Sentry Electric Inc
About us
Sentry Electric has been in business since 1981 and for those years we have been primarily a repair and service contactor. Because of this experience we see what lasts and what fails. We will only install material that we see lasts a good long time. Additional email - [email protected].
Business highlights
Services we offer
Residential & Commercial Electric - Wiring
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 69% | ||
| 22% | ||
| 6% | ||
| 0% | ||
| 3% |
"Thanks, [Member Name Removed]. I will make sure Chris knows how happy you are with his work."
"[Member Name Removed], Thanks for the good review. I am glad that we could do this project for you and get it done the way you needed."
We are most grateful that we asked Sentry Electric to do the work. Because their review had dropped here, we almost didn't use them. From our first call, we found them to be knowledgeable and prompt. They listened carefully to our concerns and walked through the property with us explaining how they would need to proceed. They then presented a price to do the work. I have never hired an electrician before (pastor living in parsonages until retirement), so I don't know if their prices are competitive. I know that they clearly defined the cost and the final work was done at that cost. I asked for extra work while they were here. They clearly defined the price for each project.
The quality of their work and its thoroughness were outstanding. They discovered two areas while working where poor workmanship had created fire hazards. They also discovered that our outdoor outlets were improperly grounded. They discovered one outlet outside that was hot and sitting open to the weather or to touch. When they were done, we felt very comfortable that our home was safe and had quality electrical service. The only problem we noticed is that the new electrical outlets they installed are very tight. But that only means they are high quality.
Throughout the time they were here, they were courteous, hard-working, and friendly. They not only worked around our pets, but were friendly with them.
A service they provided that I appreciate is their home protection plan. We purchased it and received a ten percent discount on all work performed for a year. We also receive free service calls for our year. The plan includes a yearly inspection of our home that checks all our wiring and electrical work. On just this project alone, this plan paid for itself with much further savings.
"[Removed member name]; Thank you for your review."
"I am happy that we could fix your problems for you. Our goal is to give the best service we can, and judging by the marks we received from you, we accomplished this goal with you. We are constantly trying to improve both our performance and your experience. If there is ever anything else that you need please let us know and we will once again do our best to solve all of your problems."
"I am sorry that you were not completely satisfied with our installation. We do have a one year warranty that you still are covered by currently if there is anything that we need to fix. We strive to perform only the best work for our customers. We do give our prices out before the job is started to give you the ability to know what it will cost and decide if you are comfortable with it. If not we can then offer alternatives, or we can part ways on the project with no obligation."
"Thank you for taking time to give us a review. I will make sure to let Shane and Josh know how good of a job they did and how happy you were with them and their work. No matter how many of these we recieve, we are always excited to see that they are positive. We will continue to work hard to provide the best service that we can to all of our customers. If you ever need anything again, please don't hesitate to call and let us know what you need."
"Thank you for the great review. Since we try so hard to provide the best service possible, we always appreciate hearing that we are accomplishing that goal."
"I am very sorry about the breakdown of communication on our part that led to you feeling like we tricked you. It was a mistake by the electrician in trying to send you a part of the quote after he left, and not properly using the Up-Front Pricing system. Our Up-Front Pricing system is built to avoid these misunderstandings, while getting you a prompt accurate quote. We strive to keep all of our customers included in their service the whole time. As part of the process we leave payments until the end of the process. This helps to simplify the payment process for everyone, keeping any possible calculation or book keeping mistakes out of the process. Our goal is for you to be happy when our service is over. We will contact you in the hope of doing whatever we can to satisfy your concerns. If through what we have done to try to correct our mistakes you are still not satisfied, let us know and we will work harder to make you happy, as we do have our “100% Satisfaction Guarantee”."
"The speed of our responses is something we take pride in. We have several technicians that run house calls so that we can be able to respond faster to important calls. We also are constantly training and learning to be able to better detect and correct any problems that you could have. Thank you for reviewing us. I know it is something that you don't have to do but it helps us as a company. We appreciate all our reviews because they help us find our strengths and weaknesses, and allows us to become a better company so we can better serve you."
