Randy's Electric

They came to install the surge protector, and said their was a problem with the breaker box and they would need to do 150 dollars worth of work to make it suitable for the surge protector. Then they said 150 wasn't enough, and they would need to charge an extra fifty dollars to change some circuit breakers for 20 amps to 30 amps or vice versa. Their website said they did free home safety inspections for electricity, so they quoted me at 200 dollars for another electrical issue we were having. They fixed it but then came back and said they had to add an extra junction box for 50 dollars. Then we got the bill and it had and extra 50 dollars for "misc repairs from home safety audit" We called to discuss the issues. The owner said he didn't know what the extra fifty dollar misc charge was. He agreed to send back an extra 150 dollars but only sent us 100. Update: There is another report for the bait-and-switch coupon issue for 3/11/11. Randy told me on the phone that 5% of houses have this problem, which means that he's planning to charge 5% of the people who buy that coupon an extra $200. At no point did he say anything was wrong with the breaker box; this is not reflected in either the original invoice, nor the updated and clarified invoice. In his response below, he strongly implies that the breaker box had been "played with" and was "dangerous!" It hasn't been touched since my home was inspected for purchase a year ago. The basement lighting was very bad, which we knew about, and was the reason we asked them to look at it. We did approve the repairs as they were made, but the technician changed his estimates four separate times, and we felt railroaded. When hiring an expert contractor, you don't expect them to repeatedly change their estimates, write down $9 for a $48 repair, or call you a liar for trying to resolve the issue.

I have used Randy's Electric for years. I am not afraid, as an older woman, to have the electricians in my home and worker clean, work done correctly.

They performed the inspection and work recommended after the inspection was complete. The electrician was very personable, efficient, and answered all of my questions. I would definitely recommend them to others.

Dave, electrician, was very efficient and did excellent work. Problem solved with me about where the lines should go and then had me check the completed work. Probably took about an hour and a half.

I had an appoinmentt a week ago, but they called and canceled because they had run out of the actual part. She said they would call me. I received a call today, saying they would be by in an hour or so. They arrived on time, a wee bit early. David and the other fellow were able to take care of the surge protector within minutes. I asked him if he could add a receptacle in our laundry room. He did so, again, in a few minutes. He cleaned up after himself as well. Overall, I wish they would have given me some advance notice, but it worked out OK. I thought the price for the outlet was high, but I am not familiar with the prices for electricians these days so I may be wrong. I would have preferred David had not given me a tiny Bible pamphlet. We are not christian so it was somewhat awkward. But he wasn't rude or pushy and was not offensive..

Everything went great. He gave us a reasonable estimate. I was very impressed with his professionalism and he was always on time.

I purchased the "$159 for Whole House Surge Protection!" BigDeal through Angie's List. David Meidinger and another fellow showed up to perform the work on time at about 8:30 am on 3/11. I showed them our electrical panel, at which time David instructed me that they would need to do additional work (because there wasn't enough room in the panel to add the surge protector) that would cost me $147 extra. This definitely felt like a 'bait-and-switch' situation, and I wondered how many of these surge protection installations 'require additional work.' I asked for the labor and parts breakdown of that number, but David said that wasn't how they price - they have a price list and that is just what that additional work is priced at. David's 'soft skills' aren't real strong; if I were Randy I wouldn't put David in a customer-facing role. Honestly at this point I wanted to cancel, but I'd already paid the $159 which I figured would be a hassle to get back, so I told them to go ahead. About 20 minutes later David announced that the work was done and showed me the installed surge protector. He said in total they used about $100 in electrical hardware including the surge protector. Which means I paid $206 in labor for 20 minutes of work, which works out to $618 PER HOUR. If I were Randy, I wouldn't want to break my prices down into parts and labor either, because the implied labor rate is absurd. It wasn't a total loss - at least I have eliminated Randy's Electric from any future work on my home. Response to Randy's Response: So I was supposed to pay for your electricians' trip from another job, getting gas, and getting parts? That's not how it works. People get paid for the time on the job. If your electricians told you they were there for 1.5 hours you should fire them because they are either moonlighting or claiming more hours than they work. Regarding the prior electrical work in my home, it was done under the supervision of Sylvestre Construction, which is a high-end firm and certainly not known for cutting corners. (Note: NOT a cheap firm - I don't think many people who know me would call me cheap. But they would call me fair.) My panel is a safety hazard?! Your electricians didn't say that to me. So one of the following must be true: A) Your electricians noticed a safety hazard in the home of me, my wife, and 2 young children and didn't tell me, or B) you are making stuff up to try to make your case in your response. I think if I were you it would be better if the answer was B. And you weren't even there, so how would you know? Is that what the '1.5 hour' guys told you? It certainly is very unlikely that Sylvestre Construction would have left me with a 'safety hazard' system. The system passed inspection in 2006 after significant remodeling work performed by Sylvestre. Also - arguing with customers certainly isn't going to help you on Angie's List. You didn't even attempt to follow up with me on this. Look at the other reviews I have given - only 1 other negative review and many positive. Maybe you have plenty of other happy customers, and maybe your other jobs go much better than this one did.

