said the tech would call to let me know when he was on his way, which he did. The second appointment was 12-4 pm but he didn't call ahead, saying his ipad wouldn't let him make the call. The third appointment was supposed to be afternoon also but the email I received gave the time as 8 am - 6 pm. I called their office and the guy I spoke with said he'd add a note that I wouldn't be home until 2 pm. So with no call ahead of time I was surprised when Chris and his helper came to my door at noon. Not a big issue (as it would have been if they'd arrived at 8 am) but good to note if scheduling is important to you. The office staff is very friendly and makes you feel as though customer satisfaction is a priority. I didn't bother having another company come out to give me a quote so I can't say whether their pricing was high, low or average. But at least I know we have all new breakers now plus proper grounding and a surge protector, and I feel confident that Chris did all the work properly. Overall, I would have given Mr Sparky an F rating based on my experience with Robert, and still deducted one letter because of him. But if Chris had been the only tech we saw I would have rated them an A."

"What a mistake I made in hiring Elcon. Their estimate was 25% more than my other estimate from a licensed well-reviewed electrician, but I went with Elcon because I thought hiring a large company would help ensure things went smoothly, efficiently and give me some peace of mind. Unfortunately, the result was just the opposite. There were two fairly simple jobs. The first was to install an outlet on the opposite side of drywall where there is already a switch. The electrician took out the switch where you can clearly see the other side of the wall yet he still cut right in front of the stud exposing over 4 inches of stud. Why he didn’t use a stud finder or drill a small hole first before cutting completely baffles me. He did fess up to it immediately and patched it, but never even apologized. I had to match/buy paint to match the wall and cover the patch. Next he installed a non-GFI outlet in a laundry room which is against NEC code. When I informed him that the outlet was not to code, he said their estimator didn’t put a GFI on the quote. Yet I specifically requested a GFI outlet in my email to them - both in writing AND in a photo of the job. Why neither their estimator nor their electrician followed NEC code was concerning, but he did switch the outlet eventually. The other job was to install an outdoor wired box which was clearly titled as such on the quote. When I showed the electrician where the box was to be installed, he said he didn’t have a box with him. How he did not have one of only two fixtures needed for the job is beyond me. Also, instead of going to get the box before starting the job, he did it after the wires were threaded and exposed. He was gone for 40 minutes when there is a Lowes right next door to me. If it had rained, all of my entire pool wiring (which he wired up to) would have gotten wet. I paid him in full and contacted their office via email to explain what happened. Their office manager did apologize, but her unhelpful solution to my wasted time and extra money I had spent to paint was to schedule more time with me so their estimator could “spot check” the electrician’s work. Now, not only does their lack of trust in their own electrician make me worry about the completed install, but this would have been the third time I had to take time away from work and for their convenience. This is because instead of using the detailed request and photos I sent them of the job, the estimator still wanted to see it in person. And when the estimator arrived, he asked questions that were already in my request and took the same photos I already sent. When I finally pointed out that it was all in my request and photos, he then looked and was surprised it was all already there. Thankfully, I only scheduled Elcon for two of the four jobs they estimated for me. I was going to schedule those at a later date but after this experience, I decided to hire another company for the remaining jobs and will be sure to have them check all of Elcon’s work."

"Excellent job."