"We're always glad when our customers are happy when we leave. All of our people are trained to see where the problems are and what needs to be fixed. We will never suggest something that doesn't need to be fixed, we don't think that it is right. We will always do our best to find the problems that do need to be fixed and make you aware of them, though. The electrical safety of you and your house is our #1 priority."
"We are always happy when we hear that our customers are happy with our work, as that is one of our highest priorities. We always strive to provide the best available service to you at the best prices we can. We very much appreciate the positive review, and any referrals you might have given for us. If there is ever anything that we can do to help you out in the future, please don’t hesitate to ask."
"I am always elated when we complete a project to your satisfaction. I am glad that Alan could solve your problems and hopefully exceed your expectations. We do work very hard to arrive within the scheduled times because we also feel that it is important. I hope fixing the pool filter timer allowed you to get some good use out of you pool for the hot months that came after he fixed it for you. If you or anyone you know ever needs anything else, please give us a call and we will gladly come help you out."
The reason I would not use Sentry again is that I thought their price was high and it was determined by a fixed price list. Prices are cheaper if you join their service plan, which I don't like (personal opinion).
The outlet I had installed was in the master bedroom closet, and after it was finished, I discovered that a drawer would hit the cord plugged into it. I was able to get an adapter to fix the problem, but I would have preferred to have the placement of the outlet be more convenient.
"Thank you for your review. I was however disappointed with the C rating given because of our pricing method. I would like to re-assure you that we did not go into this Up Front pricing method without due diligence. We extensively back tested these prices using our over 30 year history of time and material jobs to make sure these prices are in line. There are multiple price levels to each category so that once out our technician visits your house and determines the complexity of the installation he can then price accordingly. The technician also has the ability to offer discounts on those jobs that he deems are easier than normal. This Up Front pricing method is important to us so that we can get you a price before we do the job. Before we started using this method we had two options. Either have an estimator visit the site, he would go back to the office to determine the price, call you or mail you the price and then schedule the work to be done or have the work completed at a time and material rate where you would not know the final price until we sent a bill which would be a week after the work is done. Now with our up front pricing method we can give you the price and then if it is acceptable to you we can either proceed with the installation or schedule it at a time convenient to you. Our service plan does not make money for us. What it does do is to thoroughly go through the wiring in your house looking for potential problems. Failures usually come during times of high electrical usage such as holidays, the worst time to try to get a technician out for repairs. Besides opening electrical boxes to physically see the wiring, we use a very expensive infrared scanner to look behind walls for problems. This inspection takes over 2 hours and while we are inspecting we repair all of the little problems that we find and tighten all connections to prevent failures. We do a lot of work for the $125.00 investment in our Home Protection Plan. You mentioned that you thought our price was high and compared to some other electricians it most likely is. You will find cheaper electricians but do you really want to hire them. Are they new in business only because they were laid off? Good electricians are the last to be laid off when times get slow. I hire only the best and those that I do hire get constant training to keep their knowledge at the top of our industry. This allows me to know that the installation that we do for you will not fail because of our workmanship or worse yet cause a fire in your home. I also do not use the cheapest material that I can find. I use the material that has been proven to be durable and trouble free. That is why we use only copper wire and breaker panels with copper interiors. The cheap ones have aluminum interiors and we see many failures which cause very expensive repairs. We have been in business for over 30 years and I feel if we were doing something not acceptable to our clients we would have been out of business a long time ago. I noticed that this review is for work done 6 months ago. My technician should have told you that we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee and this is still well within our warranty period so I will have my staff call you to have someone come out and do the work to your satisfaction, at no charge to you."
In fairness, there is another side to this company's pre-set pricing for every possible service. In November, when John came, he found no problem to fix and charged us nothing, not even a trip fee. He was here about 90 minutes and looked at the ceiling fan, and checked out a couple of other electrical concerns I had. He explained there is no fee when no repairs are made.
So, if I add together the five to six total hours John and Eric were in the house, $310 is not an unreasonable charge.
So, would I use Sentry again? Yes, especially when the electrical problem seems complicated. I would absolutely trust a fair and honest problem-solving service call and repair. However, if the problem seems to be a simple porch light replacement or electrical outlet replacement, I figure to get my handyman because, in my simple mind, I would expect a high (too high) charge for a seemingly quick fix from Sentry. Perhaps, if I knew the ranges for hourly rates and travel fees for electricians in Lincoln I might see this differently.
