CHUCK'S ELECTRICAL SERVICE

Chuck was the electrical contractor (sub) on a major project for us. This project included running power from our main house to a detached addition on our property. The work was completed (and received final inspection) on 28 August 2007 and came with a one-year warranty for the work. We didn't have any major problems with any of the electrical in the addition, but on August 20, 2008, we lost power altogether in the unit. Chuck came out and was unable to pinpoint the problem because the failure occurred somewhere in the power supply from our power box to the power box in the addition. Which meant that the problem occurred in the line running from our house to the addition. Except, since this power line was not in any kind of conduit (and indeed was now buried under the driveway), there was no simple way to fix the problem. Our options were either to A) jackhammer the driveway, remove the power line and run a new one, or B) run a new line 100' around our house, through our backyard and into the addition. We opted for option B. Chuck gave us a quote of a few thousand dollars to run the new line. But when we asked about the warranty, he said he'd have to check around to see how to handle it. After a few days, he told us that he could not honor his 1-year warranty because it was so close to expiring. We were shocked. If this problem occurred a week after he installed the line, he would have certainly replaced it at his cost, but because the failure occurred a week before the warranty period expired, he said he couldn't honor it. Plus, he charged us $350 to run a temporary line from our house to the addition (over the driveway) which included about 50' of line. We would not use this contractor again under any circumstances. There's still something to be said for honor, and too few business people actually have that quality these days.