Excellent. Electrician as professional and good to work with.

I contracted this company to fix some lights that were not working. The lights weren't working because there was something wrong with the low voltage switching that is in my home. The low voltage switching is original in the house (approx 50 years old). I understand that this was a little unusual because of the age of the wiring, however, that did not make the job of tracing the wiring that much more difficult. The part of this job that was very bothersome is that this company is a "Fixed-Price" contractor. In other words, when they come onsite, they have you select one of approximately 10 different price levels based on the work that is going to be done. This sort of pricing can work very much in your favor if the job turns out to be difficult, OR it can work VERY much against you if it's an easy job. My case was very much the worst-case scenario. What happened is that even though the job wasn't difficult or took very long, this company charged a $199 "DIAGNOSTIC CHARGE" to determine what the problem was, then they charge additional for the labor and parts. I asked if they could look at another almost identical problem, and he said that they could, but that would be an ADDITIONAL $199 "DIAGNOSTIC CHARGE" plus parts (and possibly some additional labor), even though the majority of the problem analysis had already been done on the first problem. I have no complaints with the quality of work, but if you use this company, be prepared to possibly pay an EXCESSIVE amount for the work. Additionaly, regarding the low grade on punctuality, the person who did the work called at 7:36am and said they would be at my home between 8-9. In their defense, the traffic that day was really bad because of weather, but they didn't show up until 10:30am. There is no way it should have taken that long, something else was asmiss. I have driven in bad traffic due to weather in MN for the last 25 years, and it can be bad, but this took way longer than it should have. The technician didn't really even seem that apologetic, nor respectful of my time about the delay.

The appointment was scheduled for only several days after our call. Since this was not an emergency, that was fine with us. He actually called and came earlier than scheduled on the day of service since a prior service job took less time than anticipated. He was able to do all 3 jobs within about an hour. He was very professional, knowledgeable, and friendly. We have used Randy's several times in the past and will continue to call him with any of our electrical needs.

The process was very efficient and quick. The electrician fished a new power line through the basement ceiling starting at the furnace area. Then drilled a tiny hole at the outside wall where siding and block meet, fished the line through the whole. He then very neatly tucked the line under the siding, running the line to the AC unit. Very clean, smooth and professional job, well done. Within an hour, he had the air conditioning working proficiently. Excellent workmanship.

Excellent. Dave was very professional, worked quickly but ACCURATELY, and he was very courteous. He informed us of everything he was doing along the way. I would HIGHLY recommend Randy's Electric to everyone. He will be our electrician for all of our future needs. Randy responded to our first call quickly, and had someone out to our house ASAP, which we appreciated very much. We spent a lot of money, but considering the work they did for us, we thought the amount charged was fair.

I cannot comment on the quality of work provided by Randy's Electric because they never came within our scheduled time. I was told an electrician would be at my house between 11:00 and 1:00 and would call :30 before arrival. By 1:30 no one had shown up so I called and got voice mail. About 2:00 my call was returned by an electrician in the field that said he was not planning on arriving until 5:00 or later. Since that was well outside of the agreed time frame I terminated the appointment and found another company. My time is valuable to me and it was wasted by Randy's Electric double booking of jobs and lack of communication. I did receive a call from the electrician the next day trying to reschedule, but was given no offer of compensation for my wasted time. Not what you would expect from the top ranking electrical co. on Angie's List.

Good job done, and fast; but I feel uncomfortable about the pricing, not sure about working with them again.

Smooth, hassle-free service. I called in the early morning and scheduled the repair for the afternoon. Brent Hawkinson, the electrician, called ahead of his arrival, arrived on time, quickly diagnosed the problems and had them repaired within two hours. He was professional, friendly and very efficient. I will readily use Randy's Electric again.

Randy's charges a $49 service call fee whether or not they perform the service. I don't believe that the dispatcher gave me that information. On top of this service fee, they add a fuel surcharge fee. The work performed: The service person removed the wall switch face panel, saw that the switch was broken and had shorted out. He replaced it within 5 minutes. The service that I was charged for was a $199 diagnostics charge. Once it was determined that the faulty switch was the problem, I feel that the diagnostics charge should have been changed to a lesser fee. There was no need for diagnostics, since the problem was easily observable. The service representative was courteous and very pleasant. However, I feel that Randy's charges are excessive.

They were awesome and did a great job. They were very professional and were concerned whether we were happy with the placement of the lights. They came back and corrected a couple of problem. They made sure that we were satisfied. I will definitely use them again and would recommend them to others.