"(Member name removed); Thank you for the very nice review. I am always happy to hear that my field staff is performing as trained. Your problem was a bit of a challenge for the electrician and he should have explained the repair better to you. What he did to change out the plastic box that supported your fan with a heavy duty UL listed fan support box that is fastened to the adjoining wooden joists was to first disconnect all wiring inside the box, remove the old plastic box, install the new fan brace box and then reconnect the wiring and re-install the fan. All of this was accomplished while working through a little 4 inch hole in the ceiling and without damaging the drywall around it. This fan brace box is required by all electrical codes and is specifically designed to support a heavy wiggling object. I think you would be surprised at how little it would cost to have a professionally trained electrician in to change a light fixture or receptacle. A handyman would charge you a minimum of $25.00 an hour, may need a trip or two to the hardware store, which he would charge you for and leave you wondering if it was installed safely. He would not know that a ceiling fan because of the weight and movement requires a support box to keep it from falling on you. He may remove the insulation from the back of the fixture because it was in the way and they did not see the purpose of it. He may install a 3 wire receptacle in place of a 2- wire receptacle because he cannot find a 2-wire receptacle at the big box store and thinks that three is better than two. He will most likely use the stab in connections on the back of the receptacle instead of the screws on the side because he does not know that these stab-in connections frequently fail. I have the feeling you will still be out $60 to $70. We would have an electrician out to your site in his warehouse on wheels that has 95 percent of any electrical part that may be needed for your installation and install it according to the National Electric code, which is a life safety code produced by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) and regulates our installation methods. We will suggest wiring methods that will keep you safe and save energy. Our charge to you would to change a receptacle would be only $54.00 plus our $39.95 travel fee which is waived if you are a member of our home protection plan. So for very little more money you can have the peace of mind that the fixture or outlet is installed in a manner that will protect you, your family and your home. Before calling your handyman please give us a call. We will not charge you a dime if we do no work."
The electrician arrived on time and took a look at what needed to be done. The Best Buy installation team had hooked up the washer and the dryer and left everything connected, but Aaron (the electrician) could see what was required.
He gave me a quote for the work ($612 with Sentry's "Home Advantage" plan or some such), and when I agreed, he installed a 120V electrical outlet in my laundry closet. To do this, he had to physically move the new (stacked) laundry machines out of the way. Then he had to climb up into my attic via the garage access point and run a new electrical circuit from the breaker box in the entry way of the townhome through the crawlspace above my vaulted living room ceiling to the laundry closet. He also had to add a new breaker switch to the breaker box.
While he was working, he noticed that the Best Buy installation team had failed to provide a required clamp for one of the connections and brought it to my attention. He said he'd take care of it with an extra clamp he had in his truck, at no extra charge. Also while he was working, a heavy piece of furniture was delivered to my house that potentially needed two people to move it, and Aaron voluntarily offered to help me move it.
The work took him three-and-a-half or four hours. He started out by cutting a hole in the wrong place of the laundry closet wall, but to his credit he came and told me right away. He patched it up so that the hole can't be seen. Once the work was completed, he was kind enough to push the laundry machines back into the closet. He didn't have to do this, but I didn't have to ask him to, either - he was just being helpful. Unfortunately, this tore a hole in the vinyl / linoleum floor in one place, but I suppose the same thing might have happened if I had pushed the machines back myself.
This was about a week-and-a-half ago and I haven't had any problems with the work he did. Everything is working fine now that a separate oversight by the Best Buy installation team has been corrected.
"Customer; It's nice to see that you are happy with our service and installation but I do not think it is right for you to pay for the repair of the vinyl floor. Once you have it repaired please send me the bill. Brian Allison President"
Prompt service, knowledgeable service man, very neat & cleaned up all work areas.
"Member, I would like to thank you for using Sentry Electric for your electrical repairs and I appreciate that you took your time to write a review for us. It proves to me that we are on the right track in our goal of 100% satisifaction in the service that we provide."
"Thank you for your review. I will be sure to let Eric know that you were happy with his work. Brian Allison"
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