After making an appt for an estimate on a full main floor/kitchen remodel and service upgrade, we were called twice to try to change our appt time, which due to our schedules we were unable to do. In the end, Randy's Electric did keep the original appt time and a journeyman electrician (not an estimator) arrived with a sheet of paper on a clip board listing several items of work they typically do and the associated cost- for example, exchanging an outlet: $1XX.00. Our project is on a larger scale, as we had explained when making the appt. We have a full set of detailed plans, all walls are being stripped down to the studs and basement ceilings are fully exposed. Work to be done was very clear. Electrician stated they could only do this job on a time and material basis, not a fixed price, because what we wanted done was not covered fully on his list and there may be too many unknowns. We have now gotten three other bids, all are somewhat comparable in price and they were given without any suggestion of a problem. It seemed as though Randy's Electric did not want the business. We found the overall experience to be very unprofessional.

We had an outlet and kitchen light go dead on us. I contacted Randy's and actually spoke to Randy. He said he would try to have someone out that afternoon or Monday at the latest (either was fine with me.) Received a call a couple hours later that one of his techs (David) was enroute. When he arrived he ID'd himself to my satisfaction and went about his business. I described the problem & showed him where the breaker box was and the problem outlet and kitchen light. He gave me his estimate based on the service classifications Randy's uses. He checked several of the other outlets (which worked.) He took the switch plate off and found that several common wires were connected there. He ended up tightening a wire cap and that restored the voltage to the outlet and light. This was extremely unusual in that we had not had a problem with that circuit or wiring in the past. While I felt the price was slightly high I feel that it was more than justified by the quality of work performed (even though it was a simple fix) plus the fact that that there could have been more serious issues (like chewed insulation, etc.) with the circuit and I needed a professional opinion and diagnosis (have to consider overhead costs, etc. also.) I also was able to use an Angie's list coupon to save some money & they offered a reduction for a cash payment.

David was very professional and considerate both times he came to the house. Except for a slight mixup on arrival time on Dec 4th, he was always prompt and fair with the pricing. Drilled through the floor and ran cable in the basement to create a seperate 15 amp circuit for entertainment plug-ins.

I needed 3 light fixtures installed at my new condo. Two easy flush mount lights and one more complicated track light. The installer was on time and very professional and did a great job installing all 3 fixtures. My only issue with the work is that for the type of work that needed to be done, it seemed rather expensive.

I have had a fine experience working with Randy's Electric. He is pleasant. He gets the job done and he takes the time to clean up after himself. I give Randy's Electric all A's and I will continue using them in the future.

They did a terrific job and I would recommend them to others. I called and spoke to the owner about everything and he seemed very professional and he sent somebody out quickly. I thought they were a good company on how they explained things about what they were going to do and also had all the necessary equipment. I thought it was a good service overall. The price was a little on the higher side.

David from Randy's Electric was punctual, had a very nice personality and work ethic. He was very good at explaining the work to be done.

I called in the mid-afternoon and Randy (owner) answered the phone. Very pleasant. I was originally calling for a quote, but he said they send someone out for $49 (service call) to go over the work to understand & see the issues and you can decide from there if you want anything done right away or wait. He said he could send someone out the next morning at 8am (no waiting for weeks to schedule - very quick - I was surprised). The electrician (11 yr journeyman) David called me at 7:40am and said he was on his way. No wondering if they will show up, so that was a nice courtesy call. He arrived at my door at 8:01, introduced himself, gave me his card, put on his foot booties so not to track on our floor and explained their pricing structure. Each service falls into one of about 9 categories and they price it up front so you know what it's going to cost. I showed him what we wanted and asked for suggestions on the best way to add outlets to our garage at the most efficient cost. We spent about 1.5 hrs talking it through. He got started right away after I gave him approval on the work (we did decide to wait on smoke and CO detectors for now, which they suggested, since it's a new law). David had to fish the dedicated line literally from one end of the house to the other - through a mostly finished basement ceiling, which was a challenge (house was built in 1998). But, he finally got it by trying it a few different ways. He told me up front that he will have to drill holes and they don't fix them. I was fine with that, since that was the only way to fish the wires through. He only had to drill 2-4" diameter holes. By examining the construction of our house, he determined the best place to put the pass through to the garage. Came out right where he thought it would. Wired up all the outlets in no time. On our outside outlet we had replaced, he suggested adding some silicone to the top, since the house had a round inner "box" and the outside outlet was rectangular, so there is a small gap at the top. Since I was curious on how he did things, I asked if he minded me watching him. He said "apprenticeships come free". So, I watched him do his work the whole time (~4 hrs). David was very professional, detailed, cleaned up as he went, organized and clearly explained anything I asked him about. I had no idea what an electrician cost, since I've never had to hire one before. So, I was a little surprised at the price initially (which is mainly why I ranked it a B), but I have nothing to compare it to either, so that might be a little unfair. After seeing the quality & expertise of their work, the lifetime warranty on wiring and 5 yr on hardware, I think the price was well worth it. (They also have an option of paying half and then financing the other half for 6 months at NO interest). So, that's spreads the $$ out a little more, which is a great option. I would have no problem recommending them to anyone!! David was great!! THANKS!